Conflict and crisis

0:00Sara: Welcome to Project Management Exam Prep.

0:02This episode is about conflict and crisis.

0:06Every project management exam tests it, because projects put people with different

0:10interests under pressure.

0:12Leo: You will learn how the three bodies frame it, how to judge and handle a conflict,

0:16how to negotiate, and what to do in a crisis.

0:20We finish with a drill, so keep a pen ready.

0:23Sara: Let us start with the three lenses. What does IPMA® say?

0:27Leo: IPMA®, the International Project Management Association, sets out its standard in

0:32the Individual Competence Baseline, the ICB4.

0:36Its element on conflict and crisis asks you to spot trouble early,

0:41choose a response that fits, and help the team learn afterwards.

0:45Negotiation has an element of its own.

0:48Sara: And PMI®?

0:49Leo: PMI®, the Project Management Institute, publishes the PMBOK® Guide,

0:55its guide to the project management body of knowledge.

0:59The eighth edition lists conflict management and negotiation among its tools.

1:04The outline of PMI®'s Project Management Professional exam, the PMP®,

1:08has a task called manage conflicts: find the sources, analyse the context,

1:14and carry out an agreed resolution.

1:17Sara: And APM?

1:19Leo: APM, the Association for Project Management, publishes the APM Body of Knowledge.

1:25Its section on conflict resolution includes negotiation.

1:29The syllabus of APM's Project Management Qualification, the PMQ,

1:33asks for the sources of conflict, its good and bad effects, and ways to handle it.

1:39Sara: Where do the words differ?

1:41Leo: In three places. First, the five ways of handling conflict.

1:46APM uses the names from Thomas and Kilmann's model, such as competing.

1:51PMI® uses pairs, such as force or direct.

1:54PMI®'s smooth means giving way, not smoothing a schedule.

1:59Sara: Second?

2:00Leo: Stages. The ICB4 names three. PMI® has no stage model.

2:07APM describes escalation as rising steps, with signs in body language and voice.

2:14Sara: And third?

2:15Leo: Crisis. The ICB4 pairs it with conflict.

2:19PMI® mentions times of crisis and continuity plans.

2:24APM has no crisis section; a crisis reaches the sponsor as an issue,

2:29a problem beyond the project's limits.

2:32Sara: What is the core, whichever exam you take?

2:35Leo: Three ideas. One: conflict starts when people want different things,

2:40and it matters to them. It can be about what to do, how to do it,

2:44or the relationship, and it often starts with scarce people or clashing priorities.

2:50Some conflict helps: a respectful disagreement finds better answers.

2:54A team that never disagrees slides into groupthink, where nobody challenges a risky

2:59plan.

3:00Sara: Does that change in agile work?

3:01Leo: The timing does. In a linear project, conflict often surfaces late,

3:07at gates or in testing. In iterative work, the team writes ground rules early,

3:14and each retrospective, the team's regular look back, brings friction out while

3:19it is small.

3:20Sara: Two?

3:22Leo: When interests clash, negotiate. Roger Fisher and William Ury,

3:26in Getting to Yes, give four rules. Keep the people apart from the problem.

3:32Look behind each position, what someone asks for, to the interest,

3:36why they ask. Invent options that serve both sides.

3:41And judge them by a fair yardstick, such as a rule or a market price.

3:46Sara: And three?

3:47Leo: A crisis is not a conflict stage. It is sudden, often with no conflict before it.

3:54So act, communicate, recover. Protect people first, speak early through one spokesperson,

4:01then fix the cause and learn. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,

4:06in their Crisis and Emergency Risk Communication manual, name four phases:

4:11preparation, before it; initial, the first hours; maintenance,

4:15while it lasts; and resolution. So the work starts with a plan and a rehearsal.

4:22Sara: How do I judge how far a conflict has gone?

4:25The model sheets are free in the description.

4:28Leo: The ICB4 sums up stage theories in three broad stages.

4:33Latent: a difference bothers someone, but nobody acts yet.

4:36Prevent it, with clear roles and early talks.

4:40Emergent: it is in the open, but the parties still talk and use facts.

4:44If you are not one of them, moderate. Escalated: emotions lead,

4:49sides form, and calm talks stop. Now you need a mediator, who helps the parties

4:55talk, or an arbitrator, who decides for them.

4:58Friedrich Glasl gives a finer scale: nine steps in three groups.

5:03First, win-win: both sides can still come out well.

5:06Then win-lose: each wants to win at the other's cost.

5:11Finally, lose-lose: harming the other matters more than their own losses.

5:16In an answer, name the stage with your evidence, and the sign of the next one.

5:19Sara: Once I know the stage, how do I respond?

