PM 540 Communications and Stakeholder Management for Project Success

This course introduces communication strategies and proven techniques especially valuable in addressing stakeholder management. Students will also learn how to plan communication and identify all organizational stakeholders, analyze, and assess stakeholder objectives, and then develop a stakeholder management plan that satisfies the needs while managing competing objectives across the organization. The aim is to improve communication planning, stakeholder management, and evaluate the sources of organizational politics and power struggles, and the resulting impact on a program or project. The skills developed will help increase clarity, relevance, and precision in communication to better interact among a diverse workforce and set of stakeholders. Importantly, students learn how communication can facilitate decision-making processes; manage negotiations between competing stakeholder objectives, and keep alignment between project outcomes and business goals.

Credits

3

Outcomes

1. This course will prepare students to:
2. Analyze the formal and informal communication channels and types of information that flow between individuals, teams, project management, corporate management, sponsors and customers.
3. Evaluate the complexity of communication as the number of participants increase.
4. Assess communication theory and a practical application of its use.
5. Apply reasoning to the dimensions and constructs of complex communication.
6. Distinguish and understand the implications of organizational and geographical cultures relative to project work.
7. Manage negotiations between competing stakeholder objectives.
8. Demonstrate an understanding of organizational culture and acculturation strategies.
9. Ability to assess stakeholders and develop a relationship plan to enable project success.
10. Display proficiency in oral and written communication.