Project Politics

A Systematic Approach to Managing Complex Relationships

Nita A. Martin

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN: 9780566088957
• eBook ISBN: 9781317075035
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Business General
• Index: Business

The ability of individuals to work together to facilitate the delivery of a project can be a major factor in determining its success. By misinterpreting or even missing the signs of underlying political issues a project manager will struggle to deliver projects successfully. Project Politics provides a framework for solving political concerns through the effective management of complex relationships. Nita Martin's structured approach will raise awareness and improve your ability to manage issues in the workplace. She shows that once you recognize the problems, and take politics in your stride, you can successfully manage such environments. The first part of Project Politics presents theoretical concepts of human behaviour as a basis for structuring observations and understanding why people behave the way they do. The second follows the familiar project life cycle. Each project stage is considered in turn, and numerous case studies are presented with analyses that draw upon the concepts presented in Part I. Nita Martin uses psychology, influence, behaviour and communication models, gives guidance on putting theory into practice and points out typical political situations throughout. For all management professionals who recognize the importance of politics in the workplace and wish to be armed with the tools to make a difference, Project Politics will provide the foundation.

PART I Modelling Human Behaviour

DOI: 10.4324/9781315602431-2

Introduction

When you are in the heat of project delivery and wrestling with deadlines, it can be difficult to take a step back and look at the situation objectively. You may find it even more difficult to think about how any theoretical models that you may be familiar with could be useful. These models and concepts can help rationalize situations, even without detailed application. They can be used to structure your thoughts and identify ways to proceed, creating options in even very difficult situations. You can often usefully apply the fundamentals of these models without performing a detailed analytical investigation. It is not always possible to talk through political situations with colleagues or to receive support from friends and family. This is where even a light touch but structured approach using academic models can help provide a solution.

This chapter looks at some established models and concepts that can be utilized to understand charged political project environments. The aim is not to overwhelm you with academic research and constraints, but to enable you to draw upon some of the outcomes to form solutions and draw conclusions relevant to your own situation. These models are often used for personality profiling and training and development programmes. You may even have come across them at job interviews or at team building events.

Remember that these concepts are approximations of otherwise complex human behaviours. They should not be used to classify individuals. People can change and just because they behaved in one way today does not mean that they will behave in exactly the same way tomorrow. You need to be pragmatic in your use of such theories, in the same way that you need to be pragmatic in the application of project management techniques.

The table below summarizes the models presented in Part I of this book. They have been categorized into psychological, influential, behavioural and communication models. A simplified overview only is provided for each of the models. The objective is to focus on the fundamental structures that they provide rather than the method of performing detailed analyses.

Table I.1 Models and concepts of human behaviour

Type	Description
Psychological profiling	Maslow’s theory of human motivation. Myers-Brigg type indicator (MBTI).
Influence	Types of influence. Degrees of influence. Methods of influence.
Behavioural	Belbin team inventory. Organizational anti-patterns. Tactics.
Communication	Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP). Transactional analysis (TA).

1 Psychological Profiling Models

DOI: 10.4324/9781315602431-3

Two well-known psychological models are described. The first is Maslow’s theory of motivation and the second is Myers-Briggs type indicator. Maslow’s theory is useful because it models motivation and how it can change depending on the circumstances. Maslow describes a five-layer model and explains that we are driven by fundamental needs from either one or more of the layers. As soon as some of these needs are met, then the desire to fulfil new needs arises, leading to a constant feeling of dissatisfaction. This hierarchy of motivation can be used to determine the underlying reasons for political issues.

Myers-Briggs type indicator – a model that describes psychological types that people are born with or that they develop – can be utilized for differentiating between personality types. This information can be used for directing effective management and engagement.

Maslow's Theory of Human Motivation

This is a popular theory on human motivation. Maslow described five levels of needs, where each level represented a need that must first be acquired and maintained before moving on to the next level (Maslow, 1943). In this way, as soon as the requirements of one stage were fulfilled, a new desire emerged to replace it. This continual emergence of a new desire is what leaves a person always feeling unsatisfied (at least to some degree). It is therefore the nature of humans always to desire more. For further information see Maslow (1998) and King (2009).

