SECTION 9
PROJECT COMMUNICATIONS
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9.1 The Project Management Information System
9.3 Communication in Project Meetings
9.1 THE PROJECT MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM
9.1.1 Introduction
The project management information system (PMIS) contains the intelligence essential to planning and control of the use of resources on the project. Also, the PMIS provides the basis for determining where the project is with respect to its cost, schedule, and technical performance objectives, and where the project fits in the overall context of the organization strategy.
Informal information arises from interactions with project stakeholders, through the “informal organization” and from many miscellaneous sources. An important value of informal information is that it can give an important indication of how people outside of the project team actually feel about the project. A model of the linkages in supporting project and organizational purposes is portrayed in Fig. 9.1.
The purpose of a PMIS is to provide for the design and development of a project management system (PMS) for the project (Sec. 7.10). A PMS in turn provides a model against which resources can be monitored, evaluated, and controlled on the project. This leads to a determination of what the probabilities are regarding the project results. These results are then evaluated by senior managers/users/sponsors to determine operational and strategic fit. This in turn provides for an assessment and realization of how the project contributes to organization strategy, and organization success.
FIGURE 9.1 The linkages of PMIS.
9.1.2 Key Questions Regarding PMIS
Project managers should consider the following questions when determining their needs for a PMIS:
• What information is required for the adequate planning, organization, direction, and control of the project?
• What information is needed to keep the project stakeholders informed and managed?
• What information is needed to keep the organization’s key managers informed about the status of the project?
• What other projects or programs in the organizational interface with a particular project about which project stakeholders need to be informed?
• What information is required about any project that would enable senior managers to assess its operational and strategic fit in the organization?
• Is information available that is required to make and implement decisions regarding the project?
• Is there too much information about the project?
• What is the cost of not having adequate and relevant information about the project?
• Does the existing PMIS add value to that project?
9.1.3 Expectations Arising from a PMIS
A project manager should have high expectations for the PMIS on a project. These expectations include:
• Understand where the project stands relative to cost, schedule, technical performance objectives, and its likely operational and strategic fit.
• Provide the intelligence needed to plan, organize, direct, and control the project.
• Keep the project stakeholders informed on the status of the project.
• Allow the planned and controlled use of resources to support the project.
• Facilitate communication among the project stakeholders to include the transfer of both good and bad news about the project status.
• Predict the likely future outcomes of the use of resources on the project.
• Help to recognize project success and project failure.
• Test strategies in the use of resources on the project.
• Comprehend the need for and the likely outcomes of changes on the project.
• Finally, the PMIS can be used to ascertain past, present, and expected future status of the project.
9.1.4 The “Best” PMIS
The “best” PMIS provides a disciplined basis to:
• Identify and isolate significant variances and possibly the reason why a project deviated from the plan.
• Emphasize, where possible, the quantitative and the specific qualitative factors likely to impact the project.
• Provide insight into the specific corrective actions that can be planned and executed to include the assignment of appropriate authority and responsibility.
• Indicate likely effects on the project baselines, to include insight into what revisions are needed, when, and why.
• Provide insight into the specific corrective actions that can be planned and executed to include the assignment of appropriate authority and responsibility.
• Provide intelligent, relevant, and timely information available to facilitate the making and execution of decisions on the project.
• Build around the work breakdown structure (WBS) to provide the capability of ascertaining the status of the work packages at all times on the project to include identification of the work package, its associated cost code and schedule, and the individual responsible for the work.
9.1.5 Principles of a PMIS
In Table 9.1, a summary of PMIS principles is given and more fully described below.
• The quality of the management of a project is likely a reflection of the quality of the PMIS.
• All project stakeholders need information on the status of the project.
• The work breakdown structure provides the common denominator for information for the management of the project.
• Information is required on the project preceding and during its entire life cycle.
• Information for the management of the project comes from a variety of sources, both formal and informal.
• Information provides the basis for informed decision making and execution on the project.
• The PMIS should interface and be compatible with the larger information systems of the organization.
• The PMIS should minimize the chances of the project manager and other key stakeholders being surprised on project developments.
• Be exception oriented, focusing on critical areas needing attention rather than simply reporting on all areas of the project.
TABLE 9.1 Summary Principles of PMIS
• Improve project management quality. |
• Stakeholder awareness. |
• Reflect work breakdown structure. |
• Life cycle coverage. |
• Formal/informal sources. |
• Facilitates decision making. |
• Supports organization information system. |
• Reduces project “surprises.” |
• Focus on critical project areas. |
9.1.6 Summary
In this section, several key elements in the design and implementation of a PMIS were presented. The point was made that relevant, accurate, and timely information is needed to manage a project. Several expectations and principles were suggested as having value in guiding the thinking and action of project stakeholders.
