How Clear and Consistent are your organization’s communications? Just about every work activity in an organization requires coordination within and among work groups. Coordination requires effective verbal and written communication. Communication is necessary to define the work to be done and how to do it, so communication errors are frequently found to be contributing causes in events. But because so many work activities depend on effective communication, we must look at a wider variety of programmatic causes that contribute to communication errors on the job site.

1. PROGRAMMATIC CAUSES OF
COMMUNICATIONS ERRORS
Charles S. Logan, MBA, PMP, RMP

2. Does your organization have a comprehensive communication strategy?
PROGRAMMATIC
CAUSES OF
COMMUNICATIONS
ERRORS
How Clear and Consistent is your organization’s communications?
Just about every work activity in an organization require
coordination within and among work groups.
Coordination requires effective verbal and written communication.
Communication is necessary to define the work to be done and
how to do it, so communication errors are frequently found to be
contributing causes in events.
But because so many work activities depend on effective
communication, we must look at a wider variety of programmatic
causes that contribute to communication errors on the job site.

3. Does your organization have a comprehensive communication strategy?
PROGRAMMATIC
CAUSES OF
COMMUNICATIONS
ERRORS
Information
management
Information management: Flaws while developing and managing
technical documentation can attribute to communication errors.
Omissions and technical inaccuracies in vendor manuals,
engineering analyses, design basis or other reference documents
may be translated into inaccuracies in procedures and work orders
that are used to perform jobs.
Failures to update drawings and procedures when new hardware
is installed, or existing hardware is modified can result in
communication errors down the road.

4. Does your organization have a comprehensive communication strategy?
PROGRAMMATIC
CAUSES OF
COMMUNICATIONS
ERRORS
Information
management
Work
Planning
and Control
Work Planning and Control: Planning and scheduling maintenance
activities is a complex task. Weaknesses in work planning and
control programs may result in both written and verbal
communication errors associated with inadequate work orders,
inadequate pre-job briefings, or communication failures during
job performance.
Some communications occur across physical distances through
communication devices. Communication errors can occur when
there is too much background noise for a receiver to hear a public
address announcement or what is being said on the radio or over
the phone.
An insufficient number of radio
frequencies to support communication
needs may also cause or contribute
to communication errors.

5. Does your organization have a comprehensive communication strategy?
PROGRAMMATIC
CAUSES OF
COMMUNICATIONS
ERRORS
Information
management
Work
Planning
and Control
Staffing
Staffing: Insufficient staffing can increase the workload for those
performing a job, and therefore interfere with communications.
Increased workload during maintenance outages and during
infrequent evolutions, can tax the supervisory abilities of those
responsible for coordinating the work, resulting in incomplete or
too few communications.
Too many staff involved in performing a job can increase the
communication burden on all involved and result in
communication failures.

6. Does your organization have a comprehensive communication strategy?
PROGRAMMATIC
CAUSES OF
COMMUNICATIONS
ERRORS
Information
management
Work
Planning
and Control
Staffing
Training
Training: Effective communication requires some degree of shared
understanding of the work to be performed. Inadequate job
knowledge, resulting from deficient training or qualifications, can
lead to communication errors.
Effective communication also depends upon an understanding of
the information needs of those involved in performing a job.
Communication across organizational boundaries (e.g., between
individuals in different departments, in different job roles, or on
different shifts) can cause problems because workers may not
understand one another's terminology or the contexts and
constraints of the other's job.

7. Does your organization have a comprehensive communication strategy?
PROGRAMMATIC
CAUSES OF
COMMUNICATIONS
ERRORS
Information
management
Work
Planning
and Control
Staffing
Training
Supervision
Supervision: Some communication failures occur as a result
of human errors in job performance. These
errors can often be caught and corrected
through independent observation and
supervisory oversight of the work being done.
Weaknesses in organizational programs for
deciding which jobs require independent
oversight or for ensuring that appropriate
supervision is available to watch for errors can
allow communication errors to occur.

8. Does your organization have a comprehensive communication strategy?
PROGRAMMATIC
CAUSES OF
COMMUNICATIONS
ERRORS
Information
management
Work
Planning
and Control
Staffing
Training
Supervision
Procedures
Procedures: Lack of communication skills or failure to apply
standard verbal and written communication practices are often
associated with communication errors. A lack of training in
standard communication techniques and the absence of
procedures to prescribe the circumstances in which standard
communication techniques will be used often contribute to the
occurrence of errors.

9. Does your organization have a comprehensive communication strategy?
PROGRAMMATIC
CAUSES OF
COMMUNICATIONS
ERRORS
Information
management
Work
Planning
and Control
Staffing
Training
Supervision
Procedures
Where do your communications fall short?