Choosing the appropriate medium (oral – written – hybrids)

Abstract

Communication is a key pillar in a project, and it has a great influence on the success of a project. A typical project manager uses around 80% of their time on communication, and this communication itself plays a big role in projects and project management . One of the essential things to understand and master as a project manager, is how to create a communication that thrives throughout the project. The project manager needs to excel in choosing the appropriate ways of communicating based on what messages they are sending and who are receiving a given message.

The communication processes always goes through a medium – different people respond better to different forms of communications and the medium it is delivered through. The chosen medium therefore also contributes to how the messages are delivered and understood by the receiver. Assessing the people involved in a project and determining on the appropriate communication medium based on this, and can therefore have an effective influence on how the messages are received and also avoid miscommunication.

Not two people are alike, and that extends to each individuals own learning styles , the way they receive and interpret messages and information. Some might need to hear the hear message where others want to read the messages in order to better process what is being communicated. The above taken into consideration, the ideal choice of medium is not based on the senders' preferences alone, but must include the receiver as well.

This article seeks to further investigate the different mediums a message is delivered through; what are the characteristic of these; and how do they benefit or compromise the messages being sent. Furthermore, this paper delves into the concept of applying a deeper understanding of mediums within:

• Peoples perspectives, wishes and/or goals
• Understanding how to choose the most appropriate medium, based on the perception of the person receiving the messages.
• The core essence of the message being communicated.

The overall aim is to equip the project manager with knowledge on how to choose the appropriate communication medium for an effective communication

The Big Idea

Choosing and apply the right medium for the message is a strong asset for the project manager to master. Thought the apply cation of apricate communication medium, the project manager can strengthen the communication with the involved parties in a project. A great part of the communication is also the way, the messages is delivered – in this case, the medium. Some massages is better suited for being delivered through specific mediums, and some mediums work better because they are leaner to apply and communication thought specific medium for specific messages this makes your communication for your message effective and efficient.

The article also with to investigate, how does a project manager get out their message in the most effective and efficient way. A part of this is also to understand how different people in the best way are presented to new knowledge and information. By looking into VARK learning as a complementation to the theories about choosing the appropriate media, this framework provides the Project Manager with the tolls to both choosing the appropriate medium to send the messages, but also reconcile it with the receiver and reconcile it with the people different styles of learning,

Basically, it quite simple, the best medium to use, is the medium, that effectively delivers the messages as the sender intended

Background

As a project manager is it important to have a strategic approach toward communication, this related to all people involved in the project.

Successful communication is when: Communication is about sending the right message to the right audience at the right time through the right channel in the right context for the right purpose. here are many factors to comply with, and one the more interesting ones, are the channel or medium used for the communication. Thought out this article, medium will be used as the overall term for the different way to send messages in this cases it spans over the term verbal, nonverbal and written. Within these three there are different channels or media within each of the mediums.

Communication mediums

In the communication process, the medium is the system or the channels of the message – this could be looked at like the medium as the way the information/messages is delivered to the receiver. The medium is the transport station device of the information from sender to receiver.

The variety of medium fall into three main categories Verbal, non-verbal and written.

Verbal communication:

Verbal communication or verbal is probably the most obvious communication form that comes to mind, when we are first off thinking about communication we might image two-person speaking to each other. Their parts of verbal communication both includes speaking and listening. The sender communicates a message through speech to the receiver.

In this case, the messages can be influenced by several things: The tone, the wording and the formality of the words.

Different tones have a great influence on how the message is received – a tone can be kind and understanding while delivering a message, but can also be pointed and de demined, to emphasize the messages and indicate frustrations. There the influence on the messages from the wording and the formality is already made by the sender, there tone is a bit different, because the influence on the messages that can be determined by the tone, can only be obtained by verbal communication. ()Verbal communication is also the way, we integrating as a receiver in communication. To success as Project Manager active listening in verbal communication is sestina thought this article will not go into further to this, it is worth mentioning

Channels within verbal communication in project management can be face-to-face conversations, meetings, virtual meeting or phone-calls

Non-verbal communication:n

Verbal communication is in many cases supported by non-verbal communication. A study led by Dr. Mehrabian concluded that 55 present of the interpretation of a message comes from the nonverbal put of a communication. Non-verbal communication includes our Body languages, eye contact, facial expression, posture and even smell.

Written:

The big difference in verbal communication is written communication There a messages send and received in textual form. It might be a handwritten note or letters, e-mails or even a PowerPoint presentation. In contrast to verbal communication that often times take place in real-time, written communication can be constructed over a longer period of the and since the message is written is can be reported over and over again since it does not transpires.

