Conflict is unavoidable.  Regardless of where you are, conflict is everywhere no matter who you are.  It’s not rare to hear of disputes turning into long, drawn out lawsuits.  Something as simple as a difference in personalities between team members can hinder productivity.  Here are a few ways to help you turn a conflict into a peaceful conflict resolution.

We’ve all been taking the traditional approach to conflict by always trying to avoid it.  That’s impractical because no matter how many rules and policies are created to deal with disputes in the workplace, disputes always arise.  Instead, we should concentrate on managing conflict.

Identify the Conflict

It’s better to avoid getting in disagreements for the sake of getting more work done, but many times, co-workers butt heads over ideas and how they are presented.  Instead of turning on one another and resorting to office politics, employees should work together to identify what is causing their lack of productivity.

For example, if a conflict is the result of someone who has too much power over the decision making, it is the responsibility of the other team members to effectively find out what is going on with the troublesome team member and why they are acting a certain way.

Deal with Conflict

Many people are intimidated by the idea of dealing with a disagreeable co-worker, but it doesn’t help anyone if everyone allows a co-worker to continue to cause problems.  In fact, overlooking the problem only communicates to the problematic person that what they are doing is all right, and that they could continue with their unethical behavior. 

Again, responsibility lies with the rest of the group or co-workers to deal with the person in order to achieve conflict resolution.  Workers can go to their manager, but it is better to confront the person first.  The important thing is how someone approaches the person who poses a problem to the rest of the office.  If someone is overly confrontational, then things can only escalate if the person becomes upset.

Instead, we should be kind and courteous in the way we speak to the person who has been a problem for the rest of the office.  Point out instances that were particularly upsetting, and always bring another person along for a second opinion.  It’s also a good idea to have written documentation of a co-worker’s problematic actions.

Prevent Future Conflicts

Learn from past conflicts and apply them in the future to prevent an incident from escalating later.  We should be proactive-but not paranoid-when it comes to recognizing small incidents that could possibly escalate into something much worse.

Everyone benefits from a successful conflict resolution.  Done right, no one has to be fired, and co-workers are able to foster a closer relationship with one another.  Co-workers create a stronger bond with one another and are able to deal with problems that may present themselves later on in a more efficient manner.

Among the numerous types of organization management structures, the functional organizational structure finds its place. An organization needs structure for achieving common goals – the functional model is structured hierarchically with a strong concept of subordination. Most companies in the modern era rely upon this functional/hierarchical model.

In the functional organization, each job becomes the focus point. Similar function-based jobs done by the employees are put together in silos in the functional structured based organizational. Specialization is centralized and employees who are doing these specialized jobs are clustered, thus each unique department is born.

The functional areas will have personnel with varied skills, but those skills are grouped on their similarities. The people who have identical skills can be grouped easily and they can be placed in separate units and a aforesaid organizational structure is formed. The ultimate controlling authority coordinates with all levels which are commonly called the top management. When an organization handles a solitary product, the aforementioned functional organizational structure is most suited and most frequently used.

In such as model, the purchasing function concentrates on purchase activities. Human Resources personnel handle the hiring, training, and firing activities. The accounting department takes care of financial activities. Manufacturing focuses on rolling out the finished product. The sales team takes the role of promoting the finished product in the marketplace. Marketing activities market the product with a long range goal of staying competitive in the market.

The organizational structure with functional focus tries to allocate the available people according to their roles, forming what is referred to as a functional department. Each department usually has a department head with the title of department manager, or something similar. At times, these department heads may be given a title of Director, if the board gives their function such a representation.

Imagine that a functional organizational structure operates in silos, due to the controlling nature used in such structures. When project management is necessary, each project is performed inside a single departmental unit. In the necessity of drawing information or efforts from other departments occurs for project management, it is done by requesting assistance from the other unit. The procedure for getting this cooperation between departments is to route the request through the head of the unit to the other head of the other unit from whom the information is sought. In other situations, the communication flow is restricted inside the functionally silo of the department.

Functional organizational structures are ideal for organizations having a lone product or a cluster of products which can easily group under a single head.

