HQS 620 Grand Canyon University Topic 5 DQ 1 Communication channels

HQS-620: Project Management in Health Care Grand Canyon University

Assessment Description

The formula to calculate the communication channels is: n x (n – 1) / 2. N is the number of team members. Use the formula to determine the number of communication channels for a team of five members. Based on your calculation, what are the possible number of communication channels on the project team? Do you agree or disagree with the calculation? Should all stakeholders (even those not on the team) be included? Explain your rationale.

5(5-1)/2 = N

5(4)/2 = N

20/2 =N= 1

N = 10

I agree that to calculations. Although, message in communication involves a two-way process (sender to receiver, receiver to sender), there are many directions it can flow. It has three different types; Verbal which involves listening to the messages; written which needs reading the messages; and non-verbal which takes observing a person and assume its meaning. In an organization, communication is crucial as it functions in three ways: (1) Transmission of information which is the organization’s ability to function; (2) Coordination of effort which unify people to work on their common goal; (3) share emotions and feelings which solidify team in times of success and struggles (Publisher, 2017).

All stakeholders must be involved in communication loop at certain extent all throughout the project. However, during execution, implementing processes and its details must be only within the team members involved so they can focus on their respective activities to finish. During execution, too many people giving opinions can side-track the team’s focus leading to delays in implementation causing them not being able to deliver on time.

Publisher, A. removed at request of original. (2017). 8.4 Different Types of and Channels. Open.lib.umn.edu. https://open.lib.umn.edu/organizationalbehavior/chapter/8-4-different-types-of…

n x (n-1) / 2

5 x (5-1) / 2

5 x (4) / 2

20 / 2 = 10

For a team of five members, the number of communication channels should be 10. Because communication is the bridge to success in almost everything, it is important for it to be effective. It can provide understanding to all team members in understanding their roles, and prevent failure (Kumthekar, 2020). channel is not only the 5 people on the team, but everyone talking to everyone involved. With proper communication channel, the following can occur:

Things done in a timely manner.
Competed tasks.
Prompt changes.
Addressed issues.
Stakeholders understand changes (Kumthekar, 2020).

I agree with this calculation because it is indeed true that not because there are 5 people on the team, they are the only ones involved. There are external stakeholders as well who are a part of the project playing a part and have roles of their own.

Top nursing paper writers on hand to assist you with Topic 5 DQ 1 Communication channels assignment

Get nursing paper help

Reference: Kumthekar, U. (2020). Communicaton channels in project.https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/communication-channels-project-uday-kumthekar-pm

In calculating the communication channels with N= 5:

5 x (5-1)/2 =

20/2= 10.

This project would require 10 communication channels. Identifying the communication objectives and channels are important to developing a communication plan in ensuring. The project manager communication plan template identifies objectives, communication channels stakeholders and other concepts to ensure all participants and stakeholders (ProjectManager.com, 2021). It is my opinion that the 10 channels would be appropriate for the channels needed for this project. Sebastian (2020) discusses how the size of the project would have larger teams and require more communication channels, that the number of channels could provide insight into the complexity of the project.

Stakeholder communication is important, because they have a vested interest in the project. However, it is important for the project manager to identify the level and type of communication is needed or preferred for each stakeholder. A methodology that could be used in evaluating stakeholder communication needs and effectiveness is the Stakeholder Circle. This methodology identifies “all stakeholders, prioritization them to determine who is important, visualization to understand the overall stakeholder community, engagement through effective communications and monitoring the effect of the engagement” (Bourne, 2016). This methodology helps identify who and at what level communication is needed and evaluates if the communication is sufficient. It is my opinion that the number of established channels are important, however I believe the timing, type and recipient are important as well.

Reference:

Bourne, L. (2016). Targeted communication: The key to effective stakeholder engagement. Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences, 226, 431–438. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2016.06.208

plan template. ProjectManager.com. (2021, August 17). Retrieved October 9, 2021, from https://www.projectmanager.com/templates/communications-plan-template.

