Paper Example on Communication During Project Management

This study explores the benefits that public and private organizations engender from engaging in communication during project management. It explores the communication tools that are available in the market, which the internal and external stakeholders of any project use to sustain communication among concerned parties. The study utilizes the secondary research method to acquire information from 50 articles, whose inclusion criteria is meeting four variables which are i) benefits to internal stakeholders, ii) benefits to external stakeholders iii) management of quality, and iv) the management of timelines. These articles cover a wide scope and are suitable for nationwide research within the UK. Among the top benefits associated with utilizing communication in UK based projects are improvement of teamwork, informed decision making, customer satisfaction, reduction of costs, and supplier integration. The researcher also identified three notorious barriers that present challenges to communication in projects and offered solutions for the same in the recommendations section.

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Introduction

Strategic communication in project management is vital for a business to succeed. Communication is part of strategic planning since it provides stakeholders of a project with a description of what the objectives, goals, and motivation for any venture and even a description of how the company will get there. Almost all companies that undertake high value and lengthy projects normally incorporate a strategic communication plan. This process of integration ensures that project goals are prioritized by all the stakeholders who contribute to the project. For instance, projects that are geared towards improving customer service set their mission and the vision in a way that tries to meet the customer requirements. It is through communication that project managers can outline the mission and describe what the project wishes to achieve and this should be communicated to everyone who partakes the project. The goals describe the vision in a specific, measurable, and tangible manner. As such, communication will ensure that they are understood by everybody who is involved in the project implementation process.

Developing communication strategies in project management needs to focus on what should be implemented in order to achieve the goals. It also requires a thorough evaluation of both internal and external environments. An analysis of the political, social, economic and technological factors helps to identify threats and opportunities. An analysis of the internal environment will help identify the strong points and weak points of the organization. This will enable organizations to come up with strategies that will ensure that customer needs are met in the best way possible.

Contribution of Project Management in the UK

The United Kingdom's economy is among the top five most developed economies in the world and has over a hundred industries in the goods and services sectors. Some of the most vibrant industries are construction, computer and software development, maintenance of process industries, research, administrative, equipment installation, event management, and new project development. These industries combined undertake millions of projects annually, some of which succeed and others fail. Altogether, these projects contribute about 35% of the United Kingdom's GDP annually and this percentage is likely to increase with time as the UK's economy continues to grow. Some projects have so much significance and the impact that they rank among the global top 100 projects on the KPMG Infrastructure 100 league table names, which covers a myriad of categories such as health, education, and transport. In 2015, some significant projects in the transport sector were the HS2, Crossrail, and the Mersey Gateway projects. Technology-based projects included Google UK HQ, Brixton Solar One, Zero Waste: Edinburgh and Midlothian, and the Thames Tideway projects. UWE Bristol Campus expansion was an education-related project, while the Royal London Hospital project was healthcare related. These projects varied widely in their nature, timeframe, budget, sponsors, commissioners, products, and outcomes. However, the common denominator in all of them is that they employed rigorous project management techniques, especially communication. All other projects undertaken in the UK and globally as well as utilize communication as an essential ingredient for success.

Examples of Project Management Communication Tools Available in the UK

Every project in the UK exists in a set of unique circumstances, which dictate the most suitable form of communication. Nonetheless, the goal of communication in project management is the same for all the stakeholders; to facilitate sound decision making. As such, the UK market utilizes a myriad of communication tools dedicated to project managers who desire open communication channels that enable information to flow unhindered across all levels and to all stakeholders. The communication tools are tailored to suit the particular type of communication that the project manager intends to share with the internal and external stakeholders. Most of the team are dedicated to the internal stakeholders although there are adequate tools to communicate with external stakeholders in the UK.

A Project Board

The tool captures the holistic plan, progress, and completion of a project. It takes into account the acceptance criteria, thereby enabling team members to communicate about individual tasks. All team members should have access to this tool as it is a window through which one can access the project or assess progress. Clients can also use this tool to evaluate the progress of a project. Popular Project Board brands among UK clients Jira, Trello, and Pivotal Tracker.

A Chat Tool

This tool is highly recommended for dispersed teams that prefer to have short and informal project discussions that do not require to be documented. The tool has a helpful archive feature that stores conversations so that the individuals who were unavailable during the live chats can follow and understand whatever the rest of the team members discussed previously. Both clients and team members use this tool, with the widely available brands in the UK being Slack and HipChat.

Email

Both clients and the project team can hold one on one conversations using emails. Confidential details and sensitive information that do not affect all the team members can be conveyed using emails. Moreover, emails are exemplarily handy for formal communication with stakeholders such as the government, clients, or contractors. Although the method does not facilitate real-time conversations, project stakeholders can use tools like HipChat to have a real-time conversation.

A Discussion Board

This approach to communication suits dispersed project teams that intend to have documented or archived co...