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Project Team Building, Conflict, and Negotiation

Chapter 6

INTRODUCTION

If we must undertake projects with a project teamas our principal resource for getting the work doneand the project completed, it is vital that we learneverything possible about how to make people intoa high-performing team and how to control the

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a high-performing team and how to control theinevitable conflicts that are likely to emerge alongthe way.

Building the Project Team

Negotiate with Their Supervisor

Talk to Potential Team Members

Identify Necessary Skills

Renegotiate with Top

Identify People With Skills

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Negotiate with Their SupervisorManagement

Build Fallback PositionsAssemble the Team

Success?Success?Yes

Yes

No

No

IDENTIFY NECESSARY SKILL SET

• Realistic assessment of the skills so that team members will complement each other and perform their duties effectively.

• Imperative to ascertain the availability of skilled • Imperative to ascertain the availability of skilled human resources and their capability to add value to the project.

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IDENTIFY PEOPLE MATCHING THE SKILLS

• Assessment of the availability of personnel with the requisite skills.

i. Hire new personnel (contractor)(contractor)ii.Train current personnel.

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TALK TO POTENTIAL TEAM MEMBERS

Opening communication with likely candidates for the team and assessing their level of interest in assessing their level of interest in joining the project.

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NEGOGIATE WITH THE FUNCTIONAL SUPERVISOR

• Department managers are concerned with the smooth operations of their organizations.

• Losing a key personnel will be seen as disruptive.disruptive.

• Negotiation content includesi. How long are the team member’s services requiredii. Who should choose the person to be assigned to the

project?iii. What happens when special circumstances arise?

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BUILD IN FALLBACK POSITIONS

• Steps taken when resources are not available.i. Negotiate for partial assistanceii. Adjust project schedules and priorities

accordinglyaccordinglyiii.Notify top management of the consequences

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ASSEMBLE THE TEAM

• Develop a skills inventory matrix – identifies the skills needed for the project against the skills we have acquired.

• All project team roles and responsibilities must • All project team roles and responsibilities must be clarified, along with all project team methods, expectations, and SOPs.

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Effective Project Teams

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Effective Project Teams

�Clear Sense of Mission

�Productive Interdependency

�Cohesiveness

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�Cohesiveness

�Trust

�Enthusiasm

�Results Orientation

A CLEAR SENSE OF MISSION

• The sense of mission must be mutually understood and accepted by all team members.

• Mistake to segment the team in terms of their duties, without letting them know how they duties, without letting them know how they contribute to the overall project development effort.

• Segmentation breeds mistrust• Keep team members abreast of the status of the

project.

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A PRODUCTIVE INTERDEPENDENCY

• Refers to the degree of joint activity among team members that is required in order to successfully complete a project.

• Develop a mutual level of appreciation for the • Develop a mutual level of appreciation for the strengths and contributions that each team member brings.

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COHESIVENESS

Scenarios• My group members went their own way rather

than get together as a group during the period of the case studythe case study

• I feel my group members rarely worked together• My group members spent time together outside

the case study work

COHESIVENESS

• Refers to the degree of mutual attraction that team members hold for each other and their task.

• Manager need to make use of all resources at • Manager need to make use of all resources at their disposal, including reward systems, recognition, performance appraisals, and any other sources of organizational reward to induce team member to devote time and energy in furthering the team’s goal.

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TRUST

• Team comfort level with each individual member.

• The team’s ability and willingness to squarely address differences of opinion, values and address differences of opinion, values and attitudes and deal with them accordingly.

• Trust encourages disagreement and resolution that not base on personal attacks.

• Demonstrated by the professionalism of the project manager and the manner in which she treats all team members.

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TRUST

• Trust takes time to develop, independent on past history, and can occur n several levels, each of which is important to developing a high performing team.

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ENTHUSIASM

• Key to create energy and spirit that drives effective project efforts.

• Stem from belief that if we work toward certain goals they are attainable.goals they are attainable.

• Project manager instills enthusiasm through:- Challenging – each member of the project

perceives his role to offer the opportunity for professional or personal growth, new learning, and the ability to stretch professionally.

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• Supportive – Project team members gain a sense of team spirit and group identity that creates the feeling of uniqueness with regard to the project.

• Personally rewarding – project team members become more enthusiastic as they preceive personal benefits arising from successful completion of the project.

• Slogan of “Yes we can”

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RESULT ORIENTATION

• Project manager need to constantlyemphasizing the importance of taskperformance and project outcomes that all teammembers are united toward the sameorientation.orientation.

• “Eye on the prize” attitude.• Continually rally team members toward the

important or significant issues, allowing them toavoid squandering time and resources onperipheral problems.

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Reasons Why Teams Fail

• Poorly developed or unclear goals• Poorly defined project team roles &

interdependencies• Lack of project team motivation

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• Lack of project team motivation• Poor communication or over communication• Poor leadership• Turnover among project team members• Dysfunctional behavior

Stages in Group Development

1. Forming – members become acquainted

2. Storming – conflict begins

3. Norming – members reach agreement

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3. Norming – members reach agreement

4. Performing – members work together

5. Adjourning – group disbands

Punctuated Equilibrium is a different model

Team Development Stages

1. Forming4. Performing

ConveneAdjourn

Quiet Polite Guarded Impersonal Business-like High Morale

Trust Flexible Supportive Confident Efficient High Morale

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Productive

Organized Infighting

TestingHigh Morale

Establish procedures Develop team skills Confront issues Rebuilding morale

Conflict over control Confrontational Alienation Personal agendas Low morale

High Morale

PUNCTUATED EQUILIBRIUM

• Refer the project team development as rapid forming of operating norms at the time of the first team meeting and on the basis of limited interaction and knowledge of one another or the project mission. These norms, which are often less than optimal, tend to guide group behavior and

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often less than optimal, tend to guide group behavior and performance for a substantial period of the project’s life.

