Project Team Building, Conflict, and Negotiation

1. Project Team Building, Conflict, and Negotiation Chapter 6

2. 1- Building the project team

3. Building the team

4. Building the team

5. Building the team

6. 2- Effective Project Teams • Clear Sense of Mission: the mission should be mutually understood and accepted by all team members. • Productive Interdependency: it refers to the degree of joint activity among team members required in order to complete a project. The concept of differentiation suggests that each individual brings preconceived notions to the team. The interdependencies refers to the degree of knowledge of the team interrelated efforts.

7. Effective Project Teams • Cohesiveness: refers to the degree of mutual attraction that team members hold for one another and their task. • Trust: for PM, trust refers to theteam’s comfort level with each individual member. Given the comfort level, trust is manifested in the team’s ability and willingness to squarely address differences of opinion, values and attitudes and deal with them accordingly.

8. Effective Project Teams • Enthusiasm: it is the catalyst for directing positive, high energy toward project. It creates energy that drive effective project efforts. It creates an environment that is: • Challenging: it offers the opportunity of personal growth, new learning and the ability to stretch professionally. • Supportive: PM members gain a sense of team spirit and group identity : communication, problem solving… • Personally rewarding: PM become more enthusiastic as they perceive personal benefits arising from project completion. • Results Orientation: outcomes are related toward the same orientation.

9. 3- Reasons why teams fail

10. 3- Reasons Why Teams Fail 1- Poorly developed or unclear goals • Unclear goals permit multiple interpretations. • Unclear goals impede the willingness of team members to work together, • Unclear goals increase conflict. 2- Poorly defined project team roles& interdependencies. • Interdependencies: is a state where team members’ activities coordinate with and complement other team members’ work. • Unawareness of interdependencies leads to lose time.

11. 3- Reasons Why Teams Fail 3- Lack of project team motivation • The project is perceived as unnecessary. • The project may have low priority. 4- Poor communication • Could be caused by: different orientations or background, , uncertainty about the project structure and interdependencies… • Resolving poor communication by: standard information sharing, a frank atmosphere, and open exchanges.

12. 3- Reasons Why Teams Fail 5- Poor leadership • Refer to chapter 4. 6-Turnover among project team members • The higher the turnover among project team members, the more it disrupts the project manager’s ability to create project team cohesion. • The continual act of adding and removing personnel to project teams causes problems with team learning and functionning. • New team members need time to get caught up with the project.

13. 3- Reasons Why Teams Fail 7-Dysfunctional behavior • It refers to disruptive acts of some project team members due to: personality issues, hidden agendas or interpersonal problems. • The solution calls for recognizing the members involved and taking corrective steps. • A serious case may require to remove the concerned team member.

14. 4- Stages in Group Development • The process of group development is a dynamic one. • Groups go through several maturation stages that are identifiable. • The stages are: forming, storming, norming, performing and adjourning.

15. 4- Stages in Group Development • Forming – members become acquainted • Members get to know one another to mold into a coherent project team. • They lay the basis for project and ground rules: standards of behavior, communication channel… • Storming – conflict begins • Conflict begins because team members begin to resist authority. • Some hidden agendas, attempt to rewrite team rules.

16. 4- Stages in Group Development 3. Norming– members reach agreement • Norm is an unwritten rule of behavior. • Members agree on operating procedures and seek to work together and develop closer relationships. • Members will commit to the project development process. 4. Performing – members work together to accomplish their tasks.

17. 4- Stages in Group Development 5. Adjourning– group disbands • Teams do not last forever. • At the completion of the project, team members will disband to return to their functional duties in the organization. • Members will commit to the project development process.

