PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Project Communication
UNIT-17 Management

Learning Outcomes
By the end of this unit the learner will be able to:

 Recognize the importance of communication in a project

 Explain the processes involved in project communication management
 Discuss how the project communication plan is created

Copyrights © OHSC (Oxford Home Study Centre). All Rights Reserved. Unit 1182-V1 Page 1
 PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Unit 17
Project Communication Management

The Project Communications Management knowledge area is made up of the following processes:
Communications Planning, Information Distribution, Performance Reporting, and Administrative Closure.

Although the processes in the Project Communications knowledge area can be related to general
communication skills, they are not the same thing. Communication skills are considered general
management skills that are utilized by the project manager on a daily basis. The communications
knowledge area has processes that seek to ensure that all project information, including project plans,
meeting notes, risk assessments, etc. is collected and documented. These processes also ensure that
information is distributed and shared with project members and appropriate stakeholders. The
information is archived at the close of the project and used as a reference for future projects. We refer
to this as historical information in several project processes.

Project
Communication
Management

Administrative Information Performance

Communication
Closure Belongs to Distribution belongs Reporting
Planning belongs to to belongs to
Planning Closing Executing Controlling

Fig: 17.1 Project Communications Management

Project Communications Management centres on determining who needs what information and when; it
then produces the plan to provide the required information. Project Communications Management
includes generating, storing, collecting and disseminating communications. Successful communication is
required for successful projects. Communication is the key link between people, information and ideas.
Project Communications Management includes four processes, which may overlap one another and
other knowledge areas:

 Performance Reporting: The project manager relies on EVM and other performance
measurement to create status reports, forecast project conditions and measure performance.

Copyrights © OHSC (Oxford Home Study Centre). All Rights Reserved. Unit 1182-V1 Page 2
 PROJECT MANAGEMENT

 Administrative Closure: Project managers need a routine of documentation, communication,

and information distribution to close out a phase or project.
 Communication Planning: Project managers need to identify the stakeholders and their
communication needs and determine how to fulfil their requirements.
 Information Distribution: Project managers need to communicate the correct information
on the correct schedule to the appropriate stakeholders.

Communications Planning
It is essential for project managers to provide adequate planning for communication because so much of
their time is invested in communications. Such planning focuses on who needs what information and
when they need it. Identifying the stakeholders’ requirements for communication, determining what
information is actually needed, and then planning to deliver the needed information on a preset
schedule or based on project conditions are the tasks of the project manager.
Typically, communications planning is completed early in the project. The modality of the
communications is documented as part of this planning. Some stakeholders may prefer a hard-copy
document rather than an e-mail. These needs may change later in the project. Throughout the project,
the needs of the stakeholders, the type of information requested, and the modality of the information
should be reviewed for accuracy and updated if necessary.

Identifying Communication Requirements

Stakeholders need different types of information depending on their interest in the project and the
priority of the project. The project manager must complete an analysis of the identified stakeholders to
determine what information they actually need and how often the information is needed.
There is no value in expending resources on generating information, reports, and analyses for
stakeholders who have no interest in the information. An accurate assessment of stakeholders’ needs for
information is required early in the project planning processes. As a rule of thumb, information should
be provided when its presence will contribute to success or when a lack of information will contribute to
failure.
The project manager and the project team might identify the demand for communications on the basis
of the following requirements:

 Project structure within the performing organization

 Departments and disciplines involved with the project work
 Number of individuals involved in the project and their locale
 Number and type of external communication needs (media, community or customers)
 Stakeholder responsibility.

Copyrights © OHSC (Oxford Home Study Centre). All Rights Reserved. Unit 1182-V1 Page 3
 PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Exploring Communication Modalities

The project manager should identify all of the required and approved methods of communicating as part
of the communications planning. Some projects may be very sensitive and contain classified information
to which not all stakeholders should be privy. Other projects may contain information that is open to
anyone to explore. Whatever the case, the project manager should identify what requirements exist, if
any, for the communication modalities. Communication modalities may also include reports, memos, e-
mails, meetings, and so on. The preferred methods of communicating must be identified by the project
manager, based on the conditions of the message to be communicated. Consider the following, which
may have an effect on the communication plan:

 Information schedule: Regularly scheduled reports and updates may be required by

stakeholders, such as management and the project customer. If conditions within the project
affect the project success, immediate communications may be expected.
 Technology: Some technology changes may be needed to fulfil the project request because of
the demands of the project. For example, the project may require an internal website that details
project progress. In the absence of such a website, time and money will need to be invested in
this communication requirement.
 Project length: The length of the project can have an influence on the project technology. A
long-term project’s communication model may be replaced due to advances in technology. A
short-term project may not have the same technology requirements as a long-term project but
may nevertheless benefit from the successful model used by a larger project.
 Project staffing: The project manager should evaluate the abilities of the project team. This is
to determine whether the team possesses appropriate levels of competency required to fulfil the
communication requirements or whether training will be required for the project team.

