Question & Answer: How do you "manage communication" and how do you use "communication to manage"?…

Expert Answer

Manage Communication: One of the critical success factors in a project is to have proper communication in order to manage the expectations of the project stakeholders, customers, and the sponsors. When these key people are not well informed about the project progress, there is a greater chance that the project managers are likely to face problems due to differentiated expectations and surprise factors. As a matter of fact, conflict arises not due to problems. It is because the surprise element generated by those key people involved in the project. Status updates of the projects are crucial for the sponsors that include reporting from the project team to the one who manages the project or the program and in turn to the customer and the sponsors. Two modes of communication are through status reports and meetings. Projects that are in large scale need a cultural shift and involve the mode of communication to various stakeholders. Managing communication involves several stages. It begins with Identification of Project stakeholders, Determination of communication needs, Creation of a communication plan, executing the communication plan and managing the communication document.

Using Communication to Manage: Effective communication is important to manage various situations in an organization. In order to be in the leadership roles, one must have the ability to demonstrate effective communication skills. If this doesn’t happen, leader or the manager will not possess the ability to transform his or her thought process to their teams. Ultimately this results in the poor execution of work. Hence, communication needs to be effectively used to manage people and situations. Such effective communication contributes to problem-solving situations which are a very effective essential skill to be established in international work locations for better diversity at workplace. Effective communication in management leads to a better relationship, higher productivity, greater impact in global multinational companies, better solutions to problems, better stakeholder management, context setting and motivation etc., Proper communication should be established by understanding the different nodes involved which can be identified through the urgent and important matrix. This decides the key stakeholders and their modes of communication.