PROJECT MANAGEMENT PART III

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PROJECT MANAGEMENTPART III

• TIME MANAGEMENT
• CONFLICT MANAGEMENT
• PROJECT PLANNING

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Managing Conflicts
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Project Manager - Conflict Manager

• Conflicts are a way of life in a project
  structure and can generally occur at any level of
  organization, usually as a result of conflicting
  objectives.
• The ability to handle conflicts requires an
  understanding of why they occur. The following
  four questions are helpful for handling and may
  be preventing conflicts
• What are the project objectives and can they be
  in conflict with other projects?
• Why do conflicts occur?
• How do we resolve conflicts?
• Is there any type of preliminary analysis that
  could identify possible conflicts before they
  occur?

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Project objectives

• In order to minimize risk of conflicts project
  objectives must be carefully stated. They must
  be
• Specific, not general
• Not overly complex
• Measurable, tangible, and verifiable
• Appropriate level, challenging
• Realistic and attainable
• Established with resource bounds
• Consistent with resources available or
  anticipated
• Consistent with organizational plans, policies,
  and procedures.

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Common conflict types

• Manpower resources
• Equipment and facilities
• Capital expenditures
• Costs
• Technical options and trade-offs
• Priorities
• Administrative procedures
• Scheduling
• Responsibilities
• Personality clashes

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Some situations

• Two of your functional team members appear to
  have personality clashes and almost always assume
  opposite points of view during decision making.
  They are both from he same line organization.
  Conflicts are inevitable.
• Two of your line managers continuously argue as
  to who should perform a certain test. You know
  that this situation exists, and the department
  managers are trying to work it out themselves,
  often with great pain. However, you are not sure
  for how long they will be able to resolve the
  problem themselves.
• Manufacturing says that they cannot produce the
  end-item according to engineering specifications.

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Reasons why conflicts occur

• The greater the diversity of disciplinary
  expertise among participants of a project team,
  the greater the potential for conflict to develop
  among members of the team.
• The lower he project managers degree of
  authority, reward, and punishment power over
  those individuals and organizational units
  supporting his project, the greater the potential
  for conflict to develop.
• The less the specific objectives of a project
  (cost, schedule, and technical performance) are
  understood by the project team members, the more
  likely it is that conflict will develop.
• The greater the role of ambiguity among the
  participants of a project team, the more likely
  it is that conflict will develop.

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Continued...

• The greater the agreement on subordinate goals by
  project team participants, the lower the
  potential for detrimental conflict.
• The more the members of functional areas perceive
  that the implementation of a project management
  system will adversely usurp their traditional
  roles, the greater the potential for conflict.
• The lower the percent need for independence among
  organizational units supporting a project, the
  greater the potential of dysfunctional conflict.
• The higher the managerial level within a project
  or functional area, the more likely it is that
  conflicts will be based upon deep-seated
  parochial resentments. By contrast, at the
  project or task level, it is more likely that
  cooperation will be facilitated by the task
  orientation and professionalism that a project
  requires for completion.

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Potential conflict sources

• Conflict over project priorities
• Conflict over administrative procedures
• Conflict over technical opinions and performance
  trade-offs
• Conflict over manpower resources
• Conflict over cost
• Conflict over schedules
• Personality conflict

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Conflict handling modes

• Withdrawal
• Smoothing
• Compromising
• Forcing
• Confrontation

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Project life cycle and conflict sources
Project Formation Project Built-up Main Program
Phase-out Project priorities Project
priorities Schedules Schedules Adm.
Procedures Schedules Technical
Personality Schedules Adm. Procedures Manpower
Manpower Manpower Technical Priorities
Priorities Cost Manpower Procedures
Cost Technical Personality Cost
Technical Personality Cost Personality
Procedures
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Conflict resolution

• The development of company-wide conflict
  resolution policies and procedures.
• The establishment of project conflict resolution
  procedures during the early planning activities.
• The use of hierarchical referral.
• The requirement of direct contact.

