Curtin University: People and Project Management Case Study Analysis

This case study examines the organizational behavior challenges faced by Beijing EAPs Consulting Inc., focusing on the conflicts between project managers and employees. The CEO, Mr. Zheng, is concerned about communication breakdowns, conflicting managerial responsibilities, and the impact of changing organizational strategies on employee workload and motivation. The analysis explores the reasons behind the conflicts, including poor communication, strict deadlines, and the integration of different departments. The case study applies organizational behavior theories, such as Motivation Hygiene and the Demand Control Model, to understand the situation. Recommendations include recruiting new employees to alleviate workload pressures and promoting negotiation between project managers and employees to resolve conflicts. The conclusion emphasizes the importance of effective people and project management in achieving organizational goals.

Running head: PEOPLE AND PROJECT MANAGEMENT
People and Project Management: Beijing EAPs Consulting Inc.
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s Note:

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Table of Contents
1. Introduction............................................................................................................................2
2. Discussion..............................................................................................................................2
2.1 Brief Idea of the Case Study............................................................................................2
2.2 Reason of Conflict between Project Managers and other Employees.............................3
2.3 Suitable Recommendations or Solutions for Minimization of Chances of Such Conflict
in Future.................................................................................................................................5
3. Conclusion..............................................................................................................................6
References..................................................................................................................................7

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1. Introduction
Organizational behaviour can be referred to as the individual or group performances
as well as activities in any particular organization. It acts an interface within the organization
and human behaviour and even the organization (Huczynski, Buchanan and Huczynski
2013). One of the most significant objectives of this organizational behaviour would be
revitalizing subsequent organizational theories and even developing an excellent
conceptualization of the company. Both people and project could be easily managed with the
help of organizational behaviour theories in any specific company (Wilson 2017). The
following report outlines a brief description on the case study of Beijing EAPs Consulting
Inc. The reason of conflict between the project managers and any other employee within the
case study would also be demonstrated in the report with relevant recommendations for
minimization of the chances of these conflicts in future.
2. Discussion
2.1 Brief Idea of the Case Study
Mr Zheng is the CEO of Beijing EAPs Consulting Inc., who was worried about the
conflict that is taking place between project managers and employees of the organization. In
spite of the fact that these employees have been working collaboratively in several other
projects, recently they have been showing subsequent conflicts amongst themselves. The
main reason for this type of discrepancy is the lack of communication. Mr Zheng has faced
such issues between two of his managers, Mr Yang and Ms Song due to confusion over
managerial responsibilities.
There had been a change in the organizational strategies and due to the shift within
company focus was being influenced, it was much important for them to check whether this
change is bringing benefits in the business or not. Since, the CEO has faced an increase in the

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business volume as well as resulting workloads, he felt that there was an urgent need to hire
extra people and follow a different structure for the core purpose of maximizing the total
efficiency of all types of human resources. As there had been numerous on going projects at
the same time, these employees had to eventually work out multiple tasks before facing
several demands from every project and also meeting regular requirements of the
departments. Due to this issue, they had been working in strict deadlines. The second issue
that is being faced in the organization of Beijing EAPs Consulting Inc. was the entire system
of project management.
2.2 Reason of Conflict between Project Managers and other Employees
There had been some of the major and the most significant reasons for conflict
between the respective project managers and all other employees in Beijing EAPs Consulting
Inc (Wilson 2018). Organizational conflict is the state of discord that is being caused by the
perceived or even actual opposition of interests, values and needs within the people, who re
working together. This type of conflict generally occurs in several forms and due to the
inevitable clashes between power and formal authority as well as the other individuals, there
might be a significant issue for organizational profits (Lee and Lawrence 2013). Disputes
could also take place as soon as there are jurisdictional disagreements amongst the
management, department and individuals. This conflict take place between competing needs
and demands, until while the employees eventually respond in various methods.
The conflict affecting the companies could even occur within individuals within
groups and other employees. Such conflicts in the work groups are also caused by subsequent
struggles on control, scare resources as well as status (Gagné, Sharma and De Massis 2014).
These conflicts within the groups have same origins and a constructive resolution of the
conflicts could be easily and promptly obtained via the most rationalized procedure of
problem solving. The specific process is being coupled with the willingness for exploration of

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issues and alternatives before listening to one another. The organizational conflict often is
referred to as the result of personal conflicts (Barry and Wilkinson 2016). According to OB,
the organizational factors like budget, management, responsibilities, leadership as well as
disagreement regarding core values could eventually contribute to the issue of such conflicts.
One of the major reason for such conflicts is the poor communication (De Vries
2013). Two employees or managers are unable to share their thoughts regarding any one
issue or work and it leads to different values, scarce resources, poor performances,
personality clash and differing interests. In this organization of Beijing EAPs Consulting Inc.,
the CEO noticed major issues related to conflicts between the project managers and their
employees. The first and the foremost reason for this type of conflict includes since there
were numerous projects on going at the same time, the respective employees of BEC
organization had to work over the several tasks and then face several demands from all of
them (Huczynski, Buchanan and Huczynski 2013).
Due to the issue of working on numerous demands and strict deadlines, they were
unable to control the work pressure. According to the OB theory of Motivation Hygiene,
there should be few of the factors, which could contribute to their job satisfaction (Arnulf et
al. 2014). However, due to the strict deadlines and intense pressure, the employees of BEC
were not motivated towards work and conflicts were raised between the project managers and
employees.
The second significant and important reason for such conflict in the organization was
due to remain stuck to the system of project management (King and Lawley 2016). When 2
departments of project management and 5 other functional departments are being integrated,
these staff received subsequent direction from the respective departmental manager as well as
from project managers. As soon as there was a conflict within the assignments of two

