1. Project Team Building, Conflict, and Negotiation
Chapter 6

2. Learning Goals Understand the steps involved in project team building.
Know the characteristics of effective project teams and why teams fail.
See the advantages and challenges of virtual project teams.
Know the stages in the development of groups.
Describe how to achieve cross-functional cooperation in teams.
Understand the nature of conflict and evaluate response methods.
Understand the importance of negotiation skills in project management.

3. Building the Project Team
Identify necessary skills
Building the Project Team
Identify people with these skills
Talk to potential team members
Negotiate with their supervisor
Success?
Renegotiate with top management No
Yes
Yes
Success? No
Assemble the team
Build fallback positions / Adjust schedules / Partial participation / Notify stakeholders of consequences

4. Characteristics of Effective Project Teams
A clear sense of project mission 
A productive understanding of team interdependencies
Cohesiveness 
A high level of trust
A shared sense of enthusiasm 
A “results” orientation
Team members know their role on the team

5. Reasons Why Teams Fail Poorly developed or unclear goals
Poorly defined project team roles & interdependencies
Lack of project team motivation
Poor communication
Poor leadership
Turnover among project team members
Dysfunctional behavior or disruptive acts

6. Constraints on Building the Project Team
It is important to consider the following constraints when staffing the project
Type of organizational structure
Employment agreements
Preference on project team members
Other projects
Priority of projects

7. Stages in Group Development
Forming – members become acquainted
Storming – conflict begins
Norming – members reach standard agreements
Performing – the work is performed
Adjourning – group disbands
Punctuated Equilibrium is a different model

8. Team Development Stages
5. Adjourning
Convene
1. Forming
Inclusion
Testing
Quiet Polite Guarded Impersonal Business-like High Morale
Trust Flexible Supportive Confident Efficient High Morale
4. Performing
Productivity
2. Storming
Control
Infighting
Conflict over control Confrontational Alienation Personal agendas Low morale
Productive
3. Norming
Cooperation
Organized
Establish procedures Develop team skills Confront issues Rebuilding morale

9. Model of Punctuated Equilibrium

10. Achieving Cross-Functional Cooperation
Task Outcomes (is successful)
Psychosocial Outcomes (feels successful)
Rules & Procedures
Physical Proximity
Accessibility
Superordinate Goals (everyone has same objective)
Feedback loop

11. Building High-Performing Teams
Make the project team tangible
Use publicity
Encourage unique terminology & language
Reward good behavior with non-monetary rewards
Flexible, creative, practical
Develop a personal touch
Lead by example
Positive feedback for good performance
Be accessible & consistent

12. Virtual Project Teams How Can Virtual Teams Be Improved?
Establish clear expectations
Use face-to-face communication whenever possible
Don’t let team members disappear
Establish a code of conduct with team members
Keep everyone in the communication loop
Create a process for addressing conflict
Use electronic media to link members of a geographically dispersed project team

13. Conflict Management
Conflict is a process that begins when you perceive that someone has frustrated, or is about to frustrate, a major concern of yours.
Categories of conflict
Goal-oriented
Based on end result
Administrative
Based on reporting relationships
Interpersonal
Personality differences
Views of conflict
Traditional
Views conflict as negative
Behavioral
Manage conflict, don’t eliminate it
Interactionist
Encourage conflict

14. Sources of Conflict Organizational Reward systems Scarce resources
Uncertainty
Differentiation between functional groups
Interpersonal
Misperceive
Faulty communication
Personal grudges & prejudices

15. Methods of Conflict Resolution
Mediate – defuse and confront
Arbitrate – judgment
Control – cool down period
Accept – unmanageable
Eliminate – transfer the member
Conflict is often evidence of progress!

16. Negotiation
A process that is predicated on a manager’s ability to use influence productively.
Questions to ask prior to entering a negotiation
How much power do I have, and how much power does the other party believe I have?
What sort of time pressures are there?
Do I trust my opponent?

17. Principled Negotiation
Separate the people from the problem
Focus on interests, not positions
Invent options for mutual gain
Insist on using objective criteria
Remember: You negotiate for information
Karrass.com
Fisher & Ury

18. Discussion Questions
This chapter discussed the characteristics of high performing project teams.  List the factors that characterize these teams and give examples of each one.
“Trust can actually encourage disagreement and conflict among team members.”  Explain why this could be the case.
Identify the stages of group development.  Why is it necessary for project teams to move through these stages prior to becoming productive?
Gersick’s model of punctuated equilibrium offers an alternative view of group development.  Why does she suggest that some defining moment (such as an explosion of emotion) often occurs at some midpoint in the project?  What does this defining event accomplish for the team?

19. Discussion Questions
Explain the concepts of “task outcomes” and “psychosocial outcomes” for a project.  Why are psychosocial outcomes so important for project team members?
Distinguish between the traditional, behavioral, and interactionist views of team conflict.  How might each explain and treat a project team conflict episode?
Identify the five major methods for resolving conflict.  Give an example of how each might be applied in a hypothetical project team conflict episode.
What are some of the guidelines for adopting a strategy of “principled negotiation?”
Explain the idea that we should “focus on interests, not positions.”  Can you think of an example in which you successfully negotiated with someone else using this principle?