5:23Leo: Kenneth Thomas and Ralph Kilmann place five ways of handling conflict on two scales:

5:29how hard you push for your own concern, and how much you help with the other side's.

5:35The table on screen is our own. Competing: you push yours through.

5:40It fits when safety or a legal duty is at stake, or there is no time.

5:46Collaborating: you solve it together. It fits when both concerns matter and there

5:51is time, but it takes the most work. Compromising: each side gives up part.

5:57It fits when power is equal and time is short, but it may not last.

6:02Avoiding: you step back for now. It fits a minor issue, or when tempers must cool.

6:08Say when you will return. Accommodating: you give way, when it matters far more

6:14to them.

6:15Sara: So collaborating is always best?

6:18Leo: No. The PMBOK® Guide says each technique has its place.

6:23Stakes, time, power and the relationship decide.

6:27So name the mode, and say why.

6:30Sara: How does this change between Mid-level and Senior?

6:33Leo: First, the two levels. They are this series' own labels.

6:37Mid-level means leading moderately complex projects, the level of IPMA® Level C and

6:44PMI®'s PMP® exam. Senior means leading complex projects and people,

6:50the level of IPMA® Level B and of APM's chartered status, Chartered Project Professional.

6:57At Mid-level, you handle your own project's conflicts.

7:01Take Parking Permits Online, a city project that moves resident parking permits

7:05online in eight months. The warden supervisors and the supplier disagree about the

7:11screen wardens use to check permits, but still talk: emergent.

7:16The project manager, Anna, has no stake in either design, so she moderates:

7:21both sides test the screen on the street.

7:24Sara: And at Senior level?

7:26Leo: You design how disputes are settled, and sometimes you decide.

7:30Take One City Account, a thirty-month city project that brings fourteen online services

7:35under one login, led by Anna some years later.

7:39Two suppliers blame each other for a failing link between their systems:

7:43escalated. The contracts' dispute route takes three weeks: too slow.

7:48So Anna rules within a week who fixes it, inside the limit the board delegated to

7:53her. Then she reviews the cause with both, since she needs them for two more years.

7:57Sara: Now the drill. A city has just moved resident parking permits online.

8:03Two days after go-live, the wardens' handheld devices start showing valid permits

8:08as expired. By ten o'clock, wardens have issued thirty fines by mistake,

8:13and a journalist calls. The supplier blames the city's network;

8:18the city's IT team blames the supplier.

8:21You are the project manager. What do you do in the first hours?

8:24Leo: Pause and write your answer. You have forty-five seconds.

9:13Sara: Where do you start?

9:15Leo: Name it: a crisis, not a conflict stage.

9:19Act first: ask the sponsor, who runs parking services, to stop permit fines until

9:25the devices are right. Then communicate, with one voice.

9:29The sponsor and the steering group hear first; the city's communications team answers

9:34the journalist. Each update says what we know, what we do not know yet,

9:39what we are doing, and the time of the next update.

9:42Sara: And the blame?

9:44Leo: Set it aside, on purpose: that is avoiding, with a date to return to it.

9:48On the fix, be directive: one named lead, both teams in one room.

9:54Then recover: cancel the wrong fines, and write to the residents affected.

9:59Later, collaborate: both teams review the root cause, not the blame.

10:04Sara: What lifts that to Senior?

10:06Leo: The system. Agree before go-live who may declare a crisis and stop fines.

10:13Set a trigger in advance: if there is no fix by noon, permit checks stop for the

10:18day. Weigh speed against complete facts.

10:23And keep the review from becoming a fight over claims: the city needs the supplier

10:27for years.

10:29Sara: How do the exams ask this?

10:32Leo: IPMA®'s written exam asks for open answers; at Level B it may be oral.

10:37IPMA®'s certification also includes an interview, where assessors ask about your

10:42own projects, so note one conflict you handled and why you chose your approach.

10:47The PMP® exam uses scenarios, and questions built on a case study or a chart.

10:53APM's PMQ asks for short written answers, such as two ways conflict can help a project.

11:00Sara: Let us recap.

11:02Leo: One. Conflict comes from what to do, how to do it, or the relationship.

11:07Some conflict helps.

11:08Sara: Two. When interests clash, look behind positions to interests.

11:14Leo: Three. Judge the stage: latent, emergent or escalated.

11:21Deeper means more outside help.

11:24Sara: Four. Compete, collaborate, compromise, avoid or accommodate:

11:30the situation decides, so say why.

11:33Leo: And five. A crisis is not a conflict stage.

11:38Act, communicate with one voice, then recover and learn.

11:43Sara: The two model sheets and the study handout are linked in the description.

11:47Next time: requirements and scope.