PPMP20007 Project Management Concept Report Sample
Task Description
In this assignment students are required to research an approved topic in project management and document their findings in a written report, using an approved formatting and referencing style (Harvard author-date).
Note:
1. Content must extend the knowledge of the class (i.e., it should not be content that is already covered or scheduled to be covered in the unit). However, the report may provide extension material on topics that form part of the unit.
2. Students are required to find appropriate reference material (at least five peer-reviewed, recent, and relevant references) on their topic.
3. Topics must relate to project management and the report should contextualize the relevant concepts using examples from experience or actual project management scenarios.
Students are required to submit an academic report for this part. The report due on Friday of week 10.
• A 3500-word academic report on the approved chosen topic, including a critical reflection on the team experience using the Tuckman model of forming, storming, norming, and performing (article attached). Students are required to submit one integrated team reflection with the inputs of all team members. The critical reflection must consist of a contribution from each team member (Min 250 words per team member). Do not submit an individual reflection. The team should collect the lesson learnt during the group work and combine all lesson learnt together to develop an integrated team reflection.
If you're a distance student completing this assessment independently, you must still submit a reflection drawing from your past experiences of collaborating in a team for another subject or in a workplace setting.
Solution
Introduction
Background
Effective communication is quite essential for successful project management as it helps in building collaboration and mitigates all misunderstandings within the team. Communication among the team members also helps in maintaining clarity among the team members (Safapouret al. 2021) The research helps in the identification of the modes of communication used in projects and how communication used in different phases of the project enhances communication and collaboration within the teams. Communication Also has the ability to reduce conflicts and misunderstandings within a team.
Rationale
The research for university assignment help is mainly done to identify that communication is the prime drive for the management of projects. There Are many instances that projects have led to fiasco due to miscommunication and misunderstanding among the team members and ultimate failure (Diepstratenet al. 2022). With the proper understanding of how communication influences project outcomes, organizations need to devise strategies for the engagement of the stakeholders and collaboration which fuels the decision-making process. Especially when the projects are geographically dispersed and are increasingly complex, effective communication has a myriad of roles to play. Ultimately by addressing the challenges in communication within project management, the research aims to improve the performances and likelihood of achieving the project objectives.
Aim
The research aims to evaluate the role of effective communication in project management and also provide insights into the specific communication practices that contribute to the sutures of the projects.
Objective
o To assess that how effective and clear communication impact the project
o To examine the correlation between project outcomes and team communication
o To evaluate significant barriers in developing effective communication to make project success
o To recommend strategies for mitigating theses barriers and ensure project success.
Literature review and findings
Communication in project mangement
Communication is the critical skill needed by the workforce or team of projects. According to Yuquan Holloway (2023), the project manager will briefly state that communication is essential for minimizing mistakes and preventing missing deadlines. A lack of communication could lead to a project veering too far outside the intended results and lead to failure. So it is essential to understand the stakeholders and communicate effectively within the team. Communication is also a glue that holds all collaborative efforts within the project. Open communication fosters an environment that enhances productivity and allows new approaches and ideas. Thai empowers the team members to express their opinions and leads to the success of the project.
Types of Communication Used in Project Management
In the management of projects, various types of communication can ensure effective collaboration and information dissemination among the team members. The most common types of communication used in projects are:
Verbal Communication
This form of communication encompasses face-to-face interactions, video conferences, meetings, and phone calls. This type enables immediate feedback and clarification of ideas and exchange of complex ideas. In context to Fanseet al. (2022), Verbal communication is valuable for discussion of project goals and resolving issues which fosters team engagement. Face-to-face communication allows for nuanced communication through proper body language, tone, and facial gestures which enhances the rapport with the participants.
Written Communication
According to Prabavathi and Nagasubramani (2018), this communication involves emails, messages, memos, documents, and reports related to the project. This is a permanent form of communication as it provides solid evidence of discussions project project-related information ensuring more clarity and accountability. This form of communication helps in detailed instructions and documentation of the project's progress. Written communication also facilitates asynchronous communication and allows the team members to communicate across different geographic and time zones.
