Challenges of Project Management

Discuss about the Managing Changes And Conflicts In Project Management.

Project management is ensuring successful completion of the organisational projects. The deemed management practice takes account of all the factors, processes and stage in the account and devises a plan accordingly (Burke, 2013). It is done to ensure uninterrupted progress of the project. However, the plan is incomplete if it does not consist plans to encounter conflicts and the chaos that arrives with change. Changes and conflicts if not managed appropriately may result in trouble, delay or even cancellation of the project (Kerzner & Kerzner, 2017). Hence, the deemed topic has garnered attention from different researchers and scholars. The devised research paper will also attempt at contributing additional details to managing change and conflict in project management.

Conflict and changes if not maintained appropriately are the most prominent challenges a project may face in its path to successful competition. Additionally, the talked about challenges of project management should be resolved in minimum possible time because the longer the resolution takes it will cite negative impact on the project (Too & Weaver, 2014). The first significant impact may be an extension of project completion deadline along with the loss of trust among the stakeholders and many others.  Hence, it is mandatory to take necessary measures to manage the deemed challenges with appropriate caution and in minimum possible time.

The aim defined for the research to be conducted is to determine the problems associated with the changes and conflicts and evaluate the managerial role in resolving the conflicts and managing the change. Along with the above mentioned objective, the research work will also attempt to fulfil the following sub-objectives:

• Role of manager in change management.
• Reason why employees fear change.
• Role of manager in conflict resolution.
• Expectations of the employee stakeholders from the manager in case of change and conflict.

• How to manage change and conflicts in project management?
• What is the role of the manager in managing the change?
• Why does employee fear the change?
• What is the role of the manager in managing the conflicts?
• What do employees expect from the manager in case of change or conflict?

Jiang et al., (2014) have attempted at devising an interactive conflict management plan that is directed towards the completion of the project goal rather than the individual goals of the project stakeholders. The authors in their paper have claimed that the conflicts among the employee stakeholders are resulted when the project associates start pursuing their individual goals rather than the team goal or project goal. The paper has designed “a model of an IT program environment to study the effects of goal interdependence among projects and shared understanding of organisational goals on promoting integrative conflict management (ICM).”. The authors have claimed that the reason for them to opt for the integrative method of conflict resolution is that a single project is completed in multiple parts and individual teams take care of each part. The distribution of the teams distributes the goals which may not be the goal of the project and additionally, the teams are dependent on other teams for the completion of their part. This dependency and difference between the objectives of the teams may give birth to conflicts, and hence it is recommended to devise conflict management plan for each team individually or an integrative plan to take consideration of all the teams. The authors have done excellent work in devising the model and even seems theoretically sound. However, the reviewed paper’s reliability is in doubt as the assessment of the structured model are not feasible enough. The real-life application of the structured model is also not visible which raises the questions, apart from that the model can be of great significance if implemented and has even paved the way for future researches.

Devising Conflict Management Plan

Hornstein, (2015) in their journal article has derived the attention of the readers to the organisational change and the impact it cites on the failure or success of the project. The author has also attempted at showcasing the importance of training for the project managers in managing the changes. The paper claims “change is an inevitable consequence of project implementations” and the approach with which those changes are managed decides the future of the project. Additionally, the equation between the project manager and the person responsible for managing the change is claimed to counterproductive which offers challenge to the success of the project. The author has recommended collaboration between the two above mentioned persons to optimise the chances of project failure or delay of the project. Importance of the human component and the ignorance they face in the project implementation has also been discussed as a part of the paper. The author has recommended to integrate the change management plan along with the project management and the human resource management (HRM) as part of the solution. The reason for including the HRM with project management and the change management as claimed by the author is that hand on worker’s contribution to the project success is more significant than the leaders. The paper lacks any feasible part and is entirely based on the theoretical works that had been assessed in the past over the same topic. Though, it should be noted that the reviewed article has offered some critical thinking on the topics discussed and provided some recommendations that seem very efficient if implemented. Those recommendations can be analysed to further enhance and can even be used as the base for different researches.