The benefits in utilizing a structure which relies upon the functional model are:

• the chain of command is linear and sound
• The human resource abilities are constantly nurtured by concentrated tutoring, leadership, and guidance
• Professional similarities between the organizational participants in each of the different functional offices
• The development of professional expertise attained by clustering specialists in the present function as a single unit
• Provides an easy path for the employees to grow within the organization sideways as well as upwards in the organizational tree

The drawbacks of the functional organizational structure are

• The decision making process is bureaucratic and far from expedient
• The flow of communication and synchronization between functional departments is complicated
• The speed of resolving problem is slow and inefficient
• Grouping based on functions results in a lack of broader view from employees resulting in narrowed vision of overall organizational objective

Project managers (PM) are naturally considered leaders since they claim near total responsibility for their projects. Though they do not manage the resources in some occasions, still they are project leaders. One cannot take both management and  leadership as the same thing. Yukl defines the terms leader, manager and boss to specify people who play the role of leadership. Here, you’ll see, leadership is used to deal with management as well.

Leadership and management are not the same. An efficient leader always encourages and stimulates his team, to make the members to be more successful contributors, to visualize their unique ideas and finally to act on the call of urgency. 

Definition of Leader vs. Manager

Here’s how leadership and management are defined. Maxwell, in his book ‘The 360 Degree Leader’ has given the meaningful definitions for both manager and leader. He has said that managers execute the tasks with defined methods while leaders themselves work with people. Similarly, Kotter has said that the key elements like planning, staffing, organizing, problem solving, controlling and budgeting are involved in managing. However, the essential requirements like setting direction, inspiring, motivating and aligning people are involved in leadership. Kotter further explained that leadership and management are completely different approaches of action. Each of them represents their individual characteristics and tasks. However, to run projects in today’s changing and complex business environment, both management and leadership skills are important.

Leadership is necessary for a number of reasons. For example, to make change in routine business environment, to run set systems and services properly, innovate and create new products. Above all, leadership encourages others to think differently, take risks, and innovate unique things. Well, management makes sure that the methods work successfully.

The Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) breaks projects down into these five process groups: Initiating, Planning, Executing, Monitoring and Controlling, and Closing. Altogether, PMBOK explains 44 methods of Project Management that barely give importance to the necessity of leadership.

Remember that to be a good project manager, one must be a good leader also. The ability to encourage others in order to make them to reach their maximum potential is very important. Normally, a PM does more than manage a group of tasks on a Gantt chart.

Despite the project manager dedicating to the most expensive and efficient project management tool set to deliver the project timelines, budget, and objectives, great leadership skills are required to make sure that the process goes according plan.

How to Encourage and Inspire Team Members

A project manager often faces ups and downs during his work. Emotionally, a Project Manager is required to handle people’s emotions, to motivate people when they get disappointed, to take the teams together during the difficult times, and finally to make sure that they have concentrated on the goals of the project.

However, it’s obvious that this role is not an easy one. A PM has to realize key aspects about the individuals who are the members of the team like their personalities, what gets them energized, and how to encourage them, effectively. The main strategy here is to understand the members and show the true leadership which means being dependable and motivating.

A project leader must establish an emotional connection with each member of the team personally. This causes each team member to think about the project more emotionally rather than simply as a source of paycheck. Usually, the words "Thank you", literally, will do the trick. However, even the occasional small gift to team members will energize them during the project work and keep them on track.

Knowing the Limits

The toughest job for a Project Manager is to say "no" to the members of the team. Some projects cannot be completed on time, or may have to slip their budget or scope. Sometimes, the PM will have no choice except to not push the team members in order to complete the project on time. No amount of pushing can save a project, sometimes.

The main problem for a Project Manager is to recognize the right time to say “enough” and no project management training can prepare you for these moments. Sometimes, treating the team members badly only for the sake of accomplishing a project will result in a disaster, and it’s hard to know when.

How to Improve Team Members

A Project Manager can further display leadership skills by improving members of the project team. This will result in making the project team even more capable as a result of the project work, yielding profitable results on projects to come.

The organizations usually fail to recognize the chance to improve new skills and build skills into workers during the project. Organizations seem to always focus on completing the projects in the shortest possible timeline, thus missing out the huge opportunity of possible future benefit.

Conclusion

Since projects are also businesses, but on a smaller scale, every role necessary for a business should work properly in order to successfully complete the project. Great leadership is very essential as well as a good management for an organization. Therefore, a PM is compelled to be leader as well as a manager for the sake of their project’s well-being.

