Revisiting challenges inherent to multicultural construction projects using input from field professionals

The cross-cultural communication in construction projects is beyond just a barrier to the circulation of information. Accordingly, this research endeavours at isolating the multicultural challenges encountered in construction projects and mapping those surfaced challenges to different aspects of project performance. Unlike the previous studies which examined cultural differences from the perspective of team dynamics, this researchemphasises on the implication of such differences regarding the successful execution of construction processes. Specifically, this research intended to highlight the mechanism through which cultural challenges potentially compromise the satisfactory delivery of projects by causing a quality defect, safety breach, logistics failure, contractual conflict and ineffective workforce training. To achieve the research aim, the study was scopedat the process/operational (construction site) level of a constructionproject. The research employed qualitative data approach by interviewing 15 construction professionals experiencing difficulties to be fully integrated into the workplace while working in a multicultural environment. To highlight the scale of ethnic diversity in projects being studied, the research team was able to document particpantsopinions who had collectively interacted with colleagues from 16 different nationalities. The results revealed that while interviewees strongly acknowledge the fact that cultural inconsistencies deteriorate relationships on-site, they articulated that high performance is reinstatedafter those differences are understood and addressed. This finding urges the need for the development of more effective cultural acclimatisation programs which according to data collected in this study was missing in 11 out of 15 reviewed cases.