9.2 PROJECT COMMUNICATIONS
9.2.1 Introduction
Communications plays an important role in projects to integrate and align the efforts of the stakeholders. Understanding the fundamentals of communication and the project environment is important to the success of enhancing the exchange of information to positively affect the project.
The role of communications in the management of projects is presented in this section. Guides to improve the effectiveness of project communications are offered and considerations are given for communicating with participants in the project.
9.2.2 What Is Communications?
Communications is the process by which information is exchanged between individuals through a common system of symbols, signs, or behavior. Some key considerations about communications include:
• May be the most important skill required of a project manager and members of the project team.
• Information is exchanged during a communication process.
• Some means by which communication occurs include plans, policies, procedures, objectives, goals, strategies, organizational structure, linear responsibility charts, leader and follower style, meetings, letters, e-mail, telephone calls, team interaction, and the examples set by the project manager and members of the project team.
• People communicate with each other through actual touch, by visible movements of their body (nonverbal communications), and through the use of written or spoken symbols.
In any communication effort a few basic concepts apply:
• Be as specific as possible about the information to be exchanged.
• Know something about the expectations of the sender and the receiver.
• Consider the perceptions of both the sender and receiver.
• Select the means or medium of exchange for the communication.
• Consider the timing of the communication effort.
• Consider how a misunderstanding of the message might happen.
A few additional guidelines about communication between people include:
• Have the interest and motivation to listen actively and carefully to the message being sent.
• Be sensitive to the sender’s purposes in sending the message.
• Consider fully the ways in which a message can be sent, whether verbally, in writing, or by nonverbal means.
• Plan for and provide timely feedback in response to the message being received.
• Ask for clarification of the message, or its intent, if needed.
9.2.3 A Communication Model
Figure 9.2 is a model of the communication process.
9.2.4 Role of Informal Communication
People join informal groups at their place of work for social contact, companionship, emotional support, and so forth. The project manager’s interpersonal style will influence the informal communications on the project team. To facilitate the value of informal communication the project manager should:
• Accept the fact of informal communication and how it can help or hinder the project team and other stakeholders.
• Find ways to get feedback through the informal organization.
FIGURE 9.2 Communication model. (Source: James L. Gibson, John M. Ivancevich, and James H. Donnelly, Jr., Organizations, Structures, Processes, Behavior, Business Publications, Dallas, 1973, p. 166.)
• Use the informal leaders as a source for information about the project and its stakeholders.
• Recognize that much of the cultural ambience of the project is reflected in the attitudes and behavior of the people in the informal organization.
9.2.5 Listening Is a Difficult Part of Communication
The ability to listen is an important skill. There are some emotionally based reasons for ignoring the need to develop better listening skills:
• Listening may uncover some unknown or unexpected problems.
• Project team members may withhold bad news about the project or their work.
• Bad news in an organization does not flow upward easily. But good news flows upward quickly in an organization.
• It is a human characteristic for people to not want to listen to anything that is contrary to their preconceived ideas or prejudices.
• People can think faster than they can listen. This often causes people to react too soon to a message.
• People tend to listen for only the “facts” and ignore the hidden meanings that are often behind the facts.
• We tend to emotionally turn off what we do not want to hear, yet we are “all ears” when something is being said that we want to hear.
• In listening, all too often people are planning a “rebuttal” or response before the message is completely sent by the originator of the message.
• It is easier to “talk down” to subordinates than it is to “talk up” to superiors, or to “talk horizontally” to peer groups and associates.
• In listening, the full potential of effective communication is not realized because:
• Without good listening, people do not talk freely.
• Only one bad listener is needed to impair the flow of communication.
• Messages can be distorted because of noise along the communication network.
9.2.6 Emotional Considerations
The most influential issues in communication are the emotional barriers such as ethics, morals, beliefs, prejudices, politics, biases, and beliefs. People on the project team should keep the following tendencies in mind when sending or receiving messages. Table 9.2 contains some of the major emotional factors that impact communication.
TABLE 9.2 Emotional Considerations in Communication
• Hearing only what you want to hear, rather than what the sender intended. |
• Undue emotional involvement regarding the subject matter being transmitted. |
• Ignoring the contents of a message that runs counter to what we want to hear and believe. |
• A preconceived image of the receiver perhaps tainted by past experiences. |
• Different means of symbols and cultures, such as in the global marketplace. |
• A preconceived evaluation of the source to include positive, negative, or indifferent feeling as to the credibility of the source. |
• An ego that gets in the way of the sender or receiver sending or receiving a meaningful message. |
9.2.7 Project Communication Difficulties
• People will withhold information on a problem in the hope that the problem will go away.
