Conflicts and disagreements are inescapable in human existence and life and an indispensable part of life. The existence of conflicts dates back to when human civilization began thus they cannot become avoided but can only be managed. It is an indication that an interaction that has two or more people, the emergence of conflicts or disagreements is highly probable. In and around projects, there is an increased rate of interaction between different people. The completion of any project can take a few months to years and this is an indication that the people involved will have to interact for lots of time. However, the success of any project is highly dependent on the ability of the various teams to work in unison sharing a similar mission and vision. The existence of groups, team dynamics, and inter-team processes is, therefore, an unavoidable activity that is vital for the pa p roject manager to make sure he/she has full control of the three elements. In case these underlying facets are not effectively managed, conflict and disagreement are bound to arise between the employees. Disagreements and conflicts can bring about dysfunction in teams, and this will have adverse outcomes for a project in the long-run. Any unresolved disagreements and conflicts will prey on the minds of the employees and thus distract them from their day-to-day tasks that form a crucial part towards an entirely successful project completion. It is therefore evident that conflicts and disagreements if not well managed can potentially erode the performance and create unintended consequences that will lead to project failure.
The best means that a project manager can use in solving any conflicts and disagreements between employees is by first understanding their behavior, cohesiveness, and norms that can bring about interpersonal conflict (Barki & Hartwick, 2001). The norms form the various unwritten rules that lay down a framework on what kind of conduct is appropriate within team members ’. Some of these norms might include the affiliation between the employees and management, the affiliation between the employees and each other and performance levels. In case the employee has poor norms such as a poor communication channel, none of the employees can have the capability of calling each other out in case either displays a behavior regarded as being disruptive and can cause conflict. From this, it is highly likely that none of the employees will help the other out especially for those who might be having a hard time adjusting at work.
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Furthermore, a poor relationship with the project manager is another norm that can bring about conflicts. This will make it hard for the employees to follow what the project manager requires them to yet it is his/her duty to plan, organize, coordinate and direct them towards achieving a shared objective. Additionally, a team that exhibits a high level of attraction towards any tasks that have been assigned and other group members represents a cohesive group (Rovira-Asenjo et al., 2017). Such a group will make it possible for employees to work together and take care of one another’s needs and wants to ensure they are all on a similar platform and none is left behind. It is therefore vital that the project manager tries to understand the cohesiveness of his employees.
Moreover, the adoption of an emergent type of behavior between employees can be the other cause of conflicts and disagreements. From a majority of cases, an emergent behavior is adopted by employees from their day to day interactions. This can see employees gaining poor attitudes towards each other, and they will end up making this part of their work behavior. Therefore, it is vital for a project manager to understand the norms, cohesiveness, and behavior of the employees. The means through which a project manager can use to solve conflicts arising from these three facets is by laying down a framework that facilitates the development and growth of social interaction. Employees should have the ability to work close to each other for people who are physically close to each other have a higher probability of engaging in social interaction (Chatterjee & Kulakli, 2015).
Additionally, the project manager should guarantee that he/she eliminates any guidelines that employees have to read in case of handling any tasks. It will ensure that employees can interact with one another in case one does not fully understand how a particular process is supposed to become handled instead of looking it up in a guideline. The provision of some free time during work is also another means of solving the emergence of conflicts and disagreements. The employees will have time to move about the workplace and this boosts social interaction which increases the cohesiveness of employees thus fostering positive norms and behavior.
The ability to recognize the emotions being experienced by another is what forms empathy. However, this process is rather imaginative as one will be forced to imagine oneself as another. A collective ability and willingness in solving conflicts and disagreements between employees are at times bound in the manager’s capability of embracing and understanding empathy. Conflict arises as a result of shared experiences between two or more people. Through empathy, a project manager will open his/her mind and heart and not only come up with a solution to the problem but view the world form each of the party’s point of view (Menkel-Meadow,2009). It is evident that conflicts arise due to a difference in ideologies and thus, it is better for one to focus on both sides. A one-sided conflict resolution process will bring about a loss-win situation, and this will not have any positive impacts on the overall project. The losing side will continue to feel as though their grievances were not taken into consideration and the will not be able to carry out their tasks fully.
