Reference no: EM132474823

This question will focus on the importance of communication and how critical it is for a project manager to understand their audience and the message he or she is delivering when communicating status updates.

Scenario

You have been assigned as project manager on a project where you are upgrading the security camera system at your world headquarters location including three additional manufacturing facilities. This project has high visibility as safety is a top priority for executive management. There are 300 cameras that need to be installed along with 12 servers. You have a defined plan in place and the right technical experts on your team. For this installation, you have partnered with a third party vendor handle the camera installs as your team is responsible for the network and infrastructure (e.g. servers, switches, cabling, etc.) In order to install the new servers, you need to coordinate a company-wide network shutdown. You have planned this installation to start Friday evening at 6:00pm CST and expect the work to be completed by noon, Sunday. It is Saturday, 1:00pm CST and your technical team has informed you that you need to back out of the work and reschedule the installation for a different weekend. As the project manager, you are responsible for communicating what has transpired and next steps.

Instructions

After reading the scenario above, what is a detailed communication plan for your key stakeholders. Develop a message that you would use to communicate the current status and next steps for each identified party. Your communication plan must include minimum of three parties (i.e. executive update, team update, peer update, etc.) Hint: Think carefully of the word choices and how the message is being delivered.

Question 2

Purpose

This question will focus on key attributes when selecting a project manager. The assignment requires personal reflection and the goal is to help you understand what your strengths and weaknesses are.

The following are skills and qualities a project manager should have.

• Leadership and management style: The PM should capitalize on people's strengths, cover their weaknesses, know when to take over and when to give the team the lead, know when to punish and when to reward, know when to communicate and when to remain silent. The PM should know how to get others to share commitment to the project.
• Ability to handle stress and multi-task: The PM will often manage more than one project at a time which includes different stakeholders. This often adds complexity and an increased amount of stress. Having the ability to manage this is a good quality to look for.
• Effective communicator: Ability to communicate at all levels within the organization
• Credibility: The PM needs two kind of credibility, technical and administrative, to manage the project.
• Sensitivity: The PM need to sense interpersonal conflict on the project team or between team members and outsiders.