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SNHU - IT-625 - Information Technology Project and Team Management
Written by: Chris Bell - June, 2016

Conflict Resolution Plan Status Summary | Project Management

Team Dynamics

Each member of the project will be asked to maneuver their schedule in order to complete tasks earlier than expected. Since each task has required more work than anticipated in the plan, you will receive earlier deadlines for each task to allow for additional changes before the task deadline. For example, the Initiation portion of the project had a schedule of 28 days to complete, which went over the time allotted and over budget by 20%. I adjusted the plan to finish it in 14 days so that we could meet to discuss changes and implement them before the Project Kick off. I know that this is in the past, but I want to assure you that I will manage the balance of this project with much tighter tolerances. The IS manager needed 8 full days to complete the two tasks below but the schedule had him or her on the completing each task a month apart without any predecessors.

As you can see from the snap shots above, the Initiation portion of the project would have been smoother if we had completed the work earlier because of the additional work that ended up being necessary later. Teamwork involves moving schedules around, meeting more often, doing a thorough job on your personal tasks, and helping others complete tasks on time when necessary.

Five Stage Team Development Model

There are 3 stages to complete before the Performing stage the tasks of the project, including Forming, Storming and Norming. These steps of the Project Planning development were not exercised thus far, which is created scope and budget issues. In order to get back on schedule we need to complete these tasks for the rest of the project. We need a clear plan for each task with post discussions, changes and alterations always being necessary. Including all of the "wants" a customer requests after agreeing to a certain project and budget can cause severe budget problems.

Without the 5 steps of the development model completed the team is likely to get frustrated with each other, point fingers and create conflicts throughout the entire project. You can each trust that I will lead this project in the right direction, but I need your support and teamwork for a polished finished product.

Conflict Resolution Leadership

Leadership doesn't mean that I will be a rude boss or dictator, instead I will encourage and lead the project with confidence. As your leader I might ask you to change your schedule or restructure a certain task based on changes in other areas of the project. We're supposed to be past the Norming phase and onto the Performing stage, but continuously back track to define the necessary items of completion. I will conduct a few meetings with all of you to further introduce myself and define each deliverable necessary to complete the project on budget and on time.

I need to be an authoritative leader to start this project because I need to get it back on track. Later in this project or in future projects, I will have the confidence in each of the resources and allow them more freedom to complete tasks per their schedule. However, this project needs to quickly get back on course. During this time I will determine the appropriate hard and soft skills for each role. Hard skills are your job functions and completed work, while soft skills are communication, team work and ability to adapt to change.

It's not my plan to pick on certain people, segregate people, or even avoid them. It is my goal to get the project back into the original scope with all of the resources I currently have. Again, I ask that everyone be accommodating to upcoming changes in their schedule along with a few additional meetings to help us all get on a common playing field.

Motivation and Confidence

Each of you have scheduled tasks and I have the confidence that you can complete them with your current skill set. I plan to set up team celebrations after completing the next phase of the project on time and on budget. I also plan to give the employees (resources) the ability to choose their work and schedules early on, however they must fit in with the total project time frame. Upon a timeliness completion of this project I will give credit to the resources by letting our management team know how well they did. An article on LinkedIn, written by the Demand Generation Specialist, says "The best employees are not motivated by money, they are motivated by Active Listening, Team Celebrations, Ability to Choose Work, Public Praise, and Positive Work Culture."