Chapter 4 Communication

Objectives Meeting project communication needs Matching communication styles Understanding the communication process Reasons for ineffectiveness Gaining access for communication Ensuring appreciation

Meeting Project Communication Needs Formal project communications include: meetings, status reports, change orders, conference calls, project scope, control reports, test results, problem detection and notification, and problem solving. Control reports and test results may be in specific forms. Project managers are responsible for soliciting input from team members who are reluctant to communicate, and therefore project managers must be superior communicators themselves. The project manager must ensure not only commitment to the project, but commitment to communication regarding the project. The project manager’s job is to motivate team members to communicate regularly with each other and with the project manager, and to train team members to communicate well.

Matching Communication Styles Communication is defined as information exchanged between individuals through a common communication system. One approach to motivating team members to communicate is to ask for communication from people in the style that suits them best: Readers: those who prefer printed correspondence to other forms. Listeners: those who prefer phone and face-to-face correspondence to other forms. Exchangers: those who require a true dialog. Movers: those who need to move around to think or process clearly. Manipulators: those who require a hands-on approach to take in messages. Viewers: those who require drawings or videos, diagrams, flow charts, or models.

Understanding the Communication Process Only a small part of the sender’s ideas are transferred intact to the receiver (fig 4-2, page 74). Purpose: the motivation for the communication. State the purpose in the first sentence. Body language: nonverbal communication. Eye contact, smile, and handshake are forms of non verbal communication. Proximity: the physical distance between people during an exchange. Americans want 3 to 4 feet of space. Inflection: any change in loudness or pitch in a person’s voice. It’s not what you say but how you say it. Listening: hearing something with thoughtful attention. Bias: inclination of receiver to think good or bad thoughts based on prior attitudes or experiences. Connotations: value the receiver places on certain words. Appreciation: understanding message sent and believing it has value and merit.

Reasons for Ineffectiveness Chasms: the physical distance between you and the person with whom you are communicating. You have a greater chance to communicate well when you communicate in person. Conference calls work best when participants have met face-to-face previously. Barriers: anything that gets in the way of communication. Noise: is anything that muddles the message being communicated.

Gaining Access for Communication Clues to accessibility: Someone who has a high need to communicate gives out their cell phone number to a lot of people. The high control person will have a voice mail system so they can know who called but can control when they call back. Electronic access alternatives: E mail and voice mail give us 24 hour access. Both are recorded messages, so care must be given to the wording. Personal time accessibility: A questionnaire that each member of a project team fills out at the start of a project can tell how a team member can be reached and which method is preferred (fig 4-6, page 81). Each of you will have to strike the balance between the need to communicate and the need to control accessibility.

Ensuring Appreciation Common experience: we tend to communicate better with people we know better. Communication Skill: project managers have to recognize the importance of conveying messages well. There are many skill training programs, courses, consultants, books, and journal articles on the subject. Constructive attitude: reasonable and problem solving approaches, concern for mutual agreement and not one-sided dominant solutions, constant pursuit of understanding on both sides, and acceptance of responsibility for success of communication. Interactive Processing: project managers should model excellent communication patterns, value clear and open communication (good and bad news), persist in encouraging skill improvement through training and coaching, remove as many communication barriers as possible, encourage frequent and candid communication, and provide ample opportunities for informal ideas exchange to foster cooperation.

Summary Formal project communications include: meetings, status reports, change orders, conference calls, project scope, control reports, test results, problem detection and notification, and problem solving. Communication is defined as information exchanged between individuals through a common communication system. Purpose: the motivation for the communication. State the purpose in the first sentence. Each of you will have to strike the balance between the need to communicate and the need to control accessibility. Constructive attitude: reasonable and problem solving approaches, concern for mutual agreement and not one-sided dominant solutions, constant pursuit of understanding on both sides, and acceptance of responsibility for success of communication.

Home Work 1. Define communication. 2. Define purpose of communication. What should you do in the first sentence? 3. What is the balance each of you will have to strike? 4. What is a constructive attitude regarding communication?