LEADING AND PROJECT MANAGEMENT

ASSIGNMENT#: 6

ID FULL NAME

70077973 MAHA ISRAR

SUBMITTED TO: SIR ABBAS

DATE OF SUBMISSION:30 AUGUST 2020

FOR GRADING:
COMMENTS: MARKS SECURED:
Conflict In Project Teams

Effective decision making is common in all organization to manage conflicts. Project

team manage conflicts with the help of effective decision making to enhance
decision outcomes and project performance . conflicts can improve effective
decision making and this is paradoxical effect of conflicts.

Conflicts are multi-dimensional , may be constructive or destructive . Constructive

conflict occurs when team members debate differing perspectives which help in
decision making while destructive conflicts occurs when team members debate for
personal gains like to gain power etc. Project team should keep constructive
conflicts and avoid destructive conflicts .

The management of constructive and destructive conflicts is tough as constructive

and destructive conflict are so tightly connected. This article provides research
which helps to manage these conflicts .

This research defines those team attributes that promote constructive conflicts .
these attributes are:

• Team size
 Advantages: large teams help in constructive conflicts .
 Disadvantages: managing difficulty and costs of coordination.
• Functional Diversity
 Cross-functional increase the cognitive diversity of the team which
helps in constructive debate .
• Team Tenure Diversity
 high tenure diversity promotes constructive conflict.
This research also defines those project attributes that promote constructive
conflicts . these attributes are:

• Goal Uncertainty
 Clear goals can direct the attention and effort team members but
some degree of goal uncertainty helps constructive debate among
team members.
• Project-Based Rewards
 Rewarding project members increase project performance and results
constructive conflicts .

This research has looked directly at the mechanisms by which constructive and
destructive conflicts are so closely connected and also provides three explanations
that why destructive conflicts are the result of constructive conflicts
.

First explanation defines the role of trust between constructive and destructive
conflict. It explains when intra-team trust is low, high levels of constructive
conflict are associated with high levels of destructive conflict. However, when
intra-team trust is high then it reduces the relation between constructive and
destructive conflicts .

Second explanation explains the effects of contentious communication on the

relation between constructive and destructive conflicts . When constructive
conflicts is poorly expressed then it produces hurt feelings and results constructive
conflict convert into destructive conflicts .

Third explanation defines when behavioral integration is high then there will be
positive relationship between constructive and destructive conflicts. Which means
that when team has high behavioral integration then there is no chances of
destructive conflicts .

Constructive conflicts improve decision outcomes which increase project

performance while destructive conflicts make poor decision which reduces project
performance .
The conclusions of this research provides the following findings

• Constructive conflict can be converted into destructive conflict.

• destructive conflicts make poor decision which reduces project performance
.
• There be a weak relationship between constructive and destructive conflicts
when there is high behavioral integration, and low contentious
communication.
• large team size, goal uncertainty, cross-functional diversity, and project
based rewards help in constructive conflicts .
This research published in this article provides suggestions about for gaining the
benefits of constructive conflict while avoiding the costs of destructive conflict.
Which are :

• Team Composition
 Keep diverse project team which help out in constructive conflicts .
 Allow for gradual turnover within the team which helps to bring fresh
ideas and perspectives based on experiences .
• Team Interaction
 Promote trust among team members.
 Control contentious communication. ➢ Promote behavioral
integration.
• Team Rewards
 Team rewards help to create collective goals and promote behavioral
integration .

Understanding Sources of Uncertainty in Project-Based

work

This article explains the contributions of two types of leadership ,

Transactional and transformational.
Transactional leadership Vs Transformational leadership

Focus on process Focus on coping with, even

inspiring change.
Problem solving approach activating higher order needs

influence others and the effects of motivate followers by heightening

the leader on others. their awareness of task outcomes,
encouraging them

Many recent thinkers stress about distinctions between leadership

transformational and transactional approaches that in today’s work
place people need to use and develop skills relating to both.
Transformational leadership behaviors and project success :

• effective across virtually situations.

• Produce motivational effects on group performance .
• Cause higher levels of trust

Transformational Leadership in Relation to Project Characteristics:

• Not equally effective in all situations

• Therefore identifying of more specifically and relevant factors of
transformational leadership is necessary for project .
• transformational leadership behavior on project performance and
success is moderated by the extent to which the project
environment is characterized by uncertainty and the potential for
change.
• Different data were collected from the finding of 120 surveys
about project characteristics from project managers oversight
responsibility for the project to explain the uncertainty in project
environment .
• data suggests that as the technical challenges (innovations) of a
project increase intellectual stimulation and individualized
consideration.
• Urgency is the another factor of uncertainty associated with a
project. Data suggest that when urgency is low transformational
leadership behavior does not play much of a role in relation to
project success. But when urgency is high all four dimensions
appear to play a significant role
• Other than innovations and urgency there are some other factors
of uncertainty like the frequency of goal changes and or changes in
project scope.
• Organizations can benefit from considering the types of
uncertainty their project teams face. It develops leadership skills
which is relevant to transformational leadership.

The summery of this article is that traditional planning and

coordinating activities are always remain essential to project
management but it is also very necessary for project management to
develop project manager as a leader which will help to understand
uncertainty and complexity in project environment .