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3.3 

Theories and Concepts

Exam Objectives

2. Domain 2: Stakeholder Engagement

2.8. Task 8 Promote risk ownership by proactively communicating roles and responsibilities and engaging project team members in the development of risk responses in order to improve risk response execution.

2.9. Task 9 Liaise with stakeholders of other projects by using effective communication techniques and sharing information on project risk performance in order to inform them of implications for their projects.

This objective includes leadership styles, conflict management, power, types of power, communication theories, and motivational and management theories.

Leadership Styles

A leadership style provides direction, implements plans, and motivates people. Project managers may lead their teams in number of ways. The selection of the project manager's style may be a personal preference, or the result of the combination of multiple factors associated with the project. The style a project manager may change over time based on the factors in play. Here are the major factors that need to consider:

• Leader characteristics: Example includes attitudes, moods, needs, values, ethics

• Team member characteristics: Example includes attitudes, moods, needs, values, ethics

• Organizational characteristics: Example includes purpose, structure, and type of work performed

• Environmental characteristics: Example includes social situation, economic state, and political elements

Research describes various leadership styles that a project manager can adopt. Here are some of the following:

• Laissez-faire: Allows the team to have complete freedom to make decisions concerning the completion of their work; also referred to as taking a hand-off style

• Transactional: Focuses on goals and feedback, and motivates through a system of rewards

• Servant leader: Demonstrates commitment to serve and put other people first and focuses on other people's growth, learning, development, autonomy, and wellbeing

• Transformational: Empowers followers through idealized attributes and behaviors, inspirational motivation, encouragement for innovation and creativity, and individual consideration

• Charismatic: Involves self-promoting personality, high/great energy level, self-confident, and holds strong convictions

• Interactional: Occurs when a behavior of one member causes change in the behavior of another; it is a combination of transactional, transformational, and charismatic

Conflict Management

Conflict comes into the picture when the desires, needs, or goals of one party are incompatible with the desires, needs, or goals of another party (or parties). Conflict is the incompatibility of goals, which often leads to one party resisting or blocking the other party from attaining their goals.
Conflict can be reduced by implementing team ground rules and group norms and utilizing well-grounded project management processes. Regular and effective communication, and clear definitions of roles and responsibilities of team members will also go a long way in keeping conflict to a minimum. Conflict management involves solving problems. Here are the general techniques for resolving conflict:

• Withdraw/avoid: When parties withdraw or avoid, they never reach resolution. The withdraw or avoid technique occurs when one of the parties gets up and leaves and refuses to discuss the conflict. It is probably the worst of all the techniques because nothing gets resolved. It is used by the project manager as a cooling-off period, to collect more information, or when the issue is not critical. This is an example of a lose-lose conflict resolution technique.

• Smooth/accommodate: It does not lead to a permanent solution. It's a temporary way to resolve conflict, where the areas of agreement are emphasized over the areas of difference, so the real issue stays buried.

• Compromise/reconcile: Parties that compromise or reconcile each give up something to reach a solution. Everyone involved decides what they will give on and what they won't give on, and eventually through all the give and take, a solution is reached. Neither side wins or loses in this situation. This approach occasionally results in a lose-lose situation.

• Force/direct: Force or direct is just as it sounds. One person forces a solution on the other parties. This is an example of a win-lose conflict resolution technique. The forcing party wins, and the losers are those who are forced to go along with the decision.

• Collaborate/problem solve: It is the best way to resolve conflict. This approach incorporates multiple viewpoints and insights from differing perspectives. This approach can result in a win-win situation.

Power

It can originate with traits exhibited by the individual or the organization. Power is commonly supported by different people's perception of the leader. It is essential for project managers to be aware of their relationships with other people. Relationships allow project managers to get things done on the project. There are various forms of power at the disposal of project managers. Power and its use can be complex given its nature and also the numerous factors at play in a project. The various forms are:

• Positional (sometimes also known as formal, authoritative, legitimate) (for example, formal position granted in the company or team)

• Informational (for example, management of gathering or distribution)

• Guilt-based (for example, imposition of responsibility or sense of duty)

• Persuasive (for example, capability to produce arguments that move individuals to a desired course of action)

• Referent (for example, respect or admiration others hold for the individual, reliability gained)

• Punitive or coercive (for example, capability to raise discipline or negative significances)

• Ingratiating (for example, application of flattery or alternative ground to win favor or cooperation)

• Personal or charismatic (for example, charisma, attraction)

• Relational (for example, participates in networking, connections, and associations)

• Expert (for example, skill, information possessed; expertise, training, education, certification)

• Situational (for example, gained due to distinctive scenario such as a specific crisis)

• Reward-oriented (for example, ability to provide praise, monetary or other desired items)

• Pressure-based (for example, limit liberty of choice or movement for the purpose of gaining compliance to desired action)

• Avoiding (for example, not willing to participate)

Communication Theories

The following are the communication theories:

• Utility theory: This theory attempts to formalize the subjective views of the decision makers (or stakeholders) for risk management purposes. The reasoning behind the response can be better defined through this theory.