Vertical and Horizontal Communication
According to (Radovic Markovic and Salamzadeh, 2018) Vertical communication is the communication flowing down from the hierarchy of the organization. It flows from the head of the organization to the project managers who transfer the directives down to the team members. Clear vertical communication ensures alignment with the organizational goals and facilitates the decision-making process. Horizontal communication occurs between individuals and departments of the same hierarchical level. Cross-functional teams often rely on such communication for addressing interdisciplinary challenges and achieving common objectives.
One-to-one Communication
This involves direct communication among two individuals in the project such as the project manager providing feedback to the team members. This communication allows personalized interaction and involves certain nonverbal communication like facial professionals, gestures, and body language. This also helps in building rapport and establishing trust within the project team.
Criteria of a Successful Project Management
Clear Objectives and Effective Planning
A successful project starts with defining clear and achievable objectives. With the framing of SMART objectives, a project can provide a clear direction for the project team and its stakeholders. Thorough planning of three objectives is essential for project success. This includes defining the scope, project time, allocation of resources, and development of communication strategy. A well-defined project acts like a roadmap for the successful execution of the project aligning with the goals.
Resources and Risk Management
Each successful project management calls for effective management of resources from human resources to physical and financial resources. It is the primary responsibility of the project managers to allocate tasks and resources to the retama and monitor resource utilization. The manager also needs to optimize the resource allocation throughout the project life cycle. A project without risks is quite inevitable so proactive identification, assessment, and mitigation of risks are criteria for successful project management. The project teams must assess the risk and develop strategies for mitigating the risks in the project. Effective strategies minimize the impact of potential threats and increase the chances of success.
Stakeholder engagement and Quality Assurance
In reference to Pirozzi (2018) Engagement of the stakeholders throughout the lifecycle of the project ensures alignment with the project objectives and secure stakeholder support. Successful project managers help to establish communication channels and solicit feedback incorporating stakeholder input in project decisions. One of the key indicators of successful projects is the delivery of high-quality products or services and for the thesis quality assurance has to be integrated into project planning to ensure that the deliverable meets expected standards of quality and customer requirements. So continuous monitoring, testing, and maintaining the control; measures help in addressing the deviation from quality and meet the objectives promptly.
Advantages of Proper Communication Used in Project Management
Effective communication ensures that the project mission and objectives are quite clear with the stakeholders related to the project. Clear and concise communication fosters alignment among team members and drives the team members towards common goals and objectives. Proper communication within the project also helps in the exchange of communication and feedback among the stakeholders. This exchange of words and ideas helps in informed decision-making among the project manager and team where diverse viewpoints are taken into consideration.
Open And transparent communication among the stakeholders also builds trust and confidence among the team members and creates positive relationships. Engaged stakeholders are likely to support and remain committed to the success of the project. Effective and efficient communication channels also help in the management of expectations of stakeholders and addressing the concerns proactively. With proper communication used in project management, it is easier for early identification of the risks and mitigate them from initiation. The project teams can communicate the potential risks and challenges allowing timely responses and proactive risk management strategies. This approach minimizes the impact of ten risks in the projects and drives towards success.
Proper communication also streamlines project workflows and enhances productivity. As the communication channels facilitate information sharing, progress tracking and minimize misunderstandings the team's members can effectively collaborate and lead to improved project outcomes. Effective communication within projects also helps in resolving conflicts and disagreements within the team. Open And honest communication promotes collaborative and respectful work environments, prevents conflicts, and disrupts project success.
Impact of Poor Communication on Project Management
Poor communication has different adverse effects on project management and leads to misunderstandings, cost overruns, and ultimately, failure.
Inadequate communication results in a lack of clarity of project goals and objectives and this misalignment leads to confusion and divergent interpretations of the project requirements. This difference in communication ultimately hinders the project and jeopardizes its success. According to Kliem and Ludin (2019), Poor communication also increases the chances of project risk and hinders timely identification and assessment of the risks and proper mitigation of the risks. Having unclear communication channels and escalating the major issues which adversely affect the project deadlines and budget.