• Team members may not want to share information that they believe is critical to the success of the project.
• The project manager speaks but does not listen. This one-way communication fails to use needed feedback to see how things are going on the project.
• The project review meetings, which should have maximum twoway communication, turn out to be one-person shows.
• People do not understand the basic communication process depicted in Fig. 9.2, thus reducing the chances of effective communication.
9.2.8 Nonverbal Communication
Subtle hidden messages can be contained in various forms of nonverbal communication such as:
• Facial expressions
• Body movements, such as nodding, eye movements
• Actions, such as putting one’s feet up on the desk
Nonverbal communication may be divided into four categories:
• Physical—such as facial expressions, tone of voice, sense of touch, sense of smell, and body motions
• Aesthetic—such as creative expressions such as playing instrumental music, dancing, painting, and sculpturing
• Signs—mechanical communication, such as signal flags, the 21-gun salute, horns, and sirens
• Symbolic—such as religious, status, or ego-building symbols
9.2.9 Written Communications
In project management, written communications include proposals, reports, plans, policies, letters, memoranda, and other means of transmitting information. Effective writing is an art. The best writing is reflected when the message is simple, clear, and direct. Writing is also a science, with proven methodologies that consider audience, writer, reader objectives, ideal design for different information types, etc. Writing is to be practiced at all times by a manager and team members.
The field of writing is so huge that we have not the space to describe what needs to be done. A few general guidelines can be useful:
• There are ample articles and book readings on writing that can be useful in improving writing skills.
• Always ask the question: Have we written our message clearly?
• Any written message should be informative and easy to understand.
• A proposal or report which uses simple, understandable language and uses tables, bar charts, pie charts, and graphs effectively will have a better chance of being understood than one filled with technical jargon, vague concepts, and ambiguous narrative language.
• Effective writing depends on adequate preparation. Build a “model” of what you want to say before you start writing.
• Establish the basic purpose of the intended message.
• Take time to collect and analyze the quantitative and qualitative data bases that would enhance the message.
• Organize the material into topics and subtopics as appropriate.
• Prepare an initial draft of the message, and if possible, have someone review it in terms of:
• Is it objective?
• Is it logical?
• Are there any fallacies in the reasoning behind the message?
• Does the message say what was intended?
• Is there too much (not enough) detail?
• Are acceptable rules of grammar, punctuation, format, numbering, and abbreviations used?
9.2.10 Summary
In this section, the matter of communication was presented to include its importance in the management of the project team. Some of the basic concepts and processes of communication were presented. A communications model was presented as a conceptual guide to how project stakeholders can think about the communication processes. Listening was presented as an important and difficult part of communications. A few suggestions were presented on how better listening can be carried out on the project. The section ended with a brief outline of how better written communications can be carried out in the management of the project.
9.3 COMMUNICATION IN PROJECT MEETINGS
9.3.1 Introduction
A project manager spends most of his/her time in some aspect of communicating: writing, reading, listening, or speaking—much of it done at meetings.
There are three cardinal rules for speaking at meetings:
• Tell them what you are going to tell them!
• Tell them!
• Tell them what you told them!
Project meetings can be a waste of time—and some are! Project meetings are usually called for the purpose of:
• Telling—passing on information about the project
• Selling a concept or proposal—for example, a new strategy in the management of the project
• Solving—working with the people in the meeting to come up with a solution to some problem or opportunity, such as participating in a design review to select product design
• Education and training—instruction to upgrade the knowledge, skills, and attitudes of the project team members
FIGURE 9.3 Basic purposes of project meetings.
9.3.2 Planning a Meeting
In Fig. 9.3 a few of the basic purposes of project meetings are depicted. A project manager who is planning a meeting should clearly understand the purpose for which a meeting is being held!
Planning a meeting involves making decisions on agenda, material to use, time, place, purpose, expected outcome (deliverables) and the information that is needed by the participants. Key planning questions include:
• Is the meeting really necessary?
• What is the meeting intended to achieve?
• What is the issue for which the meeting should be held?
• What are the facts needed for the meeting?
• What are the potential alternatives or solutions?
• What recommendations might come out of the meeting?
• What would happen if the meetings were not held?
