Executive Summary

This paper will unpack the advantages and disadvantages of team projects whilst first discussing why team efforts prove difficult. This is examined by the Ringlemann Effect phenomenon and a poor team foundation, namely the absence of proper communication conducted between project sponsors and project managers, and the rest of the team. The focus then shifts to navigating projects with difficult people, discussing the problems and conflicts that can arise and how to overcome them. With this, the paper will simultaneously define the differences in the dynamics of a team with difficult people compared to a team of individuals who appropriately hold their weight.

 

Team projects are designed to enhance the individual problem-solving and decision-making skills necessary for increased productivity and a well-developed final result. However, given the complexity of teams, namely the differences in personalities, perspectives, experiences, knowledge, and more, the advantages are easily forgotten or seemingly nonexistent. While it might be easy to frown upon team efforts for these reasons, it should not diminish their potential effectiveness. There are several reasons that teams prove difficult, all of which can be overcome with proper problem-solving and/or conflict resolution techniques.

 

When defining “difficult” team members, it typically references the individuals who do not communicate well, if at all, and those who do not participate effectively. The phenomenon of the Ringlemann Effect recognized by Max Ringlemann, a German psychologist, provides insight into the behavior of such individuals. The textbook ‘Organizational Behavior: Experience, Grow, Contribute` provides, “Average productivity dropped as more people joined the rope-pulling task [first alone, then as part of a team]. Ringlemann suggested that people may not work as hard in groups because their individual contributions are less noticeable in the group context and because they prefer to see others carry the workload” (Uhl-Bien et al., p. 149). The complexity of groups, namely the various perspectives and contributions of parts, makes individuals feel that their contribution holds little significance, increasing as teams grow in size. However, if someone genuinely wants to add value to the team effort because they have confidence that their contribution will make a difference, they would; thus, while the Ringlemann Effect phenomenon unpacks the reason for their behavior, it certainly does not excuse it.

 

Difficult team members may also be the result of a poor foundation, specifically ineffective team communication competencies in the early stages of team formation. There are several ways that communication between team members is deemed ineffective per the textbook ‘Strategic Business Communications’: “In a recent survey, business professionals cited ineffective communication (66 percent) as the biggest barrier to team effectiveness. Other major barriers included lack of effective chartering and goal setting (56 percent), lack of clarity and understanding of roles (47 percent)…” (p.24). These three barriers of team effectiveness relate to one another; project charters are communication tools that outline information such as roles, objectives, desired deliverables, planned approaches to go about completing the project, and more. However, what happens if a project charter was never established in the initiation phase? The absence of this communication tool reasonably causes complications among team members about the aforementioned specifics. Such disorder may also explain why members do not participate effectively. Project sponsors or those who initiate the project are responsible for creating and outlining the information in the charter. Thus, it should not be the team and other stakeholders’ responsibility to ask around for information to be provided in the charter, such as their respective roles and expectations in the project. If the sponsor does not fulfill their duties, team members will not have the motivation or even the means to be productive. Under the circumstances that a charter is established late, it may perhaps be too late for team members to fulfill their parts of the whole especially if the project has a strict deadline, and they should not be expected to rush their duties because they have an unorganized project management team.

 

In this case, it is not the fault of team members or stakeholders for being “difficult”. Differences in perspectives play a huge role in the way individuals handle an unorganized project management team. Some team members might be committed enough to ask the sponsor or manager for further information to ensure the best possible outcome while others will not go above and beyond to do something that is not necessarily their responsibility. If the sponsor wants to get something done that they do not have enough knowledge, expertise, or strength to do on their own, they must provide the means for others to do it clearly and most effectively.