Prior to the 1970’s, almost every large business functioned according to a “silo” model, wherein workers functioned in isolated groupings, subordinated to functional managers. Picture, if you will, multiple columns drawn on a page; each column representation is led by a line manager, and every line manager administers one group of workers. Since each group functioned with certain autonomy, various work functions were replicated within each silo.

Categories of the matrix organizations come in several spectra. The goal and focus of each is to provide a balance of power between manager’s and their functional needs in particular. The three primary matrices layer in three categories: The Weak Matrix, Strong Matrix, and Balanced Matrix organizational structure. This whitepaper will address the overall benefits and drawbacks of the Strong Matrix organizational structure in the article.

Why Strong Matrix Structure?

Because of the problems inherent in the previous organizational structure, a strong matrix structure was developed. In this instance, it is the project managers rather than the line managers that are responsible for workers. The project managers, however, do not possess responsibility for details related to the administration of human resource matters. Hence, the project manager can feel empowered to directly manage workers, and, as a result, manage an entire project appropriately, without forcing project managers to become involved in human resources issues.

I have been in this sort of situation myself. I led the project and oversaw everything but the personnel issues. This worked very well for me. I was in charge of everything related to the project itself, but was free from handling unrelated details like reviews, contracts, training, taxes, and vacations. Under this arrangement, I was able to focus completely on the project I had undertaken.

In this situation, then, when a new project begins, the project manager discusses staffing requirements with each functional manager, who then tries to provide the necessary resources and training. Functional managers often develop plans, as well as charts (such as the Gantt charts, Pert Charts, and Process Flow Charts) determining how individuals are to be organized in each project. In addition, staff might be directed to move to another project or manager if this becomes necessary, but only with the project manager’s approval.

While project managers cooperate with functional managers, the project manager is primarily responsible for every detail related to the project. Hence, in this matrix structure, the project manager has primary authority and responsibility.

Project Management World Today has an great article in the PM Tips section called : Procrastination – Detection and Avoidance. This paper provides interesting insight into the causes and impacts of procrastination on projects.  Most importantly, it take a look at how project managers as leaders can prevent procrastination in the first place..

Here’s what  you’ll find covered in this paper.  I’ve paraphrased the introduction a bit so get you the biggest bang for the buck.

Read more…

Until the 1970’s, normal, big organizations had tendency to operate in “silos”, rational divisions where basically separated groups of workers would report to a line manager or functional manager. Matrix systems emerged as an effort to restructure these inefficient organizational structures to support more efficient project-based management.

Functional Organizational Structure

Big organizations used to operate in “silos”, rational divisions where basically isolated groups of workers reported to a line or functional manager. Imagine columns on a page with a line manager above each column and a group of workers inside each column under the manager of the division.  As these groups operated independently, it was not unique to discover functions replicated in each silo.

In an Information Technology organization, for instance, you might discover software programmers in the sales office, some more in the accounting department, and still more in corporate headquarters, because each of these functioning units have a programming demand.

Matrix Organizational Structure

And so it was, in the 1970s, that efforts to better conventional, or functional, organizational structures, led to the introduction of the “Matrix” organizational system.

In the matrix organization structure, considering our IT instance above, all programmers are now in a distinct programming department.  They report to a functional manager in charge of programming.  The manager of that department is completely in charge their jobs. In a matrix, we normally relate to the line manager as a functional manager because all of their workers execute related functions.

Workers in a matrix organization structure are compartmentalized by the skills required of them into silos, like columns in a matrix, each with its committed manager. The workers report to and are accountable to their functional manager, who in return normally has lone obligation for the progress of their workers and also the management of their region, including budgeting.

So far, the matrix organization structure sounds quite a bit like the functional organization structure, with the exception that all workers within a silo (a column in the matrix) are divided by a specific skill-set.  The next difference between functional organizations and matrix organizations is that matrices have rows (lines running across the columns).

Traditional organizations operated rather easily, but were ineffective, with duplication of skills and distinct, but redundant, processes around the organization. But their chief failing was when they tried to handle projects.

The trouble was that with functional organizations, cross functional projects did not exist, because the project manager’s “team” team made up of individuals from various functional areas, managed and controlled by various functional managers — not by the project manager.

So we have our columns of functionally related workers in each row of our matrix, with a functional manager as the chief of each column.

Now imagine these rows each having a project manager as its “chief” of each group of workers. The rows intersect the columns and then intersect the columns of workers. So each row is a silo of workers with different functions with a project manager in charge.

