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TwentyEighty Strategy ExecutionArlington, VA USA

Module 1Leadership and Management

Introduction

Module OverviewIn this Reference Manual, you will find a reference section for each course module. This text is intended to provide you with a quick reference guide to the fundamentals and concepts of project leadership, management, and communications. It addresses leadership styles and philosophies and how to apply them to project management. It introduces the concepts of leading teams and follows with a progression through the related concepts of communication styles and interpersonal relationships, conflict management and resolution, and negotiation skills. In summary, these reference sections should improve your project management skills by increasing your ability to understand project team members and stakeholders, to communicate effectively with them, and to lead them to successful project outcomes.

This module introduces the fundamentals of leading others in today’s corporate culture.

Leadership and Management

OverviewAlthough we refer to the concept of project management, an effective project manager must be able to exercise strong leadership skills because of the unique challenges associated with leading project teams. Although leadership and management are related terms, they are not the same thing. Various styles of leadership exist, and the effectiveness of each style depends on the proper evaluation of the situation and needs of individual team members.

What Is Leadership?

LeadershipLeadership requires a wide variety of abilities. To be an effective leader in today’s world, you must be able to define a vision of what you want your organization to be and accomplish. When

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defining your vision, you should include those people who are expected to buy in to it. For example, you can commission a representative team and ask for input from the members’ respective constituencies.

Leaders are responsible for managing their own programs or groups of projects by establishing limits on what will be done, who will do it, and how long it will take. These limits must be established to support overall organizational goals. The projects must be prioritized so that scarce resources are concentrated efficiently.

An effective leader is expected to be a coach. The leader must recognize when the staff assigned to a project lacks the skills that are necessary to function effectively and must be able to assist the staff in developing those skills on the job.

Leaders today are expected to motivate and encourage their people instead of mandating performance. This quality can inspire loyalty to the task, to project goals, and to the leader. As a result, the project leader can bring out the best in team members. Obtaining optimal performance from team members helps to ensure a successful project and is in the best interest of the project leader. It also serves the entire team’s interests, as well as the customer’s interest.

Even if each team member operates at full potential, synergy may still be missing, that is, people may not be working together and focusing on a common goal: the project. In a synergistic team, the whole team becomes more than the sum of its parts and the difference gained is team spirit. That spirit is the “glue” that holds the team together and maintaining that spirit requires diligent leadership.

Finally, all projects (whether they are performed for internal or external customers) have conflicting priorities, which is particularly true when many projects vie for scarce resources. Effective leaders must anticipate conflicts and avoid or resolve them before they jeopardize project outcomes.

Leadership Theory and Research

A History of Leadership Theory and ResearchOver the last century, leadership theory has evolved from simple trait theories to more complex situational, transactional, and transformational theories. Some of those theories are—

Trait theories, which attempted to define personality traits exhibited by leaders, but not by nonleaders. Trait theories were popular until the 1940s, but researchers were unable to discover a set of personality traits that could be consistently applied to effective leaders.Behavioral theories, which assumed that leadership could be learned and examined behaviors that differentiate leaders from nonleaders. From the1940s through the 1960s, studies conducted at the University of Iowa, Ohio State, and the University of Michigan explored leadership behavior and style, culminating in the Blake and Mouton Managerial


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Grid (a two-dimensional portrayal of leadership style based on concerns for people and for production).Situational, or contingency, theories took behavioral models a step further in an attempt to identify key situational variables to leadership effectiveness. Some of the key situational theories are the Fiedler model, Hershey and Blanchard’s Situational Leadership™ model, House’s path-goal theory, and Vroom and Yetton’s leader-participation model. Although the situational models vary considerably in their complexity, they all recognize three key elements in any leadership situation: leadership style, team members (and how the leader interacts with them), and the specifics of the situation.In recent years, leadership theory has moved away from complex models to focus more on different types of leaders and their ability to communicate vision and inspire others. Some emerging approaches to leadership include—

Attribution leadership, which proposes that leadership is simply an attribution others make about certain individuals.Charismatic leadership, which suggests that certain personal characteristics, including confidence, dominance, and conviction, inspire others. Moreover, these charismatic behaviors can be learned.Transactional leadership, in which leaders guide and motivate followers to achieve goals by clarifying role and task requirements.Transformational leadership, in which charismatic leaders inspire others to achieve goals by providing individualized consideration and intellectual stimulation.

Role of Leadership in Today’s Business Environment

Role of Leadership in Today’s Business EnvironmentCommunication and information sharing are vital to the success of both programs and projects. Leaders must set the tone for continuous communication between project team members and stakeholders, as well as facilitate communication and the exchange of information among customers, suppliers, and team members in the project setting. This communication and information exchange starts with engaging team members and stakeholders in the process of defining the project’s vision and mission.

Synergistic teams tend to think “outside the box” and can be very creative. However, for teams that have not reached synergy (and some never do), brainstorming may yield ideas for innovative solutions. A good leader will apply whichever approach is appropriate to each particular team.

The leader should explain early that team members are expected to participate fully. For project teams composed of very specialized subject matter experts (SMEs), this is not usually a problem. For teams working on production matters, however, it often can be an issue. The leader or project manager should make it clear that team members must be proactive, take



risks, and make decisions. Ideally, the team as a whole should self-manage and self-facilitate to take some pressure off the project manager, helps to gain commitment and buy-in from the team, and helps to ensure project success.

Leadership ParadigmsAccording to the old school of thought on leadership and management, the manager’s job is to exert control to accomplish things by using positional or expert power and authority. The manager in all of us wants to look at the here and now and get things done today. This view sometimes mortgages the future for the sake of short-term gains. Management in the form of immediate supervision is paternalistic. Good behavior is rewarded with verbal accolades. Bad behavior is punished or corrected.

According to traditional theory, managers can be leaders, but leadership is only one aspect of their function. Some people can become excellent managers but not strong leaders; others can have great leadership potential but lack managerial skills. Projects, however, need both leadership and management, and the project manager must possess both skills, which makes the current view of leadership and management more relevant to the project environment.

The contemporary view of leadership and management is quite different from the traditional view and is based on a new paradigm that emphasizes the complementary relationship between leadership and management. In the evolving leadership model, the emphasis is on teamwork and getting things done through collaborative effort. The team leader, or anyone in a position of leadership, is expected to be a team player. The leader, therefore, fosters an active approach to preventing and solving problems on the part of project team members, which helps to increase their overall value to the team.

According to this theory, leadership entails more than power and authority; it involves exerting influence to get things done. Leaders give purpose to the collective effort and make sense of what people are doing together. Ultimately, leadership is about articulating visions, embodying values, and creating the environment within which goals can be accomplished.

Management Versus LeadershipProjects need people who can both manage and lead effectively and who know when to do each. If you want to be a successful project manager, you must play the dual roles of “manager” and “leader.” Many differences exist between the two.

Managers administer the project by organizing, monitoring, and distributing project deliverables. Leaders recognize the need for administration but look for ways to innovate for more efficiency. The manager must not become bogged down in procedures. The leader must motivate team members and gain their commitment.

Managers tend to use resources as they are and maintain needed resources. Leaders assess resource capability and look for ways to develop resources to increase their capability.

Managers exert control to get things done using positional or expert power and authority. Leaders inspire trust and commitment in their project teams to accomplish goals. The leadership



perspective helps to foster active participation on the part of project team members, thus increasing their overall value to the team.

The manager wants to look at the here and now and get things done today. In isolation, this view may mortgage the future for the sake of short-term gains. Leaders, however, tend to look at things from a long-term perspective, ensuring that today’s actions do not cause problems in the future.

Managers ask, “When can you have this done?” and “How will you get this done?” Leaders ask, “Why are we doing this? Is this action best for the successful outcome of the project, or are we doing this action ‘because it’s always been done this way?’” Leaders are not afraid to challenge the status quo.

In summary, managers tend to focus on immediate, short-term results and consider people as resources with capabilities that give them the means to an end. Leaders, on the other hand, concentrate on long-term consequences. They see people as dynamic and capable of being developed into resources that can deliver far more than their current capabilities may indicate. Because projects need both leadership and management, the successful project manager must be able to use either skill set at the appropriate time. Usually, a person is naturally a leader or a manager in his or her approach to projects, but the effective project manager will be able to assume both roles.

Leadership Defined

Defining LeadershipWard (p. 241) defines leadership as the “[u]se of influence to direct the activities of others toward the accomplishment of some objective.” In addition, John Kotter in A Force for Change, outlines three key leadership areas in his book:

Establishing direction, which involves developing a vision of the future and strategies for achieving that vision. This leadership skill corresponds to the management competency, planning. Establishing direction creates the long-term vision (3 to 20 years) and strategies for achieving it (1 to 5 years), while planning creates the plans necessary for realistic implementation.Aligning people involves communicating the vision to all those people whose help may be needed to achieve it. This leadership skill corresponds to the management competency, organization and staffing. Aligning people is a communication challenge that gets people to understand and believe in the vision, while organization and staffing is a design process that fits people to the plan in the best way to ensure successful implementation.Motivating and inspiring involves energizing people to overcome barriers to change. This leadership skill corresponds to the management competency, monitoring and control. Motivating and inspiring energizes people to overcome obstacles to change, while monitoring and control helps minimize deviation on a project to help produce predictable results and achieve project goals.



Leadership Competencies

CompetenciesAlthough there is no identifiable set of traits that define an effective leader, nine key competencies help to set the foundation for successful leadership. They are—

Setting direction. Today’s leaders are responsible for defining a vision of what they want their organization to be and accomplish. Setting a vision should include those who are expected to buy in to it. For example, a representative team can be commissioned and its members asked to provide input from their respective constituencies. A chairperson or high-level body may sometimes write the vision statement.

Aligning people. The ability to establish trust and communicate the vision will help sell that vision to the people needed to help achieve it. An effective leader can give people a strong sense of where they are going and why. Even if each team member operates at full potential, alignment and synergy may still be missing, that is, people may not be working together, focusing on a common goal: the project. This course will assist participants in creating a synergistic team.

Motivating and inspiring. Leaders today are expected to motivate and encourage their people instead of mandating performance, which can inspire loyalty to the task, to project goals, and to the leader.

Leading teams. A project leader can bring out the best in team members. Obtaining optimal performance from team members helps to ensure a successful project and is in the best interest of the project leader; it also serves the entire team’s interests, as well as the customer’s interest. In a synergistic team, the whole team becomes more than the sum of its parts and the difference gained is team spirit. Maintaining that spirit requires diligent leadership. And that spirit is the “glue” that holds the team together.

Communicating. A project leader knows that effective communication occurs only when those to whom you are communicating understand exactly what you are trying to convey. At any step along the way, faulty communication can cause a problem resulting in a delay or an inability to achieve your goals.

Building relationships. Understanding one’s motives and values and the motives and values of others is an important step in building effective relationships. Different people or groups may need the same information presented in different ways. An effective leader can rally everyone to a common cause, while recognizing that each person may have a different motivation for lending support.

Facilitating ethical conduct. The effective leader is able to facilitate ethical conduct, acting with integrity and making ethical decisions to support and strengthen the team and organization.



Negotiating. Leaders are responsible for managing their own programs, or groups of projects, by establishing limits on what will be done, who will do it, and in what time frame, to support overall organizational goals. The projects must be prioritized so that scarce resources are concentrated efficiently. All projects (whether internal or external) have conflicting priorities—particularly when many projects vie for scarce resources. Effective leaders must anticipate and resolve these conflicts before they jeopardize the projects.

Leading change. Leading change is a difficult aspect of leadership because those people going through the change often perceive it as a negative experience. The effective leader takes the time to communicate the specifics of the change and the reasons behind it to everyone involved, balancing a positive attitude with a realistic presentation of any negative aspects of the change. Another aspect of this competency is the ability to guide and coach followers through the change.

Leadership Style

StyleLeadership style is a leader’s unique method of guiding and encouraging subordinates’ efforts. A leader is not locked into any one leadership style—when dealing with groups or individuals that comprise different levels of ability, commitment, and motivation, a leader may want to lead each group or individual with a different style or combination of styles. Effective leaders recognize that not all team members respond to the same leadership style, and they adapt their leadership styles to personal and situational needs.

The following is a simple model illustrating four possible leadership styles. They are shown on a matrix with one axis representing concern for the direction and one representing the need for encouraging the individual.



A leader needs to adapt a leadership style to the situation, individual, and project needs. The most appropriate style will depend on various factors including the task, the individual’s level of skill or expertise, and the motivation to succeed.

Use the guidelines below for hints on which style may be most appropriate for your particular need.



Tasking Steering

Advantages:FastClear line of authorityVery productive (especially short-term)

Appropriate when—New tasks are involvedThe employee is new or inexperiencedGoals are not being metThe task is urgentThe employee is reluctant to take on the task

Advantages:Clear line of authorityWay to exercise power without intimidationDevelops immature people

Appropriate when—The employee is gaining experienceThe employee has a basic understanding of the jobThe employee needs direction and encouragement

Entrusting Encouraging

Advantages:Encourages growth in mature individualsEnables long-term productivityEncourages maximum creative effort

Appropriate when—Followers are committedThe employee has the interest, desire, and ability to make and implement decisions

Advantages:Involves peopleEncourages growth

Appropriate when—The employee is familiar with the taskThe employee has a high level of competencyThe employee and employer share ideas and decisions

When deciding which leadership style is most appropriate, ask yourself the following questions:How much time is available?What is the effect of stakeholders?What is the effect of team dynamics?Does the team support the task?Does the team support the organization?Does the task produce stress for the individual and/or the team?What is the level of your employee’s respect and trust?What kind of task is it?How is the task affected by regulations or established procedures?



Module Summary

Summary

Managers administer, organize, and staff divisions or teams. Leaders establish direction and motivate people to follow that direction. The roles are complementary and necessary for project success.Establishing direction involves developing a vision for the future.Aligning people involves communicating the vision to all stakeholders as often and in as many ways as possible.Motivating and inspiring involves understanding motivation and energizing people to overcome obstacles to change and achieve the vision.The four leadership styles—tasking, steering, entrusting, and encouraging—represent different levels and combinations of concern for the project and the individual.Leaders should choose an appropriate combination of direction and encouragement for a team member.



Module 2Leading Effective Teams

Introduction

Module OverviewThis module provides leaders with an understanding of how a group becomes a team including the types of teams, how teams form, and team roles.

Leading Effective Teams

OverviewProject managers need to understand the characteristics of an effective team. They must recognize the role that communication and feedback play in leading teams and understand how team members’ behaviors and roles affect their relationships. Project managers also must understand the developmental life cycle of teams and be able to diagnose a team’s developmental level and how it affects overall team performance. Finally, the project manager should be able to apply appropriate strategies for optimizing team size and location.

