Communications Management Knowledge Area in PMBOK 6

PMBOK 7 has been introduced to the business world and professionals. However, the knowledge areas in PMBOK 6 are still very informative. Project communication management is the knowledge area in which the project itself, the processes, and, of course, the communication needs of stakeholders are revealed. In this context, it can be recognized as a knowledge area where formats and methods that can be applied to information flow are determined, stakeholders who have a role and responsibility for the implementation of intra-project communication are identified, the necessary planning is carried out in detail on all communication-related issues, and failures that can occur in project communication are constantly monitored.
There are 3 processes in the communications management knowledge area which are,
In PMBOK 7 while managing active communications is considered as a part of the project work performance domain, the plan communications process is done according to standards of the planning performance domain.

According to researches, 95 percent of the time spent by a project manager within the scope of the project is spent by communication. This, in fact, shows that all other knowledge areas have a topic of communication somewhere as well as all project management processes. In addition to this duration, half of a project manager's day must be spent in communication with the project team. Communication between the team and the project manager plays a key role in the success of the project.

In almost all phases of the project, active and passive project communication can be done in many ways. It can be executed in a written or oral manner. A formal or informal language may be used. It should be noted here that communication management is always required to be proactively managed.

Being proactive does not mean that the project manager is involved in almost every communication channel. On the contrary, with good planning, good communication inside and outside of the project should be ensured without involving in every topic.

The key point in communication management is always to identify the communication needs of stakeholders. Because as a project manager, you cannot be expected to master everything that is related to communication. You need to involve stakeholders in the project in some way. The project manager should develop working relationships and communication channels between stakeholders and the project team in a proactive way.

In order to do successful communications management, a project manager should continuously review the project management plan and look for problematic areas that can affect the communications negatively. As a result of this monitoring endeavor, several reasons that act as barriers to efficient communication may be detected.

Effective communication delivers projects on time and within budget more often than those who don't communicate well.  Half of the projects that failed are somehow related to ineffective communication. In order to provide consistent efficient communication project managers should create a good project communications management plan along with the project team. A project communications plan is a guide for the project's communications efforts.

A project manager should firstly define the members of the company that will be getting the information secondly should determine the communication requirements and thirdly should build a communication schedule. 

The common barriers to communication are, the lack of sufficient communication channels, the distance between sender and receiver, language differences, disturbing environmental factors, and hostility between communicators.

Responsibility of Project Manager in Communications Management

To get rid of these communications barriers and develop a good communications environment the main responsibility belongs to the project manager. First of all the project has to be a good communicator, a good facilitator, expeditor. A project manager must have excellent communication skills to communicate with senior management, sponsor, project team, customer, and key stakeholders. A project manager should continuously think of new innovative ideas. When needed he/she should use problem-solving skills efficiently.

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