Maslow’s hierarchy can be a particularly useful model in understanding motivations and why they differ from person to person. For example, some individuals are always keen to get the next promotion and to take on more responsibility. On the other hand, some individuals simply want to keep their head down and get on with their work. They have no desire to be promoted, to manage more people or take on additional responsibility. Maslow’s framework can provide a structure for grading individuals and understanding their motivations. The five levels of the hierarchy are described below.

Table 1.1 Maslow's hierarchy of needs

Level 1	Physiological
Level 2	Safety
Level 3	Love and belonging
Level 4	Self esteem
Level 5	self actualization

LEVEL 1 – PHYSIOLOGICAL

The most fundamental need described by Maslow is that for food, water and sleep. Once these basic physiological requirements of nutrition and rest are met, then a desire for safety can emerge.

In the workplace, level one needs can be interpreted, for example, as a desire for cash flow, thus ensuring sufficient funds to maintain a certain standard of living. It is possible to ignore or compromise physiological needs in the workplace. Take the example of making people work late coming up to a deadline. Installing a culture of sleep deprivation and hunger will demotivate individuals as their most fundamental physiological needs will not have been met.

LEVEL 2 – SAFETY

Once physiological needs have been met, they are often forgotten or taken for granted since they are no longer threatened. At this stage, a new desire emerges; a desire for security and safety. This need is often met by living in a healthy society, where there are, for example, no threats from the wild and crime rates are low (in particular, violent crime). This is a need that society as a whole can provide, enabling the individual to focus on the next, higher, stages of human motivation.

There are less extreme examples of the search for safety and security however. We tend to feel safe when situations are predictable, familiar and routine, for example:

• Controlling change or even reducing it,
• Adopting risk averse behaviour,
• Seeking to understand the world through science, religion and philosophy, and
• Compulsive–obsessive disorder reducing anxiety through repeated behaviours.

Some examples of risk reduction techniques include:

• Buying insurance to deal with the unexpected,
• Preferring job security over job prospects,
• Saving and investing in pensions rather than spending, and
• Purchasing branded equipment with guarantees.

Implementing a project, by its very nature, involves doing something new or making a change. Change management is an essential part of making people feel secure and it is rarely implemented well. A simple example is that of mass redundancies during an economic downturn. Even though the redundancy process needs to be handled carefully, even the largest of organizations employing change and communication managers can fail to professionally manage this process.

LEVEL 3 – LOVE AND BELONGING

Once the need for safety is sufficiently satisfied, the desire to be loved and to belong to a group emerges; seeking acceptance, affection and validation from family, friends and colleagues. Examples include:

• Being in a loving relationship,
• Having good relationships with family,
• Joining clubs and societies or taking part in social group activities,
• Working with other people and feeling valued, and
• Being an active part of a community.

In the workplace, this need can be met through being part of a team or from being gainfully employed. This need can also manifest itself negatively. For example, reluctantly accepting the consensus or acting under peer pressure. Behavioural traits such as these are discussed further in Chapter 3.

LEVEL 4 – SELF ESTEEM

Next, the desire for improving self esteem and self respect is considered. This also includes the need to be respected by others. Employment is a process through which self esteem is often improved. Being a valued member of an organization and contributing to its success, with your skills and talents being in demand, can be a key factor in establishing self esteem. Other examples include:

• Being in a relationship where you feel valued,
• Having a family that values your contribution,
• Feeling that your presence in the world makes a difference, and
• Receiving acknowledgement for your efforts at work or in clubs and societies.

The need for self esteem in a business environment can be seen in the way that individual team members want to be valued and have their efforts recognized. They want to feel that the tasks that they are doing make a difference. This desire can often be one that is difficult to manage. As a project manager, you may have to set multiple tasks to people. If of the ten tasks that were meant to be completed, only four are, what can you do to get the others done? You cannot make anyone do them. So you have to find diplomatic ways to achieve the required result. Making it clear that a task’s outcome is valuable and that there will be clear recognition and praise for its completion is a positive way in which you can approach this. Tasks which are considered mundane can often be the ones that people need the greatest motivation for. Understanding that contributions need to be openly valued can help you manage these situations better. Ensuring staff understand the need for a given task, no matter how mundane, should help m...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half-Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• List of Tables
• Introduction
• Part I Modelling Human Behaviour
• Part II Case Studies by Project Lifecycle Stage
• Further Reading
• Index