The Successful Team

Characteristics of a Successful TeamSuccessful teams have many key qualities in common. Teams achieve these attributes as they develop from a group of individuals into a real team. Some important examples of these characteristics include the following:

Common purpose and clear objectives. All teams must have a common purpose and clear objectives to succeed—members of a team need a reason for being and working together. Team goals may change over time, but each member should understand what they are at any given point. The less clear the team goals, the more likely it is that team members will misinterpret them and team performance will suffer. Many teams develop or receive a mission statement.

Module 2: Leading Effective Teams


Size. Optimum team size is between 6 and 8 members, with a maximum of 12. Teams should contain only the number of people needed.Complementary skills. A team needs the right mix of skills, both technical and interpersonal. Not everyone will or should be able to complete all project tasks on his or her own.Clear roles and responsibilities. Teams are much more effective when roles and responsibilities are defined clearly. Role and task definition is essential and can be part of initial project documentation.Mutual accountability. The project manager ultimately may be responsible for the success of the project, but all team members should be held mutually accountable. This is very much associated with project commitment, which should begin early. Team effectiveness will be enhanced when the team makes an effort to proactively assess its performance.Balance task and encouraging behaviors. Encouraging behaviors are often neglected while team members focus on tasks at hand. Both task and encouraging behaviors are equally important and should be addressed together.Trust and respect. Trust and respect for each other will speed decision making and assist in team building. Some structure is desirable, such as documentation, but trust and respect will help to cut red tape. It extends beyond internal team relationships to include external stakeholders. When managed well, external relations can be an asset instead of a source of problems.Involvement. Participation is an issue for many teams because every team member may not always contribute actively. Some reasons for this lack of participation are some acceptable, such as other workload, and some reasons are unacceptable, such as the person does not “buy in.” The project manager must resolve involvement issues. Keep in mind that involvement includes shared leadership. Although teams that are not self-managed will have a formal team leader or project manager, the teams will be more effective when others take on some leadership responsibilities. Teams should have the power to carry out the work that they are asked to do. When the team does not have the authority to implement team decisions, then the team will fail.Diversity. Teams are more effective when composed of members with various styles. Team members need to feel that they can disagree with each other without being punished. When individuals on a team feel they are not respected, they lose the desire to work as a team.Consensus. Consensus decisions are more desirable than compromise. Consensus means everyone, even if they disagree, will support team decisions. Commitment to a common purpose involves more than just understanding goals. Project managers should make an effort to ascertain team member and stakeholder levels of commitment to the project.Open communication. The team should have ample time to communicate, share information, discuss issues, and use informal communication channels to pass on information, make suggestions, and bring up new ideas. An effective team has open communication lines among its members and with stakeholders. Remember that listening is as much a part of communication as talking. When each member really listens to others, the team is happier and more productive.Planning. Planning is critical for a team’s success. Without appropriate planning, the team cannot adequately monitor, evaluate, and control its work.



Conflict. Conflict is natural and when it surfaces and should be addressed in a healthy way. The team leader plays an important role in getting group members to express conflict and come to general agreement. Unresolved conflict leads to performance problems, resentment, and lack of motivation. Managing conflicts should be recognized as both inevitable and desirable. Many good ideas are born of the conflict between two mediocre ones. How teams manage conflict is important in maintaining good relationships.

Challenges of Leading Project Teams

Challenges of Leading Project Teams OverviewLeading project teams consisting of widely diverse members who are required to work closely together poses special challenges not always encountered in managing ongoing enterprises or organizations. As a result, the project manager has to be a special type of leader with special skills for working with people, complex technical issues, and organizational constraints.

The first challenge of leading project teams deals with understanding and managing people. Most projects today involve working with people across organizational lines, processes, and management layers. Great diversity may exist among the project team members in terms of experience, education, and expertise. All team members may not even be in the same physical location, which requires extra effort on the part of the team leader to bring the resources together for a common purpose and to achieve the needed synergy for a successful project. Some team members may not be accustomed to working in a team setting and may not commit to the team or the project at the outset. These people will require special attention to make them fully functioning, cooperative team members. This is vital to the team because it is not really a team until everyone is engaged.

The second challenge facing today’s team leaders concerns understanding the technical aspects of projects. Although SMEs usually are assigned to the team to represent the various technical disciplines involved, the leader must possess at least a rudimentary working knowledge of the project’s technical aspects to be effective in understanding and negotiating barriers, as well as understanding the interdependencies that will make up the work breakdown structure (WBS) and associated schedules. Such knowledge can be helpful in gaining the respect of the SMEs and other team members, which makes it easier to transform a group of separate people into an effective, synergistic project team.

Finally, the last challenge concerns bringing the order of project management to bear on the chaos of performing the mission without having the positional power and formal authority associated with managing people who directly report to the leader. This aspect of the project management environment compels the project manager to rely on both informal authority and nontraditional means of rewarding and compensating the project team members for their efforts.



Types of Teams

Types of Teams OverviewA team is not just a group of people working on the same task or project. A team is a small number of people, with complementary skills, who are committed to a common purpose and who are working interdependently to achieve specific performance goals using an approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable.

Any sports fan can see that this definition represents the ideal team, but not necessarily the team type that most people are accustomed to experiencing. For example, the skills of the team members may not always be complementary, and the members of the team may not all have the same level of commitment.

Teams can generally be classified as one of the following types:FunctionalMatrix, or cross-functionalProjectized

Keep in mind that the above classifications illustrate one model of team types. No matter what you call the various types of existing teams, your goal is to choose the team style appropriate for your objectives and organization’s culture and to ensure that team members support each other and their common goals.

Functional TeamsAlso known as a traditional work group, the functional team normally consists of a supervisor and two or more directly reporting employees. The group’s work usually focuses on a common theme or subject, such as engineering or sales. The hierarchical nature of the functional team ordinarily provides clear roles and responsibilities. Often, set methods and procedures exist for how work will be done, how decisions will be made, and who will make the decisions.

A strictly hierarchical team formation generally works well in traditional organizations or industries that do not require much flexibility. However, the functional team is still very much in use in more progressive organizations and may be used as part of various team applications.

Matrix TeamsMost project teams are matrix, or cross-functional teams, which are composed of persons who are from different organizations and are SMEs in their given area. Because this team structure is staffed by representatives from diverse departments or organizations, the support of each represented organization or department is essential to the team’s success. This is especially true when resource constraints are an issue. When team members are SMEs, their services



may also be in demand elsewhere to an extent that their commitment to the project or the team could be supplanted by a project with a higher priority. When priorities change for one organization but not for others, the balance of project priorities can shift so that a project may be put on hold or canceled altogether.

Matrix teams work well for organizations that are dynamic and highly technical and are compelled to finish a large volume of projects annually. These teams have the potential to work through issues very quickly. Often, members of these teams have many demands on their time and are motivated to produce and deliver products expeditiously.

The diversity of matrix teams also is advantageous. These teams are often assembled because various experts are needed to quickly implement a project or produce some other type of deliverable. The teams are usually creative because they represent various disciplines. Thus, what one person may not be able to see, others readily may. This is why brainstorming is always an exciting experience on matrix teams. Exposing experts from various disciplines to each other can be a valuable learning experience for the individuals and for the organization.

Matrix management is not new; it has endured since its widespread popularity in the late 1970s and early 1980s in the form of project teams. Many organizations have come to realize that three forms of structure are needed—

Hierarchy, to maintain order and control strategy and financesProcess management, to focus on efficient use of scarce resourcesMatrix-oriented, multidisciplinary project teams, to execute work processes across organizational lines

Leaders cannot expect teams to support this cross-organizational work ethic when they themselves do not endorse it. Unfortunately, leaders who expect team support may cause confusion by giving varying levels of support for matrix structure. Team culture will usually take care of itself when leaders’ expectations and support are clear. Leaders should try to provide their teams with the best affordable technology, be open to technological advances, and support needed change. When outdated technology stays in place until a financial target is met, the short-term gain may be at the expense of project success.

Projectized TeamsA projectized team exists within “an organizational structure in which resources are assigned full time to the project manager, who has complete authority to assign priorities and direct the work of people on the project” (Ward, p. 347).

Myths Versus Facts About Team SizeSome common misconceptions about optimal team size follow:

More people mean more ideas. The more the merrier does not apply to team size. A team should contain only the number of people needed—no more and no less.



Important projects have big teams. The significance of a project is not determined by how many people are on the team. Project importance usually has to do with fit into overall strategy, monetary value, or other factors.Leaders of large teams are important. The personal standing of the team leader is not even relevant (except maybe to him or her). But any importance in this regard usually relates to the magnitude (either logistical or monetary) of the projects that the project manager usually manages.Everyone should be on the team. Concerns about leaving people out are not usually relevant to team size. Teams should be staffed by those whose roles and contributions are clear to all, in terms of their ability to produce deliverables or their technical expertise.Junior staff members can be trained and oriented at team meetings. Team meetings can be used to orient and train less experienced staff members; however, it does not mean that they should necessarily be included on the team. They can be present as learning observers or used as resources to manage minor tasks for the team. However, this is not done often and is not recommended because it may hinder team progress.

Depending on the project, teams operate most efficiently when they have as few members as possible. Project goals permitting, a team of about 6 to 8 people is optimal, and a maximum of 10 to 12 is recommended. At some point, an increase in team size will inevitably cause a decrease in productivity. When a large team is required because of the size or complexity of the project, it is more productive to define a core team and divide the project into subteams. The size of each subteam can hopefully be limited to four to six members. When this scheme is followed, the core team leader is still responsible for managing the team’s overall work as defined by the WBS, but each subteam leader actually manages his or her portion of the WBS.

If a project team is allowed to grow without imposing some type of management substructure, member accountability may decrease. This is particularly difficult for the project manager who is ultimately responsible for managing the team through completion of its deliverables and who may find it cumbersome to manage so many people efficiently. Larger teams also may become more anonymous, allowing each individual to participate less without detection. Those members who do continue to contribute fully may come to resent team members who seem to do less.

ColocationColocation refers to team members being assigned to offices that are close together. Whether team members should be colocated is an issue that commonly arises with cross-functional teams because their team members are generally assigned to work stations and offices that are grouped by their functional area within the organization. Being colocated has certain benefits. Most obviously, it promotes teamwork in several ways, including brainstorming and idea sharing, and promotes daily interaction that allows members to know one another better and build alliances.

When colocation is not possible, the project manager needs to approach colocation carefully. Remotely located or telecommuting team members may resent a major emphasis on how much better colocation is for the team and may even feel that they are being attacked, which can be a sensitive issue and the experienced project manager will handle it accordingly.



Virtual TeamsVirtual teams are groups of people who may be separated by distance with little or no face to face time. Certain members may be remotely located from the others, relying on telecommuting or other workplace alternatives.

With the level of technology today (e-mail, instant messaging, Web conferencing, and knowledge sharing), communication is easier than ever. The best employee for the job may be located in another city, state, or country.

Organizations want to be the first to market. Being a flexible and global organization allows them to respond to the market quicker and smarter and to reach all their global customers. With a global workforce, the work day can go from 8 hours to 24 hours per day for a project. Designers can create the specifications and then hand them off to the programmers, whose programming is followed by a handoff to testers. Each team member does their 8-hour day in a 24-hour work day.

When geographic dispersion of team members is unavoidable, some steps can be taken to mitigate its effects.

Off-site meetings can help interpersonal relationships to develop and grow. Meeting should always vary by location and time to be fair to all team members. Yes, someone will have to get up at 3 am for a meeting but they should not have to for every meeting.The more important the project the more important it is to have a face-to-face kickoff meeting.

You want to build that bond between your virtual team as early as possible. Although this is a great time to meet and greet all team members, it is also a time for the team to voice their concerns, review their roles and responsibilities, and explain how their part of the project integrates into the entire project. Let the remote team know how their contributions fit into the project.You will want to review the rules or code of conduct for this project. How are ideas presented? During a meeting, what steps must a team member take to have a chance to talk, who does a team member go to if the triple constraint is modified? After submitting a request for change, how long does it take for a response?

When during these regular meetings, team members need to reference materials, be sure to send them prior to the meeting and with a return receipt, which allows you to know who received the materials. So that everyone can be prepared for the meeting, always provide any necessary instructions about the materials, such as review the material, do the exercise at the end of the material, and be ready to provide some additional examples.Creating a schedule with milestones gives the team direction. They know where they are going, where they have been, and if they are on schedule.Do not forget that the remote team members need that human connection. E-mail is great but sometimes making that phone call helps to bring someone who is not right next to you closer to the project. As a project leader, think about a regular phone call once a week or twice a month to check in, chat about the project, and ask what’s going on in the team member’s life. Celebrate their important moments as if the team members were local.



To build a global team, encourage members who do not work together to collaborate. Additionally, it may be conducive to create subteams to work on parts of the project. Combine team members to form a smaller virtual team to work on a part of the project where their skills will enhance the project and each team member can gain additional skills and knowledge from one another.Sharing information as soon as it becomes available provides consistency and helps to elevate any problems about people being left out. Everyone deserves to be treated the same no matter where they are located, what their culture is, or what language they speak.When someone has an idea always review it against the project’s objective. Personal, time, culture and language differences should not come into play when a team member offers an idea for the project.

Although some additional considerations may exist when project team members are not located together, these tools and techniques can work effectively most of the time.

Progressing from Group to a Successful TeamAlthough they may be called a team, a group of people with their own personal preferences is not likely to become one unless certain things happen. Most importantly, the group must at some point make a conscious commitment to act as a team. Project managers must recognize that many teams are composed of members who do not necessarily buy into the team’s mission. Therefore, the conscious decision to become a team does not always begin with an official assignment.

To become a team, a group may also need a leader who understands the normal stages of team development and how to manage a team through them. A group also has a much better chance of becoming an effective team when the leader applies coaching methods that are appropriate to the stage of the team’s development. And, of course, the evolution from group to team can be greatly facilitated when the team members understand that they are going through developmental stages and assist the team leader in the task of developing the team as an entity. This is essential for self-managed teams.

When individual or group work is really what the situation requires, it is counter-productive to invest the resources necessary to build an effective team. You do not need a team when—

The task does not require the people involved to work interdependentlyThe task is best carried out by an individualThe options are so narrow that decision making and choice are nonexistentTeam members are not voluntary participants, but have been appointed and are unwilling contributorsThe project sponsor is not willing to provide necessary ongoing resources



Stages of Team DevelopmentAs they become teams, groups move through a predictable set of dynamics or developmental stages1. Effective teams are successful in moving from one stage to the next. Bruce Tuckman has postulated five progressive stages of development:

FormingStormingNormingPerformingAdjourning

Research shows the inevitability of each stage, and their predictability allows the project manager and team members to recognize the pitfalls of each stage and handle them in a way that will be most beneficial to the project and the entire team. Being cognizant of this stage model can take some of the mystery out of certain group dynamics.

