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Kresimir Popovic
Siemens IT Solutions and Services PSE Zupanijska 21, Osijek, Croatia +385 31 234 810
Zeljko Hocenski
Institute of Automation and Process Computing Kneza Trpimira 2b, Osijek, Croatia +385 31 224 779
kresimir.popovic@siemens.com ABSTRACT
Project managers must learn to recognize the signs and symptoms of disruptive conflict. Such signs would include poor communication among team members, a lack of openness and respect, not showing appreciation, unclear requirements, change between managers and employees, broken boundaries of social norms or groups, different backgrounds (educational, economic, cultural, political, etc.). It can lower morale, decrease productivity and creativity. So much energy can be spent on dealing with conflict that there is not enough time for other important tasks. The worst cases can disintegrate into personal stress, burnout, and workplace travesties. Once conflict has reached this stage, it will require a large amount of management time in order to deal with it. This will cause an additional decrease in productivity and efficiency rates, along with the accompanying added costs, risks, and duration delays. If left unmanaged, this type of conflict can even lead to employee sabotage and sometimes workplace violence. This position paper provides insight into qualities and social role that project manager as mediator and leader must possess because sometimes team members can't resolve conflicts collectively.
zeljko.hocenski@etfos.hr
results, or conflict can be beneficially resolved and lead to quality final products. Therefore, learning to manage conflict is integral to a high-performance team. Conflict management is the principle that all conflicts cannot be resolved, but learning how to manage conflicts can decrease the odds of nonproductive escalation. Conflict management involves acquiring skills related to conflict resolution, self-awareness about conflict modes, conflict communication skills, and establishing a structure for management of conflict in your environment [1], [2], [3], [5], [6], [7], [8], [9], [10].
General Terms
Management, Human Factors
Keywords
Management, leader, conflict
3.11 Organizational
The project manager is the center of all project communications. Its his or her duty to manage project status updates through emails, telephone conferences and face-to-face meetings and put them together like pieces of a puzzle. Then the project manager must input the mix of change requests coming from stakeholders and outside business environments, then manually update the plans email the updates to team members, report the progress to the upper management and remind employees about due dates and overdue tasks. This painful process is then repeated on a daily basis, slowing down project manager and his/her team. To overcome this situation project manager must organize himself for the benefit of whole team using some specialized tools which will enable workspace sharing and global notification (one of really good tools can be found on this web page: http://www.mindjet.com).
3.4 Integrity
A proven leader has established trust and credibility in his/her organization and community. Leaders believe in themselves and success.
3.6 Motivator
Victorious leaders encourage their team to continue to work and put forth efforts in achieving the goals. Keeping the big picture (goal) in front of the team and breaking the tasks down to smaller goals will motivate individuals to remain committed and focused.
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
To expect a different result simply by asking for the same thing over and over again shifts the problem from the underperformer project manager. Questions which project manager must ask himself: a. b. c. d. e. f. g. h. Offload a small amount of work to bring the players performance back up? Shift some team members to some other role in the project to better align with their skill set? Do some team members need more supervision and adjusting their focus more frequently? Do some team members need to be removed from the project and returned to their business unit? What about potential consequences? What about potential consequences if I do not engage in the conflict? Am I in conflict? How might I Intervene to resolve/manage the conflict?
3.8 Resourceful
Unforeseen circumstances are typical part of project and team members are the vital ingredient in projects, particularly when trying to solve problems. Non-productive team members need to be encouraged to solve the problem by their selves while project manager is helping them.
without destroying the team process. Research indicates that high performing teams are capable of mediating their own conflicts while improving productivity and strengthening relationships [12]. Teams which are not so high performing need extra push by leader / mediator so that business practices, operational policies, or other areas that lead to the conflict can be evaluated.
To prevent this unacceptable behavior project manager / leader must intervene before The Blame Game and impose mediation process as mediator.
In the very end the original project leader learned a lot about the conflict management, the ways of resolving conflict and managing the teams in an efficient way, and I am happy to say, he is now a happier person, not a constantly worried guy that he used to be.
5. CONCLUSION
The role of conflict in teams is determined by the manner in which it is managed. Conflict pervades the core of team processes, and, if unaddressed it will cause project failure. The leader must use advantages of the conflict mediation process to improve business and operational practices of the team whenever possible. Conflict is a fact of life and is a part of any business. It can erode your business or help improve it. Your job as a manager is to turn it into a learning experience for the individuals in conflict, the management team, and the company as a whole. Handle conflict expediently and fairly without allowing it to derail your company's objectives and mission.
6. REFERENCES
[1] Algert, N.E. (1996) Conflict in the workplace in Proceedings: Women in Engineering Advocates Network, Denver, CO., 123127. [2] Algert, N.E., and Watson, K. (2002). Conflict management: introductions for individuals and organizations [3] Blake, R.R., and Mouton, J.S. (1964). The managerial grid. Houston: Gulf Publishing Co. [4] Gelperin D. (2008). Exploring Agile, APSO 08 [5] Johnson, D.W., and Johnson, F.P. (2000) Joining together: group theory and group skills (7th ed.), Boston, Allyn and Bacon. [6] Johnson, D.W., Johnson, R.T., Holubec, E.J. (1986). Circles of learning: cooperation in the classroom (rev. ed.), Edina, MN: Interaction Book Co. [7] Katzenbach, J.R., and Smith, D.K. (1992). Wisdom of teams, Harvard Business School Press.
[8] Lambert, J., and Myers, S. (1999) 50 Activities for conflict resolution. Amherst, MA: HR Development Press. [9] McDaniel, G., Littlejohn, S., & Domenici, K. (1998). A team conflict mediation process that really works! [10] Raudsepp, E. (2002) Hone Listening Skills To Boost Your Career [11] Smith, K.A. (2000). Project management and teamwork. New York: McGraw-Hill BEST series. [12] Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument, Consulting Psychologists Press, Palo Alto