Even the best-laid plans in project management will run into conflicts in several areas, such as conflicts in schedules, personalities, and costs. The best project managers expect, even thrive on, these conflicts because these can be used toward the betterment of the team and the project itself, if and when these are harnessed for their positive aspects. Otherwise, these conflicts can result in the project’s cessation, such as in the case of personality conflicts between the project manager and his team members.

You, as the project manager, have the primary responsibility for identifying the conflicts, including discovering root causes, gathering the team for options, and implementing the best solutions as well as lessening the risks for conflicts derailing the project.

Types of Conflict

Project management brings together several elements including people, places and money, one or all of which can result in conflicts. Obviously, people are the primary element in all aspects of conflict management from identification to resolution, thus, emphasizing the importance of a project manager’s strong leadership skills.

The types of conflict that can occur in project management are:

Schedule Conflicts

The team members may have scheduling conflicts brought on by many factors, such as their involvement in several projects at once, their multiplicity of roles and responsibilities within the team, or even their conflicts between their personal and professional time.

Tip: Use technology, such as scheduling apps, to set the team’s schedules including regular meetings and status updates. Choose a set day, time and place where everybody should have an open schedule for the team. Keep the lines of communication open for any concerns requiring immediate attention.

Priority Conflicts

Effective and efficient project management usually means meeting strict deadlines and achieving set goals. But because each team member has distinct roles and responsibilities, their priorities in relation to the project will also be different – and therein lies yet another source for conflicts. For example, the engineers will likely prioritise meeting the project’s percentage of completion in relation to the timeline, while the accountants will focus on staying within the budget.

Tip: Set a meeting for all team members so that each side can discuss their priorities in relation to the project. Each side will then have a greater understanding of the others’ priorities, thus, lessening the risks for conflicts that can derail the project.

Manpower Conflicts

These are usually related to the insufficient number of people involved on the project. With too few people on board, the team members will have too much on their hands (i.e., too many tasks and activities to handle) – and the project eventually suffers from the members’ stress, tension and burnout.

Tip: Hire temporary workers for the administrative tasks to ease the workload on the regular workers whose roles and responsibilities are crucial to project completion.

Cost Conflicts

Because funding is often limited, conflicts can also arise from cost-related matters. In most instances, the conflicts arise from the actual costs going over the estimated costs, despite the best efforts of everybody on the team to stay within the budget.

Tip: Start with a more realistic budget. Monitor the expenses and make appropriate actions when the estimates are being overrun. Ask everybody on the team to be more cost-conscious without compromising the common goal.

Personality Conflicts

There are also the risk of personality conflicts, which are more likely to be common in team members who have not previously worked with each other (i.e., adjustment period). Each team member will have their own personality quirks that can affect their professional performance, not to mention that most of the experienced team members are more likely to have strong personalities.

Tip: Communicate with the team members in a way that encourages them to overcome their personality differences for the good of the team, the project and their careers. Encourage camaraderie among the team members, such as with after-hours bonding sessions.

Indeed, conflicts are par for the course in project management. The trick is in harnessing the potential of conflicts in promoting the team’s shared purpose, namely, the accomplishment of the project’s goals within the schedule and budget.

Approaches in Conflict Resolution

It must be noted that the cycle of conflict is just that – a cycle that will repeat unless, and until an effective resolution can be made. The cycle is fuelled by many factors, such as the sense of being wronged among the people involved.

You, as the project manager, can break the cycle of conflict at two critical places, namely, the beliefs and response stages. Think of these stages as the gateways wherein the destructive attitudes and behaviours among the people involved in the conflict can be stopped – or at the very least, stopped so that these do not affect the team’s overall performance.

At the beliefs stage, the conflict can be resolved by understanding the beliefs and attitudes of the people involved. Think of it as understanding the parties’ points of view, coming to a resolution before the conflict gets out of hand, and making compromises among the parties to respect their differences in perspectives.

At the response stage, the conflict can be resolved by using the principles of cooperation and compromise among the parties involved. This requires people to become more active in conflict resolution before said conflict becomes the cause for the project’s derailment.

As a project manager, you have several approaches to conflict resolution including:

Avoidance. Ignore the conflict as it may be minor and, thus, it can be addressed at a later time.

Accommodation. Agreement to the positions of others to create harmony.

Compromise. Search for a mutually acceptable solution.

Competition. Take advantage of the weakness among the opposition.

Collaboration. Ask all team members to get involved in conflict management from identification to resolution.

Keep in mind that there is no single best approach to conflict resolution. You should assess the conflict and then decide the best approach for the situation.

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