12/09/2023

Project Communication
COMMUNICATIONS
Successful construction project execution is
virtually impossible unless you have an effective
communication system.
“Effective communication must
be focused on the receiver.”
- Robert D. Ramsey

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Project Communication Project Communication

Good communications between the parties
involved, a steady flow of information, and
Good communication
adequate documentation of the activities
skills are basic to
developed during the construction project are
becoming a successful
key factors for analyzing the tasks carried out
construction manager.
and for avoiding later conflicts, considering that
the goal of the company is the integration of
processes at the project and business level.

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Why Do Communications Fail? Why Do Communications Fail?

There is a myriad of reasons why communications
• Not establishing rapport
fail in all parts of our life. A few of the more
common reasons business communications fail • Assuming that others have the same information
are the following: on the subject that you have
• Being impatient not hearing the other party out
• Not having a clear goal in mind
• Mistaking interpretations for facts
• Staying in a negative mode
• Failure to analyze and to handle resistance
• Concentrating on your
• Being ashamed to admit you don't understand
own thoughts to the
• Overabundance of ego
exclusion of the other
person's ideas
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Communication Importance of Communication

• Transfer of information and understanding • Communication promotes motivation.
from one person to another. • Communication is a source of information
• Social process in which two or more parties • Communication also plays a crucial role
exchange information and share meaning. in altering individual’s attitudes.
• Communication also helps in socializing.
“Communication is what the receiver • Communication also assists in controlling
understands, not what the sender says.” process.

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The Purpose of Communication

The Communication Process
Achieve
Coordination
Action

Express
Share
feelings and
Information
emotions

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The Communication Process BARRIERS TO COMMUNICATION

• Personal Barriers
– Emotions
– Listening
– Psychological Distance
• Physical Barriers
– Noise
– Geographical distance
• Semantic Barriers
– Language
– Symbols

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Specific Barriers to Communication Project Communications

• Filtering Typically, project communications fall into the
following key categories:
• Selective Perception
• Information Overload 1. Project correspondence
• Emotions 2. Audiovisual presentations
• Communication Apprehension 3. Project reporting
• Lack of Credibility 4. Meetings
• Difference between people 5. Training
• Attitude 6. Listening
• Improper Timing

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Verbal communication is the appropriate

Interpersonal Communication method if the sender:
• Wants to appear informal
• Verbal communication
• Wants to invite suggestions and ideas
- the use of verbal communication is very
convenient and quick and it provides the • Is explaining something complex and might
opportunity for a rapid feedback. need clarification
- A major disadvantage of this communication • Needs to be very diplomatic and feels he will
is the distortion of the message when it be more effective face-to-face
passes to several people. • Has important news to impact
• Has something confidential to say and putting
it in writing is risky

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Verbal communication is not appropriate

when the sender: Interpersonal Communication
• Wants to maintain formality or distance from
• Written communication
the other person
- includes memos, notice-boards, and letters to
• Wants a permanent record of what has been
staff, emails, faxes, internal newspaper, and
said
instant messaging.
• Need receiver’s comments to be in writing for
legal reason
• Wants to avoid further discussion of the
subject

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The advantages of written communication are Written communication is not appropriate

the following:
when:
• It is formal and authoritative
• The receiver needs to ask question or seek
• It provides a permanent record of what have
clarification
been said
• It provides a document useful for legal • More discussion is needed before facts are
purposes established
• A number of people will receive exactly the • A friendly and informal atmosphere is needed
same information • The message is very urgent
• It is useful in communicating something • The message is confidential
complicated
• The information may be using upsetting to the
• It is sometimes quicker
receiver
• Words can be chosen carefully
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Interpersonal Communication Kinds of Communication

• DOWNWARD COMMUNICATION
• Nonverbal communication >refers to message flows from higher levels to lower
- communication that takes place through facial levels of authority.
expressions, body movements, eye contact, • UPWARD COMMUNICATION
and other physical gesture >refers to messages from persons in lower level
positions to persons in higher positions.
• HORIZONTAL COMMUNICATION
>refers to messages sent to individuals or groups
form another of the same organizational level or
position.

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• DIAGONAL COMMUNICATION External Communication

> Communication that takes place between a
manager and employees of other workgroups
is called diagonal communication.
• EXTERNAL COMMUNICATION
> Communication that takes place between a
company and external groups such as -
suppliers, vendors, banks, financial institutes
etc.

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COMMUNICATIONAL NETWORKS IN
UPWARD DOWNWARD THE ORGANIZATION
COMMUNICATION

INFLUENCE
COMMUNICATION
* Problems and exceptions *Implementation of goal, • FORMAL SMALL GROUP NETWORKS
INTERPRET

* Suggestions strategies and objectives

* Performance report * Job instructions
* Financial report * Procedures and practices
HORIZONTAL
COMMUNICATION
COORDINATION
* Interdepartmental problem
solving
* Interdepartmental coordination
* Staff advising

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COMMUNICATIONAL NETWORKS IN COMMUNICATIONAL NETWORKS IN

THE ORGANIZATION THE ORGANIZATION
• FORMAL SMALL GROUP NETWORKS • FORMAL SMALL GROUP NETWORKS
– Chain network of formal small groups mainly
follows the formal chain of command
– Circle network has the leader as the central
person for conducting all communications within
the group.
– Wheel network is characterised by openness that
enables the joint communication of all members
of the group.

