Solving Conflicts in Project Management with TRIZ

Conflicts are present in all human activities. Projects are no exception to this rule. To achieve the “meet or exceed stakeholderStakeholder expectations” definition of project management contained in the PMBOK Guide, from the Project Management InstituteProject Management Institute (PMI), the project manager must manage conflicts with skill. This article is focused on the win–win approach to conflict management, which involves facing and solving problems. More specifically, the Theory of Inventive Problem SolvingTheory of Inventive Problem Solving (TRIZ) (TRIZ) approach, focused on contradictionsContradictions, is adopted, using the first three parts of the Algorithm for Inventive Problem SolvingAlgorithm for Inventive Problem Solving (ARIZ) (ARIZ) to formulate contradictions and the Principles for Solving Physical ContradictionsPhysical Contradictions to find solutions. The process is illustrated with two cases of conflicts in project management situations. The suggested approach was useful in generating valuable ideas in both cases.