In such a matrix system there is an apparent stress between the project managers at the top of each row (each plan) and the managers at the head of each column (each functioning region) as they are sharing the same workers, and as each manager (project and functional) has a work to do, we get a dispute of stake.

There are distinct types of matrix system, designed to balance the ability struggle-struggle between the managers conflicting needs. The principal types are these matrix organizations is listed below.

Weak Matrix

This type of matrix organization structure is nightmarish for Project Managers.  In the weak matrix organizational structure, project managers are effectively reduced to being project facilitators. They draw plans and supervise the execution, but they have no genuine control over personnel, and are nearly completely reliant upon the functional managers to offer resources.

The workers have less allegiance to the project managers (or the plan), because it is the functional managers who determine the progress of the workers. And the workers’ progress is normally measured solely on the work that is done for their functional manager — not on their project work — thus it is a fact that working on a project may be seen by the worker as not desirable as they will have less time in doing their functional work, so the project manager may see them as unmotivated.

And as the PM has no genuine control over the project members, so they frequently have to report the problem of workers not doing their duties, to the functional managers in anticipation that they will motivate to  the workers to perform more on the project.

But recall that the functional managers are primarily accountable for the operation of their own  areas, so their workers performing plan tasks can really cut the productivity of their region (frequently projects are ignored in the benchmarks. So this leads to a clear-cut dispute of stake between the PM, the functional managers and the respective workers.

In this position the PM normally loses — and that’s the simple to recall it — the PM is feeble in a feeble matrix.

Strong Matrix

All these problems led to the introduction of the “strong matrix” organization structure

In the strong matrix organizational structure, the tables are reversed from the weak matrix organization structure. The intent is that project managers that are responsible for the workers, rather than the line managers. But the project managers are not accountable for the human resource management.

This gives project managers the power to handle the workers directly, and therefore adequately handling the entire project, but without involving the project managers upward in HR administration.

I have worked in organizations of this manner, where I managed my groups and was accountable for everything with the exception of the HR functions, and I establish it a really rewarding surrounding from a project level of opinion. So my groups would have me as project manager and I had  the lone authority and obligation to direct their work, but they also had staff managers who took care of anything that was not project-related, i.e. performance reviews (but I made provision the important input to these) training, holiday management, contracts for employments etc. Therefore it was possible for me to focus on project management.

So, when a manager for a project starts a new one, they discuss their staffing demand with the functional managers and the functional managers seek to have the resources accessible (and offer education for them, where needed). Normally, the functional managers will sketch out plans and charts (e. g. Gantt charts) of how “their folk” will be included inside projects, and they might move personnel between projects and project managers as required (after making inquiries with the project managers.

Effectively the PM and the project managers work jointly, but the whole command of everything project-related is the role of the plan manager– then in a powerful matrix, the plan manager is the stronger company.

Balanced Matrix

There is an old saying, “power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” In each variation of the matrix organization structure there is a battle for control, hence power.  There needs to be some manner to bring each into equilibrium, otherwise one group will rule the other, to the disadvantage of the project, and finally to the detriment of the organization all together (although private projects or functional areas may bloom for sometime). A really dominant project manager, for instance, might bully functional managers into always giving them the best team members for their projects.

One way to reduce these difficulties is to have rules within the organization that varies who can handle a worker, depending upon sure circumstances. For instance, there could be a regulation that says if a worker is to work on a project for less than one week the functional manager (or project manager) has lone command over the worker, but if the demand is for longer than one week, command changes hand. Or there may be rules that the same worker cannot work for same project manager, on two back-to-back projects.

There are many potential rules that could be made, but the goal is to equalize the power between the project managers and the functional managers so as not to have a win/lose position. This is why this matrix organization structure is referred to as a “balanced matrix”.

So whether the organizational structure is feeble, powerful, or stable, the “power” is always from the standpoint of the project manager.

A project manager, quite simply defined, is an individual who is responsible for the entire project. He or she is not responsible for completing every task. Indeed, it is unlikely that the manager would even have every skill needed to complete all the work. He or she is simply the final decision maker. This person will usually be considered responsible for the success or failure of a project, unless other reasons for the outcome are blatantly obvious.

What skills, then, are actually needed by a successful manager? One critical skill is that of being an effective team leader. An inquiring mind is also quite a useful asset. One must be capable of gathering information from necessary sources, and to quickly organize the information to successfully make predictions and good business decisions. All these skills are needed to plan and implement a project. An extensive amount of planning and evaluation is necessary. Those who do not plan and schedule very well should consider another career.  Moreover, because a manager sometimes must share the plan with customers and persuade them that the idea is a good one, he or she also requires excellent presentation skills.

