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Projects are temporary organizations and a lack of effective project leadership has been cited as a major cause of costly project failure, overriding most organizational factors. In the rapidly globalizing 21st century, the challenge of project leadership is compounded further by cross-cultural factors as projects around the world are being increasingly peppered with multi-ethnic participants. The overarching question underpinning this study is: What are the key behavioral characteristics for effective transcultural project leadership of projects composed of multi-ethnic teams? This novel global research of successful international project managers, program managers, consultants, and team members examines the confluence of organizational leadership, cross-cultural management, project management, and team dynamics to identify behavioral patterns likely to result in effective transcultural project leadership. For project managers, program managers, and other project practitioners as well as international managers across various industries this study yields best practice guidelines for successful project leadership, training, and evaluation in transcultural project environments.

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Dr. Victor S. Sohmen teaches project management and leadership at Drexel University, Philadelphia, USA. He is a former foreign-going ship captain and winner of the Canadian Governor-General´s Gold Medal for Academic Excellence (1996). His research interests include project management, leadership, cross-cultural/international studies, and education.

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