Project Politics

Now that you know the importance of sequencing a project, we will explore how best to handle negotiating those sequences and managing conflicts that arise. In this module, we will explore how nonprofit board members can address negotiation and conflict resolution techniques.

Click on the video below to begin 'Module 4: Project Politics'. Click "CC" on the bottom-right corner of the video to view closed captions or alternatively, read the transcript below the video.

When you complete this module, scroll to the bottom of this page for further instructions.

Important Definitions

Now that you know project politics are unavoidable, let’s cover what project politics, negotiation, and conflict resolution actually mean. Here are those important definitions:

• Project politics is the act of navigating the different opinions, perspectives and workstyles of all parties involved in a project.

• Negotiation is the act of making resource transactions. These resources can include (but are not limited to) financial, intellectual, time, or tools. These transactions are done in order to advance the nonprofit’s mission statement.

• Conflict resolution is the act of compromise; it means to effectively navigate conflicts that may arise within and outside the nonprofit in order meet project goals.

Current Events

To help you understand why negotiation and conflict resolution are so important, here are two contemporary examples of nonprofits that failed to employ these skills effectively.

Our first example is of the Mississippi Community Education Center nonprofit. This year, it was discovered that the CEO conspired to steal millions of grant funds that were intended to be distributed among poor populations in Mississippi. As a result, the nonprofit now faces serious backlash from the public and will likely lose support from stakeholders.

Our second example is of the Key Worldwide Foundation. This nonprofit, aimed at offering education opportunities for disadvantaged youth, was discovered to have been laundering money. The nonprofit laundered money received from wealthy parents and distributed it as bribery to college administrators and coaches as part of a massive cheating scandal to get their children admitted into schools. Those schools included NYU, USC, and Yale among many others. Similar to the consequences the Mississippi Community Education Center will face, the Key Worldwide Foundation will lose all credibility.

These current events are prime examples of the demise a nonprofit will face if ethical negotiation and conflict resolution are not done in good practice.

Consequences

To further emphasize the importance of negotiation and conflict resolution, let’s discuss the different consequences that nonprofits may face if these practices are not done ethically or effectively. Lack of accountability and transparency can lead to: poor reputation, poor financials, low morality, poor image, lack of support (both financial and otherwise), and decreased organizational collaborations. These consequences are all severely detrimental to the livelihood of a nonprofit.

Implications

Along the same lines of practicing accountability and transparency, the implications of every action must be considered in order for project politics to be mitigated successfully. These actions can be broken down into two areas: internal to the nonprofit, and external to the nonprofit.

• Internal action implications may affect interpersonal relations with colleagues and other stakeholders, as well as affect the productivity and/or efficiency of a project team.

• External action implications may affect a nonprofit’s image, how stakeholders feel about supporting the nonprofit, and the level at which other organizations are willing to collaborate.

To summarize these ideas, imagine a chess game; every action’s consequences must be anticipated prior to their execution. This exact idea is what must be done in project politics.

Skills to Avoid Bad Practice

Now that we know what not to do in project politics, let’s discuss some skills that will allow you to practice healthy negotiation and conflict resolution.

• Creating positive interpersonal relationships with colleagues will create an open dialogue that facilitates project transparency.

• Screening donor activity prior to accepting resources and partnership will avoid any collaborations with unethical nonprofits.

• Being aware of all the social, economic, and political impacts an action will have on stakeholders will allow you to avoid conflict from starting.

• Knowing the risk factors and measuring possible unintended outcomes will allow you to play a “chess game” of making healthy and ethical negotiations.

• Having clear negotiation guidelines to follow will put all of your colleagues on the same page and create a comprehensive process to follow each time negotiations are done.

• Once negotiation and conflict resolution processes are done, documenting them will be useful for future reference.

While all of these skills center around compliance, it is important to recognize the importance of ethics; bringing morality into the project politics process will guarantee smooth processes for all parties involved.

Review: Why are Project Politics important?

To wrap up our project politics topic, let’s review the main points of our discussion.

• Project politics are inevitable. Don’t avoid them! Instead, know how to navigate them and your project will be successful.

• Always practice the aforementioned skills in order to avoid conflicts and create healthy negotiations.

• And lastly, work ethically. It is essential to the quality of a nonprofits’ work!

What's Next

Now that you have learned about how to handle negotiations and conflict in this module, the next lesson will teach you about managing project financials, negotiating specific costs, and ameliorating tense budgeting arguments. Before you move on to the next module, let's take a quick quiz!

Click on the button at the bottom-right corner of the web page labeled "Module 4 Quiz" to proceed.