Stage 1: Team Formation (Forming)Team formation (forming) is the first stage in team development. This stage marks the actual accumulation of the team members into a group assigned to a specific project. Because the project team has just been formed, goals, structure, and leadership may not be firmly established. In this case, many team members will feel uncertain or confused about these aspects of the team. In and of itself, this should not be worrisome because confusion and uncertainty are normal reactions for people faced with any new situation.

In an effort to sift through any confusion or uncertainty that they feel about the team, team members will attempt to identify and define their roles and responsibilities. In other words, team members will look for structure. When team members are new to each other, they may find that their interactions are strained. They will need time to figure out how to behave and interact, which is often learned through trial and error. When something works, the individual will continue the behavior; when it does not work, the individual may drop the behavior and try something different.

Leadership interventions at this stage include the following:Adding structure. During the forming stage, it is important to hold structured meetings that focus discussions, clarify tasks, and define roles.Encouraging learning. Members need to ask each other questions to find out about expertise within the group and how each individual works. You may want to put this information in the context of a personality type instrument such as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI®) or Strength Deployment Inventory® (SDI®).Balancing participation. The team leader should set the pace for balancing participation by encouraging everyone to participate and by discouraging dominant behavior.

1 “Developmental Sequences in Small Groups,” Psychological Bulletin, Vol. 63, ©1965 by the American Psychological Association



These foundation elements rarely evolve naturally. Be conscious of what is working so that you can encourage those behaviors, and be equally conscious of what is not working so that those behaviors can be redirected.

Stage 2: Team Conflict (Storming)The second stage of team development is sometimes referred to as the conflict of storming stage (although it may be called something different depending on the model you are using). Conflict is associated with this stage because team members struggle to establish their views of team goals, roles, and responsibilities while attempting to integrate individual goals and personal preferences. When team members differ about these matters, they are likely to clash and confront each other to establish their individual views and preferences as the team’s views and preferences. Sometimes teams may break into subgroups that oppose each other in an effort to establish control. These conflicts often carry over into setting up team assignments and individual responsibilities as team members compete with each other to obtain desired assignments or to influence their project’s outcome.

As team members become more involved in team formation and establishment, they begin to assess what they think of other members. They also begin to formalize opinions about the project in general and how committed they are to it. During this stage, team members continue to refine their patterns of interaction. Based on the outcomes of the forming stage, they now can work within a more defined behavior structure. However, if they become frustrated with their options for group interaction, some team members may withdraw from active participation.

Leadership interventions at this stage include the following:Facilitating dialogue. Encourage members to state constructively their ideas and feelings so that they can begin to understand each other’s views and effectively resolve their conflicts.Facilitating decision making. Guide the group in decision making and problem solving according to team norms.Providing support. Your team is vulnerable at this point as it works through emotions and differing points of view.Refocusing team members on project goals. Team members may lose sight of why they are there. Your job is to remind them of their purpose and clarify roles and responsibilities.

Stage 3: Team Settlement (Norming)After defining roles and responsibilities in the forming stage and working out conflicts in the storming stage, the team begins to fully define itself and the project in the norming stage. In this stage, team members put conflicts behind them and begin to settle into their roles and responsibilities. They work together to achieve task assignments and project goals. They cooperate and collaborate with each other to get things done.

Now that team members have established a common mission, they begin to view themselves as part of a group and have a sense of team identity. They appreciate other team members’ knowledge and skills and begin to feel committed to the project as a whole. The team members



feel more comfortable with each other and are more willing to voice their views, exchange information, and work together toward a common mission. They now work as a group to mutually agree on all aspects of the project.

Leadership interventions at this stage include the following:Delegating responsibility. Make a conscious effort to let go and encourage team members to run meetings and make decisions on their own.Encouraging ideas. This is the time to encourage the expression of issues and concerns. It may provide the fresh perspective needed to keep the team out of the group-think mode.Challenging the team. The team may need more challenging assignments to continuously improve skills.Providing recognition. Recognize achievement and celebrate milestones.Providing training. As team members settle into roles and responsibilities, be sure to provide them with the resources necessary to achieve project goals.Asking for help. When the team is having difficulties, the best solution will be one that it develops on its own (with or without your facilitation).

Stage 4: Team Performance (Performing)During performing, the fourth stage of team development, the team performs consistently on autopilot. The team is able to perform in this manner because it has finalized its structure, goals, and responsibilities and now works within established parameters. Team members focus primarily on accomplishing project tasks and goals and working effectively and consistently to achieve them. Depending on the nature of the project and the team, members may continue to learn and develop; otherwise, they continue their work within an established routine.

Leadership interventions at this stage include the following:Suggesting new goals. As the team approaches the completion of the original task with self-confidence, members must start thinking about what lies ahead. They may require some gentle guidance to help them decide about future goals and opportunities.Testing assumptions. Team members in the performing stage typically become so comfortable working together that they risk becoming complacent about their ability to function well as a team. It is a good time to question their assumptions about group norms or ground rules and challenge them to determine if new or additional ones might be needed.Self-assessment. To become self-sufficient, a team must have a specific mechanism for ongoing self-assessment. The leader should suggest procedures, timing, and format for members to self-evaluate both individual performance as team members and how they function together as a team.

Stage 5: Team Termination (Adjourning)During the adjourning, the last stage of team development, project tasks have been completed, members turn their attention to project closeout, and the team begins to disband. When the project was successful, team members usually feel positive about their teamwork and their



project accomplishments. Yet at the same time, if the team formed well, the members may feel reluctant to separate from the group and may have a sense of loss or regret that they will no longer be a team when the project is completed.

Leadership interventions at this stage include the following:Identifying opportunities. Leaders need to support their team members in transition by using their organizational network and bureaucratic power to support, coach, and facilitate the change of staff into their next position.Creating rewards. Since 99 percent of the interesting work has already been accomplished, the team leader needs to identify means to keep the team participating through the project’s conclusion, by incentives or other means.Lessons learned. Take the time to review what worked and what team members say they would do differently. Include lessons learned in the project documentation.Celebrating. Find ways to recognize the team’s accomplishments. (It does not have to cost money; all it takes is the leader’s time to make this fun and rewarding.)

Team Development and Types of TeamsThe type of team being developed will influence the time spent in the various stages of team development. For example, functional teams normally spend most of their time in the performing stage because they are generally intended to stay together for an indefinitely long period. Due to the nature of project management, a cross-functional project team is usually temporary in nature and may rapidly pass through all five stages of team development as its project progresses and comes to an end.

Of course, the project manager must recognize that temporary may have different meanings in different situations. Some projects may last a few months, but others may last one or more years. The longer the project duration, the longer the project manager needs the team to be in the performing stage.

Team Behavior

Diagnosing Team BehaviorThe project manager needs to diagnose the behavior of the project team members to ensure that the team works effectively, which is done by observing team members’ interactions in terms of their content and their processes. Content is what the team actually discusses. The team leader has an obligation to ensure that most of the team’s productive time, especially in face-to-face meetings, is spent discussing proper content.

However, the way that the content is discussed reveals the behavior that a project manager must observe. Functional behaviors are to be encouraged; dysfunctional behaviors must be



managed to keep the team on its proper course. Three discrete types of behavior patterns can be observed:

TaskEncouragingSelf-oriented

Task behaviors focus on what the team needs to do to get the job done. Generally speaking, this is a positive form of behavior; however, it is inappropriate to focus exclusively on the task at the expense of the social needs of the team.

The project manager should understand which individuals on the team are most likely to display task behaviors. The amount of direction a team will need sometimes depends on the number of team members comfortable with task behavior and the level at which they display this behavior. A team whose members prefer to engage predominantly in nontask behaviors may need a higher level of direction to maintain enough focus on the task.

Encouraging behaviors are focused on the team’s social needs. A balance of task and encouraging behaviors is needed to have a well-adjusted, productive, and happy team.

A team leader may fulfill the role of social conscience for the team. Sometimes, however, there are others on the team who are better suited to this role, and they generally perform it unconsciously.

Some team leaders are leaders because of their natural task focus, and a team with this type of leader may find itself being directed away from encouraging behaviors. Project managers should be especially aware of this tendency and strive to maintain a balance on their teams between task and relationship needs. When the leader is more focused on tasks, he or she should learn to rely on those team members who are the natural encouraging leaders. Teams will perform better in the long run with this balance.

Self-oriented behaviors are directed toward satisfying an individual’s psychological needs in relation to identity, personal needs, intimacy, power, control, and influence. Individual team members sometimes display these behaviors at the expense of the rest of the team and its objectives. There are times, however, when these behaviors are productive. Generally speaking, the project manager must recognize self-oriented behaviors and take action to either channel them for the benefit of the team or remove them so they will not disrupt the team.

Module Summary

SummaryA team is a group of people with complementary skills, a common purpose, shared goals, and mutual accountability and has a shared responsibility for accomplishing project goalsVirtual and global teams are prevalent today and continue to grow each year.



Additional adjustments such as time, culture, geographic locations, and communications must be considered by the project manager when managing virtual and global teams.The five distinct stages to team development are forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning. Progression is not necessarily linear and teams may return to any stage multiple times.Team dysfunction is often a result of the team’s failure to progress through the stages of team development and requires leadership intervention to help the team move forward.The team leader must also work to balance task and encouraging behaviors within the team while minimizing self-oriented behaviors.



Module 3Building Relationships

Introduction

Module OverviewModule 3 discusses primary motivation patterns and how they change under conflict. This module is a key to maximizing your interpersonal relationships.

Building Relationships

OverviewTo be successful as a project manager, you must make the most of the interpersonal relationships presented on the project team, which requires a good understanding of the components of communication and the primary motivation patterns underlying interpersonal relations and communications. Additionally, you must understand how they may change for individuals as they encounter conflict and opposition. As project manager, you should also understand how a behavior pattern can be a strength or a weakness, identify motivation patterns based on observable behaviors, and most importantly, modify the way you interact with team members to make your team interactions more satisfying for all concerned.

Interpersonal Relationships

Understanding Interpersonal Relationships

Relationship Awareness® Theory1 is designed to assess the strengths that individuals use when relating to others in two types of conditions:

When things are going well

1 Relationship Awareness® Theory is adapted from the Strength Deployment Inventory, © 1973, 1998, 2014 by special permission from the publisher, Personal Strengths Publishing, Inc., Carlsbad, California, USA, www.PersonalStrengths.com. Further adaptation is prohibited without prior written consent of the publisher.

Module 3: Building Relationships


When conflict and opposition are presentThe application of this theory can help people maximize these strengths to improve the effectiveness of their communication.

Relationship Awareness® Theory asks why we interact with others. Basically, we interact with others either because we are forced to survive or because we want to enhance our self-worth. Given that we must communicate to get along, we tend to seek gratification from the interactions we engage in. The behavior we display while interacting with others is consistent with what we find satisfying or gratifying and how we believe we need to act to achieve that gratification.

Relationship Awareness® Theory is also based on other premises. For example, behavior traits are not conditioned responses or reinforced behaviors. Rather, they arise from a purposeful search for gratification mediated by beliefs that a person holds about how to interact with others to achieve gratification. Also, there are at least two clearly different conditions in the world of stimuli that affect patterns of behavior. One condition exists when we are free to pursue the gratifications that we seek from others. The other condition exists when we are faced with conflict and opposition so that we are not free to pursue our gratifications but must resort to the preservation of our own integrity and self-esteem.

Relationship Awareness® Theory is not about behavior that is good or bad. Rather, it is about behavioral strengths and weaknesses. An individual operates from personal strength when behaving in a manner that enhances the probability that an interpersonal interaction will be a mutually productive interaction. An individual operates from personal weakness when behaving in a way that decreases the probability that an interpersonal interaction will be a mutually productive interaction. A personal weakness can be an overdone personal strength.

By understanding these strengths and weaknesses in yourself and others, you can learn to apply that knowledge to enhance your interpersonal relationships by changing behaviors. The SDI® is a self-assessment instrument that can help you understand your personal behavioral strengths, styles of relating to others, and underlying patterns of motivation. It can also help you to identify and understand those strengths, styles, and patterns of others.

Basic Styles of Relating

Basic Styles of Relating

SDI® and Relationship Awareness® Theory identifies four basic styles of relating to others that can be adopted to satisfy one’s personal needs. Each style has its own underlying motivations. When we understand what we want from others, we can change our behavior to include more effective ways of obtaining the gratification that we seek. Conversely, observing the styles that others use in relating may provide insight into what they seek from us. Each style is assigned a descriptive name and, in three cases, a corresponding color designation. You can use these terms to refer to the people who exhibit the traits.



Altruistic-Nurturing (Blue). This style of relating is based on wanting to help others and is used by those people for whom nurturing others provides maximum gratification. Blues are friendly helpers who are open and responsive without being a burden to others. They promote harmony and try to make life easier for others. Their behavior traits may include being trusting, optimistic, loyal, idealistic, helpful, modest, devoted, caring, supportive, and adaptable, which in their totality suggest an Altruistic-Nurturing motivation.

The focus here is outside of oneself. Its distinguishing quality is seeking gratification through a basic concern for the protection, growth, and welfare of others with little regard for personal material reward. The payoff is a good feeling from being helpful. Blues derive great intrinsic reward from their actions and maximum gratification from knowing that they have been useful to others and that others feel good and have what they need.

Assertive-Directing (Red). This style is used by those who want to lead and direct others and for whom successful task accomplishment and the organization of resources provides maximum gratification. Reds are doers who are result-oriented and push for authority, responsibility, and leadership. Their behavior traits may include being self-confident, enterprising, ambitious, persuasive, forceful, quick, imaginative, challenging, proud, bold, and prone to taking risks and organizing others, which in their totality suggest an assertive-directing motivation.

The distinguishing quality of this pattern of motivation is seeking gratification through taking the lead, organizing resources, and getting things done through others. Unlike Blues, Reds expect extrinsic rewards in the form of recognition, promotion, and so on. They care most about their ability to influence others and to achieve their goals.

Analytical-Autonomizing (Green). This style is characterized by the desire to be self-reliant and self-dependent. It is used by those people for whom being independent of others provides maximum gratification. Greens are thinkers and planners who control their emotions and search for meaningful order. They are cautious and thorough as well as fair and principled, and are concerned that things have been properly thought through. Their behavior traits may include being cautious, practical, economical, reserved, methodical, analytical, principled, orderly, fair, persevering, and thorough, which in their totality suggest an Analytical-Autonomizing motivation.

