Communication in Project Management - Coursework Example

The paper "Communication in Project Management" is an excellent example of coursework on management.
The role of leadership and communication in project management are analyzed as follows:

Communication Problems
Most recurring communication problems that a project manager faces during a project are discussed as follows:

Communication Style
It has often been seen that the difference in styles of communication results in creating trouble while managing a project because some employees and managers like to give detailed reporting of every minor occurrence that could be a cause of conflict as mostly the desirable mode is to provide a big-picture in brief. Same way if details are desirable and only a brief is provided, results in the same. Hence project manager needs to brainstorm the team about knowing the desirable style of communication according to the situation (Mehta, 2002).  

Cultural Considerations
Cultural considerations have become extremely important in projects as culturally diverse teams are quite common at projects whether they are domestic or international. Certain terminologies have different interpretations in different cultures; hence project managers should attempt to standardize communication so that the cultural conflict may not occur during communication. A better idea is to conduct ice-breaking activities among employees and managers so that they know and understand each other (Mehta, 2002).  Sexual harassment lawsuits also hamper communication as the act of sexual harassment is very strict and managers or peers refrain from clear communication so as to avoid going through lawsuits. It is culturally subjective and also varies from person to person so it is a hard thing to manage and effective communication can take place only if people are trained and let them understand each other ("Workplace Sexual Harassment," n.d.)

Scheduling
Communication in certain instances becomes critical and the need is to take extra care to effectively communicate in an upward and downward direction. For instance, at the time when deliverable tasks are to be submitted, communication plays the most vital role in avoiding delays. Therefore, appropriate scheduling of communication is important to manage the project and most projects suffer due to poor or no scheduling in communication (Mehta, 2002).  

Leadership Role
A project manager as a leader differentiates himself/herself from others by the skill of knowing diverse situations and people and managing them accordingly. A project manager needs to be democratic, autocratic, negotiating, compromising and collaborative depending upon the circumstances. Leadership skills of a manager provide an edge to develop a strongly dedicated and committed team in a project that is self-motivated and fulfills the tasks timely and efficiently. A leader must know the potential and aptitude of the employees so that relevant and appropriate tasks should be awarded to the employees and a leader always delegates responsibilities with due authority. Hence the leadership skills of a manager help a great deal to maximize the output of a project (Ghattas & McKee, 2001)   

 Ethical Implications
Some project managers do not like to delegate responsibilities and intervene in all tasks. Such autocratic behavior is detrimental in retaining employees and taking maximum work out of employees. While some managers delegate tasks but do not give due authority to conduct the tasks which are also unhealthy practices because ethically and morally such employees cannot be held fully accountable for the given tasks as they lack basic authorities that already hinder their performance (Ghattas & McKee, 2001).