Carly and Morris are members of same team. Carly is manager of the team and so she has certain responsibilities. There is always some conflict in an organization. Conflict should be resolved immediately to improve the performance otherwise it impacts the health of the organization. In this case, there is conflict between Carly and Morris and it is affecting the target of the project. Carly being a supervisor is supposed to lead the team to achieve the set target. Effective communication and effective leadership is the key of the success of a project. It is observed that there is lack of communication between Carly and Morris as well as Carly and the supervisor. Project for a new system is scheduled to market on 1st January, but the conflict among team members is delaying the target.

Why do you think that Carly didn't come to you sooner to discuss the project delays?

Carly is the manager of the team and she is supposed to lead the team to meet the deadline. She is having conflict with her team member Morris. She has her own version of story. She is blaming her team member for the delay. As the manager of the team, she should communicate with her team members effectively. Carly is showing poor leadership behavior. Effective communication is very crucial in an organization. Poor communication among team members and between team leader and the supervisor leads to poor performance of the team members. It seems that Carly has not developed good communication skill and so she is unable to communicate effectively the goal, target and information to her team members. This is the reason of conflict between Carly and Morris. When Carly was unable to resolve the conflict, she should have approached the supervisor and communicated to him in timely manner. But apparently she preferred to manage the team on her own. She might have thought that she could resolve the conflict and meet the target or she could make Morris responsible for the delay. That could have stopped her to come to her supervisor to discuss the project delay.

Why do you think Carly hasn't had a conversation with Morris, or vice versa, about their differences? How do you think each of them would respond to this type of conversation? Explain.

Carly is the leader of her team. A team leader is responsible for achieving the set target of the project. In order to achieve the target, team leader is provided some authority she can exert. She is responsible for the performance of her team. So, she has authority to reward the performers and punish the non-performers. Carly is supposed to communicate the team members the goal of the organization, expectations from team members, resources available, set target etc. There are some procedures laid down in an organization which should be followed.

Carly has not approached her supervisor telling him that project is delayed. Neither she has complained against Morris. She has not even taken any action against Morris. There is no formal communication between Carly and Morris on this subject. As found out later from other team members, Carly is exaggerating her story against Morris. She is probably afraid of her team members (and Morris in particular). Everyone in the team should understand that no one is above the organization. If there is any conflict. That should be sorted out according to the procedure laid down in the organization. If manager is unable to resolve the conflict on her own, she should communicate it with her superior and take his help to resolve the conflict. Similarly, team members are also expected to comply with the rules. If team member is not agreeing with any decision taken by his team leader, he should communicate with the team member and put his view forward. There should be two-way communication in a team. If team leader is not receptive and team member thinks it is affecting the performance of the team, he should approach the supervisor and bring it to his notice. There is no evidence that Carly has ever communicated with her superior about this conflict. The conflict between Carly and Morris came to the notice of the supervisor when he asked why project is delaying. Neither Morris ever communicated with the supervisor regarding the conflict. It indicates that Carly did not have a conversation with Morris and vice-versa.

What is the biggest problem with the way these team members interact? What could they do to remedy the problem? Explain.

Every member of a team is responsible for achieving the target. Every member should understand the perception and decision of each other. Effective communication is crucial for the success of a team. One should try to understand the view of other and put forward his or her point in effective manner. If there is some disagreement of conflict, it should be resolved amicably. Communication is effective only when it provides complete information. The team members should know why they are supposed to do some particular job and how they are contributing to the organization. If they find some better way to improve the performance and achieve the goal, they can come forward with their idea. When the team member thinks no one will listen to him or her, he or she can not communicate effectively. It creates barrier. In order to improve the performance and make each team member contribute, participative style of leadership can be adopted.

Carly can assume the role of the leader and adopt participative style of leadership. She can communicate the goal or the organization, resources in hand, targets and other information with her team members She can communicate the team members the deadline of the project and include them in decision making process. That increases the feel of ownership and improves the performance. Participative style of leadership requires higher degree of effective communication and leaves less room for organizational conflicts. When each member thinks that his idea is important and his idea is taken into account in decision making, he is motivated to contribute more. It increases the employee satisfaction. It is the duty of the leader to motivate the employees and take them along with him. He should align the energy of the followers (team members) towards the goal of the organization.

Do you think Carly should continue to serve as Project Manager? Explain.

The problem with Carly is that she is not communicating effectively with her team members as well as superiors. In this case, the lack of effective communication lead to the conflict which is affecting the deadline of the project. Carly can be mentored by her superiors and should be asked to continue to serve as project manager. She should be asked to adopt participative style of leadership. If she requires some training for developing her communication skill, that training can be imparted. As the project manager, Carly should communicate effectively with her team members the deadline of the project and expectations from the team members. As a participative leader, she can ask her team members to express their view and include them in decision making process. She should monitor the project regularly and review periodically. If there is any issue, that can be resolved with the help of two way communication. Also, the supervisor of the project should monitor the project continuously and ask for periodic report. He should monitor the progress of the project and should intervene early if he finds some issue is getting stretched.

How would you begin to address this situation? Come up with a plan to remedy this problem and outline a plan for getting the project back on track for the January 1 release.

As the supervisor of the project, I would develop a plan to monitor the project continuously and address the problems in timely manner. I would follow following steps:

  1. First of all, I would listen to the members and take their view on any situation. I would understand the view of the team members.
  2. I would gather related information from all available sources – files, communications, memo as well as other unlisted information.
  3. Next I would analyze the problem with the help of the information gathered and understand the behavior of the team members involved.
  4. After analyzing the problem, I would explore the possible solutions. I would ask the team members to participate in solution finding process.
  5. With the help of team members, I will analyze the solutions and see which solution is most suitable.
  6. Next step would be to implement the solution. I would discuss with the team members to finalize a process to implement the solution. I would make some rules which must be followed and any member not complying with the rule will be penalized.
  7. I will develop some method to monitor the effect of the solution and measure its effectiveness. I will take the feedback of the members and improve the process in due course.
  8. Finally, I would communicate with the team members about the effect of the solution we have implemented. We will have detailed discussion about the effect and how performance has improved. We will also explore how we can sustain the improved performance and can improve more. In this process, we will try to develop a system so that the same problem does not occur again.

In this situation, I will follow the above mentioned steps to improve communication and establish effective leadership. I will resolve the conflicts immediately, communicate the team members about the deadline and ask them how they think we can market our product on 1st of January. With the help of the team members I will develop a plan to bring the project back on the track so that the new system can go to market on 1st of January.

Reference

Dudley Weeks.(1994). "The Eight Essential Steps to Conflict Resolution". Jeremy P. Tarcher.

Stephen P. Robbins. “Organizational Behavior” 10th Edition. Prentice Hall.

Retrieved on August

14th , 2009.