The distinguishing quality of this motivation pattern is seeking gratification through making careful, well-conceived decisions, and in doing things in a logical manner. Gratification for Greens comes from achieving meaningful order, and Greens care a great deal about maintaining their ability to rely on their own judgment rather than that of others.

Flexible-Cohering (Hub). This style is used by those for whom the most gratification is derived from being as flexible and adaptive as possible, as well as being able to provide whatever qualities needed at any given time. People with this style show concern for others’ feelings, but they also can be task-oriented and are strongly concerned at times about their own ideas. They are adept at fulfilling team needs; and therefore, their behavior traits may include any of the traits associated with the other three motivations. In other words, Hubs may be supportive, helpful, accepting, adaptable, enterprising, forceful, persuasive, disciplined, organized, or analytical, which in their totality suggest a Flexible-Cohering motivation.



Although Flexible-Cohering is a fourth basic pattern of motivation, it is actually an amalgamation of the other three and not just a blend of two of the three. People who exhibit Hub characteristics will change their behavior as needed among the Red, Blue, and Green traits to achieve the gratification they desire, which is for everyone to achieve unity and coherence in group or team goals and undertakings. Their gratification comes from being effective members of a group or team, and their top priorities are flexibility and the ability to fit their behavior to the current needs of the group. Hubs care most about the welfare of the group, membership in the group, and their ability to change their behavior to achieve whatever the group requires at the moment.

Blended MotivationsTo a greater or lesser extent, the motivations underlying all the basic styles of relating influence everyone. Consequently, we experience discomfort when we cannot achieve the gratification that is important to us. Not surprisingly, some people are not completely Blue, Red, or Green. Sometimes, people are blends of two basic patterns of motivation. Because three basic patterns, there are three possible combinations of two patterns.

Assertive-Nurturing (Red-Blue). These people are Reds who care. They still have the Red motivation to direct and lead to accomplish goals; however, they do this less for individual rewards—like true Reds—and more for the satisfaction of knowing that what they have accomplished has benefited others in some way.

Judicious-Competing (Red-Green). These people are Greens who lead others. They still provide their careful, well-conceived decision making and their ability to impose order on chaos, but they also have a motivation to do this while leading others. They are different from true Greens, who prefer self-reliance to getting things done through others.

Cautious-Supporting (Green-Blue). These people are Greens who care. They maintain their self-reliant stance while assisting others to become self-reliant. They use their ability to organize to discover who needs their assistance, and then they provide it.

Valued, Borrowed, and Masked Behavior PatternsEach person’s value system determines how that person will behave in any situation. Because we are all unique, no two patterns of behavior or style of relating are exactly alike. How we employ patterns of behavior depends on to whom we are relating. For example, we have probably developed a habitual set of behaviors for people with whom we frequently work. When interacting with relatively new acquaintances, we determine at some point what works and what does not, which depends a lot on our ability to recognize their patterns of motivation and their relating style. With people who are completely unknown; however, we may not be as effective. We may make wrong guesses about their style and motivations or fail to take them into account.

Meanwhile, our motivations are generally consistent, and we usually relate to others in a style that is comfortable for us. When the first comfortable behavior does not work, we will probably go through our repertoire of comfortable relating styles until we run out of them. The first style



we try is our primary choice, a valued behavior pattern that we use when we are free to act in a way that makes us feel good about ourselves.

If our valued behavior pattern fails, we will then examine the need to use a borrowed or nonvalued style. A borrowed behavior pattern is one that does not enhance our feelings of self-worth but is not inconsistent with our basic motivations. It may or may not achieve results. We borrow patterns to fulfill our needs when our preferred behaviors do not work. We usually do not feel good about ourselves when we use these patterns, but we use them regardless to try to achieve our goals. That is, we try to look at things from another person’s orientation (Red, Blue, or whatever) to get what we want.

In some cases, we may adopt a masked or nonvalued behavior pattern. This is a pattern that does not enhance our feelings of self-worth but that we adopt nonetheless for survival or self-protection. These behaviors are employed as a last resort, against our own inclinations.

Organizational CultureWhen an organization encourages people of the same type to come together to accomplish common goals, then that organization will have many of the same characteristics of those individuals. For example, many social service agencies may be characterized as Blue or Blue-Green, many sales organizations are Red, many accounting firms are Green, and many law firms Red-Green.

Keep in mind that even when an organization consists of individuals of many different types, Relationship Awareness® Theory may be useful in understanding the dynamics of the organization. Rather than looking at complex organizations as a single type, try looking at happenings within the organization as the interactions of various Motivational Value Systems™

(MVSs™) For example a predominantly Red sales department may come into frequent conflict with a predominantly Green research and development team by giving out information and trying to sell products before they are ready for release.

Relationship Awareness® Theory and Rewards

Relationship Awareness® Theory

A basic premise of Relationship Awareness® Theory is that we all want to feel good about ourselves. A key aspect of giving effective rewards is to understand that rewards need to fit the receiver rather than the giver. When you reward individuals based on your own MVS™ rather than their MVS™, the reward may not have its intended (motivational) effect.

Keep in mind that a reward does not always mean a financial reward. In fact, many ways to reward team members cost little or no money, such as increased responsibility or involvement, recognition, positive feedback, or a simple thank you.



At the end of this material is a chart listing some of the typical rewards and nonrewards (most effective and least effective) for each of the seven MVSs™.

Strengths Versus Weaknesses

Strengths Versus Weaknesses

Relationship Awareness® Theory is not designed to pass judgment on which relating styles or motivation patterns are good or bad. When behavior produces or contributes to positive outcomes, it is considered a strength. Conversely, when behavior produces or causes negative outcomes, the behavior may be considered a weakness.

In some cases, a weakness may in fact be an overdone strength. For example, a Green person may contribute positively to a team’s success by doing a great deal of complicated data analysis to support team decisions. When performed in a manner that all agree is necessary and appropriate, the Green’s ability is a strength. When, however, the Green insists on taking team time to crunch data or to go into a level of detail considered unnecessary by the team, this strength may become a weakness. Regardless of whether we are operating from strengths or weaknesses, in the final analysis, the gratification that we seek can be deduced from our behavior. An effective project manager can use their deductions to improve performance and project results.

Effective Communication

Effective Communication OverviewProject team leadership requires excellent communication skills. To develop these skills, you must understand not only why we communicate but also how we communicate. Because communication is so pervasive in our daily lives and is a basic characteristic of human nature, we often think it is simpler than it is. There are many practical reasons for communicating with others in a business environment, and it requires a skillful understanding of not only the purposes behind communication but also how communication is best delivered and received, depending on those purposes.

Why We CommunicateThe primary reason for communicating with others is to share information, opinions, ideas, and feelings. Providing and receiving feedback comprises a special type of information sharing. When the feedback is positive, the setting and timing of delivery are usually not issues unless there is a need to provide strong positive reinforcement or use the situation to establish a



positive example for a group of people. When the feedback is negative, you should choose the setting and timing very carefully and make an effort to prepare the recipient. When you are receiving feedback, especially if it is negative, count to 10 before responding. It will give you time to gather your thoughts so that your given response not inappropriately defensive.

Reaching decisions is a type of specialized feedback that usually involves a lot of communication back and forth among participants. When concluded, it is essential that all parties to the communication take time to reiterate the decisions and make certain that everyone shares the same understanding.

Solving problems is another communication form that commonly involves many people trading numerous messages. It often requires emphasis on the special skill of listening. Each party to the communication must take the time to actively listen to the other party’s perceptions of the problem and to suggested solutions.

Making requests is a type of communication that requires attention to time and place. Effective communication and the favorable reception of the request are both more likely when the recipient of the request is approached when and where the situation is conducive to listening and consideration.

The project manager often must communicate to influence others or to persuade them to take action or adopt a point of view. When this communication is necessary, it is important that you do your homework first. Attempts to convince others are much more persuasive when you know what you are talking about. As a result, the most convincing arguments are dispassionate, factual, logical presentations that point to a single conclusion.

Forms of CommunicationCommunication takes three forms: verbal (the words used), paraverbal (tone of voice, inflection), and nonverbal (body language, personal space). All three are important in communicating meaning. Albert Mehrabian, a psychologist who has studied nonverbal communication, has demonstrated that when verbal and nonverbal communication forms don't match, listeners tend to make judgments about their likes or dislikes based more on nonverbal communication than actual verbal content.1 For example, if you say nice words in a threatening tone, a listener will be more likely to interpret the meaning of the words as a threat. While this in no way discounts the importance of verbal communication, it does underscore the necessity of paying attention to paraverbal and nonverbal elements in your communication.

Culture, gender, and communication styles all affect how people use these forms of communication.

Communication ModelThe word “communication” comes from the Latin words communis, meaning “to impart or to share,” and communicaire, meaning “to make common” or “to make known.” Hence, the concept of communication as we know it means “to have a common understanding.” The

1 Mehrabian, Albert. Silent Messages: Implicit Communication of Emotion and Attitudes. Belmont, Calif.: Wadsworth Publishing Co., 1980.



dictionary embellishes this meaning by adding the concepts of transmitting and receiving information, plus the idea of people sharing data and ideas.

When we communicate, how often does communication really take place? How often do we really reach a common understanding? The answer depends on how well the communication loop depicted in the following graphic is functioning.

Two-way communication implies that all parties involved in the communication are able and willing to both send and receive information. It applies to active conversation, as well as ongoing relationships. Several components are involved in two-way communication, including encoding and transmission by the sender and decoding and feedback by the receiver. All parties are assumed to be both senders and receivers in a two-way communication.

What complicates the interaction is that both the sender and the receiver will filter the message based on the following:

Memory. Past memories of events that have occurred with this person or in similar situationsContext. The environment in which the communication is being carried out, is it done in the hall versus behind closed doorsContent. The information being transferredStyle. How is the communication being done? Are you Red communicating to a Blue?

Including empathy and trust in the above model helps the sender understand or appreciate how the receiver may be interpreting the information. The receiver is trusting that the person delivering the message has integrity, honesty and concern for their interest. Knowledge of Relationship Awareness® Theory improves the clarity of the message and builds trust and empathy

The question is whether we can be certain that real communication has occurred. In other words, has the receiver correctly interpreted the message? Has the sender remained consistent



while encoding multiple messages? Does each party to the communication session always walk away with an actual understanding of what was meant to be communicated? The answer to each question is “sometimes.” So how can we learn to communicate more effectively?

Oral CommunicationWhen we communicate in person using the spoken word, what we say is not nearly as important as how we say it and how we act and look when we say it. With 93 percent of a verbal message comprises something other than the words spoken, words make up only 7 percent of the effect of what we say when we speak to one another.

The most important elements of in-person communication are the nonverbal signals that are sent; they constitute 55 percent of the message. Examples of nonverbal communication include crossed arms, tapping fingers, nervous twitching, crossed legs, raised eyebrows, pursed lips, narrowed eyes, and a relaxed posture.

Paralingual elements of speech are the second most important component of conversation. They comprise 38 percent of the message and have more than 5 times the effect of the chosen words. Tone of voice, inflection, cadence, and pitch are elements of paralingual communication.

Being a good oral communicator is essential for the project manager, who must keep the component parts of communication in mind when delivering important messages in person. A project manager must ensure that the words of the message are clear and that accompanying nonverbal and paralinguistic signals are consistent with the intended message or at least distract the listener from it as little as possible.

Relating to Others

Relating to OthersWhen we display certain types of behavior, we do so expecting certain reactions from others. We hope their reactions will satisfy our needs and wants. However, sometimes the feedback that we get is negative, that is, we do not get what we were seeking from our interaction with others. When negative feedback occurs, we will usually modify our behavior in some way until we get the desired response.

We also care about whether others get what they want and need to be gratified during their interactions with us. After we understand what others are seeking (what will make them feel good), we can understand why they act as they do. We also must understand what others will find unrewarding or threatening. We can then change our behavior so that we give them what they want, and they, in turn, give us what we want. In summary, we must focus on why we act as we do so that we behave with others in ways that are appropriate and lead to realizing our goals.



Communicating and InfluencingThe most effective way to communicate or influence is to recognize the basic motivation language of the people with whom you are interacting and to adjust your own language, tone, and body language to effectively communicate and influence members of your team.

For instance, it does not take much imagination to picture how differently a person would approach a Blue boss as opposed to a Red boss when asking for a favor, presenting negative feedback, and so on. In addition, this same theory can be used to predict reaction so that you are prepared to deal with it as well.

When communicating with Altruistic-Nurturing people, you will maximize your influence when you are sincere and loyal, emphasize teamwork and worthwhile projects, and request needed help. Focus on the relationship that you have with them. Provide recognition and trust and be dependable when needed. You should also set goals as a team, share information openly, and appeal to the team members’ desire to do their best. Remember to focus on people and relationships more than facts or tasks. Show them how what they are doing will help others.

When communicating with Assertive-Directing people, you will have the most influence when performing your duties independently, confidently, capably, and with a clear purpose. Be direct, organized, and purposeful but do not provide unnecessary detail. Focus on getting things done and offer challenges and opportunities. Demonstrate energy and action, exude confidence, and do not be overly sentimental or emotional. Respond to any offered ideas, stress results, and deal with people candidly. Red team members will appreciate a boss who is objective and fair, treats them as equals, and gives them the freedom to accomplish their work within specified parameters and without inhibiting them from showing initiative.

When communicating with Analytic-Autonomizing people, you can most easily influence them by emphasizing facts, hard data, and logical approaches to problems. They will appreciate respectful behavior and adherence to standard procedures. Green team members will respond best to a person who shows an appreciation for the details, listens willingly, and is organized, consistent, clear, and decisive. Always be patient and allow them time to think before responding. Do not push or threaten or be overly emotional.

When communicating with Flexible-Cohering people, you should emphasize teamwork. Speak more in possibility and less in absolutes. Allow for the gray and for the possible adaptation. During your friendly conversations expect some sensitivity to feelings, accomplishments, and autonomy. Provide enough information and respond to questions so that they can determine appropriate action.

When communicating with Assertive–Nurturing people, you should allow them to determine which comes first—relationship or task. When it is a situation where they know the people, relationship might come first and you should emphasize it. However, when the task is paramount, stress it first.

When communicating with Judicious-Competing people, you should allow them to determine which comes first—analysis or task. When it is a situation where they are the SMEs, detail will come first and they will be very concerned about competence and accuracy. However, when the task is paramount, stress that first.



When communicating with Cautious-Supporting people, you should allow them to determine which comes first—relationship or analysis. When it is a situation where they know the people, relationship might come first and you should emphasize it. However, when the analysis or detail is paramount, stress that first.

With people who are blended styles, one color is in service to the other and will deploy first based on the situation. Therefore, you can tailor your communication to the situation. What is equally valuable is to remember what blended styles are not…in other words, what you do not want to do is communicate with a “Blue-Green” in “Red” language. They will hear Green and they will hear Blue, but they tune out Red language. They find it aggressive, too excitable, pushy, etc.

Communication Process ModelWhen communicating, it is important to have a process that provides a structure or format that others can use to ensure that their message is reaching the appropriate stakeholder. Strategy Execution’s Communication Process Model provides six steps divided into two sections of intent and actions.

Six steps to think about when communicating are—1. Purpose. Why am I communicating this message? What’s the purpose, the reason?2. Audience. Who am I talking to? What is their MVS™? Are they all the same type of

audience or are they different?3. Content. What am I telling the audience? What do I need to include? What level of detail

must I include? Should it include a personal component?4. Medium. Should I use e-mail, Web conferencing, or face-to-face meeting?5. Structure. How should I structure my communication? Does it need an introduction? Is a

summary required? Do I need a question and answer period?6. Delivery. Is the delivery formal? Is the delivery relaxed? What is my body language saying?

How is my voice?This order will provide you with the best planning for your communication but realize that others may impose their own order.

Action Steps for Effective CommunicationCommunication is most effective when you pay careful attention to the setting and circumstances in which it takes place, in addition to the type of information that you plan to communicate. In general, it is easy to communicate good news (positive feedback) and to achieve understanding. Communicating bad news (negative feedback), however, requires much more careful attention, as noted in the below steps.

Preparation. Take time to think about the communication and to organize your thoughts before delivery. Anticipation of possible reactions may also be helpful.



Proper encoding. Ensure that the message is delivered in the manner most conducive to the receiver’s understanding. Also, ensure that what you say or write and any related dynamics, such as tone or body language, are consistent with the content of the communication.Timing. When possible, time the delivery of the communication for the best reception. Ensure that the reaction or response that you want is not hindered by delivering the message at an inopportune time.Receiver dynamics. Consider your audience. Communication should take place in a manner that promotes a positive reception, or at least a clear understanding. It is especially true when others will receive the communication as unwelcome or bad news.Media. Consider the type of communication that you are delivering. What medium is most appropriate? Will a telephone call or a letter work best? Should you send an e-mail or stop by for a brief chat? Should you convey the message in a group setting or in private?Receiver reaction and feedback. Be aware of how the receiver is decoding your message and be prepared for overreaction. Body language, especially posture and facial expression, may reveal the next steps needed to ensure actual communication.Confirmation. Has communication actually taken place? Only time will tell, but it is wise to clarify the message and the receiver’s level of understanding. Ask the receiver to summarize or repeat your message, any promised action, and consequences, such as, “You understand that this means….”



MVS™ Typical Preferred Rewards Typically NOT Rewarding

Altruistic-Nurturing

Blues prefer personalized gifts, face-to-face recognition showing that their help really made a positive difference, handwritten notes of thanks, a party where the group can enjoy the success, donations to their favorite charity, hugs, teddy bears, flowers, and so on.

Blues feel punished when put in a conflict-ridden environment, when told that their help actually hurt, when offers of help are rejected, when made to work alone or with little interpersonal contact, when ignored, and when given the job of disciplining or firing coworkers.

Assertive-Directing

Reds prefer public recognition of successes that they have achieved, assigned parking spaces with their name, membership in clubs or organizations where power-brokers meet, increased challenges, increased staff, money, promotion, plaques recognizing their leadership and contributions, and so on.

Reds feel punished when put in positions with no authority; when a demotion occurs; when there is a reduction of staff or loss of status; when information is withheld; and when made to work only at highly detailed tasks that must be done slowly, have unclear outcomes, or have anonymity.

Analytic-Autonomizing

Greens prefer having as much time as they need to finish projects, a quiet place to work, access to more information, faster computers, gadgets that help them organize, advanced training, complex tasks of analysis, trust that their work is without error, quiet recognition of a job well done, and so on.

Greens feel punished when put in positions where they have no privacy, where they have to work by consensus rules, where there are short timelines that are inflexible, where they are not trusted, where resources are wasted, where rules are applied situationally, where they are asked for ballpark estimates, and where the environment is emotionally charged.

Flexible-Cohering

Hubs prefer having quiet recognition for contributions, trust, flex-time work schedules, choice of what task to take next, advisory/consulting positions, variety in assignments, choice of committees to serve on, face-to-face thanks, group

Hubs feel punished when put in positions where they must perform repetitive tasks or tasks that have rigid protocols, when work environments demand conformity, when put in a situation where there is no hope of changing their job,



MVS™ Typical Preferred Rewards Typically NOT Rewardingrecognition, membership in professional organizations of their choice, and so on.

when working with people who refuse to work toward consensus, when told that no options need to be discussed, when put in hostile, conflict-ridden work groups, when working with people who won’t change their mind, when working in isolation, and when not being trusted or being accused of betrayal.

Assertive-Nurturing

Red-Blues like items from both the Red and Blue lists. Especially rewarding are things with elements from both lists, such as opportunities to coach or mentor, plaques with group pictures of all the people who were helped.

Red-Blues feel punished by the items listed for the Red and Blue groups.

Judicious-Competing

Red-Greens like items from both the Red and Green lists. Especially rewarding are things with elements from both lists, such as access to inside information on what the competitor is doing or being mentioned in trade publications as having successfully completed a tough challenge.

Red-Greens feel punished by the items listed for the red and green groups.

Cautious-Supporting

Blue-Greens like items from both the Blue and Green lists. Especially rewarding are things with elements from both lists, such as developing programs that will result in other people gaining skills or opportunities to evaluate programs that have an impact on people

Green-Blues feel punished by the items listed for the green and blue groups.



MVS™ Typical Preferred Rewards Typically NOT Rewardingand make recommendations for improvement.

1

Project Communication PlansEffective project team and project stakeholder communication is not as easy as it sounds. Determining who gets what information at what time in what format is time-consuming and appears to be of low value. This is not true. Take the time to build a communication plan at the start of the project and keep it up-to-date throughout the project. The communication plan's real value helps project managers to—

Know their stakeholdersKnow what information stakeholders need and want to make decisionsKnow the level of detail stakeholders really needKnow when and how to deliver the information "just in time"Know who can authorize the release of confidential information or who can speak to the pressNavigate the escalation process for emergencies and issues that the project manager cannot resolve aloneKnow communication constraints

Module Summary

SummaryBehavioral theory looks for patterns in an individual’s behavior. Motivational theory looks at the motivations behind an individual’s behavior.

Relationship Awareness® Theory recognizes seven MVSs™.

Understanding the MVSs™ can enable you to understand yourself and others for more effective teamwork and communication.A personal weakness is the overdoing of a personal strength.We build more effective relationships through effective communication and influence.

Different MVSs™ have different communication styles and languages.

1 Adapted from Relationship Awareness Theory: Manual of Administration and Interpretation, Copyright 1996 by special permission from the publisher, Personal Strengths Publishing, Inc., Carlsbad, California, USA, (800) 624-7347, www.PersonalStrengths.com. Further adaptation is prohibited without prior written consent of the publisher.



Communication models can help us to understand and become more effective leaders and communicators.Communication challenges exist when stakeholders are located worldwide.Multiple levels of communications exist between a sender and a receiver

Understanding Relationship Awareness® Theory can improve our communication and influence with others.



Module 4Managing Conflict

Introduction

Module OverviewThis module covers the major sources of conflict on project teams, the five approaches to conflict management, and the negotiation process and how to prepare for it.

Conflict

Conflict OverviewConflict is often inevitable in the project environment. An effective project manager must be able to recognize whether the conflict is preventable or real, as well as the major sources of conflict on the project teams; to understand the five distinct approaches to conflict management; and to apply each conflict management approach in the appropriate circumstances.

Project Teams and Conflict

Conflict on Project TeamsMany projects are performed by cross-functional teams. By definition, cross-functional teams are staffed with members from various disciplines or organizations because of the project’s complexity and the need for a number of SMEs. Although beneficial in providing necessary expertise, this diversity of interests among team members often produces various types of conflict. These conflicts can be disruptive to the team and to the achievement of the team’s goals.

Rather than deny the possibility of conflict or hope that things will go perfectly, the project manager should lead an open discussion of the possibility of conflict when the team forms. (Team formation is discussed during the Leading Effective Teams section on stages of team development.) The need to manage conflict proactively should be agreed upon as a shared expectation.

Module 4: Managing Conflict


Sources of conflict on project teams can be individuals, their organizations, or the project team. Individual goals, values, methods, facts, and opinions can all be sources of conflict among team members. Individual goals concern the project’s purpose; values deal with what is important to team members and may determine goals; methods pertain to ways of accomplishing goals; facts refer to issues, such as the present state of progress in a project; and opinions represent ideas expressed about all four possible conflict sources.

Even when individual team members agree on all these points, the members’ organizations may provide sources of conflict for the team, which is especially true of cross-functional teams because more than one organization may be staffing the project. Some common organizational sources of conflict include competition for resources and status or authority within the project team.

Within the project team, the particulars of the project may be sources of conflict. For instance, schedules can be a source of conflict when not everyone on the team can produce his or her work packages at times that coincide with the natural flow of the project. Priorities can be a source of conflict as well, especially on cross-functional teams when team members are working on more than one project. A conflict can arise about something as simple as conflicting meeting dates or it can be as serious as being unable to meet the commitments of one project because, at least for that individual, his or her other projects have a higher priority. Administrative procedures can vary greatly between organizations and can often cause problems in terms of coordinating reports and other paperwork. In a room full of SMEs, technical recommendations concerning the project can be a source of conflict, and egos can get in the way of a recommendation that best satisfies the needs of the project. Resources and resource allocation can be primary sources of conflict within the team when insufficient or inappropriate resources have been assigned.

Conflict Management

Conflict: Good or Bad?The traditional view of conflict is that it is all bad, generally fostered by troublemakers, and should be avoided at all costs. Today, it is generally recognized, if not universally acknowledged in practice, that conflict is healthy and should be managed to the mutual benefit of all concerned. Although the contemporary view may sound as if it considers all conflict good, that really is not the case. Bad conflicts exist, but they are the conflicts that are mismanaged. It is the management or mismanagement of conflict that determines its worth.

Consider three possible team situations. In the first situation, a low level of conflict exists because of suppression or other reasons. The team is characterized by team member apathy, stagnation, nonresponsiveness to change, and a dearth of ideas. In the second situation, a high level of conflict is characterized by disruptiveness, chaos, and noncooperation. Finally, the third team is characterized by people who are self-critical and who postulate ideas that may



result in conflict but are innovative and help the team to produce results. Both the first and second teams are dysfunctional and will generally be either nonproductive or productive at minimal levels. The third team operates with an optimal conflict level and exhibits functional behavior.

Predictable Results of Conflict ManagementWhen team conflict occurs, failure to manage it properly can cause many negative consequences. Diversion of energy from real tasks occurs when people channel their energy into the conflict, leaving little energy to do their real work. Polarization of individuals occurs when they are in disagreement and no steps are taken to resolve the issues, which can result in warring camps when enough team members are involved.

Unresolved conflict can result in irresponsible behavior, such as missing deliverables or lack of cooperation. When a conflict is not resolved to the satisfaction of the affected parties, they may each go their own way and pursue their own self-interest instead of agreeing on what is best for the team or project. When conflict is not fully explored, misunderstanding can be perpetuated and result in even less communication between those parties in conflict. When an unsuccessful effort is made to resolve differences, those parties in conflict may feel uneasy, embarrassed, suspicious, distrustful, or defeated. All this dissension without resolution may reduce productivity.

The benefits of addressing and resolving team conflict are many and varied. Instead of becoming polarized or stagnating, the team will grow stronger as it successfully weathers its conflicts, which is what the storming stage of team development, discussed in Leading Effective Teams, is all about. As each conflict is resolved, the team enhances its collective problem-solving ability and its ability to be creative and innovative. Problem solving and conflict resolution also improve the team’s ability to communicate, enhance understanding of individual situations and opinions, and strengthen relationships. Teams that resolve conflict usually become enthusiastic, resulting in an increased commitment to the project, a greater interest in group membership, and increased productivity.

Relationship Awareness® Theory and Conflict

Conditions of Freedom Versus Conditions of Conflict and OppositionA discussion about conflict includes many variables, making it a complicated subject. For example, do you handle conflict differently with your boss than with someone you love? How about a person you just met versus a person with whom you have a history of conflict? Not all disagreements involve real conflict. People may have conflicting ideas or disagreements without threatening each other’s self-worth. Opposition turns into conflict. Relationship Awareness®

Theory suggests that conflict occurs when a person experiences a threat to their sense of self-worth. People only experience about things that are important to them.



Preventable conflict is conflict that occurs when there is agreement about the goal but disagreement in the approach to accomplishing the goal. For example, preventable conflict may occur when parties agree that surplus funds should be spent on employee bonuses, but one party (RED) wants to come up with a distribution plan “right now” to improve productivity, while the other party (Green) wants to take some time to research the most fair distribution system. Here, there is no conflict about the goal, but the parties have different value systems, and when they are not able to satisfy those value systems, they may accept the invitation to conflict. The acceptance of this invitation is preventable.

Do not confuse preventing conflict with avoiding conflict. Preventing conflict is taking some action to ensure that conflict does not occur. Avoiding conflict is experiencing a threat to self-worth but ignoring it.

Real conflict, or opposition, is conflict that occurs when the people involved do not agree on the desired outcome. For example, real conflict may occur about schedules, budgets, or scope.

The main issue in preventable conflict is the difference in values, and in the differences in what brings a sense of self-worth to people.

For most people, motivation and behavior patterns change depending on the situation and they consider one of two possibilities. The first possibility is a situation where we are free to pursue our gratification, a condition of freedom. In this condition, things are going well, so we are free and tend to pursue what we want and behave in ways that make us feel good. The second possibility is a situation in which we face opposition, a condition of conflict. In this condition, we are faced with negative circumstances and cannot behave simply for the fulfillment of our own desires. Instead, we must behave differently and act to preserve our dignity and self-esteem, even when it means not receiving personal gratification. People who exhibit each basic relating style have a set of predictably variable behaviors to which they gravitate under the opposite conditions of “things going well” or “things not going well.”

During conditions of freedom, Blues will actively seek to be of assistance to others when free to do so. They will shift behavior towards efforts to preserve the peace when faced with opposition and conflict. During these same conditions, Reds will actively seek the lead in any situation. They will always be assertive, but depending on their other personality traits, they may appear immediately as confrontational. When things are really not going well in a situation, Reds may actively seek to dominate others, going beyond mere self-assertion. In similar situations, Greens will actively seek to impose order on any chaos that they perceive in a positive situation but will strive to stay aloof and preserve their independence. When faced with conflict and opposition, Greens will usually withdraw and seek to preserve their scarce resources to fight another day. Lastly, Hubs are adept at shifting their style to all the above described behaviors. They are truly chameleons, and everything that applies to Reds, Blues, and Greens applies to them.

Under conditions of freedom we use a set of predictably uniform behaviors described previously in connection with the basic relating styles and patterns of motivation. Individuals usually exhibit variable behaviors in a predictable sequence in conditions of conflict; therefore, behavior changes as conflict and opposition continue. Blues will first attempt to smooth over things and may even deny the existence of, or the need for, conflict. Next, they will try to look on the bright side and salvage whatever harmony is possible. In the face of conflict, they will surrender as a last resort. Initially, Reds will forcefully try to assert themselves and their



position. When this behavior fails to resolve the conflict, they will accept the challenge and prepare to fight for their position. No final option exists for Reds; they will fight to the death. Greens will be on the alert for trouble and will use their data sources as a shield. When that approach fails, they will back off and retreat when possible. As a last course, they will walk away.

In reality, although some people may have a strongly dominant, primary motivation pattern or style of relating, almost everyone exhibits some degree of Red, Blue, and Green characteristics from time to time. People with one strongly dominant style and two weak ones will be most similar to one of the three primary categories. Persons with two fairly strong styles and one weak one will be most like the blends. Some people will even have a strong, medium, and weak style, whereas Hubs will have three roughly equal styles.

To further complicate matters, people often have different styles depending on whether they are acting under a condition of freedom or conflict. This status can act in combination with the relative strengths of their styles to influence the sequence in which they deploy them when faced with conflict. For example, a person whose styles are strongly Blue, moderately Red, and weakly Green may deal with conflict by first trying to maintain harmony, then suddenly come out fighting, and finally withdraw into a self-protective position as a last resort. The important attribute for project managers and other leaders is to recognize these patterns in their team members and deal with them in a way that will maximize influence over team performance and its results.

Approaches to Managing Conflict

Approaches to Managing ConflictReal conflicts occur between individuals or groups of people with different needs and goals. This conflict could be about how to use limited resources for a project, differences that concern any dimension of the triple constraint, opinions, and so on. This type of conflict is called opposition or real conflict and is NOT a threat to someone’s self-worth.

Most conflict models identify three distinct stages of conflict. Approaches to managing conflict differ at each stage because the focus of the conflict and the motivations behind the behaviors of the people involved shift as conflict escalates. When you know a conflict exists, it is important to understand the nature and intensity of the conflict so an appropriate approach can be selected to manage the conflict.

Five modes of handling conflict are shown in the following diagram:ForcingProblem solvingSmoothing



WithdrawalCompromising

The balance of concern for self and concern for the other party should be dynamic, not a static or fixed relationship. Also, there are no inherently good or bad styles of resolving conflict. All five styles, or combinations of the five, are viable in one situation or another.

Dimensions of Behavior During ConflictThe dimensions of behavior, concern for self and concern for the other party, represent the two-dimensional model based on a give (concern for the other party) and take (concern for self) posture.

Concern for self is the characteristic that makes people try to satisfy their own needs and concerns before trying to satisfy those of others. There should be a positive correlation between assertiveness and Red and Green motivational patterns. Concern for the other party is the characteristic that makes people try to satisfy the needs of others before considering their own. There should be a positive correlation between cooperativeness and Blue, or possibly Green, motivational patterns. The five modes of handling conflict are representative of different balances of these dimensions.

Five Modes of Handling ConflictForcing is what people do when they are concerned with their own satisfaction and pursue their concerns at the expense of others. They want to have their own way regardless of what others want. In some circumstances, this behavior may be an appropriate way of resolving conflict. Examples might include important issues where unpopular courses of action must be implemented, when you know you are right, when quick and decisive action is required to meet



an emergency, or when you need to protect yourself or others.

Forcing can be harmful when it alienates the other party, causes a stalemate, or prevents an agreement due to insistence on a particular outcome. It can also lead to feelings of remorse and regret when either party pushes too hard for its own point of view or when it pressures either party to give unwanted concessions during the conflict. Forcing may cause you to miss important points of view on the issue at stake when they might have proven useful or insightful, or you might even lose sight of your overall goals by locking into one point of view. It may also cause long-term damage to the team when you lose emotional control and permanently harm relationships with the other team members.

Smoothing is how people deal with conflict when they are low in both areas of concern. In essence, it is a refusal to address the conflict resulting from a failure to pursue their concerns or others’ concerns. Smoothing can be useful when the issue is trivial or you cannot win anyway. Avoiding conflict, at least temporarily, can also be a wise choice when cooling of tempers or more data are needed before the issue can be resolved.

Smoothing is harmful when it results in excessive or unnecessary delays in resolving issues. This approach can adversely affect project outcomes when it prevents milestones from being met or severs communication lines with others. The latter effect can result in the avoiding person being viewed as dysfunctional.

Withdrawal is how people behave when they are cooperative but not assertive. They are trying to meet the needs of others rather than their own needs. Withdrawal may be useful when you realize you are wrong and need to concede, when preserving the relationship is more important than prevailing in the conflict, or when doing anything else would damage the pursued initiative. Like smoothing, withdrawal is useful when the issue is trivial or you cannot win anyway. These cases are where the “Why fight it?” rationale makes a great deal of sense.

Withdrawal can be harmful when it prevents you from prevailing in conflicts where your desired outcome is truly essential. It can also be personally harmful: When you adopt this approach too readily or too often, others may lose respect for you or your input no matter how valuable it may be. Withdrawal on significant issues when you are right also can harm the project or organization.

Compromising behavior is exhibited by people who are moderate in both their assertiveness and their cooperativeness. The advantages of this approach are that decisions usually can be made relatively quickly and that conflicts involving wide-ranging issues can be resolved reasonably by everyone employing a give-and-take attitude.

The danger of compromise is that people who take this approach to conflict may be considered pushovers or gullible or lazy people. There is always the risk of conceding on essential points that should not have been sacrificed, and like collaborators, compromisers may later harbor regrets about not caring for their own needs.

In many ways, compromising is similar to problem solving, and so are the associated risks. The difference is the degree of need to be satisfied. Problem solving is more likely than compromise to satisfy one’s needs.



Problem solving occurs when people are both highly assertive and highly cooperative. It is a style in which a person can be confrontational but equally willing to consider others’ desires. It can also be useful when both positions are important. Problem solvers are adept at negotiating and gaining commitment to mutually beneficial solutions.

Problem solving can be harmful when the negotiated solutions result in the wrong concessions. The danger also exists of becoming so attuned to others’ desires that you lose sight of your own position. When you negotiate too much, the people who you represent may begin to feel betrayed and to think their interests are being sacrificed for the sake of making agreements.

Forcing, smoothing, withdrawing, and compromising are all competitive modes of handling conflict. Problem solving is the only method that can be used collaboratively.

Negotiating

Negotiating OverviewBecause conflict is a normal and even constructive occurrence within project teams, project managers must have a good understanding of negotiation as the process by which they consciously attempt to exert influence and resolve existing or potential conflicts. Therefore, they should prepare for the negotiation process.

Preparing to Negotiate

Preparing to NegotiateYou should never enter into a negotiation without preparing for it. Many consider preparation to be the first step of the negotiation process. When it is overlooked, an unsuccessful outcome should come as no surprise.

You should begin by analyzing the other party’s position through researching the other party’s concerns and sources of power. Also, spend time thinking through what the other party’s position is likely to be. Often, the concerns of parties to a conflict are not very different, although their positions may be extreme opposites. Finally, you should consider what the other party’s priorities might be.

After examining the other party’s position, you need to analyze your own position. A careful assessment of your own concerns, issues, and position is always helpful. For each issue, know where you derive power for support. You should also know what you want to achieve and what you must achieve. This means assigning issues priorities so that you know which issues are important and which issues are candidates for concessions during the negotiation.



The project manager also must consider the relationship with the other party. Is this a long-term relationship or is it short-term? What influence will this negotiation have on other current and future projects? After these considerations, you must decide if you want to proceed with a competitive negotiation or collaborative negotiation. The difference between competitive and collaborative negotiation is simple. Competitive negotiation tends to be an “I win/you lose” scenario and collaborative negotiation strives for a “win/win” scenario. Remember there is a continuum from competitive to collaborative negotiation, with many points between the two poles. Although collaborative negotiation may be the ideal, there are times when other points along the continuum (including competitive negotiation) will be more appropriate.

Every competitive negotiation should be analyzed in terms of a maximum position, a target position, and a minimum position. As subordinate to the entire negotiation, each specific issue should also have three positions identified. The maximum position is what you would like to receive if you could have everything you wanted. However, it is probably more than you can reasonably expect to achieve. The target position is what you would consider a reasonable agreement, taking into account the other party’s anticipated position. The minimum position is what you would be willing to accept and still reach agreement, taking into consideration your best alternative to negotiating an agreement.

Articulating three positions in this manner before starting to negotiate can be of enormous benefit after the negotiation begins. During the negotiation itself, tensions may rise to such an extent that you may forget to discuss certain issues or agree to outcomes that will never prove satisfactory. Doing the necessary preparatory work beforehand provides a helpful frame of reference during the course of the negotiation.

Power Bases

Power Bases OverviewSome people are uncomfortable with the concept of power and using it to influence other people. But to be an effective competitive negotiator the project manager must recognize the different bases of power that can influence conflict resolution and how they are used. The legitimate use of power and influence is appropriate to accomplish commitments as long as they are used honestly rather than for personal gain or for hurting others.

Project managers may rely on eight power bases when they are given such authority. These power bases are sources of authority that can provide project managers with choices regarding how they want to influence their fellow team members. Evidence of having chosen one type of authority or another type manifests itself in conversational patterns. Generally, power bases are used unconsciously. The formal power bases are—

LegitimatePurse-stringBureaucratic



CoerciveUsing the previously mentioned power bases usually fosters a more formal working climate. The informal power bases are—

Technical/expertCharismatic

Using the informal power bases usually fosters a more relaxed working climate. Also, reward and referent power bases can be formal or informal depending on their use. Note that the referent power base is a borrowed base. For example, talking about the director’s wishes to gain influence is using referent formal authority.

Legitimate AuthorityA project manager receives legitimate authority as a result of position or rank within the organization or upper management’s express authorization. The project manager’s title or level within the organization confers the right to make certain decisions and usually the corresponding responsibility for results.

Purse-String AuthorityPurse-string authority is based on the power to control money or resources. It generally allows influence based on budgets, costs, expenses, or resource allocations.

Bureaucratic AuthorityBureaucratic authority derives from knowledge of the organization and the ability to use this knowledge and the organization’s policies and procedures. It is based on the invocation or use of rules, policies, procedures, processes, and forms.

Coercive AuthorityCoercive authority is the opposite of reward authority because it is based on negative consequences. This type of authority creates a formal climate for the project team and includes the ability to dole out discipline, such as a reprimand or negative financial consequences. It can be useful when team members will not deliver on their individual commitments, when they purposefully undermine the project manager’s authority, or when team morale is at stake. Every attempt to influence behavior in some other way should be made; however, when team members are openly belligerent or will not carry their weight on the project, the project manager must have some alternate means to fall back on to remedy the situation, even if it is coercive. Copying an e-mail message to a team member’s functional manager that discusses a failure to perform is an example of using coercive authority.

For the threat of discipline to be effective, the project manager must be viewed as having the requisite formal authority and be willing to use it when necessary. The project manager should be certain of any infractions before taking disciplinary action and have data to back up any claims. For discipline to be effective as a means of influence, team members must believe in the



leader’s ability to monitor their performance to ensure that any punishment is fair and deserved and in the leader’s ability and willingness to deliver punishment within a reasonable period of time.

Technical or Expert AuthorityTechnical expertise can be used as a basis for power and influence that creates a positive, informal, knowledge-based climate. It is based on the influencer’s perceived superior knowledge or experience in a specific field and may involve specialized training, experience, or demonstrated ability. A project manager who has expert authority can use it effectively when a rationale for action needs explanation, when the project manager has confidence in a particular decision, or when team members need reassurance because uncertainty or risk is involved.

Typically, expertise is a comfortable basis from which to draw power. That, however, does not mean that you must be a SME to manage a project, but it never hurts (and often helps) to be viewed as an expert on the project. To exercise expert authority successfully as a project manager, you must convince the team members and stakeholders that you have sufficient knowledge of the subject for your opinion to carry weight. Trying to exercise expert power when the team has superior technical expertise is unwise and can be embarrassing. A project manager who has significantly less expertise than the team members must find some other way of exercising influence with them.

Charismatic AuthorityCharismatic authority depends on the force of one’s personality and generally hinges on positive feelings and admiration. It is an excellent source of power and influence, because it encourages team members to go the extra mile to complete an assignment or take on more work to meet deadlines. No substitute exists for a project manager who has gained the admiration and respect of the team.

Reward AuthorityTo use rewards successfully, the project manager must have something to give that ensures positive consequences for the team members. Generally, it should be some type of positive recognition, such as recommendations or referrals, financial rewards, or perquisites. Project managers can apply rewards to the scope of work as well. For example, in discussing the advantages of one technology versus another, the argument will be to demonstrate a positive consequence for work completion (cheaper, faster, and more accurate).

The ability to reward is useful in many circumstances, especially when team members are unaccustomed to it. Many people work in environments where their only reward is that they get to keep their jobs. At the other extreme is the project manager who has to use rewards to get anyone to do anything. For example, the project manager may have to set up competition for bonuses for meeting project commitments. To be completely effective in using reward authority, the project manager must assure team members that the promised rewards actually exist and will in fact be granted and that the project manager has the authority to recommend or grant them. In addition, goals must be viewed as realistic and achievable, and the promised



reward must be reasonable for the expected effort, which is generally consistent with an expectancy theory of motivation. The use of this type of authority empowers team members, creates a level playing field for all members and lessens the formality of the power base.

Referent AuthorityReferent authority is based on the ability to associate oneself with others who have power. For example, the secretary of a CEO will often wield as much influence as the CEO because of their close working relationship. Persons in the organization who use this type of authority will often attribute their own positions to others in power. Name dropping is a fairly common way to exercise referent power and can be recognized by references to persons or departments such as “Ms. James would never approve of this,” “Engineering insists that it be done,” or “I spoke with Sam, the director, yesterday, and he told me that….” The amount of influence to be gained from referent authority depends on how influential the sources of authority are and how close their relationships are with the persons who refer to them.

Collaborative Negotiation

Collaborative NegotiationThe goal of collaborative negotiation is to get one’s interests met while being willing to allow and even to help the other party meet its needs. The general approach to collaborative negotiation is to focus first on understanding and communicating interests that are normally hidden behind positions. Next, each party begins to brainstorm possible solutions and then evaluates the options with objective criteria. When pursued successfully, the collaborative negotiation process leads to a better working relationship and positive changes in the project work.

Module Summary

SummaryConflict can be both beneficial and destructive, depending on management and resolution strategies.Conflict can be either preventable or real.

Relationship Awareness® Theory recognizes 13 Conflict Sequences™ in preventable conflict; an awareness of these Conflict Sequences™ in others will help you to manage conflict more effectively.The five conflict management styles—forcing, smoothing, problem solving, withdrawing, and compromising—should vary depending on the situation.



The eight power bases provide project leaders with the ability to influence movement in competitive negotiation.Problem solving is the only conflict management approach that is collaborative.Competitive negotiation is usually an adversarial win-lose environment and collaborative negotiation is usually a problem-solving, win-win environment.Negotiation planning is a critical step that involves researching and analyzing your own point of view and the other party’s points of view.



Module 5Ethics and Leadership

Introduction

Module OverviewThis module examines the relationship between ethics and leadership in an increasingly complex business environment.

Ethics

Ethics OverviewManaging ethics in the workplace has become an increasingly complex problem in the last few decades. Businesses are under increasing pressure to manage for profit, no matter what the cost to other areas of concern, which require increased commitment to sometimes difficult decisions. In addition, ethical issues are often not black-and-white problems, requiring a simple (though possibly unpopular) decision between what is right and what is wrong. As a leader, you may be asked to choose among alternatives that are neither wholly right nor wholly wrong with each decision having its own unique effect on your project goals.

Ethical Versus Unethical Behavior

Benefits of Ethical BehaviorEthical behavior is the key to building trust—among your team members, within your organization, and with external stakeholders. Benefits of ethical behavior include the ability to attract and retain the best employees, development of better processes, increased customer loyalty, and increased credibility.

Module 5: Ethics and Leadership


Consequences of Unethical BehaviorUnethical behavior destroys trust among both employees and clients, resulting in a negative long-term effect on the organization. It can mean loss of public image, loss of funding, and criminal or civil investigations and their cost.

Ethical Guidelines

Ethical GuidelinesPhilosophers have been discussing ethics for more than two millennia. Theories about ethical decisions and how we make them have evolved over time, and they explore the ways that we make ethical decisions and the conditions under which we do so. Each theory has attempted to describe a set of fundamental ground rules by which we live our lives, but after 2500 years, there are still no simple answers.

Aristotle 384–322 BCEAristotle defined the golden mean as the path of moderation between the two extremes of excess and deficiency. To make moral decisions, one must avoid extremes and implement moderation.

Immanuel Kant 1724–1804Immanuel Kant’s categorical imperative encourages people to take a philosophical approach to solving ethical problems. Three criteria must be met for a decision or action to be moral:1. You must act as you would wish to see others act.2. You must not use people as simply a means to an end.3. You must be able to apply your actions universally.

When any criterion is not met, the action cannot be considered moral.

John Stuart Mill 1806–1873John Stuart Mill’s principle of utility states that ethical decisions should consider what action provides the greatest good for the greatest number of people. This theory seeks to maximize value and minimize loss.

John Rawls 1921–2002John Rawls’ veil of ignorance theorizes that ethical decisions can only be made when all discriminating factors (social position, money, prejudices, personal beliefs, and so on) are



removed. Decisions made under the “veil of ignorance” will always be completely fair because the decision maker has no basis on which to discriminate.

Codes of EthicsMany professional organizations have adopted codes of ethics, but, like the above theories, these codes are only guidelines to apply in a given situation. Professionals still must make good decisions both by using the guidelines available and by using their own good judgment. The difficulty, of course, is that “good” judgment can vary considerably from individual to individual, and multiple “right” answers often exist.

Personal Versus Business Ethics

Is There a Difference?Some people believe that the rules of ethics are different for the business world. They are not. It is just as important in terms of issues of trust and long-term success for an organization to be perceived as ethical as it is for an individual. Explicit attention to ethics in the workplace will provide a “moral compass” for the organization that helps to discourage illegal or questionable behavior. More importantly, it will ensure that employees at all levels have the support they need to make ethical decisions regarding complex issues such as conflict of interest, acquisition and use of resources, and contract management. This support is particularly critical during times of change in the organization when anxiety and confusion surrounding the change may push values and ethics out the door.

Ethics in the workplace may be addressed through codes of ethics, codes of conduct, policies and procedures, and ethics training. Doing so will help employees to align their values with those values of the organization, building trust, teamwork, and productivity within the organization.

Ethics and Leadership

Ethics and Leadership OverviewIt is not enough to simply set up a framework for ethical behavior—leaders must model ethical decision making within their teams and organizations. They must make it clear to employees and stakeholders that unethical behavior will not be tolerated. Some ways that leaders can facilitate ethical conduct are to—

Discuss ethics in the workplaceDevelop an awareness and sensitivity to ethical issues



Include their team in ethics decisionsProvide individuals (both employees and stakeholders) with a safe, written procedure for reporting issues of concern

The goal is to enable ethical conduct through trust and communication, rather than to prevent misconduct with the threat of detection and punishment.

Ethics and Project Management

Ethics and Project ConstraintsEthics is closely related to the normal pressures of project management. For example, what happens to the project constraints (schedule, budget, scope, quality, risk, and resources) when you—

Promise a client an unrealistic schedule?Agree to an unrealistic price?Are asked by your manager to compromise quality to obtain a shorter schedule or lower price?Are asked by your manager to hide problems from your client?Are offered confidential information on a competitor for sale by a disgruntled former employee?

Ethics and RiskAs a project leader, you must consider how your decisions affect project and organizational goals. One key to managing these decisions in an ethical manner, especially in cases where there is no clear “right” choice, is to assess the risk involved in each alternative. Ask yourself—

What are the issues?What are the options?What are the consequences?What would a reasonable person do?Are there regulations or rules that restrict your choices?How will the decision look in the newspaper?How will the decision look to your family?

Whatever your final decision, it is better to try to practice ethical decision making and forgive the occasional mistake than not to try at all.



Examples of Ethics and Leadership

Ethical Dilemma 1Your country is in the middle of a war that you strongly oppose. You are the owner of the country’s second-largest candy manufacturer, which has been offered a lucrative contract to manufacture care packages that will be sent to all troops serving overseas. The order would mean much-needed work for your factory, but the cause is one you vehemently oppose.

What do you do?

(NOTE: The above dilemma is not intended as a true/false or right/wrong exercise, but rather as an exploration of the ethical issues presented in the story and what they mean to you.)

In 1900 during the Anglo-Boer war, Queen Victoria sent chocolate bars to all the British soldiers serving in South Africa. The bars were manufactured by Cadbury, whose owner resolved his ethical dilemma by manufacturing the bars at cost. The factory and employees benefited from the additional work, the troops received their presents from the Queen, and Cadbury made no profits from a war to which its owner was deeply opposed.

Ethical Dilemma 2You are the CEO of a small manufacturing company that is an important source of employment for the small town in which your factories are located. In December, an accidental fire destroyed your factories. If you choose to take the insurance and do not rebuild, your settlement will be very profitable. At the other end of the scale, your choice to retain your employees and rebuild will cost the firm at least $10 million in addition to the cost of rebuilding.

What do you do?


In December 1995, a fire destroyed three of Malden Mills’ textile factories in Lawrence, Massachusetts.1 CEO Aaron Feuerstein kept all 3,200 workers on the payroll while he rebuilt the mill. In Feuerstein’s words, “What kind of ethic is it that a CEO is prepared to hurt 3,000 people who are his employees and an entire city of many more thousands in order for him to have a short-term gain? It’s unthinkable.”In 1996, Feuerstein was awarded Columbia Business School’s Botwinick Prize for Business Ethics.What was the trickle-down effect?

An apparel company, Dakotah, sent Feuerstein a $30,000 check after the fire.1 Malden Mills manufactures Polartec® fleece fabric.



The Bank of Boston donated $50,000.The company's union sent $100,000.The Chamber of Commerce in Lawrence, Massachusetts, contributed $150,000.

Many of Malden Mills' customers promised to stick with the company and wait for it to rebuild and regain its production capacity rather than switch to a competitor.By August 1996, three of the four production lines at Malden Mills were fully operational and all but 500 of the nearly 3,000 employees were back to work in the factory. A year after the fire, the company projected sales revenue of $358 million (compared to $400 million in 1995).In late 2001, Malden Mills filed for bankruptcy. Inevitably, speculation exists as to whether Feuerstein’s actions helped bring his company to ruin. Asked by a reporter from the U.S. television news program, 60 Minutes, if he would do the same thing again, Feuerstein replied, “Yes, it was the right thing to do.”Note that Malden Mills also declared bankruptcy in 1981 and Feuerstein brought the company back. Between 1982 and 1995 production tripled while his workforce only doubled. In October 2003, Malden Mills emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy, having reduced its debt load from $170 million in 2001 to less than $80 million. Aaron Feurstein has stepped down as Malden Mills’ CEO, but remains on the board of directors.

Ethical Dilemma 3Ethical Dilemma 3

You are senior vice president of a large Asian manufacturing company. You have always been proud of your company for being on the forefront of management—it was the first in your country to adopt International Accounting Standards (in 1967) and the first in your country to establish a Quality Circle Program (in 1978). One achievement that you are particularly proud is the company’s code of ethics, which was established in 1987 and which you have now been tasked with updating. However, you have heard some complaints lately that the code of ethics is impeding business for your company and several executives have noted that some of the company’s regulations, particularly those forbidding bribery, are making it impossible to gain entry into certain business sectors or do business in certain geographical areas.

What do you do?


The Siam Cement Group was founded in 1913 and has a history of “firsts”:1967: First Thai company to adopt International Accounting Standards1972: First Thai company with a comprehensive human resources development program1978: First Thai company to establish a Quality Circle Program1987: First Thai company to publish a code of ethics1992: First Thai company to establish a total quality management (TQM) center



1992: First Thai company to publish an environmental policy1994: First Thai cement manufacturer certified by ISP 9000

When the company began reviewing its code of ethics in 1995, it struggled with the issue of whether the code actually constituted an obstacle to doing business—and, if so, what should be done about it. As the company expanded, executives were finding it more and more difficult to adhere to the strict code of ethics, particularly when it came to the prohibition against bribery. The company found itself torn between its code, rooted in Buddhist concepts of fairness and social responsibility, and the desire to compete in the global arena.

Siam Cement Group decided that the underlying principles on which the code was based took precedence over common business practices encountered in Thailand and elsewhere. The company revised the code of ethics to spell out the implications of the code and adherence to it in more detail, and to expand its application to all joint-venture and contractor relationships. The company also ran a series of television commercials about corporate ethics and accountability and restructured its audit committee to report to the company’s board of directors (seven of twelve of the board members qualify as independent). Through strong leadership, the company was able to weather the 1997 collapse of the Thai currency and by July 2003 reduced its debt from $5.8 billion to $142 million, none of which is held in foreign currency. Recent achievements include—

1999: Received the Best Practices on Corporate Governance award2002: Received the Thailand Corporate Excellence Awards 20012002: Received the Deming Prize

2002 was declared the Year of Corporate Governance by the Thai government.

Module Summary

SummaryEthical behavior is a key component to building trust.As a leader, you must display and facilitate ethical behaviors among your followers.Ethics is as much an organizational issue as a personal issue.In project management, ethics is closely tied to the project constraints. As a project leader, you must consider how your decisions affect project and organizational goals.



Module 6Leading Change

Introduction

Module OverviewModule 6 discusses the stages of adjusting to change and the appropriate leadership strategies for each one.

Leading Change

OverviewManaging change in your team or organization can require all the skills addressed so far, including establishing direction, aligning people, motivating and inspiring, communicating, team leadership, relationship building, and negotiating.

Projects often are undertaken to change some aspect of an organization’s processes or structure. The natural resistance that arises in these situations can be described by predictable stages of adjusting to change. As a project manager, you must recognize these stages and adopt appropriate leadership strategies for each one.

In many cases, projects themselves represent or result in some type of major change. For example, an organization could launch a project to implement a new computer system or to move to a new building. In such cases, where the project itself means change for others, special care must be taken to accommodate the psychological needs of those people going through the change. Failure to do so may have a negative effect on the ultimate outcome of an otherwise successfully managed project.

The keys to successful change management are communication and patience. Make sure everyone involved understands what changes are required and why they are required. Acknowledge specific losses and gains and let the team members know how they can contribute to the goal. As a leader, personally model the new behavior. Expect resistance and recognize that no matter how well prepared you are, some people will react negatively to the change and it is your job to help them through their initial resistance. Let the team know that you will be monitoring the transition process and, if needed, a workaround will be provided as a temporary solution.

Module 6: Leading Change


Engaging staff in personal and meaningful dialog is an extremely important step in creating allies and removing obstacles to the change process. When you are willing to listen, you may find that the staff members may have better ideas about how to conduct the change than the management team.

Stages of Adjusting to Change

OverviewAll available models for discussing the stages of adjusting to change are based in one way or another on the psychological process of grieving.

As depicted in the below graphic, the process that we call change has five identifiable stages. In the transition between old and new, people will first reject that the change is needed or that it is taking place, then resist it, acknowledge it, accept it, and then eventually fully support and committing to the new method, building, system, or other project.

During rejection, people will try to ignore the change and maintain the status quo. They think that by ignoring it, it will go away, which they hope it will. During the resistance phase, people become angry, upset, and frustrated, and can be very difficult to deal with. After a while, they can become apathetic, with an “I don’t care what happens” attitude. During acknowledgment, people begin to recognize that the change is inevitable and make the transition toward acceptance. They begin to plan for the change and justify it in their minds. During acceptance, people focus on the future. Their behavior centers on the new way of doing things, rather than the old. Finally, in the support stage, people fully embrace the change and commit to it as the way things should be.

Managing Change

Managing ChangeAlthough the stages of adapting to change appear to be sequential on paper, experience shows that they may not be. In real-life situations, many people may be simultaneously experiencing this change continuum, and they may be at different stages at any given time, which



complicates the task of managing change. The stages may be repeated several times before adaptation takes place. Some individuals may be experiencing multiple changes in their lives at any given time, further complicating change management strategies. In some cases, people may even become stuck in one stage and not progress at all, never reaching final adaptation.