 

Difficult team members often result in destructive conflict among the whole. Following ‘Optimizing Project Management’, conflicts are “escalating disagreements arising from differences in priorities, processes, and personal or organizational views and values” (Wu, p. 224). The book continues to define destructive conflict as one that creates an overall corrosive atmosphere for teamwork, be it distrust or disrespect among team members. As established earlier, difficult team members typically refer to those who do not communicate well or who do not participate productively. Thus, the conflict that may arise from this relationship is that over administrative procedures or how the project is to be managed, as recognized by Thamhain and Wilemon. This is not to say that conflicting team members may not result in constructive conflicts, those disagreements that lead to productive yet positive solutions. However, the probability of destruction certainly exists, and it is important to handle them appropriately.

 

Those in charge of hiring and firing, which is unique for each organization, institution, or individual(s) and is usually those who started the project, must assess difficult team members and conclude whether or not their poor behavior negatively impacts the project’s success. While project managers don’t necessarily have the power to hire and fire, they may alleviate the problems within a team. ‘Optimizing Project Management’ is as follows,

On the softer side, project managers need to be able to guide, motivate, and monitor people at all levels: team members, vendors, and even senior managers and executives. To do this, project managers need to be equipped with skills in negotiation, decision-making, problem-solving, conflict resolution, and communication. (Wu, p. 10)

 

Because project managers are directly involved in the project, assuming overall responsibility for its success (or lack thereof), they must also assume responsibility for easing problems among the group. The article ‘Conflict Management: Difficult Conversations with Difficult People’ outlines the necessary steps to conduct successful confrontational conversations. In summary, one should recognize and control their emotional responses to ensure a productive, non-emotionally based conversation; both parties must have mutual respect for one another by allowing each other to speak while clearly defining and understanding the problem on both ends to successfully create solutions together (Overton & Lowry). Ideally, project managers should mediate difficult conversations among team members or they may conduct personal conversations only with the difficult individuals. If, however, their soft skills do not suffice and difficult team members are still jeopardizing the team’s effectiveness, they must hand the responsibility to whoever is in charge of hiring and firing. Under the circumstances that those who do not contribute directly cause the whole to give poor performance due to unwillingness to tolerate the unfair distribution of work, and the project manager’s soft skills approach does not work, the underperforming members should be removed from the project. While difficult conversations are undesirable, they are inevitable and often necessary in problem-solving; avoiding them only prolongs the problems and assumes they are not a priority, resulting in team member/ stakeholder dissatisfaction.

 

Team efforts prove to be conflicting as group dynamics are often complex since everyone is unique in various ways. There are reasons for the existence of difficult members, however, those reasons do not excuse their behavior; they merely provide an understanding of such behavior. Conflict management solutions are to be implemented to mend the impacts of conflicting group members. Under the circumstances that soft skills do not help, more serious changes such as removing individuals from the project should be considered. The purpose of teams is to increase productivity while coming to a more developed, well-thought-out result. They also serve as a learning experience, introducing each member to new ideas, perspectives, and problem-solving techniques. Thus, the difficulties of team efforts should not mask such purposes because it is inevitable to encounter conflicts, especially with several differing personalities. Rather, it should serve as a learning experience, namely conflict resolution for all involved in the project and the team shall put their best foot forward nonetheless.

 

Biography

Achaia Williams, a student at Montclair State University, studies Business Administration with a concentration in Management. As a licensed Cosmetologist, she desires to combine her knowledge of that and of Business to own and operate an online business producing and selling hair products and skincare products. She also enjoys writing, specifically interested in academic writing and editing. While not having studied writing in college, she still hopes to use her exceptional writing abilities to her advantage, namely as a career in publishing or editing articles on websites such as Wall Street Journal and the New York Times.

Learn more about the author here.

 

References:

Overton, Amy, and Ann Lowry. “Conflict Management: Difficult Conversations with Difficult People.” Clinics in Colon and Rectal Surgery, vol. 26, no. 04, 2013, pp. 259–264., doi:10.1055/s-0033-1356728.

Strategic Business Communications. [VitalSource Bookshelf 9.4.3].  Retrieved from vbk://9781307533835

Uhl-Bien, Mary, et al. Organizational Behavior, 13th Edition. John Wiley & Sons, 2015. Wu, Te. Optimizing Project Management. Auerbach, 2020.