However, empathy will bring about a win-win situation as the manager has the ability to humanize each of the conflicting sides and bring about a greater understanding of the situation. This will allow the manager to see what compelled either party to act in such a manner that brought about a conflict or disagreement. According to Menkel-Meadow’s theory of process pluralism, she has linked the act of paying attention to a variety of systematic values (Menkel-Meadow, 2009). These include those that have brought about an opposition between respective parties and those that they might need at that specific time. The theory goes ahead to offer a variety of methods by which the decision making and engagement process is handled. The main aim of these values is to make certain that there is an attainment of peace with justice, self-determination and choice of the person with responsibility and care for the other party. Therefore, basing on Menkel-Meadow’s theory, the conflict resolution process should be one that moves for hearing the other party to understanding the other, and this is what forms an in-depth state of human empathy and engagement in addition to reason. Through her work, Menkel-Meadow has been able to demonstrate why empathy should be part of the conflict resolution process and its power in bringing about a win-win situation thus a need for adoption by project managers (Menkel-Meadow, 2009).
According to a study conducted by Krishna (2011) on four Indian and three USA based IT firms, he found out that a leader has a crucial role to play towards the growth and development of teams. However, for a project to become successful, these teams must work in harmony. Leadership is, therefore, a vital element not only for project success but also determines the employees’ actions towards helping it attain the objectives. Within a project’s environment, conflicts and disagreements are part of the many dimensions that make it complete. With the help of a leader , the tension and misunderstanding brought about by these factors can be released and harmony created. However, a constructive conflict management process requires a leader to have excellent and top-notch skills that will help one accommodate, confront or avoid the conflict. According to a similar study of impacts of leadership styles on conflict management conducted by Saeed et al. (2014) on 150 managers from the private sector manufacturing companies, they found out that a transformational style of leadership has a positive relationship with conflict management, especially in turbulent and conflicting environments. The study was comparing three leadership styles; transformational, transactional and laissez-faire. By employing a transformational style of leadership, a project manager will not only focus on the short-term needs have a project but rather the future needs. The manager will also not only focus on individual interest but rather the employee's interests. In such a case, a project manager will not only run a project with an aim of creating a good image and reputation with management regardless of the situation of employees. One will ensure that in case employees have conflicts, he/she takes time to solve their issues and continue with any tasks after everyone is happy. A transformational style of leadership will also lead to the growth and development of trust between employees and management , and thus the working environment is one that is less likely to be affected by conflicts or disagreements (Krishna, 2011).
Afzalur et al. (2000) conducted a study to determine the impacts of employees’ perception of justice in relation to the management of conflicts. According to the study, it was able to find out that in a majority of cases, the conflicts arising between employees and their manager’s results from justice related issues such as unfair evaluation or unequal distribution of rewards. Therefore, there is a need for project managers to make certain that they are fair and just in all the decisions to make sure they do not bring about conflicts that might affect the project’s ability to achieve its intended goals. However, according to the study conducted on 202 working undergraduate students, they were able to find out that the use of a cooperative conflicting style of management (integrating, obliging and compromising) was positively related to distributive, procedural and interactional justice (Afzalur et al., 2000) . Through cooperative conflict management style, the manager will have a more concern for the other party rather than self. These styles will bring about a win-win situation for the parties involved in the conflict and leads to the creation of trust (Afzalur et al., 2000). However, in case the project manager decides to use less cooperative styles such as dominating and avoiding, it might indicate the employees have a little belief in the organizational justice hence brings about increased tensions between the manager and employees. In the case of the dominating style, the manager is likely to have a very minimal concern about employees and higher concern for self (Afzalur et al., 2000). This style is also referred to as a win-lose, and thus the grievances of the employees are ignored. This will, in turn, affect their overall job productivity and performance hence making it hard for a c project to accomplish its tasks. In case of avoiding, the project manager tends to have a higher concern for self rather than employees and this results from an inaction, ignoring or withdrawal style (Afzalur et al.,2000) . It will also bring about a win-lose situation as the manager will always postpone the conflict until the issue resolves itself which might take a long time. In the process, it will affect the projects overall success.