Evaluating the Project Constraints and Assumptions

Every project has constraints and assumptions. Constraints are any force that limits the project’s options.
A project constraint, such as contractual obligations, may require extensive communications. The
requirements of the contract should be evaluated against the demands of the project staff to determine
whether extra resources will be needed to handle the communications.
Communications can be affected by assumptions. Consider a project operating under the assumption
that communications with management can take place only through e-mail, whereas the management
expects the project manager to provide formal status reports and daily updates via memos and also
needs staffing updates from each of the project team members. This false assumption may impose time
demands that the project manager had not expected.

Copyrights © OHSC (Oxford Home Study Centre). All Rights Reserved. Unit 1182-V1 Page 4
 PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Creating the Communications Plan

The project manager and the project team can determine what communications are needed based on
stakeholder analysis. There is no advantage in supplying stakeholders with information that is not
desired or needed. Time spent delivering and creating unnecessary information is a waste of resources.
A Communications Management Plan can organize and document the process, types, and expectations
of communications.

It provides:

 Specifics on how the information to be distributed should be organized, the level of expected
detail for the types of communication, and the terminology expected within the communications.
 A system to gather, organize, store, and disseminate appropriate information to the appropriate
people. The system includes procedures for correcting and updating incorrect information that
may have been distributed.
 Details on how required information flows through the project to the correct individuals. The
communication structure documents where the information will originate, to whom the
information will be sent, and in what modality the information is acceptable.
 Schedules of when the various types of communication should occur. Some communications,
such as status meetings, should occur according to a regular schedule; other communications
may be prompted by conditions within the project.
 Methods to retrieve information as needed.
 Instructions on how the Communications Management Plan might be updated as the project
progresses.

Information Distribution
The process of ensuring that the appropriate stakeholders receive the appropriate information when and
how they need it is called Information Distribution. Essentially, information distribution is the
implementation of the Communications Management Plan. The Communications Management Plan
contains details on how the information is to be created and dispersed, and also how the dispersed
information is archived.
There are three elements that serve as inputs to information distribution:

 Work results: Work results, good or bad, serve as inputs to communication because they show
quality issues, progress (or lack of progress), and other relevant information.
 Communications Management Plan: This plan serves as the guide on how to communicate
on project issues within the performing organization.
 Project plan: The comprehensive project may have information, requirements, or described
conditions that are integrated with communications.

Copyrights © OHSC (Oxford Home Study Centre). All Rights Reserved. Unit 1182-V1 Page 5
 PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Examining Communication Skills

Imagine that you are told that communication skills are used to send and receive information. That
would sound easy, would it not? However, if communication is so easy, why are there so many problems
on projects stemming from misunderstandings, failure to communicate, miscommunications, and similar
communication failings? All models have a sender, a message and a recipient, regardless of the
technology involved. Several additional elements can be included, depending on the communication
model. Here is a summary of all the different parts of communication models:

 Sender is the person or group sending the message to the receiver.

 Encoder is the device or technology that encodes the message to travel over the medium. For
example, a telephone encodes the sender’s voice to travel over the medium, the telephone
wires.
 Decoder is the inverse of the encoder. If a message is encoded, a decoder translates it back into
a usable format. For example, the sender’s message is encoded to travel over the telephone
wires, and the receiver’s phone system translates the message back into a usable format.
 Receiver is, of course, the recipient of the message.
 Medium is the path the message takes from the sender to the receiver. This is the modality in
which the communication travels, and it typically refers to an electronic model, such as e-mail or
telephone.

Creating Successful Communications

Verbal communication is the most common type of communication between a sender and a receiver.
The project manager should remember that half of communication is listening when verbal
communications are involved. This means the project manager must confirm that the receiver
understands the message being sent. The confirmation of the sent message can be seen in the
recipient’s feedback, body language, and verbal confirmation of the sent message. Five terms describe
the process of communicating:

 Para lingual is the pitch, tone, and inflections in the sender’s voice that affect the message
being sent.
 Feedback is the confirmation by the sender that the receiver understands the message. This can
be done by directly asking for a response, questions for clarification, or other confirmation of the
sent message.
 Active listening is when the receiver confirms the message is being received through feedback,
prompts for clarity, questions, and other signs of confirmation of the received message.
 Non-verbal Approximately 55 per cent of communication is non-verbal. Hand gestures, facial
expressions, and body language contribute to the message.

