Choosing the right communication network for your project

Written by Emilie Lewis Laurberg

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to clarify the importance of choosing a suitable communication network for an organization. There exists several different communication network structures and hierarchies. Each and every one of the network types has benefits and disadvantages in which it is crucial to choose the best type of communication network for an organization im terms of avoiding fatal consequences and archieve the communication goals for the specific organization.

Big Idea

Why the communication network is an important factor of project management

• Every project is a temporary organization, in which a communication network will happen automatically
• Emerged communication networks can reflect the hierarchy of the organization and vise vesa, thus it may be relevant to implement a formal communication network in terms of rules and structure
• Why be aware of the type of communication networks that are used?

Figure 1.

Examples of different types of networks:

• Cetralized and decentralized network structures
  • Centralized can make sure everybody knows the same, but information will always have to pass either one person or one media
  • Decentralized makes it possible for employees to go directly to one another, but if the same problem happens to somebody else, they wont know where to find the answer

This article will address the possibilities of:

• Keeping the feeling of project ownership at on different levels in an organization due to formal communication networks
• Choosing between vertical and horizontal communication
• Analyzing the type of emerged network in your organization in terms of e.g. number of connections

Key points

• Optimizing the flow of information in a organization
• Making sure the decisions, scope etc. gets around to the people involved

Limitations

Communication network structures Strengths in communication network connections: