PPMP20011 Unit Portfolio Week 11: Project Negotiation and Ethics

This report, part of a PPMP20011 unit portfolio, delves into the critical aspects of project management, specifically focusing on negotiation, conflict management, and ethical considerations. The analysis uses the Chunnel project as a case study to illustrate practical applications of negotiation theory and stakeholder engagement. The report covers key topics such as analyzing arguments using logic, persuasion, and influence factors; differentiating methods of project negotiation, conflict management, and stakeholder engagement; identifying and reconciling conflicting objectives; and explaining the consequences of project delays and the use of project management tools for conflict resolution. It emphasizes the importance of emotional intelligence, ethical work practices, and governance structures in fostering effective negotiation and stakeholder relationships. The report also references key academic sources and project management frameworks to support its findings.

(Insert Student Name) / (Insert Student Number) - PPMP20011 Unit Portfolio for Week 11
Weekly Portfolio Learning Table
Description of
topics including
reading samples
Learning
outcomes of the
unit
Learnings from your experience, this and prior unit
reading, assignments
Supporting
documentation
including your
prior learning
Week 11 Topic:
Argument; Logic;
Ethics.
The Internet
Encyclopedia of
Philosophy;
Emotional
Intelligence;
QLD Government
negotiation advice;
YouTube: Popular
Videos – Negotiation;
2. Analyse common
arguments using
logic, persuasion and
influence factors as
commonly applied to
conflicting and/or
competing
stakeholder agendas.
The learning objective of this week was to learn the art of negotiation for
project and portfolio management.
The Chunnel is the largest underwater tunnel that has been constructed
between to connect France with England allowing underwater train travel across
31 miles. The Chunnel was built by 7000 workers in 7 years with the investment
of $14 billion. The involved people from both England and France that have two
different cultures and thus, there was a cultural divide that posed challenges on
the project. It was like connecting two countries and thus, workers were
negotiated to keep them adapt to the cultural deviations and stay working on
the project to construct the largest underwater tunnel.
The Week 10 had discussions on the Chunnel project and negotiation theory
which formed the base for the understand how negotiation works while this
chapter further explored the factors that had the influence on the stakeholder
agendas and conflicts that could be behind needing negotiation.
When negotiation is done with the stakeholders like suppliers or partners
considering the commercial contracts, the commercial negotiation takes place in
which terms related to payments are negotiated between two parties.
A core of negotiation is the argument that is presented by a party for the
justification of the needs or demands that the stakeholders wants to get
fulfilled. A stronger argument gives an edge to the party to win the negotiation.
Arguments can be formalized when they are presented in terms of the
contractual clauses that serve as agreements between two parties related to
some aspect of work.
As the project manager needs to ensure that negotiation is effective and has to
negotiate with multiple parties associated with the project, it is important that
the project manager has good negotiation capabilities. For instance, if a
PPMP20011 Unit Profile
PPMP20011 Moodle
Web site
The past unit gave the
example of the Chunnel
project that helped in
identifying how
differential team
structures call for
negotiation
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(Insert Student Name) / (Insert Student Number) - PPMP20011 Unit Portfolio for Week 11
Description of
topics including
reading samples
Learning
outcomes of the
unit
Learnings from your experience, this and prior unit
reading, assignments
Supporting
documentation
including your
prior learning
customer as the stakeholder would want to speed up thee project work, the
project manager would have to negotiate with the workers to make them work
faster with strong arguments presented. A good argument is mostly logical but it
may also have morality attached to it. However, it may not always be true as
many a times, the project manager has to work in the favour of demands of
influential stakeholders while compromising the benefits of the low power
stakeholders like workers. For instance, if the project sponsor would want to cut
down on costs, this would have the wages of workers reduced and thus, if an
argument has to be formed in the context to favour the low cost structure, it has
to carry the logic of benefit for the organization and the moral measure of
ensuring fair wages for workers may be neglected. However, there can be
several reasons why a project manager may need to take a look at the moral
ground such as in the case of Wages acts and regulations demanding fare wages
to be given to workers by the company.
Remaining ethical while working on a project is another area of concern that the
project manager needs to take care of. Ethical work practices could create
better working environment which can in turn affect the productivity of workers
on an engineering project like the underwater tunnel construction.
