Project Negotiation And Management: A Discussion

Agreements and Role of ICT in Government and Non-Government Projects

At the first week the discussion regarding the agreements in case of government and non-government project has been discussed. In this context, the role of ICT has also been mentioned. In the second week different methods of project negotiation, managing the conflicts and use of different technologies and standards for the development of the project is discussed. Responsibility of the project managers and their role in the development and management of the project has been discussed in week 3. Identifications of the factors those can be raised the conflicts in the project are identified and management of the communication between different stakeholders are described the discussion of week four.  Week five describes different negotiation processes those can be applicable in the organization. Consequences of project delays and planned activities can be discussed through the week seven. Different setups between government and private organization is discussed in the discussion of week eight. The avoidance of the conflict in the project management through the use of tool is mentioned in the discussion of week nine. The legal conditions and issues in contract are discussed in the week ten.

Commercial project can be defined as the combination of commerce and business. This can include hotels , restaurants, hospitals. During the development of the commercial project proper strategy is needed to be done before implementation. Managing of the team members and assigning them different roles is the responsibility of the commercial project manager. The success of the project is dependent on proper negotiation and collaboration method. In this situation, the project manager should have the required negotiation skill for the development of the project.

1. Evidence:  It has been seen that the gender, organizational culture, internal exposer and the experience in the industry can enhance the negotiation process for the organization. Due to the difference in the culture and the thinking process negotiation at international level can be problematic. In this situation proper strategy is needed to be implemented.

Recently, it has been seen the conflicts regarding the projects have increased in the western democracy. It can be said that the management of the conflict can be done through the active listening, proper negotiation process, proper leadership, empathy and positive change in the behavior of the stakeholders of the project.

1. Evidence: The evidence regarding the negotiation process can be provided through the Chunnel Project. In this case, then “ Art of Negotiation” is applicable. Apart from the soft-skill and the experience, the emotional state of any parties in the negotiation process can has impact on the whole process.

Summary:  Project negotiation can be defined as the proper communication between two parties in the business process. Proper negotiation can help in the policy making that would eventually help the development of the project. The stakeholder management is associated with the project negotiation. During the negotiation process, the negotiation can be done regarding the policy making or understanding the requirements. In this case, the understanding the requirements of all the stakeholders and providing a general solution that would fulfill all the requirements of all stakeholders associated with the project can defined as stakeholder management. While the development of the project, some of the conflicts can appear among the team members. Managing the conflicts in the project life cycle is the responsibility of the manager.

1. Evidence: It has been seen that improper project negotiation process and management of the stakeholders can lead to the failure of the project. In this case, the example of the Chunnel tunnel project can be mentioned. The negotiation process between UK and France was not done in a proper way.

For managing the communication between the stakeholders and proper negotiation and conflict management process three factors are needed- development of the organization, development of the management and proper training. The identified issues those are responsible for raising the conflicts are application of the different project development process. The approach of different project development methodology is different and is categorized in the name of different elements like- fire, earth, air. However, all these methodologies are not applicable for all kind of projects. The selection of the wrong methodology can lead to the conflicts in the project.

1. Evidence: For commercial project negotiation and managing the stakeholders, upgraded four step project life cycle can be applicable. In project topology, Pace is the new concept that indicates the revolutions happen during the development of the project.
   1. LO5: Consequences of delay in the delivery of the project, and planning.
2. Summary: Consequences of project delay can include exceed of budget for the project, confusion over the requirements and affecting the goodwill of the organization. Disruptions can be regarded as conflicts those can be present in the projects. The disruption can occur due to the improper understanding of the requirements of the projects or lack of knowledge sharing among the members of the team. The improper understanding of the requirements can lead to the scope creep of the project. The scope creep can be defined as the sudden changes in the requirements during the course of development of the project. On the other hand the misunderstandings among the team members of the project can happen due to the improper communication and sharing of knowledge. This can lead to the wrong implementation of the functionalities in the project. All these can be regarded as the disruptions in the project and can make the delay in the delivery of the project. The delay in the project can violate the agreements in the contracts and arbitrations.
3. Evidence: It has been seen that the delay in the delivery of the project generally affects the goodwill of the organization negatively. It can be said that managing the stakeholders, selection of the right methodology, managing the conflicts and understanding the requirements are helpful to avoid the delay in the projects.
   1. LO6:  Project Management tools those can provide the management of conflict through project negotiation.
4. Summary:  For managing the commercial projects and its negotiation process certain project negotiation frameworks are used. These frameworks provides the project managers to construct the learning regarding the project through workshops and hypothetical case studies. The learning cycle includes planning, acting, reviewing and the reflection of the entire project development process. Apart from that thee trust of the investors in the project is important for the negotiation process.
5. Evidence: RBP is a framework for negotiation process of the project. Apart from that there are different techniques those are applicable in the development of the skills for the project managers so that they can manage the project in a proper way. One of this concepts is Bredillet’s concept of PraXitioner. This helps in understanding the emerging project management trends and demands of the stakeholders. The requirements are stored at KSAEs, which can be accessed by the project manager. However, this framework can be handled by the managers with high professional maturity.

Conclusion

The discussion is regarding the project management and project negotiation plan. There are different aspects of the project management and managing the conflicts and the requirements are the important things in the proper delivery of the project. Project negotiation is about discussing about the different aspects of the project between stakeholders of the project. While managing the conflict is about solving the unnecessary problems in the project team during the development of the project. In order to make the successful compilation of the project, understanding the requirements are important. The proper understanding of the requirements will help to avoid the scope creep in the project. Apart from that the consequences of the delay in the project can exceed the budget of the project and it can affect the goodwill of the project development organization. There are different tools for project negotiation process. However, the use of tool is dependent on the type and requirements of the project.

The managing of the projects consists of understanding the requirements. However, the major part of the project management is project negotiation process. There are different tools and frameworks for managing the negotiation process. However, it is the responsibility of the project manager to manage different aspects of the project.  The selection of the methodology is dependent on the requirements and the type of the project. Managing the project negotiation is important and improper negotiation process can lead to the project failure. In this context the example of the Chunnel Tunnel project has been described. The negotiation process was not properly done which led to the failure of the project. It can be concluded from the above discussion that for the proper delivery of the project conflict management, management of negotiation and stakeholder management are important.

References

Kerzner H. 2013. Project Management: A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling, and Control, 11^th Edition.  Hoboken, USA: John Wiley & Sons.

Peña-Mora F., and Tamaki T. 2001. “Effect of Delivery Systems on Collaborative Negotiations for Large -Scale Infrastructure Projects”. Journal of Management in Engineering. April 2001 pp.105-121

PMI. 2013a. A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide) 5^th Edition. USA: Project Management Institute.

Wikipedia Channel Tunnel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Channel_Tunnel