Background Information
You are a project manager for a biomedical firm that is working on getting a new product out to the market. There is a short time frame to get this product out to the market because you know there is a competitor getting a similar product out to market. The CEO wants your product out before the competitor’s product. One of your colleagues, another project manager, is also trying to get a new product out to the market. She has similarly been tasked with getting the product out as quickly as possible to accommodate customer demands. The CEO has told your colleague that her product must be out as soon as possible.
At the same time that these two products have to get out to the market, a number of other smaller initiatives are taking place. Additionally, marketing is in the middle of a large technology implementation that has kept them busy for the last 3 months and is expected to keep them tied up for the next 3.
The Problem
There are limited resources to work on projects. You will need at least 4 project team members and assume that your colleague will need at least 4. You know that a number of resources are assigned to other projects with only a few of those being available to work on your project, or your colleague’s, part-time. A good number of IT resources, as well as marketing team members, are tied up on the marketing technology implementation initiative.
You will need to negotiate with your colleague to get resources for the project. You could make do with at least 2 full-time resources and 2 part-time (50%) resources.
You know this about your colleague.
· She will want all the resources available for herself; she won’t want to share resources.
· She will consider her project a top priority over your project.
· She doesn’t share information, keeping what she knows to herself to get the edge in any negotiation.
· Her style is to be a “competing” negotiator.
QUESTION:
How will you negotiate with your colleague for resources for your priority project? What approach will you take? How can you move her to a more collaborative style?