Communication Management

Communications Management
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* Project Communications Management includes the processes that
are required to ensure timely and appropriate planning,
collection, creation, distribution, storage, retrieval,
management, control, monitoring and the ultimate disposition
of project information
90% of the Project Manager’s job is Communication
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Communication activities : Potential dimensions
• Internal ( within the project ) External ( customer, vendor, etc.)
• Formal ( reports, minutes, briefings) Informal ( email, memos, adhoc
discussions)
• Vertical ( up and down the organization) Horizontal ( with peers)
• official ( News letters, annual report) unofficial ( off-the record
communication)
• Written and oral and verbal ( voice inflections) , non verbal ( body
language)Project manager cannot control all communications but should try to control or
prevent miscommunication, unclear directions, and scope creeps
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Formal Written
• Anytime you are signing a legal document or preparing formal documentation
for your project, blueprints, specifications
Informal Written
• If you drop someone a quick email, leave them a memo or a sticky note
Formal Verbal
• If you have to give a presentation to update people on your project, speeches,
prepared talks
Informal Verbal
• Just calling somebody up to chat about your project, meetings, hallway chats
Kinds of Communication
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• Listening actively and effectively
• Questioning and probing ideas and situations to ensure better understanding
• Educating to increase team’s knowledge so that they can be more effective
• Fact-finding to identify or confirm information
• Setting and managing expectations
• Persuading a person, a team or an organization to perform an action
• Motivating to provide encouragement or reassurance
• Coaching to improve performance and achieve desired results
• Negotiating to achieve mutually acceptable agreements between parties
• Resolving conflict to prevent disruptive impacts
• Summarizing, recapping and identifying the next steps
Common Communications Skills
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Project Communications Management
Start
Project /
Enter
Phase
Initiating Planning Executin
g
Closing
End
Project /
Exit
Phase
Monitoring and Control Process
Process Groups
Initiatin
g
Planning Executing Monitoring &
Control
Closin
g
Communicati
on
Management
Plan Communications
Management
Manage
Communications
Control
Communicat
ions
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Communications Management knowledge
Area
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10.1 Plan Communications Management
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• A key component is communication planning is to determine who will
communicate with whom and who will receive what information
• Project resources shall be expended only on communicating information that
contributes to success, or where a lack of information can lead to failure of the
project
Communication Requirements Analysis - T
& T
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Communication Complexity
• The project manager should consider the number of potential channels or paths
as an indicator of the complexity of a project’s communication
• Planning project’s actual communications is to determine and limit who
will communicate with whom and who will receive what information
No of Channels : n (n – 1)
2
n = Number of Resources
2 Resources
= 1 Channel 3 Resources = 3 Channel
4 Resources = 6 Channel
& T
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& T
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Sources of information to identify and define project communication
requirements :
 Organization charts
 Project organization and stakeholder responsibility relationships
 Disciplines, departments and specialties involved in the project
 Logistics of how many persons will be involved with the project and at which
locations
 Internal information needs, when communicating within organizations
 External information needs, when communicating with the media, public or
contractors
 Stakeholder information and communication requirements from within the
stakeholder register
& T

 Other Project
Managers
Customer, Sponsor, Functional managers, and Team Members
Other
Projects
Other
Stakeholders
The
Project
& T
Inadequate
communication
Planning leads to:
Delay in message
delivery
Communication of
information to
wrong audience
Insufficient
communication to
stakeholders
Misunderstanding
or
misinterpretation of
message
communicated

The methods used to transfer information among project stakeholders may vary
significantly such as -
 from brief conversations to extended meetings
 from simple written documents to extensive materials (e.g. schedules,
databases and websites) which are accessible online as methods of
communication
• Factors that can affect the choice of communication technology include:
The urgency of the need for information
The availability : Technology, Resources
Easily Usable
Project Environment
Sensitivity and confidentiality of the information
Communication Technology - T & T

Sender
Decode
Encode
Receiver
Encode
Decode
NoiseTransmit
Message
Medium
Feedback
Message
Noise
Sender-Receiver Model
Noise
Acknowledge
Message
Basic Communication Model - T & T