18. 4- Stages in Group Development Ponctuated Equilibrium– Connie Gersick developed a model for project team development. She suggests that: • Most teams develop a set of operating norms very quickly. • These norms tend to guide group behavior and performance for the project’s life. • Group will 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. • The trigger may be: dissatisfaction with the project progress, interpersonal antagonisms or other external force

19. Ponctuated Equilibrium–

20. Team Development Stages Adjourn Convene 4. Performing 1. Forming Trust Flexible Supportive Confident Efficient High Morale Quiet Polite Guarded Impersonal Business-like High Morale Inclusion Productivity Productive Testing Organized Infighting Conflict over control Confrontational Alienation Personal agendas Low morale Establish procedures Develop team skills Confront issues Rebuild morale Control Cooperation 2. Storming 3. Norming

21. Task Outcomes Superordinate Goals Rules & Procedures Cross-functional cooperation Physical Proximity Psycho-Social Outcomes Accessibility 5- Achieving Cross-Functional Cooperation

22. 5- Achieving cross-functional coordination • Superordinate goals – • It can be “ to develop a high-quality, user friendly, and generally useful system that will enhance the operations of various departments and functions. • It provides a central objective and an overriding goal. • Rules and procedures • They are essential because they offer a means for coordinating or integrating activities that involve several units. • Project-specific rules and procedures facilitate its operations.

23. 5- Achieving cross-functional coordination 3. Physical proximity • Team members should be located within a physical spatial distances that make it convenient to them to interact. • The more the team members are close, the more is their cooperation and coordination. 4. Accessibility • It is the perception that a person is approachable for communicating and interacting with problems for project success. • Inaccessibility occurs because of different work schedules, varied duties and priorities, and commitment to other agendas.

24. 5- Achieving cross-functional coordination 5. Outcomes of cooperation • Tasks outcomes: refer to the factors involved in the the actual implementation of the project: time, schedule and project functionality. • Psychosocial outcomes: represent the team member’s assessment that the project experience was worthwhile, satisfying and productive.

25. Building High-Performing Teams:3 practical steps PM can take to build high-performing teams: 1st step: Make the project team tangible • Publicity • Terminology & language 2nd step: Reward good behavior • Flexibility • Creativity • Pragmatism 3rd step: Develop a personal touch • Lead by example • Positive feedback for good performance • Accessibility & consistency

26. 6- 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 • Don’t let team members disappear (get together via videoconferencing, e-mail and internet connections) • Establish a code of conduct: get an agreement on types of information that need to be shared. • Keep everyone in the communication loop: awareness to keep the communication channels open. • Create a process for addressing conflict: PM should create a set of guidelines for allowing free expression or disagreement among team members.

27. 7- Conflict Management Conflictis a process that begins when you perceive that someone has frustrated or is about to frustrate a major concern of yours. • Categories • Goal-oriented • Administrative • Interpersonal • Views • Traditional • Behavioral • Interactionist

28. 7- Conflict Management Conflictis a process that begins when you perceive that someone has frustrated or is about to frustrate a major concern of yours. • Most types of conflict fit within 3 categories: • Goal-oriented conflict: • associated with disagreements regarding results, scope outcomes, performance specifications,… • It result from a poor or vague or incomplete perception of the goals that may allow the team members to make their own interpretations. • Administrative conflict: • Arises through management hierarchy, organizational structure or philosophy (authority and decisions). • Interpersonal conflict: • Arises from personality differences. • It includes work ethics, behavioral styles, egos….

29. Sources of Conflict Organizational • Reward systems • Scarce resources • Uncertainty • Differentiation • Interpersonal • Faulty attributions • Faulty communication • Personal grudges & prejudices

30. Conflict Resolution • Mediate – PM uses defusion or confrontation to find a solution. • Defusion: PM is less concerned with the source of conflict than with a mutually accepted solution. • Confrontation: involves working with both parties to get at the root causes of the conflict. • Arbitrate – PM must be willing to impose a judgment on the warring parties. After listening to both parties, the PM renders his decision which focuses on the judgment itself. Ex: wrong, right….

31. Conflict Resolution • Control – Not all problems can be resolved. In some cases, pragmatic response to conflict might give a cool down period. It is not a cowardly response, but a selective way to choose the best manner PM should intervene . • Accept – some conflicts are unmanageable . We just live the conflict as it is. • Eliminate –Sometimes the guilty member(s) should be transfer red to stop the reason while of the conflict. Conflict is often evidence of progress!

32. 8- Negotiation a process that is predicated on a manager’s ability to use influence productively Questions to Ask Prior to Entering a Negotiation • How much power do I have? • What sort oftime pressures are there? • Do I trust my opponent?

33. Principled Negotiation • Separate the people from the problem • Focus on interests, not positions • Invent options for mutual gain • Insist on using objective criteria Getting to Yes – Fisher & Ury