Another important skill that a project manager needs besides argumentation
and ethical orientation is emotional intelligence. A high EQ makes the project
manager better equipped to deal with stressful situations like conflicts between
the project team members or project stakeholders. EI plays a significant role in
commercial negotiations as the project manager would be able to understand
the sentiments of the investors and other stakeholders while making arguments
related to commercial contracts.
Governance structures can help in building strong negotiation capabilities as
they would have the proper rules and regulations in place to follow which all
parties have to agree with.
Are any of the 3. Differentiate In this section the differences between negotiation, conflict management and Previous chapter had
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(Insert Student Name) / (Insert Student Number) - PPMP20011 Unit Portfolio for Week 11
Description of
topics including
reading samples
Learning
outcomes of the
unit
Learnings from your experience, this and prior unit
reading, assignments
Supporting
documentation
including your
prior learning
activities above
relevant to your
reflections for the
learning outcomes
on the right?
methods of project
negotiation, conflict
management, and
stakeholder
engagement across
projects consisting of
differing technology
standards and asset
lifecycles.
stakeholder engagement was understood. Negotiation has an aim to arrive at
terms that are acceptable to two parties that may be conflicting. However,
conflict management involves understanding of conflicts and presentation of
arguments on both sides for negotiation. Stakeholder engagement can take
many forms including conflict resolution and negotiation. It is a wider concept
and can include regular communication and project progress reporting.
explained the foundation
of negotiation
Are any of the
activities above
relevant to your
reflections for the
learning outcomes
on the right?
4. Explain and apply
methods of
identifying and
reconciling
inconsistent and
conflicting objectives
and drivers that
develop, maintain,
mange relationships
and communication
with key
stakeholders.
In this section of the week, the reconciliation methods that could be used for
resolving conflicts were explored. These methods are actually very useful in
managing relationships with stakeholders so that they are kept satisfied with
regular communication happening through conflict management and
negotiation. Reconciliation is helpful when there are conflicts between
stakeholders or project team members and the project manager can intervene
through the method to negotiate for resolving conflicts.
Theory of negotiation
discussed previously was
useful in understanding
how reconciliation works
Are any of the
activities above
relevant to your
reflections for the
learning outcomes
on the right?
5. Explain the
consequences of
project delays,
disruptions, and
changes to planned
activities and the
methods for claims
variations, liquidated
Have you any insights
you can add from other
units you have studies or
readings you’ve made?
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(Insert Student Name) / (Insert Student Number) - PPMP20011 Unit Portfolio for Week 11
Description of
topics including
reading samples
Learning
outcomes of the
unit
Learnings from your experience, this and prior unit
reading, assignments
Supporting
documentation
including your
prior learning
damages, contract
entitlements, and
arbitration.
Are any of the
activities above
relevant to your
reflections for the
learning outcomes
on the right?
6. Evaluate project
management tools
that help avoid or
provide conflict
resolution via
negotiated solutions.
Project management tools that are used for managing conflicts and negotiations
were explored in this section which gives a very practical insight into how a
project manager can actually work in practice to achieve negotiation and conflict
management.
The concepts of
commercial planning and
policy making were
useful in defining the
management tools for
conflict management and
negotiation on projects.
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(Insert Student Name) / (Insert Student Number) - PPMP20011 Unit Portfolio for Week 11
References
Anbari F.T., Giammalvo P., Jaffe P., Letavec C., and Merchant R. (Date Unknown) “The Chunnel Project”. PMI Case Studies in Project Management.
http://www.pmi.org/~/media/PDF/Academic/case%20studies/Chunnel%20Project.ashx Visited …../…/…
Kerzner H. 2013. Project Management: A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling, and Control, 11th Edition. Hoboken, USA: John Wiley & Sons.
Peña-Mora F., and Tamaki T. 2001. "Effect of Delivery Systems on Collaborative Negotiations for Large -Scale Infrastructure Projects”. Journal of
Management in Engineering. Vol:April 2001 pp.105-121
PMI. 2013a. A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide) 5th Edition. USA: Project Management Institute.
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