Sebastian. (2020, July 22). Number of communication channels (+ PMP® Formula & Calculator). Project. Retrieved October 9, 2021, from https://project-management.info/number-of-communication-channels-pmp-formula-calculator/#5-calculator-for-the-number-of-communication-channels

According to the use of the communication channel formula, a project with five team members (n) would yield 10 communication channels for the project team. This seems appropriate for a team of five people, as they would likely need to have a channel of communication with each person of the group as well as small groups within the larger group. This formula seems to account for direct communication within a group whereas communication with stakeholders would be more so one way, or informative of the project milestones as opposed to designing and planning the details of the project. According to Bansal (2019), although in the case of this formula, stakeholders are referred to as those affected by project, not a part of the actual project team, the project manager should still consider all the entities that get impacted by the project and participate in the communication.I believe the formula serves to represent the direct communication between team members where majority of the communication will take place.

Reference

Bansal, S. (2019, May 12). How to Calculate Channels? IZenBridge. https://www.izenbridge.com/blog/how-to-calculate-communication-channels/

According to Sebastian (n.d.), the communication channel is an analysis tool and technique to identify the number of potential communication paths between team members and stakeholders that can grow with the number of people involved in a project. Having knowledge of the potential communication channels can assist in the decision of what type and technology will be used for communicating, which aids in planning, managing, and monitoring project communication (Sebastian, n.d.).

Formula: 5 * (5-1) / 2 = 10

After reviewing the concept of communication paths demonstrated in Sebastian (n.d.) PMP formula and calculator, the writer would have to agree with the calculation. The rationale is because the number will increase significantly in larger teams, for example if N = 10 the sum would be 45, N=100 the sum would be 4950 (Sebastian, n.d.).

Stakeholders should be included; however, the communication and stakeholder management depends on the complexity of the project. PMs need to be able to interact with stakeholders at all levels, utilizing upward communication, lateral communication, and downward communication, including internal and external organizations (Schwalbe, 2017). Internal communication can be informal or formal that flows within the organization, while external communication is mostly formal and highly documented, focusing on relationships and exchanging information that needs less frequency (Schwalbe, 2017). The communication plan would have different paths for communicating quality improvement projects within the health plan (monthly and quarterly depending on leadership) versus communicating the same quality improvement projects to the State or Health Services Advisory Group (annually) who required specific reports for the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS).

References

Schwalbe, K. (2017). An introduction to project management: With a brief guide to Microsoft project 2016 (6th ed.). Minneapolis, MN: Schwalbe Publishing.

Sebastian. (n.d.). Number of communication channels (+ PMP® formula & calculator). https://project-management.info/number-of-communication-channels-pmp-formula-calculator

N=5 members.

Therefore, the number of communication channels is 5x (5-1)/2,

that is 20/2 = 10 channels.

The possible number of communication channels for a team of five members is 10. I agree with the calculation because the analysis allows the number of communication channels to increase as the project team expands. The formula expresses that the number of people in a group is the determining factor of communication channels. It considers the number of team members to indicate that the project manager communicates and other team members.

The goal of the analysis is to determine the information requirements of stakeholders, including the type and format of information (Project Management Institute [PMI], 2017). The value of data is combined with its variety and structure, so that project resources are only allocated to communications that contribute to the project (PMI, 2017). The analysis should only include team members because they are directly involved in the project’s progress. Also, including all stakeholders will increase the complexity of communication as the channels will become too many.

References for Topic 5 DQ 1 Communication channels essay

Project Management Institute. (2017). A guide to the project management body of knowledge, (6th ed). Project Management Institute.

Sipes, C. (2020). Project Management for the Advanced Practice Nurse (136-137) Springer Publishing Company LLC.

Communication Plan Template

Raziq, M. M., Ahmad, M., Iqbal, M. Z., Ikramullah, M., & David, M. (2020). Organisational structure and project success: The mediating role of knowledge sharing. Journal of Information & Knowledge Management, 19(02), http://dx.doi.org/10.1142/S0219649220500070

HQS 620 Grand Canyon University Topic 5 DQ 1 Communication channels