9.3.3 Organizing the Meeting
Some key considerations in organizing a meeting include:
• An agenda
• A suitable location
• Identification and notification of the participants
• Designating the chairperson
• Selection and dissemination of the information to the meeting participants
• How the meeting will be conducted
9.3.4 Effective and Ineffective Meetings
Douglas McGregor (The Human Side of Enterprise, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1970, pp. 32–34) describes in everyday commonsense terms effective and ineffective meetings. His description of such meetings can provide a project manager with standards against which planning and execution of a meeting can be carried out. According to him, effective meetings are characterized by:
• An informal, comfortable atmosphere.
• Participation by everyone in the discussions.
• The objective of the meeting being well understood.
• The members listen to each other!
• There is comfortable disagreement.
• Most decisions reached by a consensus.
• Criticism which is frank and comfortable.
• People who are free in expressing their feelings.
• Taking action so that clear assignments are given.
• The chairperson of the group not dominating it.
• The group is self-conscious about its own operation.
Conversely, McGregor describes an ineffective meeting:
• The atmosphere reflects indifference or boredom.
• A few people dominate the discussions.
• It is difficult to discern the objective of the meeting.
• People really do not listen to each other.
• Disagreements are generally not dealt with effectively by the group.
• Decisions and actions taken tend to be premature.
• Action decisions are unclear.
• The chairperson is always “at the head of the table.”
• Criticism may be present, but it is embarrassing and tension-producing.
• Personal feelings remain hidden.
• The members fail to discuss their own “maintenance.”
9.3.5 Controlling a Meeting
Control of a meeting means to make sure that the meeting accomplishes its purpose. The following elements should be emphasized in controlling a meeting:
• Set the time limits and adhere to those limits.
• Start with a statement about the purpose of the meeting.
• Limit the discussion.
• Summarize progress, or lack of progress.
• Encourage and control disagreements.
• Take time to assess how well the meeting is going and what might be done to improve its operation.
• Use McGregor’s description of an effective and ineffective meeting as a standard for having quality meetings.
9.3.6 Some Key Guideposts for Any Meeting
• Have a meeting for a definite purpose, and only when it is likely to achieve desired results.
• Be thoroughly prepared before the meeting to include agenda and materials to be distributed for the participants to be able to participate in a meaningful fashion in the meeting.
• Facilitate lively participation—tell people it is OK to become excited, but don’t get angry.
• Summarize the meeting’s progress from time to time, and bring the meeting to a definite conclusion when it has accomplished its objectives, or when further discussions would not provide any value.
9.3.7 Summary
In this section, a brief philosophy and the mechanics of planning and conducting project meetings have been presented. Project meetings, properly planned and executed, can facilitate the successful management of the project activities. Meetings are like any other management issue. Time must be taken to develop plans, protocol, arrangements, agenda, and the materials that the people need to prepare themselves for active and meaningful participation in the meeting. Then the meeting has to be led and controlled.
9.4 NEGOTIATIONS
9.4.1 Introduction
An important part of a project manager’s responsibility is the ability to negotiate with project stakeholders concerning the project’s goals and objectives carried out through a process of obtaining and using resources to support the project’s purposes.
Negotiation is the process of arranging support for the project’s requirements through discussion, conferences, and appeals to individual members of the stakeholder’s community. A few examples of the circumstances under which the project manager and other members of the project team carry out their responsibilities through a process of negotiation include:
• Gaining the concurrence of the functional managers to provide resources to support the project.
• Contracting with vendors for the provisioning of equipment, materials, and services to sustain the project.
• Contracting with the project owner for the project deliverables, and the conditions under which the project’s costs, schedule, and technical performance objectives will be met.
• Making agreements with team members to include work package managers and other professionals in the organization to which the project belongs concerning their individual and collective roles on the project work.
• Making provisions for briefing senior management on the progress being made on the project to include recommendations for decisions which have to be made by senior management for the support of the project.
• Gaining approval and cooperation with varied stakeholder groups to include but not be limited to, such stakeholders as unions, government agencies, local community officials, professional associations, media, environmentalists, political/social organizations, educational/training institutions, intervenor groups, and consumer groups.
• Interacting with anyone or agency/institution that believes they have a stake in the project.
9.4.2 Types of Negotiation
A project manager encounters situations in which both formal and informal negotiations are required. The negotiations involved in contract negotiations and contract administration are typically done in a formal manner, although laying the ground work for such negotiations would involve informal interactions. The negotiations to resolve a conflict over the assignment of people from the functional manager’s organization would tend to be informal. To further clarify the nature of negotiations:
• Formal negotiations are involved where an expected outcome would be a contract or commitment in which the negotiating parties consummate a contract through which certain goods and services are exchanged for some consideration—financial or otherwise.
• Informal negotiations are carried out where the contracting parties seek agreement on something of value to be given for some consideration. The negotiation leading to a member of the project team accepting a specific role on a project would be informal.
