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During the life, so business, conflicts are bound to happen. The need of is managing these conflicts most appropriately, by minimizing the negative aspects of the conflict while making all the necessary efforts to maximize the positive aspects related to the conflict. This management of conflict is known as conflict management.  (Rahim and Bonama, 1979).

The report is about the conflict that arose during the completion of the project related to the Scottish Parliament, where the project design that needs to be submitted by the architecture design firm, EMBIT was submitted incomplete and was then was being delayed by them. This report, focus on the importance of leadership and management in conflict management.

Background of the Project

There was a search for the new site for new Parliament building of Scotland in September 1997, after the referendums. These referendums were held to know public opinion regarding the creating the first Scottish Parliament after almost three hundred years. The people voted in its favor. In March 1998, Holy Rood was selected as the site for the new Parliament building and designers were asked to submit their designs. In July 1998, EMBT was selected as the architect-designer with Enric Miralies as the lead designer, partnership with RMJM, who were Edinburgh based architectures firm.

Enric Miralies was known for his premier architects around the world. His famous projects include the acclaimed building of Barcelona, Utrecht, and Alicante. The designer won numerous awards and recognition for his designs. Whereas, RMJM is one of the leading architecture firms in the UK and is renowned internationally for their work. Their successful projects were in St. Petersburg, Glasgow and Edinburgh.

Project Design Team Members

The detail of all the members involved in the project is as follow: (Scottish Parliament Website)

• Over Arup, the Structural Engineer
• Service Engineer, RMJM Ltd
• Cost Consultant and Quantity Surveyors- Davis Langdon and Everest
• Management Services related to Construction in 1999- Bovis Construction Ltd
• Planning Supervisor- Turner and Townsend
• Access Audit Consultants- Claim Property Services

Analysis of the Conflict

The conflict, during the project management, arose between the Project Sponsor, Mrs. Doig and the former Project Manager, Mrs. Armstrong. The need was for the client the SPCB, to be a little firm with the teams of EMBIT and RMJM. The base of the conflict was the bypassing of the decision making the power of the PM regarding the design and the technical scrutiny of the project. Although it was decided, that the decisions with regards to the project, would be made by the consent of the client and the PM, still they continue to make decisions directly with the Enric Miralles.It has resulted in limiting my power as a Project Manager to manage the process design.

Conflict

Conflicts are inevitable and will happen in anyone’s daily life, beat it home or at the office. When people work in teams or groups, there are cases where there is the difference in the opinion which would result in the emergence of conflicts. According to Robert Baron (1990), the common elements that are present in a conflict include:

1. In a conflict, there is opposed interest between the parties
2. The two parties are acting against the belief and values of one another
3. Conflict is a complete process that has developed as a result of past interaction.

Therefore, a conflict emerges when there is disagreement, incompatibility or dissonance between or within the two parties. (Rahim, 2010) ……