• Continue to operate as a result of these norms until some trigger event occurs, almost precisely at the halfway point between the initial meeting and the project deadline.

Lack of concrete results

“MIDLIFE CRISIS”

Caused by general dissatisfaction with the project’s progress to date, interpersonal antagonisms etc.

Revise group norms, develop better

intragroup procedures, and promote better task performance

Achieving Cross-Functional Cooperation

Cross-functional

Task Outcomes

Rules & Procedures

Superordinate Goals

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Cross-functional cooperation

Psycho-Social

Outcomes

Physical Proximity

Accessibility

SUPERORDINATE GOALS

• Overall goal or purpose that is important to all functional groups involved, but whose attainment requires the resources and efforts of more than one group.

• Place a man on the moon and return him safely to earth by the end of the decade.

• One Malaysia concept.• This overall goal attempts to enhance or pull

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RULES AND PROCEDURES

• Formalized processes established by the organization that mandate or control the activities of the project team in terms of team membership, task assignment, and performance evaluation. evaluation.

• A method for coordinating or integrating activities that involve several functional units.

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PHYSICAL PROXIMITY

• Refers to project team members’ perceptions that they are located within physical distances that make it convenient for them to interact with each other.

• Form of promoting interaction and communication.

• “War room” – regrouping of project team members into a central location.

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ACCESSIBILITY

• The perception by others that a person is approachable for communicating and interacting with on problems or concerns related to the success of a project

• E.g. an individual’s schedule, position in an organization, or out-of-office commitments

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Building High-Performing Teams

Make the project team tangible– Publicity– Terminology & language

Reward good behavior– Flexibility

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– Flexibility– Creativity– Pragmatism

Develop a personal touch– Lead by example– Positive feedback for good performance– Accessibility & consistency

Virtual Project Teams

use electronic media to link members of a geographically dispersed project team

How Can Virtual Teams Be Improved?�Use face-to-face communication when possible

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�Use face-to-face communication when possible�Don’t let team members disappear�Establish a code of conduct�Keep everyone in the communication loop�Create a process for addressing conflict

CONFLICT MANAGEMENT

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Conflict Management

Conflict is a process that begins when you

perceive that someone has frustrated or is about to frustrate a major concern of yours.

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Categories• Goal-oriented• Administrative• Interpersonal

Views• Traditional• Behavioral• Interactionist

Sources of Conflict

Organizational• Reward systems• Scarce resources• Uncertainty

Interpersonal•

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• Uncertainty• Differentiation

Interpersonal• Faulty attributions• Faulty communication• Personal grudges &

prejudices

Traditional view Contemporary view

* caused by trouble makers

* bad

* inevitable between humans

* often beneficial* bad

* should be avoided

* must be suppressed

* natural result of change

*can and should bemanaged

Conflict Resolution

�Mediate – defusion/confrontation

�Arbitrate – judgment

�Control the conflict – cool down period

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�Control the conflict – cool down period

�Accept – unmanageable

�Eliminate – transfer

Conflict is often evidence of progress!

Negotiation

a process that is predicated on a manager’s ability to use influence productively

Questions to Ask Prior to Entering a Negotiation

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Questions to Ask Prior to Entering a Negotiation1. How much power do I have?2. What sort of time pressures are there?3. Do I trust my opponent?

Principled Negotiation

1. Separate the people from the problem

2. Focus on interests, not positions

3. Invent options for mutual gain

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3. Invent options for mutual gain

4. Insist on using objective criteria

Getting to Yes – Fisher & Ury

SEPARATE THE PEOPLE FROM THE PROBLEM

• People reacts negatively to direct attack.Methods• Put yourself in their shoes• Don’t deduce their intentions from your fears• Don’t deduce their intentions from your fears• Don’t blame them for your problems• Recognise and understand emotion: theirs and

yours.• Listen actively• Build a working relationship

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FOCUS ON INTERESTS, NOT POSITIONS

• General practice is to negotiate with another party from the position level.

• Advantage of being major customer (exploiting position), e.g. to drive down cost instead of position), e.g. to drive down cost instead of focusing on long term partnership.

• However, should be Interests define problem.

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INVENT OPTIONS FOR MUTUAL GAIN

Roadblocks for manager• Managers can have premature judgment• Some managers search only for the best answer• Only have a fixed set of alternatives available.• Only have a fixed set of alternatives available.• Thinking that “solving their problem is their

problem”

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Solutions1.Positive and inclusive brainstorming – during the

earliest phase we seek to include the other party in a problem-solving session to identify in a problem-solving session to identify alternative outcomes.

2.Broadening options – study more on the other party interests.

3. Identify shared interests

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INSIST ON USING OBJECTIVE CRITERIA

• Discussion only around objective criteria.• Measurable objective• Develop fair standards and procedures.

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