Often times when rectifying an issue as a project manager. You will often find that the solution of the issue is it’s highlight or focal point. It is not to say that solving problems is inherently inefficient, in fact, in Kerzner’s book he explains that the project manager’s modus operandi is the battle of crises and extinguishment of fires in the workplace. The issue lies in its method and more specifically its understanding.
The important of understanding conflict
Multi-national billion dollar corporations are reported to spend a record breaking 44.5 billion dollars on market research this year. This number is staggering and is seconded only to the amount in which corporations spend on advertising, almost 103 billion dollars. Analyzing why companies spend half of the money they plan to spend on advertising on market research leads to a simple conclusion. Effectiveness, it is inefficient to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on a “lead” which may prove wasteful in the future. Market research spending hopes to quell this wastefulness with intention and testing before the ads are deployed. This allows them to know how they can most effectively impact their market with certainty. Project managers have a lot to learn from this concept in regards to conflict. Often times rushing to solve a problem without doing the proper “market research” can lead you to solving symptoms of a large issue rather than the root issue itself. It is paramount that we take the time to fully comprehend the issue and its variables, as well as the possible repercussions and future issues our solution may create before putting band-aids over wounds.
Understanding Project Objectives
One such common issue that can create conflict and regularly plagues projects is the understanding of project objectives. When divvying up work to be done for large projects, it can be easy to misunderstand the final product. At the core of a team that functions effectively is a mutual understanding of the ending product and how the importance of each role taking part of it. At the core of an improperly functioning team is a fundamental misunderstanding of roles and their importance. For example, if you are building a small part of a large piece of enterprise software and given the role of creating a text parser. The immediate ease of the task might influence your design of it for the worse, a project manager should be able to anticipate lower morale and roles that may not be perceived as “important” and make the be opposite be known. Compare this with an employee who is given a slightly larger piece that will connect with yours, it is likely that the worker given the smaller piece will be left feeling undervalued in comparison to this other employee.
Understanding the Conflict Environment
It is often beneficial to consider the current circumstances before casting judgement. As project due dates loom closer and manpower and morale may be decreasing and pressure from management increases. It can be easy to confuse an issue with circumstance as a larger deep rooted issue. Statistically, work environments in traditional office settings are more likely to experience conflicts between co-workers and especially management. Stress from workers can affect other workers which will inevitably affect some portion of the final product. Whether it be resources used, the quality of the product, and more often that not, the due date. Issues that arise naturally during stressful seasons and environments should not be treated in the same way as regular issues. However, this is often the case and work places operated like this can create company cultures that drain life and productivity to workers rather than the obvious as Kerzner mentions.
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