Copyrights © OHSC (Oxford Home Study Centre). All Rights Reserved. Unit 1182-V1 Page 6
 PROJECT MANAGEMENT

 Effective listening is when the receiver is involved in the listening experience by paying
attention to visual clues from the speaker and paralingual characteristics and by asking relevant
questions.

The words in an oral message actually account for only seven per cent of the message, while 38 per cent
of the message is accounted for by its tonality. The remaining 55 per cent of the message is body
language. A person talking to a dog is a classic example. The dog will probably be receptive if the person
has a friendly voice and posture. However, if the person has a mean voice and guarded posture, the dog
may feel threatened and on guard. When talking with stakeholders, the project managers must be aware
of their body language and posture — not just the words they are communicating.
The medium in communication can help or hinder the message. For example, when a project manager
talks to a stakeholder in person, the stakeholder has the advantage not only of hearing the message and
tone but also of seeing the body language. The message is interpreted by just the words and tonality if
we remove the body language from a conversation. Always be aware of the disadvantages of the various
non-direct communication modalities: reports, memos, e-mail, and letters.

Distributing Information
The project manager, the project sponsor, the project team, and other stakeholders need and supply
information to and from one another throughout the project management. There are different methods
of distributing information. The best modality is the one that is most appropriate to the information
being conveyed. For example, an e-mail may not be the correct format to share variance information on
project costs. Information can be distributed through the following methods. There are other methods as
well, which can be selected according to project demands and as technology allows:

 Project meetings
 Hard-copy documentation
 Videoconferences
 A project website
 Databases
 Faxes
 E-mail

Copyrights © OHSC (Oxford Home Study Centre). All Rights Reserved. Unit 1182-V1 Page 7
 PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Project
E-mail Meeting
s

Hard-copy
Faxes Documentation

Databases Videoconferences

A project
Website

Fig. 17.2

Examining the Results of Information Distribution

Information distribution results in the following:

 Project records are vital to the project team. Project records are the correspondence, e-mails,
memos, and any other project-relevant information. Securing and organizing this information
throughout the project for future reference is important too. This information should be stored
as part of the project archives.
 Project presentations are useful in providing information to the project team, customers,
stakeholders, and other management. The degree of formality of the presentation and delivery
should be appropriate for the conditions and information being delivered within the project.
 Project reports are formal communications on project status, activities and conditions.
Customers, management and policies within the performing organization may require the reports
at different times.

Reporting Project Performance

Customers and other stakeholders will need updates on the project performance throughout the project
management. The process of collecting, organizing and disseminating information on how the project
resources are being used to complete the project objectives is called Performance Reporting. In other
words, the people footing the bill and affected by the outcome of the project need some confirmation
that things are going as promised by the project manager.
Although cost and schedule are the most common concerns, performance reporting covers more than
just these two. Another huge concern is the influence of risks on the project success. The project team

Copyrights © OHSC (Oxford Home Study Centre). All Rights Reserved. Unit 1182-V1 Page 8
 PROJECT MANAGEMENT

and the project manager must continue to monitor and evaluate risks, including pending risks and their
impact on the project success. Finally, the level of quality is another major issue with reporting. If the
quality of the work is unacceptable, no one will praise the project manager and the project team for
completing the project on time and on budget. In fact, the project team will have to redo the work,
business may be lost, individuals may be harmed as a result of the poor quality of the project work, or
the project might be declared a failure and cancelled as a result of poor quality. Performance reporting
involves six things:

 Status reports: How is the project currently progressing?

 Progress reports: How complete is the project? How much more work remains?
 Scope: How is the project meeting the project scope?
 Quality: What are the results of quality testing, analysis, and audit?
 Risks: What risks have been posed to the project and what has been their effect on it?
 Forecasting: Will this project end on schedule? Will the project be on budget? How much
longer will this project take? And how much more money will this project need to finish?

Preparing for Performance Reporting

One of the key inputs to performance reporting is the project plan. It contains the WBS, the project
scope and requirements, and other documentation that can be used to measure project performance
and progress. Work results are other inputs to performance reporting. Work results can be examined
and measured for quality, money required to complete the work results, and the time spent completing
the work. The work results can be measured against the estimates and expectations to reveal variances,
just like progress reports or completion-of-work results. The Communications Management Plan will
detail how values are measured, for example EVM, and at what point variances call for communications
to the appropriate stakeholders.
The final inputs to performance-reporting are other project records. These may be memos, product
description, and other information relevant to the project. For example, a project may have multiple
vendors whose contracts require differing levels and types of reporting from the project staff.
Alternatively, a customer may request project status updates every quarter, regardless of where the
project is in its timeline. This is a communication requirement that would appear in the Communications
Management Plan.

