Stakeholder Communications Management Plan

Subject: Business & Economics

2824 words

11 pages

March 14th, 2023

Introduction

Communication management planning is crucial for the effective management of a project to achieve the intended objective. It is the process of designing a plan and strategy for a project’s communication operations based on the information required from each individual stakeholder, project sponsor, and other organizations involved in the project (Papke-Shields & Boyer-Wright, 2017). A lot of key information is identified during the communication planning process, such as those who need to contact for specific things, what information certain stakeholders want, and what is the best form of communication. In addition, the authority in the project and interest in the project impacts the communication plan. Thus, all of the information will be gathered during the course of the project, not just at the kickoff meeting.

Stakeholder Registry

A stakeholder register is an important part of the overall project plan because it helps identify, assess, and classify stakeholders. It is defined as a document in which the stakeholders of a project are named and characterized according to their positions, functions, and interest in the project as a whole (Carstens & Richardson, 2019). Stakeholders are individuals, groups, or organizations that may be impacted by a decision, outcome, or a minor action relating to a certain project. Stakeholders can have a positive or negative impact on a project. To be considered effective and well-designed, a communication plan must enable a more efficient communication and planning and factor in the requirement, approval of project decisions, and implementation. Therefore, a stakeholder registry is a document that helps identify and classify stakeholders.

As shown in the stakeholder registry below, based on stakeholder registration, the project’s owner is CapraTek, and the project manager is Peter Kennedy. He is also the Director of New Product Development, and he will be in charge of overseeing the project to make sure it is acceptable to all parties involved. The Alfred! 2.0 software upgrade will ensure a good communication plan throughout the organization and improve the quality of service for existing Alfred! App customers. Overall, the upgrade will upgrade the system, aid in bug fixing, serve as an updated driver, and increase the security of both clients and the firm as a whole.

Table 1: Stakeholder Registry

Project Name	Alfred! iOS Upgrade	Date	19/4/2022
Project Manager		Project Owner/Client

Stakeholder Name	Position	Responsibility	Authority	Interest
Peter Kennedy	Director of New Product Development	The project’s design, administration, supervision, and execution. Budget preparations and calculation of costs for the effective running of the project.	High	High
Fred Barton	CEO	He sponsors the project after the acceptance of his new model of Alfred! switch to iOS.	High	High
Richard Carr	CFO	He is in charge of the project’s day-to-day finance, and accounting operations are managed through controls. Planning and forecasting based on data from different sources and statistics to provide advice on various problems, especially the development of the product.	High	High
Lawrence Guthrie	Senior Vice President Sales & Marketing	Design and execute a marketing program for the whole organization, such as pricing, customer service practices, and advertisements. In order to implement and attain specified goals, creates marketing action plans that clearly define objectives, targets, schedules, and tasks.	High	High
Ruth Huff	Director of Training & Development	Developing new growth and teaching programs in response to shifting organizational plans.	Low	High
Jackie Grossman	Director of Human Resources (HR) Operations	Supervising employees, maintaining compliance with regulatory requirements, determining staffing needs, employing people, planning development programs, and establishing compensation packages.	High	Low
Reed Massey	Director of Smart Home Technologies	Responsible for the analysis of the technology being used and providing advice to the company.	High	High
Paul Huang	Vice President Technology	He ensures that IT infrastructure works effectively by promoting regular maintenance to support the transition.	High	High
Shannon Coleman	IT business analyst	Promoting the development of Alfred! Software through analysis of information to inform management decisions and discover operational remedies to the company’s needs.	High	Low
Rachel Davis	Senior Project Manager	To oversee, supervise the project and make detailed project plans that include resource and budget needs.	Low	High

Stakeholder Communications Requirements Document

Effective communication will aid every stakeholder involved to understand each other and to work together. A stakeholder communication requirements document is a formal way to communicate with the individuals who are engaged in the project (Diers-Lawson, 2019). The document outlines the roles and responsibilities of the people who will be working on the project and their interests. In addition, the document has a well-thought-out communication plan prior to making any decisions. For example, since the company wants to update its software, the stakeholders can tell the company what they want and need from the new technology and how they can help (Diers-Lawson, 2019). Therefore, in order for the software upgrade to be a success, it is important to think about the priorities of all of the people who work on the project.

The CapraTek project is all about Alfred! Many people have a say in the project, including the people who run the company and the people who work in IT. They all have to give their opinions as part of the project’s needs. Users of the Alfred! Hub and Alfred! iOS App should get better service every time they update their software. Such services can be divided into updating drivers, fixing bugs, and making security better. For purposes of effective communication, there will be a constructive meeting between the stakeholders in a good way about the software upgrade. Apart from that, each stakeholder is held accountable for analyzing the project because this will help people increase their interest, which will lead to a better environment for the design process.