Miscommunication within projects delays in information sharing and communication breakdowns disrupt the workflow and hinder collaboration amazon the team which affects the team's productivity. Unclear instruction within a project from the project managers or team members can prolong the deadlines and increase the budget of the project which will lead to dissatisfaction among the customers. In reference to Hussain et al. (2018) Poor communication is also responsible for creating misunderstanding and tension within the project team, lack of transparency, and eroding trust and morale among the team. This creates dysfunctional team dynamics and decreased motivation impeding the project's success. Poor communication also undermines customer trust and tarnishes the organizational reputation due to damaged relationships and loss of business opportunities.
Theoretical Analysis
The role of communication in the successful management of projects can be analyzed from theoretical lenses
Firstly consider the systems theory which highlights that organizations including the project teams as complex systems with different elements interacting amazon one another for achievement of the goals. According to Saglam et al. (2022), based on the theory, effective communication is a critical component that facilitates the flow of information and allocation of resources among the systems effectively. The theory in context to project management shows that communication is essential for gluing diverse project components including team members and stakeholders together. From the perspective of this theory, proper and effective communication enhances collaboration. Coordination and flexibility, adaptability among the whole team, and facilitates the decision-making process. Poor communication increases the chances for risks within the project and hinders proper identification of the risk and its thorough assessment which leads to the failure of the projects. The systems teams underscore that effective communication leads to holistic outcomes of the project and highlight that communication is one of the essential elements of the project.
The social exchange theory also highlights the importance of communication within project management. The theory helps to explore the interpersonal nexus and interactions socially and also explores that the exchange of information and resources among the project team is essential. Aligning with the perspective of this theory, effective communication helps to maintain positive relationships with the project team members and stakeholders. Effective communication also can build trust and credibility among the members which facilitates collaboration and cooperation leading to the ultimate success of the project. On the other hand, poor communication leads to a breakdown and increases miscommunication and uncertainty in the projects. The social exchange theory helps managers to understand that communication is important for understanding the attitude and behaviour of the stakeholders and cultivating supportive environments for better project outcomes.
Discussion
By doing effective literature review, it has been possible to get an effective idea regarding the topic and it has also been possible to understand the answers to the overall research questions. Here, the discussion is being made by considering the findings and the overall understanding regarding the topic.
By considering the viewpoints of Swart et al., (2022), it can be stated that communication is the key to the business success. On the other hand, Safapour, et al.(2021) have highlighted that communication can be regarded as the main success component in the case of project management. Hence, it can be stated that whether it is business management or project management, communication is needed in all regards and now, it’s important to find out the reasons why these authors have considered communication as the key aspect of success in business and project management. The discussion is being made here.
How effective and clear communication impact the project and the relation between communication and timely delivery of projects
As stated by Shoushtari et al., (2024), communication can bring collaboration. It has also been experienced in personal field of work, for maintaining a smooth working process, its needed to maintain communication among the group members or others associated with the group so that the view points of each can be understood, the voice of everyone is prioritized and the best decision based on the situational needs can be taken. At the time of doing a group work, there may be a number of people associated in the process and everyone has to be aware of the thoughts and the work process of others to maintain clarity and transparency (Amoah et al.,2021). Without oral or written communication it’s not possible to be aware of all of these factors. With proper communication, it’s possible to know about the work update of others that can help the whole project management team rote be aware of the next step that they should take. Here, the importance of communication in project management is needed and it helps in accomplishing the project on time.