Reviewing Project Performance

To ascertain the progress and level of success the project team is achieving with the project work, the
project manager will host performance review meetings. Performance review meetings focus on the
work that has been completed and how the work results are living up to the cost and time estimates. In
addition, to protect the project from change and creep, the project manager and the project team will
evaluate the project scope. The project manager and the project team will also examine quality and its

Copyrights © OHSC (Oxford Home Study Centre). All Rights Reserved. Unit 1182-V1 Page 9
 PROJECT MANAGEMENT

effect on the project as a whole. Finally, a discussion on pending or past risks and determining any new
risks and overall risk likelihood and impact on the project’s success should be led by the project manager.

Analyzing Project Variances

Performance review meetings are not the only tools the project manager uses to assess project
performance. Prior to the performance reviews, or spurred by a performance review, the project
manager needs to examine the scope, quality, time, and cost variances within the project. The project
manager will examine the estimates supplied for the time and cost of activities and then compare them
to the time and cost actually experienced.
The goals of analyzing project variances are:

 Preventing future variances

 Determining the root cause of variances
 Determining whether the variances are within a predetermined acceptable range, such as minus
ten per cent or plus five per cent
 Determining whether the variances can be expected in future project work
 Determining whether the variances are anomalies or the estimates were flawed.

In addition to examining the common factors of time and cost variances, the project manager must also
examine any scope, resource and quality variances. A change in the scope can skew time and cost
predictions. A variance in resources can alter the project schedule and even the predicted costs of a
project. Quality variances may result in rework, lost time, lost money, and even rejection of the project
product.

Completing Administrative Closure

The end of the project and the end of each project phase need administrative closure. Administrative
closure is the documenting of the project results and the acceptance of the product by the project
sponsor or the customer. Administrative closure is also required if a project needs to be terminated.
Administrative closure includes the following:

 Documentation of the project work

 Analysis of project success or failure
 Analysis of the effectiveness of the project management process
 Lessons-Learned documentation
 Confirmation that the product is in alignment with requirements and specifications.

Administrative closure should take place at the end of each phase and at the end of the project.
Important information may be lost if the project manager waits too long to complete administrative
closure. The resource pool description should also be updated. This reflects any new skills learned by the
project team members as part of the project.

Copyrights © OHSC (Oxford Home Study Centre). All Rights Reserved. Page 10
 PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Preparing for Administrative Closure

Any documentation used throughout the project phases that demonstrates project performance should
be organized. As part of these performance measurement documents, the performance measurements
set in the project plan should be included. As the administrative closure takes place, the project manager
can refer to the original performance measurement goals and compare these to the experienced
performance measurements. This comparison will reveal any variances and show overall project or
phase performance.
In addition to the performance measurement documentation, the project manager will need all the
other documentation. This will include the project plans, technical documentation, drawings, product
specifications, and any other information relevant to the final product or the project or phase. These
documents allow the project manager, the project sponsor and the customer to inspect the project
product to confirm that the deliverable of the phase is in alignment with what was planned.

Completing Administrative Closure

Armed with the project information, the project manager can document, confirm, and close the project
or phase. The end result of the project or phase includes the following:

 Project archives: All the documentation of the project should be organized, structured, and
indexed for fast and accurate reference. Additionally, any database that contains project
information should be updated to reflect the completion of the project. Failure to update the
databases and project archives may mislead future projects attempting to emulate the current
project.
 Project closure: The customer or the project sponsor should confirm that the project has met
all the requirements of the project scope. Once the requirements have been met, the project
manager may have to perform additional activities, as required by the performing organization.
The project manager may need to sign off on the project deliverable, complete any financial
records, and complete a final project summary for management and employee evaluations.
 Procurement issues: If a project includes procurement issues at any time, it is advisable to
index all contracts, invoices, warranties, purchase orders, and any other financially-related
documentation in order that they might be archived for future reference.
 Lessons Learned: The project manager and the project team should complete the Lessons
Learned for future reference as the project proceeds through its various phases. For future
reference, the Lessons-Learned documentation should be archived at the end of the project
closure.

Copyrights © OHSC (Oxford Home Study Centre). All Rights Reserved. Page 11
 PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Further Reading:

 Methodological and Ontological Principles of Observation and

Analysis (Routledge study in Communication, Organisation and
Organi), (2020), By Francois Cooren, Fabienne Malbois

 Communicating Authority in Interorganisational Collaboration

(Routledge study in Communication, Organisation and Organi),
(2021), By Rebecca M. Rice

Copyrights © OHSC (Oxford Home Study Centre). All Rights Reserved. Page 12