Schlaerth, Ensari & Christian, (2013) in their devised article has attempted at evaluating the relation between the emotional intelligence and managing conflicts constructively. EI, as defined by the author, is “ability to motivate oneself and persist in the face of frustrations; to control impulses and delay gratification; to regulate one’s moods and keep distress from swamping the ability to think; to empathize and to hope”. The authors have stated “EI enables leaders to regulate their emotions so as to cope effectively with stress and adjust to organisational changes” as the reason behind evaluating two irrelevant subjects.  To prove the defined objective of the paper the authors have done a meta-analysis review. However, the paper has clarified that the meta-analysis review has only considered the constructive domain of the conflict management and not the destructive domain. Particular focus has been cited to the pros that are offered by managing the human resources. It has been evaluated from the review of the deemed article that the to manage conflicts constructively the leaders should control their emotions and make decisions based upon the knowledge as well as the perspectives of stakeholders in consideration. The authors after the evaluation have also claimed that trained leaders are more efficient than the untrained leaders in managing the conflicts more efficiently. The paper is a well-devised article and is true to its objective. It is also evident after reviewing the article that the authors have done appropriate research before claiming any of the facts and hence shows reliability. Overall, in conclusion, it can be stated that the reviewed article is well established and understandable to the readers while offering plenty of research scope for further evaluation.

Evaluating Change Management Plan

Huang & Low, (2012) in their paper have taken Singapore’s construction industry in account to measure the impact and importance along with the status of the change management plan on a project. The reviewed paper has achieved its objective through quantitative primary data collection method and reviewing the work done in the past on the same subject. The reason for the selection of the subject of the reviewed paper as quoted by the authors is “Changes in construction projects are inevitable” and hence the selection. Changes, as defined by the author “Any additions, deletions or modifications to the scope of the project, are considered as changes”. One of the most significant claims made by the authors for adopting change management plan as part of the project management in the construction industry is that the sooner the change is managed; little negative impact it will cite on the project. After the evaluation, the authors have claimed that the implementation status of the change management plan of the relatively low in the Singapore construction industry which the reason for such high rate of project failure in the country. The importance of change management plan on reviewing the article is determined as very high because it saves capital, time and enhances the quality of the project and the factors associated. The reviewed paper has offered quite a scope for the future research and has fulfilled its objective, however; it is not without flaws. The lack of proofs to cite as evidence to the claimed facts and complexity in explaining the tables and stats involved in the paper.

Outline:

The research will be based upon the secondary qualitative method in which a questionnaire will be given to a group of people associated with a project. Assistance from the research work done previously on the change, conflict and project management will also be taken. The philosophy for the research will be epistemology. The research will take consideration of both the materialistic and abstract data to increase the understanding of the subject. The research approach adopted for the paper is the remedial approach and meta-analysis design.

Research philosophy:

The philosophy adopted for the research paper is epistemology. It takes consideration of two data aspects, the first being the collected data while the other is the abstract that what the authors feel about the subject (Knobe & Nichols, 2013). The collected data aspect works on positivist philosophy while the other works on interpretivism (Wahyuni, 2012). Hence, it would be appropriate to state that the deemed philosophy is an integration of Interpretivism, realism and positivist philosophy.

Research Philosophy

Research Approach:

The research approach for the paper will be remedial study approach. The selection of this approach lays on the fact that the deemed approach is formulated to enhance or correct undesirable situations (Barrie, 2012). The undesirable situations are analysed and based on the data collected a remedial plan is formulated to tackle the situation (Sanon, evans-Agnew & Boutain, 2014). Hence, it can be stated that the deemed approach is solution driven approach which will be of assistance in proposing techniques to manage change and conflict in the project.

Research Design:

Meta-analysis design is proposed as the design of the research work to be conducted. The selection of the design is based on the fact that the deemed design summarises the results that are evaluated after assessing the data collected after assessing individual studies (Schmidt & Hunter, 2014). It is also selected because the data collection method of the paper is secondary qualitative data (Boulianne, 2015).

