Project Manager's Communicative Competence in Customer Interface. A Case Study in a Global Manufacturing Company.
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School of Business |
Master's thesis
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Authors
Date
2019
Department
Major/Subject
Mcode
Degree programme
Corporate Communication
Language
en
Pages
88 + 3
Series
Abstract
The aim of this research is to increase understanding of communication as a success factor in project management, particularly in the customer interface of projects. This research has two objectives: First, to examine project manager’s communicative environment and communicative tasks to identify central issues that affect project success in the customer interface, and second, to investigate how a project manager can acknowledge those issues in his/her daily communication and therefore, enhance project success. The research was conducted as a qualitative case study. Empirical data was collected in the electrical machines business of a global manufacturing company, focusing on communication between the production unit project managers and local sales units project managers. The data collection was done in triangulation combining interviews, observations, and documentary data. Ten interviews, of which six were conducted with the production unit and four with the local sales units’ project management from Africa, America, Asia, and Europe, served as the main source of information. They were supported by observations in the production unit and by email conversations between the production unit and the sales unit project management. The theoretical framework consists of project management literature and business communication literature. The project management literature has been examined to get an understanding of the project environment and how success and communication are seen in the field. The business communication has been reviewed for two reasons: First, to get an understanding of the effects of the virtual global business environment to project communication, and second, to understand how a project manager can enhance project success by communication. This research offers a multifaceted image of project managers’ complex working environment and the constitutive role of communication in it. The literature and the empirical data suggest, that project managers are not only seeking task-oriented communication, which is connected to clear and precise information, but also relational communication, which allows them to control uncertainty: The success factors identified in the specific context of the case company’s customer interface of technical projects are clarity, technical knowledge, timely and sufficient information, and relationships. The success factors are analyzed through four communicative competences, technical, discourse, socio-linguistic, and strategic competence. Based on the analysis, it can be concluded, that a project manager can enhance project success and improve as a communicator by consciously using the communicative competences to acknowledge the success factors.Description
Thesis advisor
Wickström, AliceMoisander, Johanna
Keywords
project management, communicative competence, business communication, cross-cultural communication