Galli et al., (2021) have also made a discussion regarding the importance of communication in multicultural team settings. As per the view of Hickey, et al., (2023), diversity is the key to innovation. Hence, in order to get the best outcome, people belonging to different cultural backgrounds can be involved in a project. On the other hand, Kania et al., (2021) have stated that in a diverse team setting, the chances of facing issues or conflicts are high as people belonging to different backgrounds may have different views. The viewpoints of both of them are authentic and by contrasting the viewpoints of them it can be concluded that working in a multicultural setting can be challenging as it can cause a person to face conflicts and understanding issue. However, the matter is that it can ensure innovation and that why it’s important to develop a multicultural team when working for the successful accomplishment of a project and it’s also needed to ensure adequate collaboration among them. Now, the point is that how it can be possible to ensure adequate collaboration of these people and communication is the key to success here. It’s important to ensure regular communication among these people so that it becomes possible to help everyone associated with the team to know others and know about the work progress and it can result in the flawless execution of the project. Secondly, for multicultural communication, language can be a barrier and that why it’s important for everyone in the project management to be effective in English as it can be used as the common language of everyone and it can ensure proper collaboration and understanding within the project management team and it can also ensure proper conflict management among all members associated with the project management process. As a result of p[roper collaboration, understanding and clear discussion, projects can be accomplished on time.
Communication -related Challenges in the Context of Project Management
In the above-stated passages, it has already been stated that language can be regarded as a great challenge in a multicultural team setting. In project management work, people belonging to different cultures can be present and they can face language issue when communicating and in order to mitigate the challenge, English proficiency is needed (Safapouret al., 2021).
However, other challenges include the availability of all members for communication, transparency in communication and others. In project management process, different people can be involved and it’s not that everyone will be available for all time when the matter comes to communication ( Hickey, et al., 2023). Hence, the availability issue is a challenge here and it has to be managed in a flawless way so that the project would not face any issue in its accomplishment process. All people in the project management process have to be aware of the importance of communication and have to communicate about their availability to the project manager. Based on their availability, the communication schedule has to be developed. However, everyone has to know that they have to be available for such meetings as the success of the project is dependent on it.
Transparency in communication can be regarded as one of the most considerable factors of successful communication ( Hickey,et al., 2023). Lack of transparency is an issue that can generate conflicts and it can also affect the overall project management process. Everyone in the project management team has to be aware of it and they have to communicate in an evident way while maintaining transparency to ensure a better solution. Everyone in the project management team has to be aware of the fact that they are working with a shared goal and in order to meet the goal that is about project success, they have to make clear communication with transparency.
Recommendations for Better Communication in Project Management
? Ensuring Language Proficiency
Language is the key to communication (Safapou et al. 2021). Hence, ensuring language proficiency is needed for the communication process. It has already been stated that among all people associated with the project management task, its needed to develop english proficiency through proper training so that everyone in the meeting can raise their point in the proper manner and it can ultimately lead the project to success.
? Ensuring Transparency
A discussion about transparency is already made. In the communication process, everyone has to maintain honesty and has to show their accountability and integrity with respect to the project management process and in order to do the same, they have to maintain transparency.
? Proper Communication Planning
In the project management process, proper communication planning is needed and the project manager has to ensure that there are several scopes of communication. All project members have to communicate at least once a day through any means of communication so that everyone can be aware of others’ works and processes. The availability should not be an issue here as the communication time should be in the regular schedule of everyone associated with the project and until there is an emergency everyone should be involved in the communication. Such process and protocol can eradicate availability issues in communication. Now, several means of communication are available. Any mean can be used for regular communication based on the convenience of everyone associated with the project management task.
Conclusion
Concluding the research on the role of effective communication for managing successful projects it can be stated that communication is always essential in any field of work. Without proper communication among the team members, it becomes difficult to understand the goals and objectives of the project. Clear, timely, and transparent communication always enhances the decision-making process and promotes positive relationships with the stakeholders. Poor communication on the other hand leads to misalignment and ultimately project failure. From the theoretical lens, it is evident that communication serves as a foundational element for proper project execution. Communication is a dynamic process in complex organizations and the project managers need to adopt systematic approaches to foster superdrive project environments. So it is the responsibility of the project managers to prioritize proper and effective communication and cultivating trust among team members which enhances the project outcome and mitigates the risks to achieve greater success.
Critical Reflection on the Team Experience Using the Tuckman Model
In the group work, the model of Tuckman plays an important role. In this regard, this model has been used in order to ensure proper group development and management process. Here, a detailed discussion about the group development process is being made.