• Encode: Thoughts or ideas are translated into language by sender
• Transmit message: This information is then send by sender using
communication channel
• Decode : To translate message back into meaningful thoughts or ideas
• Acknowledge: Upon receipt of the message, receiver may signal receipt of the
message
• Message and feedback message : The output of encoding
• Feedback/response: When the received message has been decoded and
understood the receiver encodes thoughts and ideas into a message and
transmit this message to the original sender.
• Medium : The method used to convey the message
• Noise : Anything that interfaces with the transmission and understanding of
Basic Communication Model Sequence

• Interactive communication - Between two or more parties in
multidirectional (Phone calls, meetings, interviews), most
effective way
• Push communication - Sent a specific information to specific
recipients. Examples are letters, memos, emails, faxes etc. This
ensures that message is sent but will not certify that it is
actually received or understood (Push the message to recipient)
• Pull communication – Used for large volume of information
and large audiences. Examples are internet sites, company
data bases, e-learning, etc. Recipients has to access the
communication content (Pull out information) at their own
discretion
Communication Methods - T & T

The Communications Management Plan is a subsidiary plan of the project
management plan, and it details how the project communications will be planned,
structured, monitored and controlled.
It contains :
• Stakeholder communication requirements
• Information to be communicated
• Time frame and frequency for the distribution of required information
• Person responsible for communication the information
• Person responsible for authorizing the release of confidential information
• Person or groups who will receive the information
• Methods or technologies used to convey information
• Resources allocated for communication
• Escalation process identifying timeframes and the management chain
• Method for updating and refining communication management plan
• Glossary of common terminology
Plan Communication - Output

10.2 Manage Communications-> Process
flow

Information Management Systems
Information is managed and distributed through the use of a variety of tools given
project demands and available technology -
• Hard copies- letters, memos, press releases
• Electronic communications management – e-mail, fax, video and web
conferencing, websites etc.
• Electronic project management tools – web interfaces to scheduling and project
management software, meeting and virtual office support software, portals etc.
Manage Communications – T & T

Performance Reporting :
The process of collecting and distributing performance information, including status
reports, progress measurements and forecasts:
Report may include :
• Analysis of past performance
• Analysis of project forecast
• Current status of risk and issues
• Work completed during the period
• Work to be completed in the next period
• Summary of changes approved in the period
Manage Communications – T & T

10.3 Control Communications->Process
flow

10.3 Control Communications->Process
flow
“Wise men talk
beause
They have
something
To say;
Fools, because
they have
To say
something.”
-Platon

