Communication Excellence in Project Management

I'm preparing my presentation on project management communication for the University of Maryland 2016 Project Management Symposium. I will be talking about research I have done on the current state of project management communication research and advocating for a new research agenda.

One part of the research agenda is applying complexity leadership theory to project management leadership. Project managers move beyond their traditional functional role of managing schedules, tasks, and resources to empowering the knowledge workers that make up the project team (Stacey, 2001, p. 1).

Project managers must use dialogue to “encourage and persuade people to share knowledge and spread it around” (Stacey, 2001, p. 2), because knowledge is more than just what is stored in artifacts and arises from conversations and relationships (pp. 4, 98). As the communication hub for the project team, stakeholders, customers, and sponsor(s), project managers must use more than functional communication to effectively lead modern projects.

There are more parts to the research agenda with all of the components revolving around complexity theory and neuroscience. I will also be looking at new research in how high-performing teams form and work effectively.

Reference:

Stacey, R. D. (2001). Complex responsive processes in organizations: Learning and knowledge creation. New York, NY: Routledge.