Table 2: Stakeholder Communication Document

Communication type	Objective of	Medium	Frequency	Audience
Project start-off meeting	The purpose of the project is to introduce the project team and the project. Examine project goals and management initiative.	Physical meeting	Once	The project team and other stakeholders.
Meeting with project team	The purpose is to analyze the status of the project with the team.	Video	Every week	Project team
Project status	The aim is to determine the status of the project, such as, activities, progress, costs and issues.	Face to Face, Call and Email	Monthly	Project team

Communications Flow Chart

The Escalation Process for Resolving Any Communication-Based Conflicts

When concerns and problems with project communications arise, it is likely that they will need to be escalated if a resolution is difficult to achieve within the project team. In addition, project stakeholders may have various competing interests in any particular project, such as the Alfred 2.0 software update. While escalations are a typical part of project management, there should be a well-documented protocol in place detailing how escalations will be handled. It is true that project management requires reducing risks. However, the easiest rule to follow is that every issue that arises and appears to be difficult to successfully address should be escalated to higher players without affecting the project.

Table 3: The Escalation Process

Steps	Explanation
Step 1	Share the problem to stakeholders in higher positions who are responsible for making decisions in an organization. For example, inform directors of the organization about the problem. This is integral because the approaches to solve the issue must come from decision-makers (Ma et al., 2019). In addition, the strategies for solving the conflict must be accepted by top organizational leaders and managers. As a result, informing the top leaders of the company about the issue is the first step in the escalation process.
Step 2	Determine the cause of the problem and examine what potential impact it can have on the project. There is a need for a good understanding of the problem to develop the most appropriate solution (Ma et al., 2019). For instance, communication-based conflicts can originate from a lack of communication skills, unclear goals, and others. As a result, a clear information about a problem helps generate answers.
Step 3	The choices for the solution to the issue are expounded along with their advantages and disadvantages. It is important to identify the impact of the issues on the organization. The stakeholders, especially top leaders and managers, must understand the effect of the problem (Ma et al., 2019). For example, it is integral to make sure that the issue is understood.
Step 4	Engage relevant stakeholders to develop a solution to the problem. For example, brainstorming techniques are among the approaches that can generate ideas. In this case, a list of solutions is generated and subjected to analysis to determine the most appropriate one.
Step 5	The outcomes of the escalation are developed and reported to the decision-making body whereas, capturing the key points. Then, they will determine whether to incorporate the solution or not (Ma et al., 2019). If the solution is accepted, it will be rolled out to solve the problem. However, if it is rejected, other solutions will be tabled for analysis.

Communication Control and Monitoring Process

Monitoring and controlling the engaged stakeholder communications can only be accomplished if the project team guarantees that the channels and methods of communication are recognized as soon as feasible and adhered to by all parties on the overall project plan. The core of managing stakeholder engagement is that it improves and raises the heads of management’s support while minimizing stakeholder resistance, increasing the likelihood of the project succeeding (Malthouse et al., 2019). In addition, stakeholder communication is monitored by understanding the information supplied, whether in writing or online. For example, before the information is sent to a stakeholder in an organization, it is subjected to scrutiny to eliminate possible errors and ensure that it meets the stated objectives. Therefore, communication among stakeholders is controlled when the channel and information are chosen effectively.

Additionally, the majority of the project management software allows project managers to send alerts of developments and give task progress, making tracking and coordination of a project simple and effective. For example, platforms for sharing work progress, such as SharePoint, enable users to observe the individual browser who access the system and what sort of information they receive (Malthouse et al., 2019). This makes it easier to determine stakeholders who are dormant and non-participative. In addition, technology can be integrated to assist control communication among stakeholders in a project. As a result, heads of management can contact such inactive stakeholders to ensure that they receive what they require and that issues faced are answered.

Since the project manager cannot control all of the information, other project team members should be involved in the planning process. During meetings, some project team members need to assist the project manager with taking notes, keeping the meeting on track, and not going over the allotted time (Malthouse et al., 2019). These stages are critical because meetings can easily stray and extend much over the time allotted. In addition, it is important to use push communication to limit the flow of communication in order to reduce traffic. If somebody has something to say, they can contact the project manager directly or make a note of it and introduce in the next meetings. Therefore, there is a need to make sure that relevant stakeholders are involved in the process.

