Table of Contents
Introduction
In the implementation of any project, several problems are experienced at different stages. It is the duty of the project manager to ensure the each one of them is addressed. Some of the common project management problems include conflict among team members, budget issues, and delays in project delivery, among others (Yang, Huang, & Wu, 2011). In this review, an analysis of the project progress will be conducted illustrating the situation at different stages.
Team Dynamics
Medical Informatics is an established company in the health sector. They have embarked on a project to develop a new product. For this to be implemented, the company has to expand its clinical data warehouse to accommodate the third party data feeds from vendors. The expansion will provide a mechanism for reporting on various details concerning the new product. John was appointed as the project manager. Having worked with the company for 23 years, he is familiar with the company operations. The project team is comprised of people from different departments who have experience in product development.
The team is structured in such a way that each member has their own role. They report to the project manager who in turn reports to the project sponsor. The project team is comprised of programmers, legal experts and, workers from the users department. The team has extensive knowledge in systems and applications. However, John left the team for personal reasons after they had delivered module 2 part of the project. At this point, the team is at the performing stage. Conflict within the team is due to conflicting roles between the team members and the fact that some of the members have double roles in the company. This has caused extreme pressure within the team. The team is mainly lacking leadership skills to harmonize the roles of the members.
Conflict Resolution and Dynamics
At the current stage, the team needs directing on the way forward. The team has the right quality of members and therefore requires someone to guide them on the way to execute their duties. The appropriate skills for each role in the project should be determined by reviewing the qualifications of each member. The duties allocated should match their skills. This can easily be accomplished as each of them has previous experience from previous projects by the company. To resolve the existing conflict among the team members, the project leader can mediate a compromise where there is a disagreement. In other cases where the conflict may have escalated, the manager can be assertive and make a decision himself.
Motivation and Confidence
Team motivation yields positive results (Gehring, 2007). The project manager can instill confidence in the team by properly executing his role as a leader. Providing solutions in extremely difficult situations will give the team confidence in his leadership. Well performing employees should also be rewarded. This will increase competition and performance among the members. Constant communication with the team also motivates them to work harder to meet the project goals. A motivated team will deliver quality results which meet the project objectives.
Conclusion
The project team is at a very critical stage in project development. There are several challenges facing the project including budget overshoot, delays and lack of leadership. If an able project manager is installed, the team will get back to performance and meet the project objectives.
- Gehring, D. R. (2007). Applying traits theory of leadership to project management. Project Management Quarterly, 38(1), 44.
- Yang, L. R., Huang, C. F., & Wu, K. S. (2011). The association among project manager’s leadership style, teamwork and project success. International journal of project management, 29(3), 258-267.