Sources Of Conflict And Conflict In Project Management

The concept of conflict and dispute is by no means new, especially conflict. Max Weber states that conflict over property in any specific period occurs more than once as early as the nineteenth century, which refines the conflict theory of Karl Max. As relevant theories evolve, it is found that conflict and dispute are substantially inevitable. In the field of project management, great changes have occurred with the growth of the association of project managers(APM)，project managers have gradually become an independent profession (Gameson&; Lowe, 1996). Similarly, conflict and dispute are widely believed to be a frequent occurrence for project managers and it is said that 70%-80% of project managers’ time is spent on conflict and disputes (Xinhua

According to the relevant literature, it can be discovered that seven sources of conflict uncovered based on research design. The research investigates more than 100 project managers on the opinions of the conflict determinants and put forward seven relevant propositions to verify the accuracy of sources of conflict by the means of Kolmogorov-Smirnov design (Hans et al., 1975). The main sources of conflict can be concluded in the following factors:1 The deviation in the understanding of the project team members related to the project objectives. 2 The discrepancies among project missions, upper management objectives and the role of project team members. 3 Organizational liquidity decreased, the authority continues to control the vital decision despite the actual situation. On the basis of the main factors above, it can be seen that the role of the project manager in conflict management is substantially crucial. Conflict is not as severe as dispute to some extent, therefore, the most important things that project managers should do is to prevent the escalation of conflict from becoming dispute (Fenn, P., 2011). The key role of project managers in conflict situation is not only to create a competitive atmosphere to motivate project members’ higher performance but also evaluate and integrate the gathered information to make crucial decisions. In terms of specific approaches for managing