Additionally, in case a manager is unable to handle a conflict arising from the employees, it is best to introduce a third party rather than letting the conflict to remain unresolved. The introduction of a third party will help in solving the conflict by acting as a facilitator, mediator, arbitrator or consultant. The project manager should introduce an individual who has no relationship in the conflict to ensure that the decisions made are not biased. According to a study byBhattari (2016) on the role of third parties in conflict resolution in Nepal and Philippines, they were able to find out that a coordination between the third parties and conflicting sides was able to bring about positive results in the two countries. However, the use of third parties dos not only means that it can be used in countries but also organizations and projects. The use of third-party conflict management is supported by employing an Elangovan model (Goldman et al., 2012) . The model provides a manager with a framework to use in assessing the situation using five approaches and determine the various conflicts that require third-party interventions. Additionally, the model allows the third party to determine the amount of control they will have to exercise in order to come up with a resolution.
The emergence of conflicts in a project is unavoidable as they part of human life and existence. Every project manager must ensure that his/her employees are working in harmony for a successful attainment of project deliverables. However, in the event of conflicts and disagreements, as indicated in the literature review, the manager can use various strategies in solving the issues. An understanding of the employee’s behavior, cohesiveness and norms is the first line of solving conflicts. This is because, the employee behavior, norms, and cohesiveness determine employees’ ability to function as a team. The manager can boost social interaction in case all the three facets are poor and this will help solve any conflicts. A project manager should also employ empathy when solving conflicts for it will bring about a win-win satiation for both parties, and this indicates the project tasks will not be affected. The project manager’s leadership style also influences the conflict resolution process. In this case, a transformational leadership is better as compared to transactional or laissez- faire . Lastly, the manager should ensure that organizational justice is at its optimum by using cooperative conflict management styles and also introducing a third party (s).
References
Afzalur Rahim, M., Magner, N. R., & Shapiro, D. L. (2000). Do justice perceptions influence styles of handling conflict with supervisors? What justice perceptions, precisely? International Journal of Conflict Management , 11(1), 9–31. Doi: 10.1108/eb022833
Barki, H., & Hartwick, J. (2001). Interpersonal conflict and its management in information system development. Mis Quarterly , 195-228.
Bhattarai, P. (2016). Third-party coordination in conflict resolution: evidence from Nepal and the Philippines. International Journal of Conflict Management , 27(3), 398–423. Doi: 10.1108/ijcma-08-2014-0066
Chatterjee, A., & Kulakli, A. (2015). A study on the impact of the communication system on interpersonal conflict. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences , 210 , 320-329.
Goldman, B. M., Cropanzano, R., Stein, J., & Benson III, L. (2012). The role of third parties/mediation in managing conflict in organizations. The psychology of conflict and conflict management in organizations (pp. 306-334). Psychology Press.
Krishna, Y.R. (2011). Effects of Transformational Leadership on Team Performance. Journal Int. J. Buss. Mgt. Eco. Res , 2 (1), pp. 152-157.
Menkel-Meadow, C. (2009). Peace and Justice: Notes on the Evolution and Purpose of Legal Processes. Georgetown Law Journal , 94(2), 663-691.
Rovira-Asenjo, N., Pietraszkiewicz, A., Sczesny, S., Gumí, T., Guimerà, R., & Sales-Pardo, M. (2017). Leader evaluation and team cohesiveness in the process of team development: A matter of gender? PloS one , 12 (10), e0186045.
Saeed, T., Almas, S., Anis-ul-Haq, M., & Niazi, G. (2014). Leadership styles: relationship with conflict management styles . International Journal of Conflict Management , 25(3), 214–225. Doi: 10.1108/ijcma-12-2012-0091
