3.8 Project Scheduling and Task Chart 61
These factors are considered external to the team environment, meaning that the team members
do not have much control over them. However, there are some factors that are internal to the team
environment, factors which the team can control. Communication, the decision making process,
and the level of collaboration are examples of factors that are controllable at the team level.3.7 Conflict Resolution
When a group of people work together, conflicts sometimes arise. Conflicts could be the result of
miscommunication, personality differences, or the way events and actions are interpreted by a
member of a team. Managing conflicts is an important part of a team dynamic. When it comes to
managing conflicts, a person’s response may be categorized in one of the following ways. There are
those in a team environment who try to avoid conflicts. Although this may seem like a good
approach, it demonstrates low assertiveness and a low level of cooperation. Under these conditions,
the person who is assertive will dominate, making progress as whole difficult. Accommodating team
membersare highly cooperative, but their low assertiveness could result in poor team decisions.
This is because ideas of the most assertive person in the group may not necessarily reflect the best
solution. Compromising team membersdemonstrate a moderate level of assertiveness and coopera-
tion. Compromised solutions should be considered as a last resort. Again, by compromising, the
team may have sacrificed the best solution for the sake of group unity. A better approach is the col-
laborative“conflict resolution” approach, which demonstrates a high level of assertiveness and coop-
eration by the team. With this approach, instead of pointing a finger at someone and blaming an
individual for the problem, the conflict is treated as a problem to be solved by the team. The team
proposes solutions, means of evaluation, and perhaps combines solutions to reach an ideal solution.
However, in order to reach a resolution to a problem, a plan with clear steps must be laid
out. Good communication is an integral part of any conflict resolution. One of the most impor-
tant rules in communication is to make sure that the message sent is the message received —
without misunderstanding. Team members must listen to each other. Good listeners do not
interrupt; they allow the speaker to feel at ease and do not get angry or criticize. You may want
to ask relevant questions to let the speaker know that you really are listening.
Now you have some idea about teamwork and what makes successful teams; next we will
discuss project scheduling.3.8 Project Scheduling and Task Chart
Project scheduling is a process that engineering managers use to ensure that a project is completed
on time and within the allocated budget. A good schedule will assign an adequate amount of time
for various project activities. It will also make use of personnel and the available resources for
planning, organizing, and controlling the completion of the project. A well planned schedule
could also improve the efficiency of the operation and eliminate redundancy in task assignments.
An example of a simple project schedule and task assignment is shown in Table 3.2. This sched-
ule was used for a small design project for an introduction to engineering class.Copyright 2010 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).圀圀圀⸀夀䄀娀䐀䄀一倀刀䔀匀匀⸀䌀伀䴀圀圀圀⸀夀䄀娀䐀䄀一倀刀䔀匀匀⸀䌀伀䴀