Project management cannot be effective without teams. Team building represents a crucial element of project management and a defining factor of its performance. Any project team must incorporate professionals from several different disciplines. Relevant procedures to prevent conflict or resolve them, if they arise, must be in place. To a large extent, selecting, bringing together potential team members, and creating a coherent team is the most important milestone in the entire project lifecycle. Therefore, it is imperative for project managers to understand the importance of their team building mission.
It should be noted that the process of creating a coherent and functional project team starts with the analysis of the selection options available to the project manager. The latter assumes complete responsibility for the quality of his/her selection decisions. In project management and elsewhere, one of the most controversial questions is what exactly drives the development and composition of groups and teams (Hinds, Carley, Krackhardt & Wholey, 2000; Meredith & Mantel, 2011). One of the most popular hypotheses is that people choose to work with those, who look and act similar to themselves (Hinds et al., 2000). Another hypothesis is that individuals choose to work with those, who are believed to complement their own skills (Hinds et al., 2000). In reality, diversity is one of the most favored team building outcomes. Therefore, regardless of the nature of the project, managers must follow simple steps to bring together the best professionals. Project team members are selected on the basis of the project charter, which defines the most essential work packages and project deliverables (Williams, 2002). One of the best ways to select team members is to develop a skills and knowledge specification in accordance with the basic project requirements. The project leader can then use these specifications to interview potential team members and select the most suitable ones (Williams, 2002). Certainly, it often happens that the project team is to be created before the project requirements and deliverables are identified. Nevertheless, it is within the project leader’s scope of responsibility to assign people to various project tasks in ways that benefit the entire team and the project, in general.
Given that most project teams are multidisciplinary, team building strategies should be used to bring together professionals of diverse capabilities and backgrounds. It is with the help of team building strategies that the project leader can create a team capable of attaining the project purpose (Futrell, Shafer & Shafer, 2002). At the same time, team building should not be treated as a one-time event. It should be continuous to maintain effectiveness of all team members at all stages of the project lifecycle. According to Lewis (2004), the best team-building strategy should incorporate four elements. First, new team members should be introduced to each other (Lewis, 2004). Second, a mission statement should be developed with the active participation of all team members (Lewis, 2004). Third, all team members must either learn or develop specific goals and objectives of their performance (Lewis, 2004). Fourth, a specific plan to achieve these goals should also be developed (Lewis, 2004). As a result, every member of the project team will have a comprehensive map of individual and collective action. Meanwhile, the project leader will continue to create and promote an open communication environment, develop and strengthen team commitment, and develop and implement team norms. These elements will constitute the ongoing process of team building that is vital to the success of the project.
Certainly, even in the presence of effective team-building strategies, the team will face numerous areas of conflict. At the very beginning of the project, team members have high energy and positive expectations about their participation in the project team (Williams, 2002). Simultaneously, role ambiguity and role confusion are likely to become an obstacle to effective collaboration within the team. Also, not all team members may have equal levels of trust in the project leader (Williams, 2002). Still, the most challenging is the so-called representational gap. It means the difference in team members’ perspectives on the same problem. Representational gap is not limited to cognitive differences in what team members believe to be the most relevant solution. Rather, it represents a diversity of views on what the problem actually is (Dougherty, 1992). These differences may easily result in conflicts.
When it comes to conflicts in project teams, the best are proactive approaches. Kerzner (2009) proposes risk management techniques to reduce the risks of dysfunctional conflicts. These techniques include the elements of risk identification, risk assessment, and risk response development (Kerzner, 2009). In other words, a project leader should define the most probable causes of dysfunctional conflicts, identify and prioritize their likelihood, and develop strategies to respond to such risks. A risk event can be responded in four distinct ways: by mitigating, avoiding, transferring or retaining the problem (Kerzner, 2009).
These strategies may not be enough to prevent various conflicts. In case such conflicts arise, a project leader will have to find and apply the most viable strategy for conflict resolution. Conflicts can be addressed in one or several different ways, which include forcing, compromising, smoothing, withdrawing, or confronting (Heldman et al., 2007). Despite a popular opinion that achieving a compromise is the best method of conflict resolution, project teams should focus on confrontation. The latter is the most appropriate conflict resolution model in the context of project management. It is based on facts and reasonable decision making (Heldman et al., 2007). Fact-based confrontation provides better opportunities for designing a permanent solution and eliminating the conflict. Confrontation is the most popular win-win conflict resolution technique for any project team (Heldman et al., 2007).
In conclusion, the quality of team building predetermines the quality of all project management processes. A project leader is expected to assume complete responsibility for selection and team building processes. Risk management strategies do have the potential to predict and minimize the risks of dysfunctional conflicts. However, team members must be ready to use confrontation as a win-win approach to conflict resolution.
