You are managing a pharmaceutical manufacturing facility construction project following a waterfall approach. During the executing phase, you notice that your quality manager and construction manager have fundamentally different interpretations of the acceptance criteria in the approved requirements specification. The quality manager insists on FDA pharmaceutical-grade standards for all areas, while the construction manager argues that only clean room areas require this level, with administrative areas following commercial building standards. Both cite different sections of the 300-page requirements document. This disagreement is causing daily conflicts, delaying inspections, and creating team tension. How should you resolve this conflict?

Question

Accepted Answer

The correct answer is C. This scenario involves conflicting interpretations of approved baseline requirements in a highly regulated industry where incorrect interpretation has serious compliance implications. ECO People Task 2.4 addresses resolving conflicts and disagreements. While facilitating consensus (option A) works for many conflicts, when the requirements baseline itself is ambiguous and involves regulatory compliance, you need authoritative interpretation from those with technical authority—the sponsor and customer representative who approved the original requirements. Option B (project manager ruling) is problematic because the PM may lack the specialized pharmaceutical regulatory knowledge needed for this decision, and an incorrect ruling could lead to regulatory non-compliance or expensive rework. Option D (change request) might eventually be needed, but in predictive projects you first need to determine if this is truly a baseline ambiguity or just a misinterpretation; prematurely initiating changes without authoritative interpretation wastes time and CCB resources. In regulated industries with predictive approaches, requirements interpretation authority rests with those who have both technical expertise and approval authority, making option C the most appropriate first step.

More People Questions