In any negotiation, the parties are expected to have adequate knowledge of the matter under evaluation, the skill in being able to come to agreement, and an attitude that will respect and perform on the agreed to conditions. In any negotiation, adequate knowledge of the technical matter under negotiation, plus acceptable interpersonal skills are essential.
9.4.3 Conflict
All project matters to be negotiated contain the potential opportunity for a contradiction over the matters in question. For example:
• The scope of the project—what is to be accomplished
• The schedule for the completion of the work packages and the total project itself
• Costing considerations
• The quality of the project and its services that are to be delivered
• Utilization of the people on the project
• Communication effectiveness
• The project uncertainties and risk likely to be involved
• Management of the procurement strategies with the project vendors
• Manner in which the project subsystems are to be integrated into the total project deliverables
• The operational and strategic fit of the project when it is completed
• Perception of the project’s success or failure from the perspective of the stakeholders
• Resolution of the potential conflict in the use of resources to accomplish project ends involves the development of certain key strategies:
• Preparation for the negotiation to include consultation with other members of the project team to identify interests
• Identification and priority of the “issues” around which the negotiation is to be carried out
• Development of proposals to integrate the issues and desired outcome of the matter(s) under review
• Learning about the “other side” to include an assessment of the strengths/weaknesses and probable strategies of the other party with which the negotiations are being carried out
• Organization and indoctrination of the individuals who will be conducting the negotiations
9.4.4 Power in Negotiating
Like any interaction among people, the possession of control, authority, or some influence is important, and can result in power over the people with whom the negotiations is being carried out. The sources of power available to the negotiators include:
• De jure and de facto authority of the negotiators. (See Sec. 2.3.)
• Ability to reward to gain compliance. This can include tangible rewards such as money, promotions, and other emoluments. Other rewards can be intrinsic, such as compliments, praise, recognition, or a written praise of a person’s performance on a project team.
• Negative rewards such as a form of punishment for example, delaying payments to vendors, disqualifying a subcontractor, or recommending the removal of a team member for cause. Caution should be used in exercising negative rewards, which can be counterproductive.
• Specialized unusual knowledge of the circumstances and factors around which the negotiation is being carried out, such as a research engineer’s superior knowledge of a technical area being considered in the contract negotiations.
• Possession of and ability to use information that is available to a person involved in the negotiations.
• Expert knowledge buttressed by previous demonstrated competence in which project outcomes have been gained by some member of the project team based on their image in the matters under consideration.
• Political competence to include the building of partnership alliances with stakeholders.
TABLE 9.3 Power in Negotiation
• The power of the other side should be considered—it may be as great as or greater than yours. |
• The use of power always exposes the user to risks and costs. |
• A perception of power can be as effective as the actual power of a contending party. |
• Power should consider the perceived expectations of the other party. |
• Negotiators should remember their objectives, goals, and planned strategies for the negotiation underway. |
• Always go to the negotiations armed with alternative positions and fall-back strategies. |
• The efficiency and effectiveness with which decisions are made during the negotiations can enhance the power of the negotiator. |
• The parties undertaking the negotiation should remember and respect the following guidance suggested in Table 9.3 in which power can be used.
9.4.5 Some Common Dangers of Negotiation
In developing and executing a strategy for negotiation, the contending parties should recognize some of the potential dangers and problems as cited in Table 9.4.
• Failure to consider the competency of the other party. |
• Being inflexible in the bargaining position, to include a lack of willingness to compromise. |
• Expecting too much concession on the part of the other party. |
• Perceiving negotiation process as a contest of wills between parties each of which wants a win-lose objective on their part. |
• Unwillingness to negotiate to a win-win outcome. |
• Failure to develop strategies for the negotiation in which adequate preparation has been undertaken by the negotiating parties. |
• Trying to negotiate with too many other parties rather than identifying those individuals in the other party, who have the competency and authority to speak for the other team. |
• Unable to separate the problems/opportunities from the symptoms. |
• Failure to think through the alternative strategies that deal with alternative means, if possible, to reach agreement with the other party. |
• Failure to remember that people negotiate and they have much the same values, past experiences, biases, prejudices, and motivation to gain an upper hand in the process of negotiations that you would have. |
9.4.6 Summary
In this section, some of the basic information on the matter of negotiation in the management of projects was presented. The reader is cautioned that the ability to negotiate is a key and desirable attribute of the project manager, and that it is a field of study, about which much has been written. The purpose of this section is to present some of the basic notions about the theory and process of negotiation, and to encourage the project team members to seek additional help in the project management literature, and through consultants to upgrade their abilities in this important activity.