Communication with stakeholders

Table 4: Stakeholder Communication

Stakeholders	Information required	Format	Frequency	How the information is communicated
Paul Huang	Paul Huang is looking for detailed information about the progress of Alfred! Software development. This includes the overall project’s status as well as any achievements along the way.	Progress report	Paul Huang needs an update whenever a project milestone is met, or a deliverable is not met on time.	Email
Brad Anderson	In order to manage and oversee the effort, Brad requires the contact information for all key individuals engaged with the project and status reports.	Reports, graphs, dashboard presentations and many more.	Brad does not require frequent updates on his progress with Alfred! Program because he plans to obtain the information he requires on-demand from responsible personnel.	Emails and phone calls.
Lowell McLaughlin	McLaughlin would like to hear about any workplace accidents, breakdowns, or traumas, as well as any other issues that the legal team would be interested in the project.	Board meeting protocols, emails, and direct requests.	He would like to be notified whenever the rest of the board receives updates, as well as on a need-to-know basis.	Emails and phone calls.
Julie Ellsworth	She wants to be given information regarding how the project progresses, communication problems, project deadlines, and other relevant fields.	Summaries, dashboards, reports about schedules, deadlines, and deliverables of the project	Julie wants to receive milestone updates and notifications of delivery failures and communication breakdowns when they happen.	Email
Peter Kennedy	He wishes to become active in the project’s daily operations, particularly in resolving issues experienced by the development teams.	He is skeptical of developers’ many modes of communication and has claimed that private messages are the preferred method.	He wants to receive updates as frequently as possible.	Personal Messages such as video-chat
Alex Lopez	Alex must be well-versed in the end product’s functionality, capabilities, limitations, and any other pertinent information that may be used to effectively advertise and sell the product.	Production schedules, general summaries and dashboards.	The information Alex requires has different frequencies: For updates – he wishes to have a copy when everyone else receives them. As for marketing-related material, that needs to be delivered to him on demand	Emails and phone calls

Communication Activities Schedule

Weekly Status Reports

A weekly status report is a summary of all work completed during the previous week and how each activity contributes to the completion of a task or project or how each activity moves the team closer to their goals. It is also a useful tool for the manager to keep track of his team’s performance and improvement (Netland et al., 2019). Every stakeholder in charge of a division will produce a weekly status report summarizing ongoing tasks, positions, and other critical information. They will be emailed to the project team, who will then upload them to platforms such as meetings for future reference. Therefore, there will be a need to create and develop a weekly report to communicate the status of the project.

Bi-Weekly Status Reports

A report is a tool that provides relevant stakeholders with a detailed summary of the project’s performance during a given week. The project manager will receive bi-weekly status reports from all department heads summarizing the objectives that were completed the previous week (Netland et al., 2019). In addition, it will document any project team accomplishments or failures, primarily through the use of emails, particularly Microsoft Outlook. This will ensure those project sponsors are informed about the project status. Managers and their staff can remain connected even when they are working remotely due to an online reporting solution that gives interactive weekly status reports. As a result, there are fewer meetings and more time to focus on assignments.

Video Conferences

Video conferencing is a type of internet meeting where two or more individuals join a live audio-visual call. If they have a reliable network, participants can effectively participate in the process, regardless of where their geographical locations around the globe (Netland et al., 2019). This is a frequent business term for communicating and cooperating within and without a company. On a bi-weekly basis, the program manager will set aside time in the CapraTek halls to host video conferences with all stakeholders, during which critical information, issues, and questions will be discussed. In addition, budget talks, new programs, and others will be addressed during the conference. Therefore, video conferencing is an important communication tool that allows people to meet virtually.

Weekly Situation Reports

The situation report is a type of status reporting that gives readers and decision-makers a brief overview of the present situation. It gives a clear, brief picture of the situation, stressing the meaning or context as well as the facts (Netland et al., 2019). The report is designed to convey the details of a particular event, such as a conference meeting report. Weekly situation reports will be issued once a week, most likely on Friday, summarizing all activities for the week. The report will include deliverables as provided by the project team. In addition, the project manager will present a report to all stakeholders that address the project’s deficiencies and current duties and contracts. Thus, this report will be prepared and sent to appropriate stakeholders in the project team and organization.

Conclusion

All stakeholders with a high level of engagement and authority will need to be kept up to date as often as feasible. They must have a precise focus on these critical stakeholders. Other stakeholders are also important, but they do not have to be updated as often because they have less control over the project’s path. Those with little or no authority should not be overlooked because their frequent engagement with other stakeholders has the potential to influence the decisions of those with more authority. As the project progresses, this analysis will need to be updated to meet the demands of the various stakeholders.

References

Carstens, D. S., & Richardson, G. L. (2019). Project management tools and techniques: A practical guide. CRC Press.

Diers-Lawson, A. (2019). Crisis communication: Managing stakeholder relationships. Routledge. Web.

Ma, C., Wang, T., Shen, L., Liang, D., Chen, S., & You, D. (2019). Communication-based attacks detection in android applications. Tsinghua Science and Technology, 24(5), 596-614. Web.

Malthouse, E. C., Wang, W. L., Calder, B. J., & Collinger, T. (2019). Process control for monitoring customer engagement. Journal of Marketing Analytics, 7(2), 54-63. Web.

Netland, T. H., Powell, D. J., & Hines, P. (2019). Demystifying lean leadership. International Journal of Lean Six Sigma, 11(3), pp. 543-554. Web.

Papke-Shields, K. E., & Boyer-Wright, K. M. (2017). Strategic planning characteristics are applied to project management. International Journal of Project Management, 35(2), 169-179. Web.