ABSTRACT
Increasing wave of the Globalization and internationalization plays a vital role in the business environment, as they annihilate the borders among countries; hence people are influenced from the other. The way of communicating and doing business is affected by the differences of the tradition, culture, education system and the life standards. Therefore, the companies that are willing to enlarge their business internationally have to study the concept of communication in order to avoid probable misunderstanding. Additionally, it has been experienced that culture is a vital fact that the business should understand and respect in order to communicate with multi-cultural team. Furthermore, to corporate or to start up a new business in a different country, it is required to understand the cultural differences as well. This research aims at identification of the different communication styles used in diversely in different cultural backgrounds that impact communication in project undertaking teams. It will focus on communication hindrances faced by project teams in UK and in Taiwan. The research intends to utilize both qualitative and quantitative aspects in analyzing the findings that will be collected through oral interviews and sets of questionnaires. In order to prove the reliability of the information, the writer will get support from head-managers of those chosen companies through semi-structured interviews. Experiences of these managers will be analyzed and questioned in order to find out how different cultures influence the communication in an international organization, and how the managers deal with those differences. Thus, it can be said that the topic will reveal numerically, the differences or possibly similarities in communication styles used within the project team in company between Taiwan and UK. The research will reveal the importance of the communication in order to increase the degree of working power as well as efficiency.

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ACKNOWLEGDEMENT
I would like to say thank you individually who helped, supported and motivated me during the period that I have been struggling to produce my best to finish my dissertation.
My gratitude goes to my supervisor Cynthia Lee who was my mentor and an inspiration to me finding all the necessary information, straightening and amending my mistakes to improve my shortcoming. Furthermore, she also plays a vital role in motivating me and getting me focus on my dissertation.
Secondly, I would like to thank Glasgow Caledonian University for the opportunity they have given me for my admission to the university and supporting me in every difficulty that I faced while living the UK as a student. Finally, thanks go to the hard working staff of Glasgow Caledonian University.
Finally, my huge appreciations go to my family and friends who were supporting me at all time. 　

CHAPTER 1.
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Introduction
In the first chapter of this dissertation, the writer will examine the general view of the topic that will be established on the context of this dissertation. The main basic target of the topic is research literature and purpose of the topic will be also highlighted in the further first chapter. Additionally, there will be explanation of the research objectives of the dissertation topic included in this chapter in order to have a clear understand on the reader.

1.2 Topic: Influence of the culture on communication in the construction project teams.
Globalization causes borderless as exhibited by business where companies have people from different backgrounds, different traditions and different education systems. Therefore, it is very easy to blame culture when there is an issue. This is one of the reason that topic will analyze the influence of the culture on communication in the construction team project.
The writer has chosen the concept of construction project team to analyse culture influence on communication in order to narrow down the topic a bit with mainly used example in China, UK and India.

In recent years, many successful businesses have organized good foundation of communication since it is an essential part to be practiced in all business activities. Indeed, it also can be an important organization to integrate construction process. In addition, any arguments or situations can be improved to organize operating effectiveness. Moreover, a good and organized communication system in construction projects not only improve motivation lever but also improve the eventual processes. On the contrary, insufficient communication can have negative influences at workplace and lead to many problems in production. Construction industry is risky and complex as different cultural backgrounds combine to work together such as architect, engineer, contractor and participation that have different information to be organized. It is therefore essential to integrate organization through interpersonal and group team communication activities that ensure projects are successfully completed. Failure in communication is due to lack of proper consultation and insufficient feedback as the root result and drawbacks in many construction projects. To support proper management in construction, it is required that a constant and quick sharing of information between each construction departments. Eventually, poor communication and integration of design information can result in design problems that make errors in design. Most importantly, communication is the main aspect which overruns management of construction projects.

1.3 Justification & Aim
In recent years, more and more international companies to co-operate business and organise a relationship in the world. Within a trend of globalization that international construction projects include multinational participants from different economic, political, legal and cultural backgrounds. Construction is an energetic and fragmented sector to address a project. Indeed, it makes many stakeholders to operate in frequently changing sets of relationships which are contractually driven and also combine participants from different cultural backgrounds. This dissertation will justify that culture has an influence on the communication in the construction project team.
Additionally, the aim of this research is to identify how communication to influence construction projects and to investigate how cultural factors affect communication styles. Indeed, to research multicultural impacts to influence the communication within international construction project teams who work at the same performance with different cultural backgrounds. This research will recommend ways of improving communication by considering multicultural issues.

