Introduction
When it comes to project management, it is essential for project managers to understand the importance of communication and know when and how to communicate with their clients, project teams and CEOs. Besides, since bad news may happen during a project, managers also need to know when and how the bad news occurs and how to deliver them to other stakeholders …show more content…
The best way for a project manager to communicate is early and often through all the procedures of a project, even in the closing stage.
As it may be too late when the impact of a problem is clear, project manager should ensure that all the stakeholders are aware of the risk early on. According to the case study of Barrick Australia-Pacific Organization in the White Paper (Project Management Institute, 2013c), early communication uncovers potential risks of a project plan.
Besides, in order not to make wrong assumptions, the project managers should communicate with their clients on a regular basis. As PMI’s Pulse report(Project Management Institute, 2013b)shows, high performers with 77 percent communicates more often than their counterparts (40 percent).
Finally, even during the closing process, project managers still need to communicate with the client about the benefit their team has done and the value of their work, according to PMI’s White Paper(Project Management Institute, 2013c).
1.2 How to communicate with …show more content…
2. Bad news for different stakeholders
During the processes of a project, bad news or problems can happen at some time. The type of bad news varies from different stakeholders, as discussed in the following.
From client’s perspective, the main problem they probably will face is that the outcome of a project (e.g. the final version of a product) doesn’t meet their requirements. As a consequence, the product is too low-quality to compete with others in the current market.
As for a project team, it can be bad news when clients give ambiguous requirements and frequently changing their demands. It may make what the project team has done useless and have to start afresh.
From a project manager’s perspective, the cost of the project beyond the budget and missing the deadline can be bad news.
Client’s complains or even the intention to break off the contract are terrible news for project’s team’s CEO.
3. How and when bad news