PMGT5871 Chap.10 Stakeholder Engagement and Communication Plans
Stakeholder Engagement and Communication Plans
A stakeholder is anyone who affects or is affected by the project, and the slides note that most of a project manager's time goes on communicating with them. This chapter covers how stakeholders are identified, how the power and interest grid ranks them, and how communication differs from engagement.
It then sets out the six elements of a communication management plan, the vocabulary of methods, channels and mechanisms, and how reporting content changes for sponsors, team members and wider stakeholders. This is the last week examined in the final, and it ties the earlier plans together, because every schedule, budget, risk and quality decision has to reach the right people in the right form.
The Week 8 tutorial asks groups to identify at least ten stakeholders for the first case study, analyse them on the power and interest grid and develop a communication plan, which completes the traditional half of the group project management plan.
What this chapter covers
- 01
Defining and identifying stakeholders
- 02
The power and interest grid
- 03
Communication compared with engagement
- 04
Elements of the communication management plan
- 05
Interactive, push and pull methods
- 06
Direct and indirect channels and mechanisms
- 07
Tailoring content to each audience
Worked example · free
Turning a stakeholder map into communication actions
- 1Council content: budget and schedule performance, milestones, issues and risks.
- 1Council method: an interactive monthly steering meeting with a written report.
- 1Club content: closure effects on training and alternative pools.
- 1Club method: push email at major milestones plus one consultation session.
Key terms
- Stakeholder
- Any person or group affected by the project, or able to influence the project or what it delivers.
- Push communication
- One-way communication initiated by the sender, such as an email.
- Pull communication
- One-way communication received at the receiver's discretion, such as information posted on an intranet.
- Indirect channel
- A channel that carries subconscious messages, such as tone, facial expression or body language.
Stakeholder Engagement and Communication Plans FAQ
What are the two questions on the power and interest grid?
Power asks to what extent a stakeholder can affect the project. Interest asks to what extent the stakeholder is impacted by it. The position on the grid decides how much engagement each stakeholder needs and how often.
How does engagement differ from communication?
Communication is a one-way or two-way transfer of information. Engagement covers activities aimed at establishing meaningful contact or involvement, such as participation, consultation and collaboration, so it asks more of both sides than sending information.
What should a sponsor receive in project reports?
The Week 8 slides list progress against milestones, budget and schedule performance, estimates and variances at completion, issues, a quality report and emerging risks and opportunities, which is more summary and less task detail than a team member needs.
What is the difference between push and pull communication?
Both are one-way. Push communication is initiated by the sender, such as an email. Pull communication leaves receiving to the receiver's discretion, such as information published on an intranet portal that people access when they choose.
What are the elements of a communication management plan?
The slides group the plan into objectives, scope, assumptions and constraints; strategy, methods, channels and mechanisms; a plan of concrete actions; the factors that decide success; an analysis of stakeholders and the information each needs; and a way of monitoring and evaluating whether the communication works.
Why tailor reports to different audiences?
Each audience needs different information. A sponsor wants milestones, budget and schedule performance and emerging risks; a team member needs task descriptions, expectations and work-package details; wider stakeholders want to know how they are affected. One report for everyone serves none of them well.
Exam move
List at least ten stakeholders for a project you know, including indirect groups such as neighbours, regulators and media, then place them on the power and interest grid and note how two of them might move as the project progresses. Write a communication plan table with columns for stakeholder, content, method, mechanism, frequency and sender.
Practise classifying examples as interactive, push or pull, and as direct or indirect channels. Finish by adding a monitoring line to the plan that says how you would know the communication worked. Before the exam, practise turning one stakeholder description into a full plan row in under two minutes, naming content, method and frequency.
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