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managers, the staff eventually tended in utilizing their own point of views for deciding the
total priority of the tasks and also adjusting the project schedules as per their decisions. The
CEO also checked that the project managers were also not happy with their relations with
employees and managers within the respective functional department (Pettigrew 2014). They
were unhappy during assigning the tasks and due to the new structure, these managers found
it extremely difficult in applying direct influence over one another.
As soon as project managers started to assign tasks directly to the employees within
the functional departments of BEC, they eventually found that the employees were already
busy with the work. The Organizational Behaviour theory of social, emotional and
physiological approach for stressing risks and active behaviours and Demand Control Model
help in understanding the current situation of the managers and employees (Singh 2015). The
psychological demand of work as well as a combined measure of skill utilization and task
control would be extremely important and significant for these project managers and
employees in BEC (Huczynski, Buchanan and Huczynski 2013). The CEO of this particular
organization should consider these theories for knowing about the current scenario of the
company.
2.3 Suitable Recommendations or Solutions for Minimization of Chances of Such
Conflict in Future
Two suitable recommendations or solutions for minimization of chances of these
conflicts in BEC in future are as follows:
i) Recruitment of New Employees in BEC: The first and the foremost
recommendation for reducing the conflicts in future is recruitment of the new employees.
There are some of the most basic and important strategies of recruitment, which include
treating candidates, utilization of social media, successful implementation of the employee

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referral programs, considering the previous candidates and many more. The CEO of BEC, Mr
Zheng could easily change the new structure of the organization by changing the human
resource strategies. There should be a strict restriction about excess work given to the
employees so that they are not frustrated with work. Moreover, when the new employees will
be present, they would be able to take up the new tasks assigned by the project managers
(Huczynski, Buchanan and Huczynski 2013). As a result, there would not any issue related to
maintenance of the new and urgent tasks. These strategies can easily bring out more profit in
the business.
ii) Negotiation between Project Managers and Employees of BEC: The second
important and significant recommendation for reducing the conflicts in future in BEC would
be negotiation between project managers and employees. This type of negotiation is the main
factor towards destructive conflicts. It is the significant essence for conflict resolution and for
resolving the conflicts, the project managers and employees would require to understand the
interests and needs for checking the results. The presence of negotiation could easily reduce
the issues between project managers and employees in BEC.
3. Conclusion
Therefore, from the above discussion, it can be concluded that people and project
management is one of the major and the most significant requirements in any organization. It
is needed to lead, motivate, train, inspire as well as encourage the individuals so that better
effectiveness and efficiency is being obtained without much complexity. Beijing EAPs
Consulting Inc. is a popular organization that provides numerous products and services to the
customers. The above provided report has clearly outlined a proper analysis of the case study
of this organization regarding conflict management with organizational behaviour theories.

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References
Arnulf, J.K., Larsen, K.R., Martinsen, Ø.L. and Bong, C.H., 2014. Predicting survey
responses: How and why semantics shape survey statistics on organizational behaviour. PloS
one, 9(9), p.e106361.
Barry, M. and Wilkinson, A., 2016. Pro‐social or pro‐management? A critique of the
conception of employee voice as a pro‐social behaviour within organizational
behaviour. British Journal of Industrial Relations, 54(2), pp.261-284.
Bratton, J., 2015. Introduction to work and organizational behaviour. Macmillan
International Higher Education.
De Vries, M.F.K., 2013. Organizational paradoxes: Clinical approaches to management.
Routledge.
Gagné, M., Sharma, P. and De Massis, A., 2014. The study of organizational behaviour in
family business. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 23(5), pp.643-
656.
Huczynski, A., Buchanan, D.A. and Huczynski, A.A., 2013. Organizational behaviour (p.
82). London: Pearson.
King, D. and Lawley, S., 2016. Organizational behaviour. Oxford University Press.
Lee, R. and Lawrence, P., 2013. Organizational Behaviour (RLE: Organizations): Politics at
Work. Routledge.
Pettigrew, A.M., 2014. The politics of organizational decision-making. Routledge.
Singh, K., 2015. Organizational behaviour: Text and cases. Vikas Publishing House.
Wilson, F.M., 2017. Organizational behaviour and gender. Routledge.

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Wilson, F.M., 2018. Organizational behaviour and work: a critical introduction. Oxford
university press.