5 Strategies for Conflict Resolution

5 Strategies for Conflict Resolution

There is a saying, wherever there are more than two human beings politics prevail. Hence, it is very common to have conflicts between human beings working on for a project. PMBOK® Guide 5^thEdition talks about five strategies for conflict resolution. Conflicts are nothing but a difference of opinion. Conflict resolution is nothing but to agree on a common consensus from where the project can be successfully planned, executed, monitored & controlled and closed. But why do we need not to have conflict is because we want happiness and as J.Krishnamurthy puts it “Happiness is not to be bought, nor does it come when you go after it; but it is there when there is no conflict.¹”

Strategy	Description as per PMBOK® Guide 5th Edition2	Explanation
Withdraw/ Avoid	Retreating from an actual or potential conflict situation; postponing the issue to be better prepared or to be resolved by others.	This is a situation where we know that we can't win the argument, or we feel that it is not even worth arguing with the individual with whom we have the conflict just because we perceive that the individual is ignorant. This is a situation where the stakes are low and we know we can't win at all and save our reputation. May be sometimes we believe that the problem gets solved all by itself over a period of time.
Smooth/ Accommodate	Emphasizing areas of agreement rather than areas of difference; conceding one’s position to the needs of others to maintain harmony and relationship	In this kind of conflict you just smoothen the situation by maintaining harmony and you just tell the team members that the situation is not so bad as they think and smoothen it to control their tempers.
Compromise/ Reconcile	Searching for solutions that bring some degree of satisfaction to all parties in order to temporarily or partially resolve the conflict.	This is a lose-lose situation. This is a situation where both parties want to win, but in reality it is not possible. So both parties lose something. This happens when there is an equal relationship between the parties who are in conflict. And under any circumstance you want to avoid fight among the parties.
Force/ Direct	Pushing one’s view point at the expense of others; offering only win-lose solutions, usually enforced through a power position to resolve an emergency.	This is a win-lose situation. This is the situation where you feel that you are right and the other party is not right and you force your discretion on other party so that you gain power and you don’t give high priority to the relationship. Priority is given only to time and stakes are very high if the task is not finished in time.
Collaborate/ Problem  Solve	Incorporating multiple viewpoints and insights from differing perspectives; requires a cooperative attitude and open dialogue that typically leads to consensus and commitment.	This is a win-win situation. This is the situation where both parties trust each other and have enough time to tackle the situation. This kind of a situation is where the main objective is to learn from the situation and use it as an opportunity to explore and take some preventive or corrective action. In this case the maintenance of relationship is very important.

The Thomas / Kilmann model of Conflict resolving techniques is graphically represented in the figure below.

References:

1.     J. Krishnamurti, Life Ahead - Part One Chapter 16

2.     PMBOK® 5th Edition, Page 283

Types of Costs from PMP point of view

Types of Costs from PMP point of view.

There are four types of costs that PMP talks about. They are:

DIRECT COSTS	INDIRECT COSTS
The costs that are directly related to the project which are directly ‘estimated’ into a particular project or directly billed to that project. So these are the costs that are directly attributed to a particular project.	Indirect costs are not directly related to and cannot be attributed directly to particular project. These are attributed most of the times for a group of projects. Hence, they cannot be billed directly to one particular project.
E.g.: ·         Costs incurred on material (like steel, wood, etc.) used for construction of building ·         Buying an equipment ·         Labour wages	E.g.: ·         Depreciation costs ·         Cost of materials that wear out over a period of time like paints, etc. ·         Supervisor’s salaries ·         Taxes etc.
FIXED COSTS	VARIABLE COSTS
These are the costs that are fixed and do not change throughout the project.	These are the costs that vary over a period of time based upon the amount of work done.
E.g.: ·         Costs incurred on Rent of place, equipment, etc.	E.g.: ·         Cost of material over a period of time ·         Cost of labour ·         Cost of fuel, etc.

 There is another type of cost called Sunk Cost. Sunk costs are those cost that have not added any value to the project. Sometimes change in the technology during the project may demand for the advanced technology and the costs that have been incurred on the old technology are of no value. So that cost has just sunk into the project because of the change or advancement in the technology. Or there can be instance where because of change in the market dynamics the project is not longer valid. Even in such case also the cost incurred in such project is treated as sunk cost. Sunk cost is the cost than cannot be recovered.

However, the PMBOK® Guide 5^th Edition talks only about Direct and Indirect costs.

If you are confused, please don’t worry. You are not alone. J

PMP Android Apps

Below given are some of the free PMP Android Apps that you can use during your journey towards PMP.

Both of the below are good.
1. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.pmp.flashcard
2. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=pmp.learn.guide

I haven't used this App.
3. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.bricksbay.exam.pmpprepareFree

For ITTOs
4. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=rsoni.pmpitto

What is the difference between QA & QC from PMP point of view?

What is the difference between Quality Assurance and Control Quality from PMP point of view.

QUALITY ASSURANCE (QA)	CONTROL QUALITY / QUALITY CONTROL (QC)
PMBOK® Guide 5th Edition The process of auditing the quality requirements and the results from quality control measurements to ensure that appropriate quality standards and operational definitions are used1.	PMBOK® Guide 5th Edition The process of monitoring and recording results of executing the quality activities to assess performance and recommend necessary changes1.
QA is the process of planning, systematic quality activities to ensure that the project will employ all those processes that are needed to meet or conform to the specific requirements mentioned in project SOW.	QC incorporates monitoring the results of the processes of the project to determine whether the processes comply with relevant quality standards and also identifies ways to eliminate the causes that are causing problems or non-conformances.
QA is preventive process. Hence all preventive and corrective actions are taken by QA process.	QC is more of a correction rather than corrective action. All defect repairs are corrected in QC after finding the defect.
QA is error prevention process	QC is error identification process
QA is a process of doing right the first time. Making the right deliverable.	QC is the process of inspecting whether the deliverable is conforming to the requirements mentioned in deliverable specifications after making the deliverable.
QA is process oriented	QA is product / deliverable oriented
QA is pro-active	QC is reactive
QA is line function	QC is staff function
	There are 7 basic quality tools that we use in QC and they are: 1. Cause & Effect / Fishbone / Ishikawa diagrams, 2. Flowcharts, 3. Checksheets, 4. Pareto diagrams or charts, 5. Histograms 6. Control charts and 7. Scatter diagrams

References:

1.     PMBOK® 5th Edition, Page 227