Communicating Effectively

Communicating Effectively

There are multiple forms of effective communication by sharing the message to the right people in a timely matter (Portny, Mantel, Meredith, Shafer, Sutton, and Kramer, 2008, p. 359). To communicate both oral and written can be a critical part for a project manager. The message can be delivering by written text, visual and video. The multimedia program “The Art of Effective Communication” provides different modality of presenting information to your client.

Dr. Stolovitch (n.d.) states that effective communication is the influence by:

1. Spirit and attitude

2. Tonality and body language
3. Timing
4. Personality of the recipient

A project manager must be able to communicate to their audience in a straightforward matter no matter how you want to share information. It is important for each project team member to understand the message. Not all team members have the same way to understand the information.  

Email

First, the written text with the use of multimedia is presented in a email format to a colleague. The written text is the central part and words must be carefully chosen to minimize the misunderstanding of the message (Portny, Mantel, Meredith, Shafer, Sutton, and Kramer, 2008, p. 358). An important factor of the written text is to keep a standard format by making it easier for the audience to look for information. Jane must stay focus on the main goal of the topic. However, the written text can loss the some influential factors when presenting to another individual or client. The written text does not allow the audience to ask questions to make sure they have clarified of the content. The Jane cannot verify that Mark has received the message.  

Voicemail

Second, the voicemail is another way for individuals to communicate a message. Jane did a great job on reminding Mark the importance of meeting the deadline. Jane explains the importance of Mark finishing his part of the project.

Face-to-Face

The final deliverable is the use of face to face communication. The message can be lost in an audio conversation between individuals. Jane’s body language was all about business with no direct connection. The effective communication between Jane and Mark shared important information through the use of face to face interaction. Communication is design to be one of the most effective ways to share information. A meeting between individuals is another great way to share information in a face to face environment. Team meetings are a very valuable tool because individuals are able to plan and manage effectively (Portny, Mantel, Meredith, Shafer, Sutton, and Kramer, 2008, p. 359).

Communicating with Project Managers

The communication seen to be continues through each systematic process. Jane needed to motivate Mark with the use of a project progress report. A project progress report is a help tool because problems and corrective action can take place before moving into the next stage. Jane needs to make Mark accountable of his project. Project managers must hold individual accountable of their assignment to make sure it is complete on time.

Katie

References:

Portny, S. E., Mantel, S. J., Meredith, J. R., Shafer, S. M., Sutton, M. M., & Kramer, B. E. (2008). Communicating and documenting project progress. In Project Management: Planning, scheduling, and controlling projects (pp. 356-370). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Stolovitch, H. (n.d.). Communicating with Stakeholders. Lecture presented for Laureate Education Inc

Learning from Project Post-Mortem

Project “Post Mortem” is important for project managers and team members to take into account after a project. It is a great way to learner from mistakes and reward success. The questions are asked by individual team, members that allow them to work independently on their own thoughts (Greer, M, 2010, p. 42). I feel it is a great way to make sure the same mistakes are not repeating.

In my current profession as IT Administrator I enjoy many unexpected activities that need to be resolve very quickly. However, there are projects that take a long time to plan and execute. For example, I am creating a classified conference room with an assortment of IT equipment. I did a lot of research before choosing the right equipment. I have to keep the Executives and Supervisor needs in mind when presenting the equipment for the office. However, I forgot one important factor when gathering my research I forgot to provide a lot of assortments of technology tools. With the equipment being classified, there are many other rules that need to be kept in mind. With a little experience with classified equipment, I missed out on making sure the equipment meets the classified standards. After I present the equipment list, my supervisor provided me with detail guidance. His guidance helped me understand the importance of a classified system. I feel the one thing that failed was not asking enough questions about the equipment of a classified system. A few questions that I ask myself for executing the project:

 After the project questions:

1. How would you do things differently next time to avoid frustration?

2. How could we have improved our need-feasibility or analysis phase?

3. How could we have improved our work process for creating deliverables?

The organization of the project is an importance when presenting my research. I have a strong working relationship with my supervisor that made it easy for me to receive feedback. One way I feel I can improve in the future is developing a matrix organization, “enable a quick and efficient response to projects that must be performed under today’s dynamic business conditions” (Portny, Mantel, Meredith, Shafer, Sutton, and Kramer, 2008, p. 61). The project management has three basic operations planning, organizing and controlling. The planning stage is the first and most important part to a project. A project manager uses the planning stage to keep track of the requirements of the project. To establish a plan helps the project manager to, “clarify details and reduce the chances of forgetting something” (Portny, Mantel, Meredith, Shafer, Sutton, and Kramer, 2008, p. 79). To acquire the project information the project manager must be able to assign task to team members.

Katie

References:

Greer, M. (2010). The project management minimalist: Just enough PM to rock your projects! (Laureate custom ed.). Baltimore: Laureate Education, Inc.

Portny, S., Mantel, S., Meredith, J., Shafer, S., & Sutton, M, Kramer, B. (2009). Project management: planning, scheduling and controlling projects. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

EDUC 6145 – 4, Project Management in Education and Training

Welcome to my blog. I created this blog to continue my journey as an Instructional Designer at Walden University.  You will find a great deal of information of my course work at Walden University.  Also, you can join my site. 

Katie