1.4 Research Objectives
• To examine the role of communication in construction project teams.
• To investigate the cultural factors that influence communication styles.
• To identify communication styles commonly used in international construction projects.
• To establish cultural factors that impact on project communication.
• To recommend ways to improve communication by consideration of culture.

1.5 Conclusion
With the international trend of construction industries, there are numerous impacts that change the construction performance by the people co-operating as a project team from different cultural backgrounds. It is not easy to organise and to communicate to the team members from different cultures working for international construction projects. Good communication is very important amongst the construction project teams since construction is a complex and a multicultural industry. Using proper communication methods can increase the level of performance and influence the relationship within cultural differences teams. This chapter will contribute to the literature review in defining communication amongst construction project teams and how culture difference influences communication. Moreover, defining the importance of communication in general organization and styles in construction project team members.
Through this study research, it will conclude that communication is the main sector of organization in global business performance that plays the most impact issue throughout the projects by consideration cultural difference. Effective communication is the essential part of successful business in any country or industry. Moreover, considering cultural differences, they can influence organisation of how members communicate as they assist in the organisation. Hence, since culture is an aspect exchange practiced and behaviours accepted within team of people. It means that communication practices amongst organisational teams can be varied across the world. As addressed earlier in this chapter, the research contains the concepts of culture and communication aspects, and conducted in two main parts either as organizational communication and multi culture practices in construction project teams..

CHAPTER 2.
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Introduction
The writer of thesis aims at evaluating the impact of culture on communication within construction business environment. The vital reason under this statement is that successful organization is constructed by employees. There is a rapid increase on the number of variety cultural differences within construction business environment employees, since national borders are less engaged, therefore communication within those different cultures, employees become more perceivable. It is because; the concept of the culture is a very hodgepodge. The employees in the project teams are responsible for performing the construction projects and are required to adopt certain communication styles so that the project goals can be accomplished in an effective manner. This include the role of communication within the project team members in construction project is evaluated significantly through making a search of the existing literature regarding the impact of communication on construction projects, barriers suffered by project team members in the successful performance of communication among themselves. In addition, the ways in which cultural factors have impacted on the communication style is assessed and the specific communication styles that are utilised within the project team members in case of international construction project is finally evaluated in detail.

2.2 Communication in construction project teams
Communication is defined as the exchange and flow of information and ideas from one person to another; it involves a sender transmitting and idea, information, or feeling to a receiver.
Communication is pervasive in all areas of organisational life. Information can either be written, oral and non-verbal and requires that the forms of communication are standardised throughout the undertakings and operations of organisations and companies and institutions (Vasanthi et al, 2011). Communication plays a very important role in the construction industry as shown in the literature. Communication is very crucial and is unavoidable and as such, it is a specific distinction to develop a complex communication environment. Most successful business projects basic have been built on good communication within organization.
Communication within an organization could be grapevine or rumour. Generally, communication in an organisation is very complex and needs construction projects to be correctly managed handled and monitored to avoid muddle, crisis or conflict. This research review the role of communication in construction project teams and define how the culture different to influence the communication as to investigate the cultural factors that influence communication which are commonly used in international construction projects. it will also recommend the proper ways to improve the communication by consideration of culture.
Effective communication is a very important part in construction project teams as now it is an international trend business. Effective communication occurs only if the receiver understands the exact information or idea that the sender intended to transmit. Many of problems that take place in an organization are either the direct results of people failing to communicate and the processes that lead to confusion leading to failure. According to Hoesen (cited in Emmitt and Gorse 2003) mentioned that since the early 1940s, literature on communication in construction has appeared, mainly based on the situation in the UK which poor communication or lack of communications in construction project teams that resulted in a number of problems. For example, delays in material delivery to the site were due to lack of proper communication during the design phase. In addition, the overall cost in the construction project would rise because of lack of organizational communication. Indeed, people may have misunderstanding within the site due to lack of communications and conflicts may arise. As Hoezen (cited in Dainty et al,2006) pointed that different construction culture show a reality of conflicts and lack of mutual respect and trust.
Communication errors have resulted every year defects in the UK construction industry cost at least £20 billion to repair or rebuild. Some of the defects are a result of poor communication, for example, a poorly detailed drawing, operatives being given incorrect instructions or technical information not being available. This guidance provides advice on how communication can be improved to and around a construction site. Improvements in communication should result in an increase in the quality of the build and a reduction in the level of defect occurrence (Construction site communication —guidance, UK).
In case of construction projects, the role of communication within the project teams is highly significant as indicated in the existing literature. According to El-Saboni, Aouad and Sabouni (2009), the success of a construction project is highly dependent on the effective communication throughout the entire stages of project lifecycle. The lack of effective communication among the project team members would adversely impact the performance of the entire project. Craig and Sommerville (2006) have claimed that the exchange of information in the principal component in achieving success in case of construction projects.
Communication is so highly significant among the project team members in case of construction project and many projects have considered it a necessity to use different formats of electronic communication systems in order to improve the exchange of information between the team members and ultimately to ensure success of the entire construction project.
Moreover, a major study by Leung, Mak and Lee (2008) asserted that the communication among the project team members in construction projects is pivotal to the success of the entire project and there are advanced means of communication systems that are utilised across construction sites in order to improve the quality of projects via effective exchange of information among team members. With the application of advanced IT gadgets such as network cameras, long range wireless networks and web-based collaborative platform, the team members perform effective sharing of information via video conference, text and shared white board at a distance via internet and this leads to improvement in the quality of construction project. Communication also plays a serious role within construction industry that is significantly higher as against the manufacturing industry as indicated by Loosemore, Dainty and Lingard (2003). This is mainly because the delivery of products in the case of construction industry is performed in a devolved, dispersed and fragmented manner which makes the process of communication more complex.

