Reflect on the assigned readings for the week.
1) Identify what you thought was the one most important concept(s), method(s), and/or specific item that you felt was worthy of your understanding from the Key Terms on page 232.
2) Discuss in detail what the term means, how it is used and other pertinent information about the selected term including a specific example, application or case study from your own experience. Be specific; not vague or general.
3) Provide a detailed discussion of why you thought this selection is important and how it relates overall to team building.
Respond to the post of at least two peers, using 100 words minimum each.
Your initial post should be based upon the assigned reading for the week, so the textbook should be a source listed in your reference section and cited within the body of the text. Other sources are not required but feel free to use them if they aid in your discussion.
Your initial post should be at least 450+ words and in APA format (including Times New Roman with font size 12 and double spaced). Post the actual body of your paper in the discussion thread then attach a Word version of the paper for APA review. Do not use lists or bullet points. This will result in substantial loss of points in the Substance section and the Requirements section.
Your initial posting should be completed by Thursday at 11:59 p.m. EST. All peer replies must be completed by Sunday at 11:59 p.m. EST.
Your posts must be substantive and demonstrate insight gained from the course material. A peer response such as “I agree with her,” or “I liked what he said about that” is not considered substantive and will not be counted for course credit. A blank post just to review other submissions will not be tolerated.
Responses:
response for Hima Reddy
The most important thing I felt worthy of understanding is the reasons behind the often failure of project teams why project teams. We should understand that there might be many reasons for a project team to fail but most of the problems can be bucketed into four categories. First is the inadequate resources which when not realistically addressed by the organizations lead their projects into trouble and these projects are in that state until the company is out of business or some new management comes in to take care off. So, in any organization management should be careful to dedicate enough resources to project otherwise it might lead to failure. One more reason we need to understand behind the reason for project failure is leadership problems. Because from my experience when a team is facing leadership problems, they lose the interest and excitement to work on the project and deliver a superior product. Next things the organization should be careful of is in setting right goals. If the management sets impossible goals for a team, in process of meeting these goals the teams might get panicked and take decisions that are counterproductive as it’s impossible to finish those goals which end up causing more damage to the project. One example I can mention from my experience is setting very short development cycles that are unrealistic. When the development cycles are short, we tend to cutoff time in requirements and design part so that we can start development quickly which is a bad start and it makes things worst because of incomplete requirements and poor designs. One more major issue that companies are facing right now is with morale. These days people are getting upset when they feel that the project is not being managed in a right way and they get frustrated because they are unable to delivery work with quality leading to performance issues. Also, one more reason project team could fail is when the objectives are unclear as this might lead to operation methods that are unclear. Without proper goals the results cannot be measured as there is no expectation to judge.so in cases no clear objectives or goals product of any quality or degree will satisfy the people. Also, we wouldn’t know when things start to drift as there are no clear objectives and might not realize until so much is wasted already. From my experience we cannot perform with maximum effort or very effectively if we don’t know the purpose of the work we are doing or how this work is going to be help in achieving the goals. Due to these unclear goal productivities of businesses and competitiveness might get affected. One cannot finish their work without knowing their goals properly as the team always try to interpret the goals in their own way and will be in a state of wonder ness. This own interpretation might lead to chaos as everyone thinks that might be the right thing to do. In order to avoid these kinds of situations it important for us to schedule meetings, initiate discussion regarding goals and get clear understating in any circumstance. Objective and requirement should be identified and be ensured that the team is in sync with the stakeholders. We often listen to stories where what is customer want and what the delivered product is completely different as the objectives and goals are not properly understood. So, as a project manager its very import to be clear on goals as its one of the critical success factors. Also, without proper goals you would not be able to monitor or measure as we don’t know what to monitor. Although team members are working hard and putting long hours, customer might not be happy as the deliverables don’t meet their desired outcome and might get dissatisfied.
One more important thing everyone should know is the importance of negotiation skills in project management because there will be many situations where the successful delivery of the project heavily depends on the managers ability to negotiate. Through good negotiation kills you can find a scenario which could help the client and your company to achieve a positive win. So good negotiating skills help in opening door to supportive stake holders and creates better relationships with clients and a positive working environment where everyone feels good about the engagements.
References:
ESI International (2005, February) Rapid Assessment and Recovery of Troubled Projects, a 3-day course taught as part of the ESI Project Management curriculum.
Fleming, Q. W. & Koppelman, J. M. (2005) Earned Value Project Management, 3rd edition, Newtown Square, PA: PMI Press.
response for Jitendra
Conflict is a process whereby one side perceives that self-interests are adversely influenced by another party’s actions (Wall & Callister, 1995). When one person or group of people starting to think or see that the other person or group of people opposing their actions, then the process of conflict starts (Tabassi, Abdullah & Bryde, 2019). In any organization, conflict is widespread in project teams. Interpersonal conflict occurs with personality differences between project team members, and this could be the reason for different work ethics, behavioral styles, egos, and different personalities (Pinto, 2019. p.222). Traditionally, conflict is considered bad things, and so, people think it harms the organization. While behavioral theorists see conflict differently. They tend to believe that conflict is natural, and it is due to the different attitudes of individuals.
The project manager should have that leadership ability to handle interpersonal conflict as it can be very challenging and fail to manage can fail the project. There are several causes of interpersonal conflict. One of them is faulty attributions, which are misconceptions about the reason behind someone’s behavior. People start to believe that someone has taken some actions based on personal motives. The second cause is faulty communication. Communication is an essential part of life, and it is very much important when you are working in a team. Fail to discussion properly can lead to different interpretations and understanding and sometimes annoying. Third cause is personal grudges and prejudices. In a project team, everyone is coming with their attitude, and sometimes unknowingly, we are affecting another person’s perspective. This can be based on race, sex, or functional department.
I work as an Helpant project manager, and I have seen my project manager deal with this kind of conflict. I am a member of team consists of 14 people, including IT architecture, Developers, Business analysts, QA tester. So, being a part of the big team often leads my project manager into a situation where he needs to manage this conflict and to continue the project. Sometimes we have noticed that the main reason for the conflict is how they behave in the team and difference in approach to work. When the team is not open enough to talk about issues and handle it taking the best approach, then conflict begins.
In many cases, teammates don’t just want to accept the other teammate’s point of view, and this leads to misconception. Competition is one of thing we find it reasonable for interpersonal conflict. In the competition to provide the best solution to the problem, teammates usually stop talking, sharing ideas, brainstorming, and thus this leads to a lack of communication.
It is obvious that every individual is different, and they bring their own cultures, attitudes, beliefs. If they feel that someone is undermining their beliefs, then a process of conflict begins. I remember one incident where we needed to come up with the best way possible to treat our clients and provide them the best service they deserve. The project manager had two possible options to choose from, and the person whose idea got rejected, he still feels that another person’s idea was selected because of some other factor. We have never seen those two people getting alone as they have this personal grudge for each other. There are also ways project managers can find a way to resolve this conflict or at least make it less effective. Project manager can talk to both parties directly and find a solution, or he can make a decision after understanding both parties. In some cases, you have to accept the conflicts in such cases where it is personal.
Reference
Pinto, J. K. (2019). Project Management: Achieving Competitive Advantage. Boston: Pearson.
Wall, J. A., & Callister, R. R.(1995). Conflict and its management. Journal of Management, 21(3), 515-558
Tabassi, A. A., Abdullah, A., & Bryde, D. J. (2019). Conflict Management, Team Coordination, and Performance Within Multicultural Temporary Projects: Evidence from the Construction Industry. Project Management Journal, 50(1), 101–114. DOI: 10.1177/8756972818818257
