This week we have explored techniques to effectively communicate within a project team. We utilized the Multimedia Program: "The Art of Effective Communication" to identify key features of different types of communication that would be commonly used in a project team setting: email, voicemail and face to face.
I found the language of all of the messages to be very informal and nonspecific but that it was only in the face to face setting that this seemed to work. Both email and voicemail would probably require a more formal manner of communication to clearly relay the desired outcomes. Portny et al define formal and informal communications as (p.357):
-Formal communications are preplanned and conducted in a standard format in accordance with an established schedule.
-Informal communications occur as people think of information they want to share.
(Portny, Mantel, Meredith, Shafer, Sutton, 2008)
It seems that the more we move away from face to face interactions the more formal we need to be in our communication to ensure our messages are received. I also believe that it would have to be a requirement to have some kind of full access log for all project team members to utilize. If all team members could record communications in this log and read the communications of other members then it would be easier to relay information and thoughts that come from the informal conversations that occur so often in face to face settings.
In the online high school we have a contact log where instructors, advisors and administration is able to record all contact with students and then utilize this log when contacting students. This way everyone has updated information on the student’s progress and needs. I believe that a similar model would work for a project team log as well.
Thank you.
Portny, S. E., Mantel, S. J., Meredith, J. R., Shafer, S. M., Sutton, M. M., & Kramer, B. E. (2008). Project management: Planning, scheduling, and controlling projects. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Hi Elizabeth,
ReplyDeleteI actually see these communications very differently than you did. I very much so like the idea of keeping a log of interactions, but of course by using e-mail you automatically have a complete record of the communication. This record can come in very handy! I do completely agree that generally face to face communication is best, but in our example from this week, I felt the face to face communication was very week. I stated in my blog that the speaker was speaking to, instead of with the message receiver. Patrick went on in my blog comments to describe the sender/receiver feedback loop, which was found in the text for our last class. To know that a message has been received as intended a give and take is required (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, & Zvacek, 2009). Our speaker here just delivered an e-mail or voicemail in person. I felt she came off as condescending, and a little rude.
It is really interesting to see how different people read these things. Int depends a great deal on our individual preferences. I do prefer face to face communication, but I did not feel it was carried out well here.
You brought up that it has to be understood by everyone exactly how formal communication is to be handled. That is the real deciding factor, and just that set rule may change how people see these different examples of communication.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on our samples!
-Clint
Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2009). Teaching and learning at a distance: Foundations of distance education (4th ed.) Boston, MA: Pearson.