Project Management and Conflict

Conflicts occur across a variety of initiatives

Conflicts occur across a variety of initiatives and can result in unfavorable situations including lawsuits, claims, and project termination. As a result, many research give various approaches to managing project conflict that project managers might use inside of a corporation to ensure advancement. “Conflict Approaches of Effective Project Manager in the Upstream Sector of Indonesian Oil & Gas Industry” by Cahyono and Hartijasti, published in 2012, and “Interpersonal conflict and its management in information system development,” published by Barki and Hartwick in 2001, are two such studies that evaluate the styles of managing projects. In order to compare and contrast each of the several types that were discovered in the aforementioned investigations, this paper seeks to identify them. Eventually, a synopsis of each article will be included in this paper.

Styles of Handling Project Conflict

Authors Cahyono and Hartijasti (2012) and by Barki and Hartwick (2001) discuss different styles of handling project conflict. Cahyono and Hartijasti (2012) discuss such styles of handling project conflicts as avoidance style, accommodating style, competition style, collaborative style, and compromise. Similarly, Barki and Hartwick (2001) evaluate such styles of handling project conflict as problem-solving, compromising, asserting, accommodating, and avoidance. The above styles have distinctive meanings and implications according to each study as demonstrated below.

Avoidance Style

While avoidance style entails pretending that a conflict never occurred or does not exist in project management and viewed as an approach that involves shelving an issue, the collaborative style involves the conflicting team members of project(s) meeting and cooperating to research an agreement that satisfies the concerns of both parties (Barki & Hartwick, 2001). Whereas compromise approach of handling project conflict involves team members of a project bargaining to achieve a mutually acceptable solution and both parties giving up something to attain a decision and achieve some level of satisfaction, accommodating style involves a party sacrificing its goals or concerns to satisfy the goals or concerns of the other party. On the other hand forcing or competition style is similar to compromise since in both styles the outcome is a win-lose phenomenon whereby the one party has to win at the expense of the other party (Cahyono & Hartijasti, 2012).

Appropriateness of Different Conflict Styles

Avoidance style has low self-concern and low others’ concern and it appropriate for a project when stakes are low, the concerned party cannot win, and when there is need to gain time during project management (Barki & Hartwick, 2001). However, the collaborative style has high self-concern and others’ concern, and it is appropriate when the time is sufficient and different parties in a project need to win. On the other hand, compromise has both moderate concern for both self and others, and it is appropriate when stakes are moderate and different parties in a project needs to achieve their goal. Nevertheless, accommodating style has low self-concern and high others’ concern and is suitable when there are low stakes and limited liability (Cahyono & Hartijasti, 2012). Lastly, forcing style has high self-concern and low others’ concern, and it is appropriate when stakes are high and fast decision must be achieved during project management.

Synopses

Barki and Hartwick examined a model concerning how stakeholders of projects concerning Information Systems Development (ISD) observed interpersonal conflict and studied the associations between styles of conflict management, interactive conflict, and Information Systems Development (ISD) results. In the study, the interactive conflict was theorized as a situation which arises between inter-reliant stakeholders as they go through adverse emotional responses to apparent divergences alongside interruption concerning the accomplishment of relevant objectives. As such, the findings suggest that persons’ evaluation of interpersonal conflict was established based on interference, negative emotions, and disagreement. However, interdependence was never an element in their evaluation (Barki & Hartwick, 2001). On the other hand, Negative emotion was found to be a vital part of a persons’ perspective of the interpersonal conflict. While styles of conflict management were demonstrated to have positive effects on Information Systems Development (ISD) results, the negative impacts of interpersonal conflict on the results were not assuaged. Irrespective of how the conflict was handled, the research established that the influence of interpersonal conflict was supposed to be adverse. The authors concluded that conflict management and acceptable resolution of interpersonal conflict are vital. Nevertheless, avoidance of interpersonal conflict should be the greater emphasis.

Cahyono and Hartijasti, examined the model of how team members of a project associated with Oil and Gas industry perceive the usefulness of the leader in handling the project conflict. The researchers measured the conflict management styles and results of managing project conflict. The outcome of this study showed that confirmative and cooperative were the most appropriate styles which help the project manager in handling project conflict. Nonetheless, the researchers found that combination of the avoidance and competitive was an ineffective style which did not help the project manager to handle the project conflicts. Hence, the research suggested that manager needs to put into considerations such factors as portions of the parties intricate in the project conflict, time stress, as well as comparative significance of the grievances before making the right choice regarding appropriate styles of conflict management. Also, the authors suggested that the manager has to acknowledge project phase or life-cycle has its distinctive dynamics (Cahyono & Hartijasti, 2012). The authors concluded that correlation between cultural dimensions with an organization and other characteristics of team members of a project is vital in determining the most appropriate style of conflict management among project managers.

Conclusion

In conclusion, a conflict which occurs in a project is not certainly harmful when handled appropriately. Numerous benefits have been acknowledged such as enhancing personal growth and self-confidence, improving communication, and facilitating better project results. Nevertheless, conflict can lead to failure of a project if it is not managed efficiently. The challenge for managers or leaders within an organization is to attempt to sustain the precise balance and level of conflict in a project.

References

Barki, H., & Hartwick, J. (2001). Interpersonal conflict and its management in information system development. Mis Quarterly, 25(2), pp.195-228.

Cahyono, A., & Hartijasti, Y. (2012). Conflict Approaches of Effective Project Manager in the Upstream Sector of Indonesian Oil & Gas Industry. The South East Asian Journal of Management, 6(2), pp. 65-75.