Below the different advantages and disadvantages is listed:

Mediums

TYPE OF CHANNEL	ADVANTAGES	DISADVANTAGES
Oral Communications	Build relationships and trust; accelerate decision making due to immediate feedback	Spontaneous nature may lead to unwise statements; people are unable to refer to the communication once it is said unless a record is made.
Written Communications	Message can be revised for exactness; can be archived for reference; can be studied. Appropriate for legal and formal business functions.	Message is static; the sender does not receive immediate feedback. Hard for the sender to gauge if the receiver has understood.

Media/Channels richness

The theory that addresses the channel or medias ability to transmit the incident message is based upon Daft and Lengel's theories about "information richness and how organization process information" in the project organization this also applies. The richness of a given media is determined thought its ability to deliver the message without uncertainty and possibilities for misunderstanding - the more effective on delivering the intended message the richer the media is.

A media is judged by the following criteria:

• Personal focus - The medias ability to capture personal focus where also emotions and personal feelings can be included. An example of this can be face-to-face communication where is possible to use body langue to accentuate the message

• Feedback - the media ability thrive feedback. Communication is considered complete when the necessary feedback has been given. Feedback contribs to aligning the communication transmitted if there should be any miscommunication. This criteria addressed the media capability to proves immediate feedback

Peoples perspectives and VAK learning styles

Fundamentally as human being, we are all different, we look different, we act different and actually the way we learn an restive information is also an individual thing, and varies from person to person.

Projects are often of high complexity and conation an excessive amount of information. As a project manager an understanding of how to communicate, but also considering people way of receiving new information. Wheatear they prefer new information coming to them through writing or by having it presented to them. Form a project manager this optimize their communication and contributes to a more efficient communication and avoid errors due to miscommunication and it might just contribute to less repetitions

The concept of VAK is to understand how people are learning the most optimal way. VAK is an acronym for Visual-Auditory-Kinesthetic:

• Visual learning style involves seen observations including this like diagrams, pictures, demonstrations or event just the information written down.

• Auditory learning style is learning thought listening. It involves the transformation of information thought listening to oneself, or others and also with the inclusion of sound/noises Is mainly just verbal communication

• Kinesthetics learning relates to the physical experience like touching, feeling hold or doing

People often have a preferred learning style but it can just as well be a mix of different styles different, wherein in some specific cases a style is preferred and in other cases learning another style is prerendered

Characteristics of each learning style and preferred channels

As a project manager be able to cater to different learning styles ensures that their messages are widely received when commutation to a whole team, a steering committee or maybe even.Below is listed some characteristics on how to spot the preferred for people involved in the project

On the basis of understanding each visual learning style an overview of communication media suitable for each learnings style

Style Characteristics

Style	Characteristics	Preferred Channels
Visual Learning	60%-65% of the general population learn the best visually by recalling information by seeing Visual learners associate information with pictures and techniqies. Often times, they will be They are more likely to be note-takers to structure and remember their interpretation of the given message/information. This also makes them great with decoding maps, graphs or charts. Usually very organized and observant. They have a very visual way of view of understanding things, and will also often use visual in case they have to explain content themself In a meeting setting the prefer a small yet informal setting, they are observant but easily distracted and I room fully with many people doing different stuff. When communication to the person of the visual learning style stive to write key point down incorporate visuals in meetings/presentations or when explaining new stuff Written communication is preferred Decisions made in a conversation should be put in writing afterwards	Face to face talk but include visual – like drawing on the whiteboard Emails Graph and diagrams PowerPoint Direct messages Written communication
Auditory learning	About 30% of the population prefers Auditory learning Absorbs new information thought the sense of hearing, the most therefore be able to hear clearly what messages are being communicated – it is therefore imported to create an environment for communication with no interfering noise Auditory learners might have trouble with only getting instructions through written materials They use response and repeat key points of the information to sort through information given in a conversation They often communicate very well orally, nut might experience troubles with this in written form Auditory learners enjoy discussions and enjoy to explain their learnings verbally to others When working with people with an auditory preference first go to medium should be verbally communication Auditory learners will often be very engaged and verbally present within meetings and discussions	Face-to face conversation Meetings Discussions Phone call is preferred over e-mails
Kinesthetic Learning	5% of the population are Kinesthetic learners Learn better actually carrying out a physical activity and learning by doing They absorbs learnings by doing, experiencing touching and moving Are stimulated but feeling and activities They memorize physically meaning that they memorise the best when they have actually perform the activity They only demand very little instruction before performing a task	Role plays Demonstration Simulations