2.3 Influence of culture on communication
It is a very difficult that communication across multicultural experiences. Most of successful means of communication comes from one person understanding the meaning and the content of the message. UTAS (2012) defined culture as the integrated pattern of human behaviour that includes thoughts, communication, actions, custom, beliefs, values and institutions of a racial, ethnic, religious or social group.
Communication is influenced by several factors; an overview can be derived from literature. The first type of factors is related to the organization of the construction process. Main aspects are the difference between formal and informal communication routes during the design phase. Over the years, several studies concluded thus that the construction sector could benefit from improved communication. Although the studies highlight several aspects of communication in construction, no literature overview has been found on demand-supply communication in construction.
Studies focus on intra-supplier communication (between head- and subcontractors for example) or intra-demander communication (between principal and end user for example), or study just one phase of the building process. In the cases where communication between demand side parties and supply side parties was studied, the focus was on just a few stakeholders instead of taking into account many parties of each side (Atkin, et al 2003).
Culture refers to pattern of values, beliefs, symbols (including language), norms, and behaviours shared by identifiable group of individuals. Within international construction projects that commonly includes participants from diverse countries, and the project design, management and efficiency are getting more international. Furthermore, many aspects are usually pervasively used in international projects that are associated with attitudes to culture, legislation, environment and financial fields. However, the problems are not new as most countries have domestic cross-cultural issues by Xiao and Boyd (2010). As we know it is generally considered that people from different cultures have different views on the world and hold different assumptions about life and work, so they behave differently. (Xiao and Boyd 2010 cited in Hoecklin, 1994; Harris et al., 2004) Therefore, these different values, attitudes, behaviours and perceptions greatly influence people working in a cross-cultural environment. Not only does lack of communication result in conflicts but also cross-culture as well, as both take place due to the misunderstanding and misinterpreting the sign and symbols. However, many multinational organisations have started to solve the cultural problems in international project teams. For example, to break down the language barriers, some construction companies employ full-time professional interpreters and bilingual managers to support the foreign workers ( Xiao and Boyd 2010 cited in Schellekens and Smith 2004) Indeed, language differences between cultures or co-cultures can also cause major misunderstandings. Cultural differences can affect communication greatly.

2.4.1.1 Ways in Which Communication Affects Construction Projects
Construction is a service business. Interpersonal skills which include communication skills play an important role for the success of a project. In fact construction business is often referred as “people’s business” to emphasize the importance of interpersonal skills. The people working in construction industry are diverse from the perspective of educational and cultural characteristics of its employees. A typical example could be given for a superintendent’s situation at the job site. A superintendent must possess certain qualities in order to communicate with both unskilled laborers who sometimes may have minimal education and at the same time a project owner who can be the highly skilled CEO of a multi-million dollar firm.
Construction industry is a dynamic, project based industry in where many problems occur due to communication issues. Even in a relatively less complicated project (single family house), communication between the house owner (the client), the designer (the architect), the contractor (and its workforce), the material suppliers and the planning and building control officers will play an important role. In a complex communication network with several key actors of the building process, existence of disputes seems inevitable (Gunhan Suat et al, 2012),

