“The Art of Effective Communication”

     We take communicating for granted because we do it everyday, but how many times have you run into a problem because there was a break in communication?  I am sure the answer is more than once and we have all been on each side of the communication or error in communication. Communication all depends on the clarity of the presentation, from a simple conversation to a presentation.

     In viewing the email communication, the email that was sent was very professional, business friendly and to the point. The email pointed out the importance of getting the information and even contacting Jane about the matter. The use of bold letters reinforced the urgency and importance of the getting the information in a timely manner.       

     The voicemail was very similar to the email communication, although the message contained a very calm voice. The message was very professional and business minded. The voice message contained directions as well as why the information was needed along with an understanding that Mark has been unavailable and in possible meetings. This message was almost soothing which was encouraging because Mark was not having the “finger” pointed at him for not getting the information to Jane, but an understanding why he could be delayed in getting her the data.

     The face-to-face appeared very similar to the other messages. This communication seems to have more apathy then the importance of the information. The facial expressions were friendly yet professional, keeping a smile while asking for a task to be completed as quickly as possible while seeking understanding or her on Mark’s part to comply

      Looking at three different modes of communication, it is important that the message is clear and professional, Portny, Mantel, Meredith, Shafer, Sutton, & Kramer, “Communication can be formal or informal, written or verbal.  Whatever form communications take, however, project managers should plan and prepare so their message are received and correctly interpreted by project audience” (Portny, Mantel, Meredith, Shafer, Sutton, & Kramer, 2008). The type of communication is based on the people you are communicating with; if it is your peers the communication can contain jargon and be lighted hearted and joking. Whereas communication with your peers within a business environment is going to be professional, no jargon, it can be light hearted but a sense of professionalism. Proper communication is the key to success especially when it comes to completing a project on time and successful.

References

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (n.d.). The art of effective communication. [Multimedia program].

Portny, S. E., Mantel, S. J., Meredith, J. R., Shafer, S. M., Sutton, M. M., & Kramer, B. E.

Learning from a Project "Post-mortem"

     As I thought about this assignment the only project that came to mind was a recent inventory that we, the audit team, was assigned to complete for the department. One important thing that came to mind was Greer stating, “develop a list of lessons learned so they don’t repeat their mistakes in the next project”(Greer, 2010). This was so true of the past inventory project, once the project was completed, I had a million ways that the project could have been handled better.  

       Now that my knowledge of project management is growing, I now realize the project could have been handled much different from the beginning. Basically there were four of us that were to inventory the entire work based education, which entailed three buildings on the site run by the college. We were simply given a week to complete the project and were to inventory everything the college owned, but not the software company’s items. As we entered the first building our mouths dropped, nothing was tagged and there was a plethora of goods and items to inventory. The manager of the building did hand us an inventory sheet along with the help of another employee that showed us where everything was and who owned what.

Needless to say we finished this in the time frame, kudos for us. Well I now had the job of entering all this information into a Excel spreadsheet based on each location, I had over a 100 pages of this and was given seven days to complete the task. It was awful, basically data entry, but it was not an easy in put. I can say the project was a success and the deadline met, but the project could have been handled much differently if we had all the information, the objectives and the expectation.

As we move forward in our readings, I now understand the importance of clear objectives and why every team member should understand each step in meeting the objectives.  I had a great team; we got along and worked very well together to complete the project. If we had not been able to work together, it would have ended much differently.

References:

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