Project Manager Mock Interview
Master 50 Project Manager interview questions covering scope, stakeholders, risk, and delivery.
Question 24 of 50
How do you handle conflict between team members?
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Karrie Day is a certified career coach and strategist with a passion for helping her clients define and reach their professional goals. She offers career advancement services such as brand development, resume writing and critiques, job search strategies,
As a project manager, you need to know how to create, lead, and manage teams. This includes effectively handling any conflict that arises, whether it be between team members or with the project's stakeholders or vendors, so it doesn't derail the project. Your interview asks this question to learn about how you prevent conflicts and manage them if they occur.
Karrie Day is a certified career coach and strategist with a passion for helping her clients define and reach their professional goals. She offers career advancement services such as brand development, resume writing and critiques, job search strategies,
"To start, I try my best to put together teams of people who are go-getters, skilled at what they do, and collaborative. Right off the bat, this helps prevent conflict. And yet, it's inevitable that sometimes team members won't agree.
My role is to notice when this is happening and provide guidance that emphasizes respect and compromise. I also remind people to listen to each other and try to understand the other person's perspective. I make it a point to meet with the disgruntled parties privately so we can talk honestly without fear of judgment by others. I also help them create a short-term action plan so everyone is on the same page and moving toward the goal of getting along again."
Karrie Day is a certified career coach and strategist with a passion for helping her clients define and reach their professional goals. She offers career advancement services such as brand development, resume writing and critiques, job search strategies,
Describe the actions you take to prevent conflicts within your teams. This may include selecting a certain type of team member, establishing ground rules, or leading by example. Next, describe your process for facilitating the resolution of conflict scenarios with your team. Demonstrate your ability to listen to all of the parties involve and act as a mediator invested in finding a valuable path forward. If time permits, you may consider offering a recent example of a conflict you helped to resolve.
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Anonymous Answer
Conflict is inevitable when dealing with multiple resources, but I like to treat it as a learning experience where through compromise and dialog we can understand each other points of view and therefore gain knowledge. Generally, a private meeting between the parties to discuss what the issues are and act as a facilitator with the goal to get everyone back to being productive project team members.
Amanda's Feedback
This is a solid foundation you can build on by relating an example of a time when you helped to resolve conflict on your team. Discuss what the problem was, how you approached resolving it, how you were able to work it out, and what the positive outcome was. Using a real-world example shows the interviewer that you have actually put your conflict resolution skills to work in real scenarios.
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