Having a pre-conceived notion that the role of communication is significant in case of construction projects, this part evaluates the ways in which communication affects the construction projects. A study by Doloi, et al. (2012) indicates that lack of appropriate communication between the team members of the project leads to delay in performing the entire project. In performing the construction projects, appropriate approval from the senior management is essential and the actual construction workers are required to obtain essential approvals from the project team managers. The improper flow of communication between them causes unnecessary delays and the resulting impact is non completion of project on time. Rounds and Segner (2010) have indicated wide range of problems as faced within construction sites from improper communication system between the project team members. The improper communication leads to many types of errors in the form of incorrect installation, accidents within the site and there are also possibilities that the production may be impeded because an important message is not received (Rounds and Segner, 2010).
Poor communication is one of the major reasons for the failures of most of the construction projects as asserted by the American Society of Civil Engineers (2012). The improper communication between the project team members leads to the lack of appropriate coordination and the ultimate effect is the inappropriate performance of the entire project. Apart from this, poor communication and coordination, and inefficient processes were identified as the major contributing factors towards the ineffective promotion of supply chain management system within the construction industry (Flanagan, Ingram and Marsh, 1998). The nature of the construction industry is such that any form of mistakes in the communication process is highly adverse from the point of view of cost and safety of the entire project.
As suggested by Senaratne and Sexton (2011), the performance of change management is a highly difficult task in case of construction projects. Any kinds of miscommunication between the project team members would thereby leads to the performance of the project in a non-desired manner and ultimately, it accounts for the failure of the entire project.
Table 1; Process of Communication in the Construction Company

(Resource from: Alexandra Salmon-Lefranc : http://www.closeuptranslations.com/)
2.4.1.2 Barriers to Effective Communication
There are significant barriers to effective communication that are to be faced by the project team members in undertaking international construction projects. As for instance, a study by Loosemore and Muslmani (1999) has revealed that one of the most significant barriers to communication in international construction projects is the language problem. As per the study, the communication challenge is identified as the major challenge in international construction market as faced by the construction project managers. The study was mainly focused on construction project management in Persian Gulf and it investigates the communication problems associated with cultural diversity between UK and Persian Gulf nationals. On the basis of the conduct of the study, it is identified that the construction companies that are aiming at effectively performing the construction projects in the Persian Gulf need to pay greater attention towards cultural initiation programmes. This is mainly because; the team members of the international companies need to know Arabic in order to effectively operate within the Gulf Region.
Although, the study indicates that the English language is regarded as internationally accepted language in case of construction contracts and it is also accepted within the Gulf region, yet the project team members of the UK construction companies need to know the Arabic language in order to effectively undertake the construction projects. This is mainly because the ability of the project team members to speak Arabic increases the level of trust within business relationships in Gulf and the potential for misunderstandings and conflicts also reduces significantly (Loosemore and Muslmani, 1999).
The language problems as identified by Loosemore and Muslmani (1999) in case of international construction projects within the project team members gives rise to misunderstanding as indicated by Emmitt (2010). Migration of workers across the globe has resulted into multi-cultural workforce in construction projects and this ultimately increases the potential for miss-understandings, as everyone seeks to give their best in performing the construction work. In addition to this, the local people often show resistance towards the external forces that aims at changing their traditional systems in case of overseas construction projects. The findings by Ohara and Asada (2009) indicate that cultural barrier is regarded as a significant barrier to productive work in case of overseas construction companies. Further, to achieve effectiveness concerning the construction projects, the team members are required to maintain good communication skills, mutual trust and respect. But in case of majority of the international construction projects, the team members are from different cultural backgrounds and this leads to lower level of trust and respect among them towards each other. They seek to prove them superior as against others and the resulting impact is adverse impact over the performance of the construction projects. Thus, lack of trust and respect are regarded as the major barrier in the process of effective communication among team members in case of international construction projects (Ohara and Asada, 2009).

