Conflict Management
November 20, 2009
Classical management involves running an organization based on breaking down an organization in functional departments and allocating resources to these functional areas for the purpose of achieving organizational goals. Project management , “is the directing and controlling of a relatively short term project or systems-oriented organization with functional personnel assigned as required and established for the completion of specific goals”.
Project management institute defines project management as “the application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to project activities to meet project requirements”. According to Kerzner one of the most important functions of top management was the resolution of conflicts.
A second change has been the establishment of a project management office in strictly hierarchical structures to handle and coordinate project issues like conflict resolution etc.A third change in classical management was having detailed plans and involving everyone in the aspects of planning, budgeting and scheduling. This reduced conflicts among functional managers and ensured that there was no struggle for power among the managers.
Causes of conflict:
In organizations conflict tend to happen in different situations, some of the causes of these conflicts involve competing for resources among departments. Theses resources can be manpower especially skilled manpower, equipment and money. In classical management, managers tend to fight over these resources because whoever controls most of these resources is deemed to be more powerful, more productive and can be easily get promoted or offered bigger executive pay package.
In project management resources tend to be allocated according to projects, thus these resources are dynamic in nature as opposed to the classical management style of allocating resources. Resources are thus distributed more evenly and can easily shift if needed between projects, when conflicts arise a compromise can be easily reached and tradeoffs can be done.
Communication is another huge source of conflict, especially in classical management where communication channels are few and tightly controlled by departmental managers. Information is normally passed upwards or downwards and rarely does lateral communication occur in classical management, this can cause conflicts especially when information is distorted due to interests, prejudices or emotions. While in dynamic project management, communication channels especially lateral communication are open thus avoiding conflicts and distrust among the stakeholders and ensuring success of the projects. Communication conflicts can be handled by the project manager through force or confrontation, thus establishing proper lines and mode of communication. When it comes to project success one cannot compromise on modes and lines of communication because compromising on this issue can seriously lead to project problems at a future stage.
Conflicting objectives/interests can be another cause of conflicts especially in classical management where functional managers tend to create their little empires and approve or support issues or projects that would benefit them. Project management tends to create an environment where everyone is involved in decision making or least is present when decisions are made this help to build consensus among stakeholders and also allows for personal interests to be laid out openly and handled. In project management, a project manager can handle this type of conflict through compromise and tradeoffs between the different stakeholders.
Conclusion
Conflicts can have both positive and negative impact on productivity. When individuals conflict on how best to proceed in terms of finding a solutions to a problem then one argue that conflicts are positive, but when conflicts involve fighting over resources, objectives or personal interest then one can accurately state that such conflicts are negative in nature and can affect productivity of the project team.
Project managers need to be experienced enough to know when to step in when conflicts arise and sort out issues and when to step back and let the project teams members handle conflicts on their own.
Comments
Got something to say?