End of Chapter Quiz: Solutions 1/5
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Q.1 A legal process outsourcing company decided to upgrade their 175 desktop computers. They were running
Windows XP. Due to recent patch application, most of them became unstable and employees were losing key
client data. As a project manager, you are identifying the key stakeholders for this project. Which of the
following statement regarding project stakeholders is NOT correct?
Answers :
(A). Project stakeholders can be categorized as internal and external, sellers and contractors, individual citizens,
government agencies and media outlets etc.
(B). Stakeholders are those individuals and organizations whose interests are positively affected by the project
and they can contribute positively to the project.
(C). Key stakeholders include Project team members, Customer and Sponsor and project Manager
(D). Stakeholder expectations may be difficult to manage for often they have conflicting objectives.
Q.2 members have been added in Natasha's team. Now she has 7 team members, 1 sponsor and 1 client. How
many communication lines have been added?
Answers :
(A) 21
(B) 24
(C) 45
(D) 40
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Q.3 You are just assigned a project. Though you are working in the organization for many years, still the project is
new for you. The project performance till date is with in baseline thresholds, still customer is not happy. What
would be the best action to be considered at the very outset:-
Answers :
(A) Motivating your own team first
(B) Identifying the problems faced so far and ensure actions are taken
(C) Verification of customer's needs and expectations
(D) Verifying that the changes are done as per process
Q.4 Jack has just taken over a project. He is currently reviewing staffing management plan. Which of the following is
NOT true about staffing management plan?
Answers :
(A) Staffing management is a part of human resource plan.
(B) It describes as to how and when human resource requirements would be met and also team be released
during project closure.
(C) Escalation procedures for handling issues within the project team
(D) Staffing management plan may include training plan
Q.5 Status coordination and reporting is the PRIME focus of:
Answers :
(A) Project Expediter
(B) Program Manager
(C) Manager in a Projectized organization
(D) Portfolio Manager
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Q.6 In High Fly Pvt Ltd the strict norms has led to the strong pressures within a group. The groups are impelled to
conform to group norms at the expense of critical and innovative thinking. Which of the following terms best
describes this pressure?
Answers :
(A) Group oppression
(B) Groupthink
(C) Group speak
(D) Group grope
Q.7 Meetings are integral part of management. It facilitates the communication of information between
individuals. A legitimate reason for assembling the project team in a meeting includes ________.
Answers :
(A) Giving team members a chance to know each other and befriend so as to make them create a better team
environment and be an effective team
(B) Resolving all the team conflicts
(C) Discussing the project experience among team members
(D) Exhibiting the project information and making further decisions on project direction
Q.8 How much time the team development stage "Storming" continues in a team?
Answers :
(A) one month
(B) few days
(C) The duration of a particular stage depends upon team dynamics, team size, and team leadership.
(D) few weeks
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Q.9 Top'n'Town builders propose to construct a 355 acre, high-tech Country Homes comprising of
Villas, Town Homes and mid to high rise apartments with panoramic views of numerous lakes and
mountains. You are the project manager for this project. You are currently executing the project &
facing issues related to communication gap between various key stakeholders. You decide to address
this issue & start working on a process that enables an efficient and effective communications flow
between project stakeholders. At this stage, which of the following documents are you LEAST likely to
refer?
Answers :
(A) Project Communications
(B) Communications management plan
(C) Work performance reports.
(D) Organizational process assets
Q.10 You are a project manager for a software development company. You have been assigned a new
team and you feel there is a need for some kind of team building activities to break the ice between
various team members. A mandatory pre-requisite for team building is:
Answers :
(A) Commitment from top management
(B) Colocation of team members
(C) Open discussions for poor individual performance
(D) Shared work ethics between members of team
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Q.1 Correct Answer is 2
Explanation: Stakeholders are Individuals / groups, who can positively or negatively impact or are
positively or negatively impacted by the Project. There are not only positive but negative stakeholders as
well.
Q.2 Correct Answer: Option 2
Explanation: Correct Option is A. Here you have 7 team members, 1 sponsor, 1 client and 1 as Natasha, so:
{10*(10-1) }/2 = 45; previously Natasha had 1 as herself, 4 team members, 1 sponsor and 1 client, so : {7 *
(7-1)}/2 = 21. So additional communication channels: 45 - 21 = 24
Explanation: Correct Answer is D. It is important to discuss & engage with customer and verify his true
expectations .This may be the strong reason that despite project meeting performance criteria, customer
is not satisfied.
Explanation: Correct Answer is D i.e. Not True. As per Guide to PMBoK, Option D is a part of Organizational
Process Assets.
Q.5 Correct Answer: Option
Explanation: Option D is the correct answer. Communication is the prime focus of Project Expediter.
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Explanation: Option B is the correct answer. Group oppressed is to dominate by unjust use of one's authority and
power and completely avoiding the individual thinking and capabilities.
Explanation: Option C is the correct answer. The purpose of project meetings is to provide updated information
regarding the progress of the project. The further project plans are also discussed in the project meeting
Explanation: Option B is the best answer. The duration of a particular stage depends upon team dynamics, team
size, and team leadership.
Q.9
Correct Answer: Option 1
Explanation: Correct option is B i.e. Not True. You are currently undertaking Manage Communications Process. As
per Guide to PMBoK, all other options, Communications management plan, Work performance reports &
Organizational Process Assets are the documents typically referred during Manage Communications Process.
Option B - Project Communications is in fact an output of Manage Communications Process.
Q. 10 Correct Answer: Option 1
Explanation: Correct option is D. Without any commitment from top management no team building activities can
produce desired results.
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Saraca Solutions Pvt. Ltd.

Communication Management

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