Forming
It is the initial stage of the group development process (Patterson, 2022). At this stage, I have been aware of other group members. Better to say, at this stage all group members have been aware of others associated with the process. A rough idea regarding the overall working process has been generated and through effective communication, it has been possible to understand others and after the communication, I felt that I will be comfortable in working with them.
Storming
This is the second stage of the team development process. At this stage, we have tried to develop a clear and comprehensive plan for the group work.
Norming
At this stage, we have developed an effective team bonding. There were some issues in the team planning that have been identified and managed at this stage. The final version of the team planning process has been developed here.
Performing
At this stage, the main work of the project has been done in a smooth way.
Adjourning
This is the last stage where the team members were ready to leave. However, the bonding that has been developed here is effective. However, some important works at the last stage has been done like finishing the last time works have been done while managing the feeling of termination.
References
Amoah, A., & Marimon, F. (2021). Project managers as knowledge workers: competencies for effective project management in developing countries. Administrative Sciences, 11(4), 131.
Diepstraten, M., Benschop, N. and López, M.P., 2022. The Role of Procrastination in Agile IT Projects.
Fanse, T.S. and Shirbhate, A.V., 2022. Organizational Behavior Entity: Communication Modes in Project Management. International Journal of Research in Engineering, Science and Management, 5(2), pp.174-176.
Galli, B. J. (2021). Effective Strategies for Communicating and Managing Communication in a Project Team: My Perspective. International Journal of Applied Industrial Engineering, 8(1).
Hickey, B., Gachon, C., & Cosgrove, J. (2023). Digital twin–a tool for project management in manufacturing. Procedia Computer Science, 217, 720-727.
Hussain, A.M.A., Othman, A.A., Gabr, H.S. and Aziz, T.A., 2018, December. Causes and impacts of poor communication in the construction industry. In 2nd International Conference on Sustainable Construction and Project Management–Sustainable Infrastructure and Transportation for future Cities (pp. 16-18).
Kliem, R.L. and Ludin, I.S., 2019. Reducing project risk. Routledge.
Patterson, D., 2022. 4.5. In-depth Look: Tuckman’s Model–Five Stages of Team Development. Strategic Project Management: Theory and Practice for Human Resource Professionals.
Pirozzi, M., 2018. The stakeholder management perspective to increase the success rate of complex projects. PM World Journal, 7(1), pp.1-12.
Prabavathi, R. and Nagasubramani, P.C., 2018. Effective oral and written communication. Journal of Applied and Advanced Research, 3(1), pp.29-32.
Radovic Markovic, M. and Salamzadeh, A., 2018. The importance of communication in business management. In Radovic Markovic, M., &Salamzadeh, A.(2018). The Importance of Communication in Business Management, The 7th International Scientific Conference on Employment, Education and Entrepreneurship, Belgrade, Serbia.
Safapour, E., Kermanshachi, S. and Kamalirad, S., 2021. Analysis of effective project-based communication components within primary stakeholders in construction industry. Built Environment Project and Asset Management, 11(2), pp.157-173.
Safapour, E., Kermanshachi, S., &Kamalirad, S. (2021). Analysis of effective project-based communication components within primary stakeholders in construction industry. Built Environment Project and Asset Management, 11(2), 157-173.
Saglam, Y.C., Çankaya, S.Y., Golgeci, I., Sezen, B. and Zaim, S., 2022. The role of communication quality, relational commitment, and reciprocity in building supply chain resilience: A social exchange theory perspective. Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, 167, p.102936.
Shoushtari, F., Daghighi, A., &Ghafourian, E. (2024). Application of Artificial Intelligence in Project Management. International journal of industrial engineering and operational research, 6(2), 49-63.
Swart, K., Bond-Barnard, T., & Chugh, R. (2022). Challenges and critical success factors of digital communication, collaboration and knowledge sharing in project management virtual teams: a review. International Journal of Information Systems and Project Management, 10(4), 84-103.
Yuquan Holloway, P. (2023) The role of Communication in Project Management, LinkedIn. Available at: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/role-communication-project-management-yuquan-holloway-pmp (Accessed: 14 May 2024).
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