During rejection, communication is vital to successful change management. The first effect will be rejection and people will continue to work as usual, hoping the change will go away, which will be especially true when earlier change efforts have failed. As a leader, you must provide as much information about the change and in as many different ways as possible. You must also always give clear, accurate information that explains what is happening and why. Without this communication, people will stay focused on the status quo, stalling the change process before it has begun. The communication in this stage is somewhat one-way as the project leader, or in some cases the entire project team, provides information about the change to the constituency. Denial is perhaps the most difficult stage because people realize that after they get beyond it they must begin saying goodbye to the “old.”

During resistance, communication should become two-way. After people have stopped denying, they begin to resist; at this point, they will need to talk to vent anger, frustration, concerns, and feelings. As a leader, you must provide people with a way to express their concerns about the coming change, as well as continue to provide accurate, consistent information. People will discover that they are not alone in their frustration and will appreciate the efforts that you make to communicate information and answer their questions. This phase will pass more quickly when people are allowed to express their feelings and receive answers to their questions about the change. Leaders can often turn this phase into a positive experience by asking people to review the new processes and suggest their own ideas for making the change better. Let people know that you seek their input and want to involve them in the planning process. Turn complaints into opportunities to brainstorm, and build an environment of trust by encouraging openness and honesty. This encouragement will help to avoid passive resistors who consciously or unconsciously sabotage change efforts behind the scenes.

During acknowledgement, people should begin to see the positive aspects of the change and plan for new responsibilities, new working relationships, and new ideas. As a leader, you can help to move through this stage by recognizing the loss that is inherent in the change process. People may have deep attachments to the old way of doing things, particularly when the old way was perceived as “good.” You can plan ways to allow people to say goodbye to the past, such as a farewell party or another symbolic gesture. It is crucial during this stage (and others) that you support the change process by being seen embracing the change yourself. Recognize that you may need to spend more time with people during the transition to show full support of the planned change. Depending on the type of change being implemented, you may also need to provide increased support for stress management or other employee assistance programs.

During acceptance, leaders must help people to find their places in the new order. Enormous opportunities exist to facilitate the transition to the support stage. Provide positive reinforcement as often as possible. Reward the people and teams who are contributing to positive change. Ensure that your plans build confidence and promote successful change. Recognize that not everyone will accept the change with enthusiasm; some people may be hesitant to fully support the change until they see how it works. This stage is where people begin to accept and are looking for ways to adapt. Allow sufficient time for everyone to adjust to the change. It is another opportunity to get feedback about how to improve the new system or to help people set up their



new networks.

During support, people will move from accepting the change to fully supporting its implementation. Teams commit to the shared vision and the changes in job structure and responsibility that go with it. Positive reinforcement must be given, formally and informally and as often as possible. This reinforcement encourages those people still in previous stages to accept and adapt to the change; and it may help those who are stuck to move forward.

The important things to remember are—Any change requires some period of adjustmentThe process of adjusting to change will involve various stages, beginning with some form of resistance to the change and ending with acceptance of the changePeople do not always experience the stages sequentially. They may experience them simultaneously, and any stage may recur several times before finally reaching acceptancePeople experiencing change may become stuck in one stage and not progress at allPeople may be experiencing multiple changes at one time, further complicating mitigation strategiesPeople will adjust to change at different rates. As a leader, you may be dealing with people in any or all the stages at any given timeYou are only as strong as your weakest link

AdaptabilitySome people have certain personality traits that allow them to adapt to change better than others. Development of these traits can be stimulated in people who do not possess them to assist them in their efforts to adapt. Three of these key personality traits are—

CommitmentControlThe love of being challenged

People who have such a high level of confidence in themselves or in their work group that change does not frighten them exhibit commitment. Change excites these people. They have less trouble letting go and moving on to new things. Obtaining commitment from the group will help the group adjust to change better.

People who feel they have control or influence over outcomes are less apt to become afraid or apathetic (neither feeling is conducive to adapting to change). Providing information and a forum for people to vent their feelings and state their opinions and ideas can help people to feel that they have some control.

Finally, people who love a challenge will adapt better to change than those people who do not. The more significant the change is, the more energized and enthusiastic these people may be about bringing it to fruition and adapting to it. Thus, people who possess this trait are often the most adaptable of all.



Change Strategy PlanA change strategy plan is a systematic way to determine who will be affected by the changes that you are proposing, what each group’s concerns are likely to be, and the best way to promote the change to each group through emphasizing the positive results of the proposed change.

The several steps to developing and using your change strategy plan follow:Define your audience by identifying the internal and external users of the product or service and the providers of resources necessary for the change process. It will involve a complete stakeholder analysis of your proposed change.Determine the “price” of the change for each identified audience in the first step by analyzing the expected advantages and disadvantages associated with the change. To identify what the possible advantages and disadvantages will be for each audience, use diagnostic tools such as opinion polls, brainstorming, force field analysis, or focus groups to learn more about their needs.Determine the tactical steps necessary for implementation.Determine the emotional steps necessary for implementation.Plan your communication strategy by choosing the appropriate communication medium for each audience, the most appropriate place and time to transmit the first announcement, and the process for continuing the dialog process with each audience segment as the implementation progresses.Design the message that you will direct to each audience according to their needs and concerns. To “sell” the change you want to implement, you must emphasize the positive benefits to each particular group, acknowledge the downsides, and discuss how the positives outweigh the negatives.

Module Summary

Module SummaryChange is an increase or decrease in any project characteristic or an alternate approach to project work.Change management is the process used to implement a change so that people assimilate it into their daily lives.Change may have either a human or a technical focus, and it may be seen from either an individual or an organizational perspective.There are five predictable stages of adjusting to change: rejection, resistance, acknowledgement, acceptance, and support. The project leader must help the team through each stage.



As a project leader, your change strategy must include defining your audience, analyzing the advantages and disadvantages of the change, designing a message, emphasizing positive aspects of the change, and planning a communication strategy for announcing the change.



Glossary Supplements

Glossary

GlossaryAccountability

(1) Total responsibility of an individual for the satisfactory completion of a specific assignment.

(2) State of assuming liability for something of value either through a contract or because of one’s position of responsibility.

Authority

(1) Power or influence, either granted to or developed by individuals, that leads to others doing what those individuals direct.

(2) Formal conferment of such influence through an instrument such as a project charter.

Bureaucratic authority

Influence derived from an individual knowing the organization’s rules, regulations, and procedures and the ways to use them to obtain desired results in an expedient and expeditious manner.

Change

(1) Increase or decrease in any project characteristics—time, cost, or technical requirements.

(2) Deviation from agreed-upon specifications, definition, functionality, or plans; alternate approach to project work.

(3) Alteration in a contract as permitted by a contract clause.

Change management

(1) Process of maintaining the baseline identification and monitoring all changes to the baseline. Prevents unnecessary or marginal changes to the project scope, while expediting the approval and implementation of changes that are considered needed or that offer significant project benefits.

(2) Process used to introduce, train, and implement a new system or set of procedures (the “change”) in an organization so that the users or beneficiaries of the change assimilate it into their everyday work life. Change management is basically a process of acculturation.

Change management plan

(1) Premeditated, documented approach to implementing configuration control.

(2) Approach used to assimilate a new system or set of procedures in an organization.

Charismatic authority

Influence derived from an individual’s personality. People do what is asked of them because they like the asker.

Client

Customer, principal, owner, promoter, buyer, or end user of the product or service created by the project.

Code of ethics

Written statement of principles addressing the behavior of the individuals employed in an organization.

Coercive authority

©2016 StrategyExecution PMC:DBQ:EN:000 ver. 3.1

Influence predicated on fear. People do what is asked of them because they fear the consequences if they do not.

Colocation

Placement of project team members in the same physical location to enhance their ability to perform as a team.

Communication

Effective transfer of information from one party to another; exchanging information between individuals through a common system of symbols, signs, or behavior. Communication comprises four elements: (1) communicator or sender of a message, (2) message, (3) medium of the message, and (4) receiver of the message.

Competency

Critical skill, or in some cases personality characteristic, required of an individual to complete an activity or project, or otherwise required for a certain position. For example, the ability to think strategically is considered by some to be a critical competency for a person who will be the project manager of a large and complex project.

Compliance

(1) Adhering to any standards, procedures, or processes established as necessary for operational effectiveness.

(2) Meeting all technical, contractual, and price/cost requirements of a request for proposal.

Conflict

Opposition resulting from incompatible expectations.

Conflict management

Process by which an individual uses managerial techniques to deal with disagreements, both technical and personal in nature, that develop among the individuals working on the project.

Conflict resolution

Process of seeking a solution to a problem. Generally, five methods are available:1 problem solving or confrontation, where two parties work together toward a solution of the

problem,2 compromising, where both sides agree such that each wins or loses on certain significant

issues3 forcing, where the project manager uses his or her power to direct the solution, resulting in a

type of win-lose agreement where one side gets its way and the other does not4 smoothing, where the major points of agreement are given the most attention and

differences between the two sides are not highlighted and are thus not resolved5 withdrawing, where one or both sides withdraw from conflict

Culture

In project management, the combined effect of the values, beliefs, attitudes, traditions, and behaviors of the members of an organization.

Customer

Client, principal, owner, promoter, buyer, or end user of the product or service created by the project.

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Effective team

Group of people who work with each other in a positive way to accomplish shared objectives.

Ethical management style

Management approach in which the project manager is honest, sincere, and able to motivate and press for the best and fairest solution.

Expert authority

Influence derived from an individual’s knowledge or expertise, rather than from some outside source. Also called technical authority.

Follower

Task that logically succeeds a particular task in time.

Herzberg’s Hygiene-Motivation Theory

Theory of motivation developed by Frederick Herzberg in which he asserts that individuals are affected by two opposing forms of motivation: hygiene factors and motivators. Hygiene factors such as pay, attitude of supervisor, and working conditions serve only to demotivate people when they are not provided in the type or amount required by the person. Improving hygiene factors under normal circumstances is not likely to increase motivation. Factors such as greater freedom, more responsibility, and more recognition serve to enhance self-esteem and are considered the motivators that energize and stimulate the person to enhanced performance.

Hygiene factors

According to Frederick Herzberg’s Motivation-Hygiene Theory, factors related to job dissatisfaction that must be addressed to retain employees, such as pay, attitude of supervisor, or working conditions.

Leader

Individual who uses his or her influence in a group to motivate others to do something. Often used to refer to the project manager who is the individual vested with formal authority for achieving project aims.

Leadership

(1) Use of influence to direct the activities of others toward the accomplishment of some objective.

(2) Ability to persuade others to do things enthusiastically.

(3) Human factor that binds a group together and motivates it toward goals.

Leadership style

A leader’s unique manner of guiding and encouraging the efforts of the follower. A leader should be flexible, adapting his or her leadership style to personal needs and business circumstances.

Leading

Establishing direction and aligning, motivating, and inspiring people.

Legitimate authority

Influence based on an individual’s position in the organization and conferred upon that person by the organization. Also called formal authority.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs


Theory of motivation developed by Abraham Maslow, which asserts that a person’s needs arise in an ordered sequence in the following five categories: (1) physical needs, (2) safety needs, (3) love needs, (4) esteem needs, and (5) self-actualization needs.

McGregor’s Theory X and Theory Y

Theory of motivation advanced by Douglas McGregor, which holds that managers have a tendency to hold two bipolar sets of assumptions about workers. Theory X managers view workers as machines who require a great deal of external control. Theory Y managers view workers as organisms who grow, develop, and exercise control over themselves.

Motivators

According to Frederick Herzberg’s Motivation-Hygiene Theory, factors related to job satisfaction that must be addressed to motivate employees, such as recognition or greater responsibility.

Negotiating

(1) Process of bargaining with individuals concerning resources, information, and activities. Conferring with others to come to terms or reach an agreement.

(2) Process in which parties with different interests reach an acceptable agreement through communication and compromise.

Positional negotiation

Negotiating approach in which immediate needs are stated on the assumption that the environment will not, or cannot, change.

Principled negotiation

Negotiation approach with its primary objective the achievement of a win-win result.

Project risk

(1) Cumulative effect of the probability of uncertain occurrences that may positively or negatively affect project objectives.

(2) Degree of exposure to negative events and their probable consequences (opposite of opportunity). Characterized by three factors: risk event, risk probability, and amount at stake.

Project team

Group of people that have complementary skills, a common purpose, shared goals, and mutual accountability. It shares responsibility for accomplishing project goals and its members report either full or part time to the project manager.

Purse-string authority

Influence based on the amount of control an individual has over the money used to carry out the project.

Referent authority

Influence based on an individual’s referring to a higher power as supporting his or her position or recommendation. (“The boss and I think this is a good idea.”)

Responsibility

(1) Obligation of an individual or group to perform assignments effectively.

(2) Status of a prospective contractor that determines whether it is eligible for contract award.

Reward authority

PMC:DBQ:EN:000 ver. 3.1 ©2016 StrategyExecution

Influence derived from an individual’s being able to provide positive reinforcement for desired behavior. For example, a project manager provides recognition and bonuses to top performers, further motivating them to project success.

Team building

(1) Planned and deliberate process of encouraging effective working relationships while diminishing difficulties or roadblocks that interfere with the team’s competence and resourcefulness.

(2) Process of influencing a group of diverse people, each with individualized goals, needs, and perspectives, to work together effectively for the good of the project.

Team development

(1) Development of individual and group skills to improve project performance.

(2) Enhancement of stakeholders’ ability to contribute as individuals and to function as a team.

Triple constraint

Term used to identify what are generally regarded as the three most important factors that a project manager needs to consider in any project: time, cost, and scope (specifications). Typically represented as a triangle, each of these constraints, when changed, will affect one or both of the others. They do not exist in isolation. For example, when the scope of a project increases, generally time and cost will also increase.

Virtual team

A project team that may be separated by distance with little or no face-to-face time. Communication needs to be in a format useable to the virtual team. Media such as e-mail, video conferencing, and Web conferencing are examples used most often to relay information.

Work breakdown structure (WBS)

A hierarchically structured grouping of project elements that organizes and defines the total scope of the project. Each descending level is an increasingly detailed definition of a project component. Project components may be products (a product-oriented WBS) or tasks (a task-oriented WBS).


Documents

Managing Cost-Reimbursement Contracts Project Leadership ...elearning.esi-intl.com/BlendedLearning/ILT/DBQ_v3... · Leadership and Management. Introduction. Module Overview. In this