After decisions have been made, the manager needs the vision and impartiality regarding the overall progress of the plan, makes necessary adjustments, and keeps the team motivated and focused — while concurrently meeting budget and time constraints. To be decisive does not mean continuing to pursue a direction that is not working. Constant vigilance in quality assurance is integral to the success. Because quality is a product of teamwork, it needs to be incorporated in the planning and scheduling process of the overall project. Nearly all ineffective actions should be completely or almost completely eliminated through effective planning.

The project manager also must keep in mind project goals and to define a plan and manage change. Project goals, as well as plans for achieving them, must be developed. The processes must be managed without allowing the scope to range beyond project goals. Risks must be identified, and contingency plans must be available in case they are needed. Any changes in the scope of projects must be determined, costs estimated, and documented in writing with the client.

Evaluation of a team’s assets and liabilities is essential to good leadership. The good project manager will also be able to use this knowledge to achieve the most successful results from his or her team. Diplomacy combined successfully with assertiveness, rather than aggressiveness, is a useful combination of skills. Clear lines of communication to the team and among team members are important. It should be noted that, while maintaining the schedule is the manager’s responsibility, team members should have input into developing this schedule.

The Project Management Institute, or PMI, was created in 1969. The intent of this organization was to ensure successful project managers attained necessary skills to be successful. Therefore, in 1981, the directors created standards and guidelines for this career path. Known as the PMBOK, this is a guide for the body of knowledge for project management. Reviewed often, this authority should be studied by those who desire to pursue a successful career as a project manager.

Danielle Baker had an interesting post over on PMHut about Project Management vs. ITIL release management.

It seems that quite a few people are confused by the distinction. In fact, I’ve even noticed that senior IT folks don’t understand the difference between implementing a PMO, an SDLC, or implementing ITIL. I guess most C-Level’s just want to make sure they can check off all the buzzwords in the weekly “buzzword bingo” meeting with one another.

“Hey Bob, we got ITIL goin’ on over there?”

“Yeah, Steve, we’re all over that one… Check!”

“Okay, Bob, How about some of that there PMO? I heard that’s purty powerful good stuff…”

“Sure, Steve, we’re bought two of those, in case the first one goes down…”

“Swell, Bob, that’s great,we have hot-swappable PMO’s in case our UPS doesn’t engage fast enough — you can’t be too safe…”

Anyway, enough jabbing of the elite by us in the proletariat. What’s the real difference between Project Management and Release Management?

Here, I’ll summarize it for you. Projects happen once. Releases keep happening. As a result, you need a slightly different way to manage each.

As an example, a full “project” may entail a number of releases. But then again, each release could be it’s own project.

I’m sure it’s all better now… or maybe you should read the article at PM Hut.

Project management is the art of organizing and managing resources in an efficient method which completes the project at hand in the way it was intended. A project is a temporary task which creates either a product or service, so managing each individual one is a unique process. It’s important to recognize all the dimensions needed to complete a project and act on them in an orderly fashion.

Construction project management differs from the general term of project management in the way that construction project management specifically refers to organizing a project regarding the area of construction. Also, much of construction project management is done digitally through software to ensure that nothing is left out. This works because sometimes it’s easy for a project manager to forget a thing or two when he or she is stressed out from the time limits or budgets given.

Project management software helps individuals in keeping track of a complicated project which might easily become confusing if all the components are not kept organized. Things that need to be taken into consideration are appointments, communication, resource allocation, and more. Even people like subcontractors and employees need to be thought of and remembered to check up on their work progress and receive pay. People also use the software to make sure that various deadlines are met and that the overall project is completed on time, and that the many requirements previously calculated in construction estimating like staying in budget are met.

If you are interested in doing some research or feels that construction project management software if needed in your job, then looking at online construction software websites which rates different types of software according to requirements is a good first step. Once you know which construction project management software is right for you, then purchasing is the next step. However, if you’re thinking of starting a business, then perhaps your very first concern should not be construction project management. The step before finding project management software is acquiring a good construction estimating software, and there are plenty of websites regarding that as well out on the internet.

With a little bit of luck and some useful software to aid you in your company, it’s time for you to succeed.

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