Culture Clash! How Culture Trips Up Engineering Collaborations—and How to Fix It

Every engineering company (private, public, governmental, or academic) has its own culture(s). And when multiple players collaborate on complex space projects, cultural differences come along for the ride. Since many engineers still view culture discussions as hand-wavey and/or imprecise, let’s ask exactly what we mean by "culture" in the context of engineering? Which cultural factors trip up collaborations, no matter how well-meaning the participants are, and what can teams do about it? This paper draws on sociology and intercultural studies to identify four cultural factors that matter to technical teams—even when those teams are all based in one country. It shows how these cultural dimensions impact engineering teams’ information-sharing, communications, decision-making, and risk management. When groups come together, clashes can produce technical confusion, attribution errors, and increased risk. A case study of intercultural training among two U.S. institutions on NASA’s Europa Clipper mission demonstrates how teams can learn to communicate more effectively across divides and find joint solutions to technical issues. With precision, attention, and training, understanding of cultural factors in engineering communication can improve our collaboration experience and success across the aerospace sector.