Project Conflict and Stress Identification Process

The ideal strategy for determining the motivation levels of the team members would be employment of a Paternalistic leadership or management style. In a paternalistic management style the leader acts as father figure where they take care of their subordinates as a parent would take care of their children (Bérard, 2013). They offer complete concern in exchange for complete trust and loyalty from their people. These types of workers are expected to work long term projects with the company hence the solid relationship (Bérard, 2013). Paternalistic leadership style is the best fit for the project since the project is intended to go for a longer period of time thus we needed to form a strong working relationship as well as a friendly environment with all the members involved in the project (Bérard, 2013).

Put in other words, the paternalistic management or leadership style entails the leader assuming his or her roles in a fatherly way and as such, as the team leader I will ensure that I maintain good relationship with all the project team members just as the a father or mother or head of the family does with the rest of the family members. The purpose of maintaining such good relations with the project team members is to guide and protect each of the team members in the course of their duty with regards to attaining the project deliverables (Bérard, 2013). That will entail providing the team members with good working environment as well as fringe benefits in the effort to encourage each of the team members to work harder out of gratitude (Bérard, 2013).

Motivation Theory

The ideal theory that most closely aligns with my intention to motivate each of the project team members is Maslow’s hierarchy of need theory. According to the theory, every human more so the business workers have asset of needs category of needs listed in order of priority with the lowest being basic needs such as eating and sleeping among others (Green, 1992). Other category of needs include social and self-developmental nature all of which intend to formulate a unique moral code and finding one’s own purpose in life. As a result of the social and self-development stages at a particular stage in an employee’s life that qualifies the paternalistic style of management as the best in helping fulfill the employee’s social and self-developmental needs by the manager providing close supervision to them while they work and forming a close relationship with them by exchanging views (Green, 1992).

With regards to the determination of each project team member’s’ motivation levels, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory can best be demonstrated in terms of three employees with differing characteristics. In the case that there are those project team members who are heads of their families, very mature in nature and deliberate decision makers, they will be understood to be in possession of high emotional intelligence meaning that they are likely to view their roles in the project as general and as such they tend to lack something new even though they are satisfied and would love a new creative and challenging work where they will experience self-actualization (Green, 1992). If it were that case, as the project leader I would make each of the project team members love their roles by creating a healthy working environment and working conditions such as assuring each of them of their job security through the creation of the compensation and benefits like good human resource management (Green, 1992).

In a scenario where it is determined that among the project team members there are those who are team players as a result of their being in possession of consultations and hard work skills as well as are secretive of their personal lives, I would conclude such team members to prioritize their psychological needs including rest and refreshment breaks to help them get some extra energy in the course of duty (Green, 1992). That means that as the project and team leader I will have to motivate each of the team members by providing physical comfort on the job to reduce the daily manual labor as well as I will set up reasonable working hours to give each of them some time to get away from the monotony of work (Green, 1992). Should I determine that there are certain team members with low self-esteem, my role as per Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory would be to ensure each of the members is promoted to new responsibility, allowed to participate in the decision making process and are introduced to friendly coworkers involved in the building process of the project (Green, 1992)

Facilitation technique

There are two major ways or facilitation techniques through which a project leader can employ to have the project team input to the motivation namely designing and planning and guiding and controlling the project or team processes (Wong, 2007). That means that the project leader would be tasked with choosing and designing the right group processes as well as developing an effective agenda for the project (Wong, 2007). With regards to this, there are only two major aspects that the group leader would have to keep an eye on or enforce, that is, choosing the right group process, and designing a realistic agenda. Under the design of group processes, it would be critical for the team leader to determine if the project team member motivation needs an open discussion, or a structured process and the type of process to be effected (Wong, 2007). That will include elements like Ice Breakers, MultiVoting, Brainstorming, Charette Procedure, Delphi Technique and Concept Attainment among others (Wong, 2007).

In setting the realistic agenda for the project members’ motivation facilitation, the project leader will have to considers factors such as the order of the project deliverables how team members get to know each other, how team members will gain a common understanding of the objectives and how the outcomes of one project session flow into the next and many more (Wong, 2007).

Protection of important project activity

The one activity or task added to the project plan to make sure that this important activity is not overlooked is the inclusion of the SWOT which is as follows;

Strengths of the project: the project majorly focuses on undergraduates and postgraduates thus it was easy picking out the best talent out of the best population size. That comes with the opportunity to train on how to use a fixed budget

Weakness of the project: Recruitment is a long process that involves going out and carrying out research. If the findings do not meet the objectives it tends to be discouraging to group members

Opportunity: There are plenty of opportunities for the projects as there are many institutions spread all over thus it will not be challenging putting the project into effect.

Threats: The project can come under serious scrutiny from investors who think undergraduates are in experienced thus obstacles are expected to string up.

Reference

Bérard, J. (2013). Accelerating leadership development: Practical solutions for building your organization's potential.

Green, T. B. (1992). Performance and motivation strategies for today's workforce: A guide to expectancy theory applications. Westport, Conn: Quorum Books.

Wong, Z. (2007). Human factors in project management: Concepts, tools, and techniques for inspiring teamwork and motivation. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.