-
When Reality Hits - Project Managers Roll With It
February 11, 2012
-
When IT Is Your Company’s “Piggy Bank”
February 10, 2012
-
4 Key Things a Project Manager Must Do
February 10, 2012
-
Essential Project Management
February 10, 2012
-
8 Traits of Top Project Managers - Part 1
February 9, 2012
-
Agile Project Management - Engaging Your Customer!
February 9, 2012
-
9 Tips to Avoid Traps in Project Planning
February 9, 2012
-
Why Projects Succeed - Executive Sponsorship
February 8, 2012
-
On Customer Participation in Agile Projects
February 8, 2012
-
A Project Charter for Lazy Teams
February 8, 2012
Project Controlling And Monitoring - Resolving Project Conflicts
November 19, 2008 | Author: PM Hut | Filed under: Conflict Management, People Issues, Project Management for Beginners
Project Controlling And Monitoring - Resolving Project Conflicts (#17 in the Hut A Quick Guide to Project Management)
By Manjeet Singh
Conflicts are inevitable when people (especially from different backgrounds) work together on a project. Conflicts in projects typically fall into the following categories:
- Conflict over different objectives and expectations.
- Unclear roles and uncertainty about who has the decision-making authority.
- Interpersonal conflicts between people.
Here is a method known as the “win-win” approach to conflict resolution:
- Before you start resolving a conflict, analyze it by asking questions from the conflicting parties.
- Once you have sufficient information about the conflict, actively seek common ground in order to emphasize the agreement side of things – this starts the conflict resolution process on a positive note.
- Now ask the conflicting parties to brainstorm possible solutions to the issues at hand.
- Once you have identified resolutions, agree upon guidelines on how to implement these resolutions.
- Document and then implement the resolutions.
The “win-win” conflict resolution method is generally accepted as being as being a fair one as it allows the conflicting parties to be heard and involves them in working together to find a solution to the conflict. However, the “win-win” method does not always work. In this case, you should agree with the conflicting parties that the conflict is unresolved. You can now adopt one of the following approaches:
- If the conflict is of a technical nature, bring in a technical expert whose opinion the conflicting parties value, and ask him or her to help resolve the conflict.
- If the conflict is not of a technical nature, involve the project sponsor or a senior manager to help you out. This method however, should only be used when all other methods have failed – people do not like being forced by supervisors to do something they do not feel comfortable with.
Also, note that if properly managed, certain conflicts can be actually good for your team as they may generate new, more effective ways of accomplishing activities. Careful however, when dealing with a multicultural team as conflicts are not perceived the same way in Germany, France, the UK, the US, India or China. Whenever conflicts arise, always keep the goal of your project in mind and try to resolve them as quickly as possible.
Next in the Hut A Quick Guide to Project Management:
Project Controlling And Monitoring - Resolving Project Problems
Previously in the Hut A Quick Guide to Project Management:
Project Controlling And Monitoring - Review Meetings
Manjeet Singh has over 17 years of experience acquired in a wide variety of industries with a focus on project and program management at Software Makers and Global IT Services companies throughout the world. Manjeet has an Executive MBA from the HEC Management School, and is the author of the website www.projectminds.com that provides a free guide to project management, and offers other project management-related resources.
Related Articles
No comments yet.
feel free to leave a comment
Comment Guidelines: Basic XHTML is allowed (a href, strong, em, code). All line breaks and paragraphs are automatically generated. Off-topic or inappropriate comments will be edited or deleted. Email addresses will never be published. Keep it PG-13 people!
XHTML: You can use these tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>
All fields marked with " * " are required.
- Agile Project Management
- Ask the Hut
- Certification
- Change Management
- Communications Management
- Computer Based Information Systems
- Concepts
- Corporate Transformation
- Cost Management
- Critical Chain Project Management
- Delegation
- History
- HR Management
- Implementing Project Management
- Integration Management
- Lessons Learned
- Management
- Miscellaneous
- People Issues
- PMBOK
- PRINCE2
- Procurement Management
- Program Management
- Project Lifecycle Phases
- Project Management Advantages
- Project Management Advantages
- Project Management as a Career
- Project Management Best Practices
- Project Management Charts
- Project Management Definitions
- Project Management Ethics
- Project Management for Beginners
- Project Management Guides
- Project Management Musings
- Project Management Office
- Project Management Proposals
- Project Management Templates
- Project Portfolio Management
- Project Workforce Management
- Quality Management
- Requirements Management
- Risk Management
- Scheduling
- Scope Management
- SCRUM
- Soft Management
- Time Management
- Training
- Uncategorized