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The Master’s Program

Project Management for Information Technology (MN7573)

Q: “Critically evaluate how interpersonal relations threaten IT projects. Use an information technology project with which you are familiar (either a published case study or from personal experience), to illustrate your answer.”

Word Count: 3599

Contents
Introduction
Team and Group
Managing a project team
Leadership
Literature Review
IT Project Failures
Major Problems:
Conflict
Interpersonal Conflicts
Social Psychology Conflicts
The project
The Case
Forestalling Malfunction
Conclusion
Work Cited
Figures:
Figure 1: Project Adrenaline Graph
Figure 2: Failure Patterns in IT Projects

Introduction
This paper focuses on how interpersonal relations pressurize the IT projects. Project Management for Information Technology To understand what we are talking about in the course of this paper, Project Management for Information Technology we need to understand a few very important terms and theories.
Team and Group
The first thing that comes to our mind when we talk about a project is a project team, which comprises of the following two things:
1. Project Manager- the project administrator, a person who overlooks the project
2. Individuals- people who are selected at the Initiation Stage

The individuals collectively can either form a group or a team. “A group is one in which individuals have a common aim and in which the jobs and skills of each member fit in with those of the others” (Babington Smith, 1979). The difference between a group and a team is that in a group the people are mere individuals,

who do not interact with each other and are not centered at agreement, while a team is one where the individuals are one unit, they contribute and share ideas and remain in touch to achieve their common goal. Project Management for Information Technology Tuckman has given us two set of ideologies. First,

he proposed the characteristics of a team, which are having a sense of belonging, having a common goal and evolving through the project. Next he named the evolutionary phases as forming, when the team forms; Project Management for Information Technology storming, the discussion time; norming, agreeing on one thing; and performing, when the team starts working (Tuckman, 1965). A team that works as one unit, has a clear objective and at the sa

me time the team members are good enough on their own, is an effective one.
Dr. Meredith Belbin has classified 9 roles in a team (Belbin, 1993):
1. Chairperson: the manager ideally who provides a leadership role
2. Shaper: a person who structures the thinking of a team
3. Plant: somebody who gives suggestions
4. Monitor: somebody who is a critical analyzer
5. Company worker: somebody who can work efficiently
6. Team worker: somebody who works and is supportive to others
7. Resource Investigator: a person who is good at locating and getting resources required to complete the task
8. Completer: a person who has long-term focuses

Managing a project team
During the course of a project, the team’s morale rises and falls at various stages. A typical ‘project adrenaline graph’ is shown below:

Figure 1: Project Adrenaline Graph
Initially, the team’s morale is high, and it falls towards the middle of the project due to the many problems and difficulties in the way of the project. But, as these are overcome the morale starts to increase again and the team finally…