The Handbook of Project Management, 6th Edition

Chapter 31 Managing diversity

Anna Y. Khodijah

DOI: 10.4324/9781003274179-35

Introduction

When managing a project, the project manager must deal with various stakeholders, such as the project sponsor, project team, customer/end users, and other relevant parties. These stakeholders differ in terms of their characteristics, such as age, gender, national/cultural background, work experience, personality traits, etc., known as diversity. These differences, if not understood and managed properly, will create some challenges and issues in the project. For example, when the project manager asks project members’ opinions in the project meeting, people from certain cultural backgrounds might feel disturbed and confused because they expect the project ...