Team Talk And Learning Project Management

This training often takes place in a more-or-less traditional classroom that focuses on theory with little opportunity for application of knowledge, skill building, and practice. There are no laboratories (or practicums) for courses in management. This pedagogical omission is troublesome, particularly when one is attempting to learn the interpersonal skills necessary for effective management of multi-disciplinary technical teams. People, who do not behave in welldefined and repeatable ways, immediately push the theory into the “indeterminate zones of uncertainty, uniqueness, and value conflict”. And it follows, to “think like a” manager when working with people in paradoxical cross-functional teams requires a seemingly innate ability to create instinctive strategies and to make spontaneous decisions. This “tacit knowledge” cannot be mastered solely through the textbook or lecture. A combination of theory and structured practice followed by guided reflection is needed to develop the practical competencies required of a professional skilled in the management of multi-disciplinary project teams.