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Conflict Management

Conflict is inevitable because of the following reasons:

  • Requirements of many stakeholders

  • Limited power of the project manager

  • Necessity of obtaining resources from functional managers

Conflicts can be avoided by Informing the team of:

  • Exactly where the project is headed

  • Project constraints and objectives

The seven sources of conflict in the order of their frequency are:

  • Schedule

  • Project priorities

  • Resources

  • Technical opinions

  • Administrative procedures

  • Cost

  • Personality

Conflict is best resolved by those involved in the conflict.

Conflict Resolution

The key conflict resolution techniques are:

  1. Confronting (Problem Solving): Confronting means solving the real problem so that the problem goes away. Confronting leads to a win-win situation.

  2. Compromising: This is lose-lose situation, since no party gets everything. This technique involves finding solutions that bring some degree of satisfaction to both parties.

  3. Withdrawal (Avoidance): In this technique, the parties retreat or postpone a decision on a problem. Dealing with problems is a PMI-ism; therefore, withdrawal is not usually the BEST choice for resolving conflict.

  4. Smoothing (Accommodating): This technique emphasizes agreement rather than differences of opinion

  5. Collaborating: In this technique, the parties try to incorporate multiple viewpoints in order to lead to consensus

  6. Forcing: This technique involves pushing one viewpoint at the expense of another

Problem-Solving Method

Problem-solving method could include:

  • Define the root problem

  • Analyze the problem

  • Identify solutions

  • Pick solution

  • Implement solution

  • Review solution and validate improvement

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