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Module 6: Paper

Jennifer Oberle

PMG: 321 Project Leadership

2023 Spring Session B

Ben Pandya

April 16, 2023

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Part 1

Ethics play a major role in project management. A project manager is in charge of many

moving parts when leading a project. They have to successfully lead a team through a project in

order to appease management and the project sponsor. Along the way, the waters can get murky

and ethical situations will arise. How a project manager deals with these situations is extremely

important. Ethical dilemmas are complicated to work through and can have severe consequences

if handled incorrectly. Using resources such as Ralph Kliem’s Ethics and Project Management

and the Project Management Institute's Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct, a project

manager can identify ethical issues and practice their skills to help navigate such situations.

The success of a project relies on a project manager practicing ethical decision-making.

In my experience, the most common ethical issue to arise throughout a project is poor

communication and performance pressure. According to Ralph Kliem, these are both examples

of soft ethical issues (Kliem, 2011, p.30). A current struggle I have where I work is not receiving

enough communication from upper management in order for me to do my job to the best of my

ability. I am often left in the dark regarding promotional campaigns, new products, and

scheduling issues. While I understand upper management is busy and have their hands full, it can

be difficult for me to successfully lead a shift if I don’t have the resources readily available for

me to do so. When there is a lack of communication I feel as though I am not set up for success

and am not able to provide good leadership to my staff, which ultimately creates a negative

environment. Kliem states, “Project managers who fail to tell the truth stand a good chance of

being discovered by the recipients and thus ruining their integrity” (Kliem, 2011, p.31). A

well-informed team is essential to the success of a project.

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Another common soft ethical issue that I come across is performance pressure. This issue

is especially present during our Harvard simulations. In these simulations we are expected to

create a high quality product within a short amount of time and with a limited budget. More often

than not, the team that I lead throughout the simulation becomes easily stressed. In our debriefs,

we are asked if a top-down tension was present in the scenario. Top-down tensions are inherent

in almost every project we take on. The top-down tension that is present in these scenarios

creates an ethical issue because the pressure that is put on the team can lead to a poor product, or

even escalate to a hard ethical issue. Kliem states, “Since they likely do not have command and

control over resources, the ground has potentially been laid to cut corners, which, in turn, can

cause ethical situations and ethical transgressions to occur” (Kliem, 2011, p.22). There are many

factors outside of the project manager’s control that can create ethical issues.

Dealing with an ethical dilemma is a difficult and sensitive task. According to Kliem,

there are two paths a project manager can take. Path A is described as the path used when a

project manager takes action to avoid or de-escalate an ethical situation. Path A is definitely a

more hands-on approach to tackling an ethical situation. There are certain situations where Path

A would help resolve or avoid an ethical issue. I would use Path A if the issue at hand was a hard

ethical issue. Hard ethical issues are ethical issues that have severe legal or financial

repercussions. When dealing with hard ethical issues I believe it is important for the project

manager to tackle these issues head-on. I believe taking action not only confronts the issue but

recreates the environment where such issues are not tolerated. Another option that a project

manager can take is Path B. Path B is used when the project manager decides no action is the

best action to take against an ethical situation. Path B allows the ethical situation at hand to

resolve itself quietly. I believe Path B would be applicable to soft ethical issues. Soft ethical
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issues are already difficult to identify and hard to deal with. They also usually do not have legal

or financial ramifications. That being said, if Path B does not work out the way the project

manager plans, the ethical situation can grow into a much larger issue and the blame can be

shifted to the project manager for not taking action. If I were the project manager facing any sort

of ethical issue, I would want to take action. From hard ethical issues to soft ethical issues, I

would want to be ready to face any transgressions head-on, even if it is as simple as creating a

more open and honest dialogue with my team, upper management, or the project sponsor.

There are many different ethical situations project managers can find themselves in. It is

important for the project manager to be prepared and to know how to navigate these situations.

Resources such as the Project Management Institute’s Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct

and Kliem’s book Ethics and Project Management are great tools for PM’s to turn to when they

find themselves dealing with an ethical situation. Once I receive my bachelor's degree and I am

able to further my career, I know I will have to deal with an array of ethical situations. The

knowledge that I have learned from these two resources will help me by assessing the situation I

am currently in and the best path to take.

Part 2

As we are on the topic of ethics and conflict within a project, I wanted to find a relativity

blog post. As I scrolled through some of the blog posts on the Hive website, I came across a blog

post by Stephanie Ray titled “Conflict Resolution: Processes, Strategies & Skills.” In this blog

post, Ray discusses different conflict resolution strategies and skills that any project manager

should improve upon. She also highlights the commonly used Thomas-Kilmann conflict

resolution model. This model includes different types of conflict management styles such as

accommodating, avoiding, collaborating, competing, and compromising. In order to adopt these

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conflict management styles, a project manager will need to hone specific skills such as emotional

intelligence, leadership skills, communication skills, interpersonal skills, project planning, and

resource management.

I find that I use accommodating and compromising conflict management styles the most

in my work. Being an Assistant Manager at a craft brewery & taproom means that I am in charge

of a large staff. There are times when the staff has an issue with each other, with a guest, or with

management. I have to be there and confront this conflict head-on otherwise it festers and turns

into something worse. For example, we recently had an issue with an employee who caused a lot

of problems with another staff member. I found the best way to deal with this conflict was to

employ a compromising conflict management style. I sat down with both employees and listened

to their concerns. We found the best course of action was to not schedule them together anymore.

While this wasn’t ideal for either of them because they worked together on Fridays, which meant

they made good tips, it would help lessen the tension if they didn’t see each other so often. We

also decided that on Fridays they would each be scheduled every other Friday. This way they

were still able to make good tips and not have to work together. This wasn’t an ideal situation for

everyone, but it did work in the long run. The two employees ended up being able to move on

from their conflict after getting a break from working with each other and eventually were able

to work together again.

In “7 Leadership Goals You Need To Set For Yourself in 2023” by Anouare Abdou, I was

able to reassess what type of leader I want to be. I believe it is important for those who practice

any form of project or organizational leadership to periodically check in with your values and

goals. Not only is it a good reminder of what type of leader we want to be, but we are

continuously learning about ourselves and others. Change and reevaluation is an important part
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of being a strong leader. Abdou highlights these seven goals: know and live your values, expand

your network, build and foster relationships in your team, run efficient and productive meetings,

improve your communication skills, encourage creativity in the workplace, and increase your

emotional intelligence. I really identified with these goals because they are very much people

oriented. I wanted to be a leader that inspires those around me to try their best at whatever they

are doing. Eventually, I would like to see myself in the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion sector for

an organization. The DEI sector revolves around people and creating safe workspaces for those

who may feel ostracized by society. As a queer person in the workforce, I often feel that my

voice is ignored and that my concerns are invalidated which is why I am so passionate about

creating more welcoming workplaces. With these seven goals listed by Abdou, I am feeling

motivated to reassess where I currently am in my leadership journey and determine which skills I

still need to improve upon to reach where I want to go.

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References

Abdou, A. (2023, April 11). 7 Leadership Goals You Need To Set For Yourself in 2023. Hive.

Retrieved April 16, 2023, from https://hive.com/blog/marketing-okrs/

Kliem, P. R. L. (2011). Ethics and Project Management. ProQuest Ebook Central.

Project Management Institute. PMI Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct.

Ray, S. (2023, March 6). Conflict Resolution: Process, Strategies & Skills. ProjectManager.

Retrieved April 16, 2023, from

https://www.projectmanager.com/blog/conflict-resolution-strategies