Description
Getting Started
Throughout this course, you will be provided with many opportunities to synthesize the project management theories and practices you’ve learned about and to apply them to a specific business scenario or challenge. These cases will also require you to reflect upon your experiences that are relevant to project management competencies and processes as well. In this workshop, you will submit a brief analysis of a case scenario for a company’s political landscape based upon power and leadership and create a strategy to navigate politics and resolve conflicts.
Upon successful completion of this assignment, you will be able to:
Evaluate types of power and politics as they relate to leadership styles.
Construct a strategy for navigating power and politics.
Resources
Article: Lessons for the Project Manager from French and Raven’s Bases of Power
Video: Ken and Scott Blanchard – Situational Leadership II
Video: How to Be a Great Leader: Project Management
Video: How to Manage Tasks and Lead People – Leadership Training
[Note: The inclusion of publicly accessible video links in your courses and program should be considered neither a recommendation nor an endorsement of any products or services mentioned within them.]
Background Information
Now that you have examined the importance of power and politics for project leaders, you will reflect upon a specific project scenario that requires you to apply the project management concepts and best practices you have learned about in this workshop. Submit your analysis of the forms of power and the politics present for this project. Provide evidence and context for the forms of power exhibited by the individuals in the situation, and evaluate the effectiveness of the power dynamics present. Then, create a political strategy to resolve conflicts by utilizing power, influence, and leadership strategies to create a conducive and successful project environment.
Instructions
Review the rubric to make sure you understand the criteria for earning your grade.
Review the following resources, as needed:
Article: Lessons for the Project Manager from French and Raven’s Bases of Power
Videos:
Ken & Scott Blanchard – Situational Leadership II (2:59 min) and/or read the Ken & Scott Blanchard – Situational Leadership II Transcript (HTML)
How to Be a Great Leader: Project Management (6:10 min) and/or read the How to Be a Great Leader: Project Management Transcript (HTML)
How to Manage Tasks and Lead People – Leadership Training (3:19 min) and/or read the How to Manage Tasks and Lead People – Leadership Training Transcript (HTML)
Write a letter of concern to your project sponsor regarding the hypothetical “CafeLatte” project described in assignment 2.3.
Assume that you are a project leader in a medium sized Specialty Coffee Distribution company, named “CafeLatte”.
You have been leading an expansion project (as described in assignment 2.3). CafeLatte is a matrix organization. You rely on functional managers to assign people to work on your project. Although they have committed people to your work, you find that they are now asking the team members to work on other things. You are experiencing challenges in keeping the team’s focus, and the work is beginning to slip.
You mentioned this concern in a quick elevator conversation to a Vice President in the company.
Word has spread among the functional managers that you voiced the concern to a superior, and you now detect that your relationship with them is impacted negatively. They are not returning your calls or messages.
Assess the situation and develop a summary of your concerns. Compose a letter to your project sponsor, describing your concerns regarding the power involved; describe how/where the project is directly or indirectly impacted.
Your submission should be a minimum of 350 words.
When you have completed your assignment, save a copy for yourself and submit a copy to your instructor by the end of the workshop using the quick link or the Activities button.