TABLE 2

(Resource from:communication theory http://communicationtheory.org/)

2.4.2.1 Cultural Factors Affecting Communication Styles
The role of cultural factors is significant over the effective adaptation of communication styles by project team members in construction projects. According to Cornick and Mather (1999), the teams within international construction projects comprise of members from diverse cultural backgrounds. As a result, it is quite essential that there is a higher level of awareness about the interpersonal factors in the construction project team in order to ensure the proper flow of information between members (Cornick and Mather, 1999). A study by Ochieng and Price (2010) on the management of cross cultural communication in multicultural construction project teams revealed that multiculturalism has been quite common within international construction project teams and this has posed significant challenges in the process of effective performance of communication between the culturally diversified members of the project team. As for instance, the cultural differences leads to language problems and ultimately, it created misunderstandings between the culturally diversified members. The development of mutual confidence and trust between them is also at stake from the inclusion of culturally diversified members within the teams and the resulting impact is lack of proper flow of communication between them. This causes adverse impact over the performance of the entire construction projects (Ochieng and Price, 2010).

TABLE 3

(Resource from: Lewis : http://www.crossculture.com )

TABLE 4

(Resource from: Lewis : http://www.crossculture.com )

2.4.3.1 Communication Styles Used Amongst Project Team Members
The existing literature indicates t the communication channels and techniques that are utilised in order to perform communication by the project team members within the construction industry. As for instance, a study by Gann and Salter (2000) indicates that the informal channels of communication are highly applied by project managers within the construction firms in order to exchange information effectively. The communication is mainly facilitated through job rotation, monthly and informal meetings etc (Gann and Salter, 2000). Further, as indicated by Emmitt and Gorse (2009), construction projects mainly apply a more formal communication structure as specified within the contract but the communication channels that emerged between the construction project teams is highly informal which involves sharing of information across team members through friendships and contacts between them (Emmitt and Gorse, 2009). Although, the informal communication is highly prevailed between the team members, but the construction project team comprises of various members including the project manager, architect, engineers, engineering team, quality surveyor and the quality team. The communication styles that is prevalent among all these different classes of members within the construction project includes the combination of downward, horizontal, upward and lateral communication styles as asserted by Smit and Cronje (2002).

TABLE 5

(Resource from: Communication skill : /sites.google.com)

2.4.4.1 Recommendations for Improving Communication amidst Cultural Differences
The analysis on the communication pattern within the construction project teams has revealed significant findings about the barriers to communication, the communication channels and techniques utilised and the cultural factors affecting communication. On the basis of analysis, certain recommendations are considered appropriate as indicated below:

• The language problem is identified as the major barrier in the successful exchange of information between team members and as such, it is recommended that there should be adequate provisions that need to be made in terms of providing training on standard language so that the team members can perform effective communication.
• The problem of mistrust and respect for each other is another significant barrier in the process of effective communication in case of culturally diversified teams and as such, there should be adequate provisions to continuously monitor the team members. By placing strict regulations, team members can be encourages to achieve higher level of coordination and cooperation.
• Cultural initiation programmes are identified as crucial by Loosemore and Muslmani (1999) in performing the management of culturally diversified employees and as such, it is recommended that this technique should be considered in managing the cross cultural team within the construction industry.

Table 6
The differences between formal and informal communication, (Pin-Jhen, LAI, 2013)

2.5 Conclusion
A brief analysis of the literature has revealed that the role of communication in construction project team is significant depending on the cost and time involved in performing the projects effectively within such industry. The miscommunication between the project team members would adversely impact the performance of the entire project. There are significant barriers identified in the process of effective flow of communication between the project team members in construction firms and cultural factors in the form of language differences have significant impact over the exchange of information especially in international project team. The communication techniques mostly prevalent within the construction team members is identified as highly informal and based on this, it is recommended that informal mode of training should be organised to enable culturally diversified project teams to perform effectively over the construction project.
The organizational managements on inter-cultural aspects and communication address both scope of organizational management from these academic literature and practices. From the literature of this chapter that supply many widely examples for importance and impact of cultures and communication also indict different organizational management. In the past, most researches of intercultural communication have been mentioned in Western countries, there are very few Eastern countries have been indicted such as China, Taiwan. The writer’s research tend to influences of communication in multi culture team members of construction projects which means the people from different national backgrounds work together in an international project. In a multi cultural project, the changes with international backgrounds are very common to seen as knowledge gap and language are eventually result in complex relationship in project teams.
CHAPTER 3
RESEARCH METHDOLODY
3.1 Introduction
The chapter three present the details of this research as the iteration from the literature, the collection of practical data and the analysis of data. Data has been collected from 2 semi-structured interviews with managers, architects, contractors and consultants in different companies from the construction sector. Furthermore, the writer has submitted over 50 surveys to employees of the both companies in