Methods for tracking and status reporting
The importance of information in tracking providing timely updates on different status changes cannot be overestimated. The article “A Road-Map to Personalized Context-Aware Services Delivery in Construction” (2009) addresses the issue of information delivery in the context of the construction industry. The main focus of the article is mainly on context-aware information delivery (CAID), an interaction paradigm that promises to make information delivery responsive to workers’ demands. The suitability of the article is two-fold. On the one hand, construction and project management are interrelated spheres, where each construction is a project which management relies on the project management principles. Accordingly, it is a sphere in which reporting and status changes are largely important. The article is useful in explaining the enabling technologies for which context-aware technologies in construction are applicable. Those technologies, in that regard, are applicable for tracking and status reporting in different projects regardless of the industry. The technologies include location-based services, sensor networks, RFID, and others (Aziz, Anumba, & Peña-mora, 2009, p. 463).
A company for which identifying a suitable method for tracking and reporting is vital was FedEx. FedEx is a Memphis-based global transport company that managed the issue of reporting and tracking the status of their deliveries for both customers and employers through the implementation of wireless technologies. The method actually consists of several technologies implemented at once. The most important of which is wireless delivery of information to update package status, which works with portable PDAs that track its location through Global Positioning System (GPS), and transmit data through wireless connections (Aziz, et al., 2009; Murphy, 2003).
If considering each delivery of a package as an individual and separate project, the next generation of wireless information allows tracking such project and reporting its status. For a service such as transportation and logistics, the timely delivery of information is crucial, and in that regard, its case is paralleled to the article. Similar factors are important in both cases, including aspects such as location-based services, the environment in which the technology operates, and the issues of concern such as the security of the transmitted information and the integrity of information. The changes of context in the case of FedEx are also similar to the case of constructions where different contexts can be represented by the different stages for package delivery, i.e. warehouse, truck, office, etc. Thus, it can be stated that the implementation of wireless technology at the time (2001), along with other innovations such as GPS was an appropriate method for addressing the issue with tracking and status reporting for FedEx.
Methods to reduce conflict within a project team
Conflicts in teams are an inevitable aspect, specifically when they are concerned with project management. Managing the conflicts in teams is essentially important for the success of the project. The article “How NOT to manage a project: Conflict management lessons learned from a DOD case study” by Sutterfield, Friday-Stroud, and Shivers-Blackwell (2007), addresses the issue of conflicts in managing projects. The article narrates the conflicts that occurred during the management of a field Department of Defense (DoD) project, outlining its root causes. The importance of the article is in the lessons it provides to reduce and manage conflict during projects (Sutterfield, Friday-Stroud, & Shivers-Blackwell, 2007). The article sets a framework for managing the conflict, which is based on identifying its symptoms and selecting the strategy appropriate for a specific situation, i.e. avoiding , competing, accommodating, compromising, and collaboration (Sutterfield, et al., 2007, p. 222).
The company that faced a similar situation is Wells Fargo Financial, a part of the Wells Fargo & Company group, providing financial services and lending solutions to customers (Wells Fargo, 2010). The company focuses on their employees and on establishing a favorable atmosphere at the workplace, which can be seen through their collaborative team approach in their interaction with employees (Brusman, n.d.). The company successfully addressed the issue of potential conflicts within the team s through several steps. First of all, the company established 24-hour access to Employee Assistance Counseling, a service that addresses any personal or work-related issues the employee might have (Brusman, n.d.). Additionally, the company developed a handbook for team members in which the employee learns how to behave in different situations at work. For example, when having a conflict with another team member, the handbook advises the employee is advised to refer to HR professional in the company whose responsibilities is “[f]acilitating the resolution of a conflict with your manager or a team member” (Wells Fargo, 2011, p. 2).
It can be concluded that the framework provided in the article can be useful for HR professionals indicated in the case of Wells Fargo. The company devotes considerable attention to their employees and their well being and thus, the reduction of conflicts can be seen one of many aspects through which the company reaches such goal. A common aspect that can be derived from the article is the importance of a timely management of the conflict, a factor that Wells Fargo recognized.
References
Aziz, Z., Anumba, C., & Peña-mora, F. (2009). A Road-Map to Personalized Context-Aware Services Delivery in Construction. Journal of Information Technology in Construction, 14, 461-472.
Brusman, M. (n.d.). Psychologically Healthy Workplace Award. Working.
Murphy, J. V. (2003). Global Logistics & Supply Chain Strategies. Supply Chain Brain.
Sutterfield, J. S., Friday-Stroud, S. S., & Shivers-Blackwell, S. L. (2007). How NOT to manage a project: Conflict management lessons learned from a DOD case study. Journal of Behavioral and Applied Management, 8(3), 218-238.
Wells Fargo. (2010). Wells Fargo Today. Wells Fargo & Company. Web.
Wells Fargo. (2011). Wells Fargo Team Member Handbook. Wells Fargo & Company.