• Organizational theory: This theory refers to all the theories that attempt to explain what makes people, teams, and work units perform the way they do. The following are the various types of organizations:
  

  • Functional

  • Projectized

  • Weak matrix

  • Balanced matrix

  • Strong matrix

Motivational and Management Theories

A motivational theory concluding that individuals feel a sense of pleasure and gratification when they have completed a challenging task and therefore are generally more motivated if they think there will be good rewards for doing so. The strength of the expectancy drives the behavior. This theory hypothesizes that people have five basic needs and they fall in hierarchical order: basic physical needs, safety and security needs, social needs, self-esteem needs, and self-actualization.
As part of the exam, you will need to know several motivational theories and other concepts, including: Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, McGregor's Theory of X and Y, Herzberg's Motivation Theory, Achievement Theory, and the Expectancy Theory.

• Maslow's hierarchy of needs: This theory suggests that once a lower-level need has been met, it no longer serves as a motivator and the next higher level becomes the driving motivator in a person's life. Maslow conjectures that humans are always in one state of need or another. Here is a recap of each of the needs, starting with the highest level and ending with the lowest:
  

  • Self-Actualization: Performing at your peak potential

  • Self-Esteem Needs: Accomplishment, respect for self, capability

  • Social Needs: A sense of belonging, love, acceptance, friendship

  • Safety and Security Needs: Your physical welfare and the security of your belongings

  • Basic Physical Needs: Food, clothing, shelter

The highest level of motivation in this theory is the state of self-actualization.

• McGregor's Theory of X and Y: Douglas McGregor defined two models of worker behavior, Theory X and Theory Y, that attempt to explain how different managers deal with their team members.
  Theory X managers believe most people do not like work and will try to steer clear of it; they believe people have little to no ambition, need constant supervision, and won't actually perform the duties of their job unless threatened. As a result, Theory X managers are like dictators and impose very rigid controls over their people. They believe people are motivated only by punishment, money, or position. Unfortunately for the team members, Theory X managers unknowingly also subscribe to the Expectancy Theory. If they expect people to be lazy and unproductive and treat them as such, their team members probably will be lazy and unproductive.
  Theory Y managers believe people are interested in performing their best given the right motivation and proper expectations. These managers provide support to their teams, are concerned about their team members, and are good listeners. Theory Y managers believe people are creative and committed to the project goals, that they like responsibility and seek it out, and that they are able to perform the functions of their positions with limited supervision.

• Herzberg's Motivation Theory: Frederick Herzberg came up with the Hygiene Theory, also known as the Motivation-Hygiene Theory. He postulates that two factors contribute to motivation: hygiene factors and motivators. Hygiene factors deal with work environment issues. The thing to remember about hygiene factors is that they prevent dissatisfaction. Examples of hygiene factors are pay, benefits, the conditions of the work environment, and relationships with peers and managers. Pay is considered a hygiene factor because Herzberg believed that over the long term, pay is not a motivator. Being paid for the work prevents dissatisfaction but doesn't necessarily bring satisfaction in and of itself. He believed this to be true as long as the pay system is equitable. If two workers performing the same functions have large disparities in pay, then pay can become a motivator.
  Motivators deal with the substance of the work itself and the satisfaction one derives from performing the functions of the job. Motivators lead to satisfaction. The ability to advance, the opportunity to learn new skills, and the challenges involved in the work are all motivators, according to Herzberg.
  

Exam Spotlight

For the exam, remember that Herzberg was the inventor of the Hygiene Theory and that this theory claims that hygiene factors (pay, benefits, and working conditions) prevent dissatisfaction whereas motivators (challenging work, opportunities to learn, and advancement) lead to satisfaction.

• Achievement Theory: The Achievement Theory, attributed to David McClelland, says that people are motivated by the need for three things: achievement, power, and affiliation. The achievement motivation is obviously the need to achieve or succeed. The power motivation involves a desire for influencing the behavior of others, and the need for affiliation is relationship oriented. Workers want to have friendships with their co-workers and a sense of camaraderie with their fellow team members. The strength of your team members' desire for each of these will drive their performance on various activities.

• Expectancy Theory: The Expectancy Theory, first proposed by Victor Vroom, says that the expectation of a positive outcome drives motivation. People will behave in certain ways if they think there will be good rewards for doing so. Also note that this theory says the strength of the expectancy drives the behavior. This means the expectation or likelihood of the reward is linked to the behavior.
  This theory also says that people become what you expect of them. If you openly praise your project team members and treat them like valuable contributors, you'll likely have a high-performing team on your hands. Conversely, when you publicly criticize people or let them know that you have low expectations regarding their performance, they'll likely live up (or down as the case might be) to that expectation as well.