The data collection method is categorised in two different categories namely; primary method and secondary method. Further, each of the two categories are further divided in qualitative and quantitative data collection method (Aluwihare-Samaranayake, 2012). Based upon the objectives off the proposed research work the most suitable data collection method is the secondary qualitative data. The selection is based on the fact that evaluating the secondary qualitative data will enable the author to extent the size of the paper to a global approach (Yu et al., 2013). The purpose of collecting the secondary qualitative data is mostly to achieve an insight in the previous datasets and explain the historical or the contextual characteristics involved in the managerial role of managing change and conflict (Marshall et al., 2013). Collecting the secondary data will enable the author to add additional subsets to the original data which will be gathered from relevant research subjects. Commonly, there are two sources for collecting qualitative secondary data: traditional and non-traditional sources. The proposed paper will equip traditional source of data such as the transcripts, interview sets and others (Boateng, 2012). The reason for the selection is based on the fact that the paper will consider both the scientific and the social approach of the individuals relevant to the subject and interviewing papers and transcript will enable the author to even gather the social facts along with the scientific.  The outline for the proposed research includes the quantitative data collection method. The primary reason to pursue the secondary method of analysing data should take in consideration of the ethical interests while having a transparent view and offering a detailed methodology which should be carried out in achieving the objective of the proposed research work. Qualitative analysis of the secondary data collection will explain the author and the readers the reasons behind the decisions that were related to the missing data that will make the productive knowledge transparent.

Research Approach

Ethical consideration is of great vitality in the research work as the research works are done to identity problems and enhance the capability of the subject (Markham, Buchanan & AolR, 2012). Hence, ethical values should be taken in account before pursuing a research work and the deemed paper has done the same. The data that will be collected from the research works done in the past over the same topic will only be used for the academic purpose and no other use of the gathered data will be made (Punch, 2013). Additionally, the copyright protection of the data that will be used in the study will also be verified to avoid any ethical issues.

References:

Aluwihare-Samaranayake, D. (2012). Ethics in qualitative research: A view of the participants’ and researchers’ world from a critical standpoint. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 11(2), 64-81.

Barrie, S. C. (2012). A research-based approach to generic graduate attributes policy. Higher Education Research & Development, 31(1), 79-92.

Boateng, W. (2012). Evaluating the efficacy of focus group discussion (FGD) in qualitative social research. International Journal of Business and Social Science, 3(7).

Boulianne, S. (2015). Social media use and participation: A meta-analysis of current research. Information, Communication & Society, 18(5), 524-538.

Burke, R. (2013). Project management: planning and control techniques. New Jersey, USA.

Hornstein, H. A. (2015). The integration of project management and organizational change management is now a necessity. International Journal of Project Management, 33(2), 291-298.

Hwang, B. G., & Low, L. K. (2012). Construction project change management in Singapore: Status, importance and impact. International Journal of Project Management, 30(7), 817-826.

Jiang, J. J., Chang, J. Y., Chen, H. G., Wang, E. T., & Klein, G. (2014). Achieving IT program goals with integrative conflict management. Journal of Management Information Systems, 31(1), 79-106.

Kerzner, H. and Kerzner, H.R., 2017. Project management: a systems approach to planning, scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley & Sons.

Knobe, J., & Nichols, S. (Eds.). (2013). Experimental philosophy (Vol. 2). Oxford University Press.

Markham, A., Buchanan, E., & AoIR Ethics Working Committee. (2012). Ethical decision-making and Internet research: Version 2.0. Association of Internet Researchers.

Marshall, B., Cardon, P., Poddar, A., & Fontenot, R. (2013). Does sample size matter in qualitative research?: A review of qualitative interviews in IS research. Journal of Computer Information Systems, 54(1), 11-22.

Punch, K. F. (2013). Introduction to social research: Quantitative and qualitative approaches. sage.

Sanon, M. A., Evans?Agnew, R. A., & Boutain, D. M. (2014). An exploration of social justice intent in photovoice research studies from 2008 to 2013. Nursing inquiry, 21(3), 212-226.

Schlaerth, A., Ensari, N., & Christian, J. (2013). A meta-analytical review of the relationship between emotional intelligence and leaders’ constructive conflict management. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 16(1), 126-136.

Schmidt, F. L., & Hunter, J. E. (2014). Methods of meta-analysis: Correcting error and bias in research findings. Sage publications.

Too, E. G., & Weaver, P. (2014). The management of project management: A conceptual framework for project governance. International Journal of Project Management, 32(8), 1382-1394.

Wahyuni, D. (2012). The research design maze: Understanding paradigms, cases, methods and methodologies.

Yu, M., Zhang, Y., Li, Y., & Zhang, D. (2013). Adaptive sampling method for inspection planning on CMM for free-form surfaces. The International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology, 67(9-12), 1967-1975.