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COMMUNICATIONAL NETWORKS IN ORGANIZATIONAL GRAPEVINE AND

THE ORGANIZATION RUMORS
• INFORMAL SMALL GROUP NETWORKS The grapevine is an informal communication system.
– Informal communication in the organization is Factors that encourage grapevine activity are as follows:
known as grapevine is secondary and very • work that allow conversation
complicated communication network that is based • a job that provides information desired by others
on personal contact, and opposed to the system • personality of communicator
of formal communication it does not follow a • excitement and insecurity
particular line settled in advance. • involvement of friends and associates
• recent information
• procedure that brings people into contact

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ORGANIZATIONAL GRAPEVINE AND GUIDLEINES FOR CONTROL OF

RUMORS RUMOR
• Remove its cause in order to prevent it
• The major problem with the grapevine – and one • Apply efforts primarily to serious rumors
that gives the grapevine its poor reputation – is • Refute rumors with facts
Rumor. • Deal with rumors as soon as possible
• Rumor is grapevine information that is • Emphasize the face-to-face supply of facts, confirmed in
communicated without secure standards of evidence writing if necessary
being present • Provide facts from reliable sources
• Refrain from repeating rumor while refuting it
• Encourage assistance of informal and union leaders if
they are cooperative
• Listen to all rumors in order to understand what they
may mean

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IMPACT OF ELECTRONIC
Communication Systems COMMUNICATION
• EMAIL
– The ability to release information to many
different people at once, without calling a meeting
CMs need to keep
or requiring printing of the materials, turned into
abreast of the latest a money- and time-saving device.
communications – Negatively, more people spend more time on
hardware. email than on other projects.

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IMPACT OF ELECTRONIC IMPACT OF ELECTRONIC

COMMUNICATION COMMUNICATION
• TEXT MESSAGING • INSTANT MESSAGING
– Rather than seeing or talking to a person face-to- – allowed people to reach other people without
face, you can talk to a person over the phone having to use the phone.
– has its own language, an abbreviated form of – The downside is that employees are less likely to
speech that has found its way into classrooms and engage in social activities away from their
businesses computers.

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IMPACT OF ELECTRONIC
COMMUNICATIONS ON SITE
COMMUNICATION
• SOCIAL MEDIA The approach to communications on a site is
– Rather than talking to their friends in person, they dependent on many factors: the nature of the
can post a comment about their life. project, the size of the contract, the organization
– Cyber bullying is one of the problems with social chart adopted by the project manager and the
media. contractor, the command chain within them,
– The amount of information you put out on the and so on (Mincks and Johnston, 2010).
Internet over social media, intended or not, affect
you in the real world.

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COMMUNICATIONS ON SITE COMMUNICATIONS ON SITE

Most of the communication on site actually
takes place through discussions, telephone
conversations and spoken messages, but they
often need to be formalized in writing.
This applies to requests, reports, proposals,
approvals, rejections, technical notes and such
like.

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COMMUNICATIONS ON SITE COMMUNICATIONS ON SITE

• Daily logs
The daily logs detail all significant actions or
important activities (formal or informal) that
take place during the execution of the
construction works.

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COMMUNICATIONS ON SITE COMMUNICATIONS ON SITE

• Reports • Construction diary
The reports can be regular or delivered on a The construction diary (or orders book) registers
one-off basis. Regular reports are usually issued orders, communications and instructions from
on a monthly basis, although they may also be the project manager to the construction site
issued bimonthly, trimonthly or even weekly. A manager, in addition to specifying all problems
report is prepared which summarizes all the and incidents that could arise during the
work done during the relevant period (Mincks construction works
and Johnston, 2010).

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COMMUNICATIONS ON SITE COMMUNICATIONS ON SITE

• Construction diary • Meetings
The diary should contain three specific key topics: Communication during the construction phase is
● problems detected, either a defect or omission in generally conducted through meetings: internal
the project, bad execution of the construction works (construction team) or external (between the
or other exceptional circumstances parties involved, including subcontractors). The
● proposed solutions and recommended changes – usual purpose of these meetings is the coordination
the decisions made are written down of the construction works, providing a forum in
which common topics of interest can be discussed
● orders transmitted which may affect an isolated between all the agent involved
case or be general, giving rise to changes in the
technical specifications or the drawings.

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COMMUNICATIONS ON SITE COMMUNICATIONS ON SITE

• Meetings • Meetings

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COMMUNICATIONS ON SITE COMMUNICATIONS ON SITE

• Photographs and videos on site • Information and documentation flow in
On-site photographs are taken in digital format, construction
which means that hundreds of photos can be Having formed the project team and determined
taken daily. As indicated, the most relevant ones the responsibilities of each of the members, a
can be sent to the parties involved as an table or matrix of responsibilities can be
attachment to the daily log using email or prepared which clearly assigns functions to each
intranet. of the team members. Then, an important step is
to develop a document procedure which allows
the filing of information (paperwork or digital)
from different documents, including emails.
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COMMUNICATIONS ON SITE COMMUNICATIONS ON SITE

• Information and documentation flow in • Information and documentation flow in
construction construction

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COMMUNICATIONS ON SITE
• Information and documentation flow in
construction

THANK YOU!

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