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Once a conflict occurs

• The project manager must observe certain
  preliminaries, including
• Studying the problem and collecting all available
  information
• Developing a situational approach or methodology
• Setting the appropriate atmosphere or climate.

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Conflict minimization procedures

• Pausing and thinking before reacting
• Building trust
• Trying to understand the conflict motives
• Keeping the meeting under control
• Listening to all involved parties
• Maintaining a give-and-take attitude
• Educating others tactfully on your views
• Being willing to say when you are wrong
• Not acting as a superman and leveling the
  discussions only once in a while

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Project planning
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Project planning is necessary because

• If the task is well understood prior to being
  performed, much of the work can be preplanned.
• If the task is not understood, then during the
  actual task execution more knowledge is gained
  that, in turn, leads to changes in resource
  allocations, schedules, and priorities.
• The more uncertain the task, the greater the
  amount of information that must be processed in
  order to ensure effective performance.

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Reasons for project planning

• To eliminate or reduce uncertainty
• To improve efficiency of the operation
• To obtain a better understanding of the
  objectives
• To provide a basis for monitoring and controlling
  work

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Major components of the planning phase

• Objective
• Program
• Schedule
• Budget
• Forecast
• Organization
• Policy
• Procedure
• Standard

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Strategic project planning

• Strategic project planning is a job that should
  be performed by managers, not for them.
• It is extremely important that upper-level
  management maintain a close involvement with
  project teams, especially during the planning
  phase.
• Successful strategic planning must define the
  authority, responsibility, and roles of the
  strategic planning personnel

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At the functional level planning must include

• Agreement on purpose
• Assignment and acceptance of individual
  responsibilities
• Coordination of work activities
• Increased commitment to group goals
• Lateral communications

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Project level planning must include

• Recognition and resolution of group conflict of
  goals
• Assignment and acceptance of group
  responsibilities
• Increased motivation and commitment to
  organizational goals
• Vertical and lateral communications
• Coordination of activities between groups

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Two stages of project planning

• Study Phase - the purpose is to develop and
  evaluate ways to implement the project selected
  during the conception phase. The goal is to
  produce a study that effectively directs the
  final design of a chosen project.
• Design Phase - the purpose is to develop the
  details for the working plans for the proposed
  project solution. The goal is to prepare a
  complete set of working plans for the selected
  design.

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Study phase activities

• Organize the study phase work
• Devise ground rules for study and design phases
• Study solutions to be considered for design
• Gather and evaluate information
• Select and plan one solution
• Document the selected solution
• Verify and obtain funding

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1. Organize the study phase work

• Review the conception phase effort
• Develop the study phase details
• Organize team into small groups
• Assign each group a set of tasks to investigate

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2. Devise ground rules for study and design phases
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3. Study solutions to be considered for design

• Study potential solutions
• Determine functions to be included in the
  solutions
• Determine risks and trade-offs

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4. Gather and evaluate information

• Contact potential vendors and customers for their
  input
• Evaluate design alternatives and refine estimates

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5. Select and plan one solution

• Select a solution
• Plan the design and implementation phases

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6. Document the selected solution

• Refine the task, schedule, and budget documents
• Document the proposed solution and the rationale

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7. Verify and obtain funding

• Verify actual availability of funding
• Obtain design phase funding

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Design phase activities

• Organize the design phase work
• Determine the solution to be implemented
• Document the design solution
• Prepare for implementation phase work
• Obtain implementation phase funding

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1. Organize the design phase work

• Review the study phase effort
• Develop design phase details
• Organize teams and assign design tasks

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2. Determine the solution to be implemented

• Study potential implementation solutions
• Contact vendors and customers for make-or-buy
  decisions
• Determine make-or-buy decisions

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3. Document the design solution

• Prepare the production specification
• Prepare the working and detail drawings
• Refine tasks, schedules, and budgets
• Document the design and reasons for its choice

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4. Prepare for implementation phase work

• Review the design phase results
• Verify availability of implementation phase funds
• Plan the implementation phase

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Obtain implementation phase funding