Development plan for project managers' communication competence

Abstract

This thesis will focus on creating an understanding on the needed communication competence of a project manager during a project. The focus will be on communicational challenges regarding diverse teams and project specific terminology. Challenges will be defined and pointed out through interviews and research conducted for the thesis. Since the focus of this thesis is in cultural and language context of project communication the Communication Accommodation theory gives it the needed theoretical framework since the focus is on how project managers should accommodate their communication to suit the whole project teams needs from terminology and cultural point of view. This thesis will not focus on nonverbal communication nor the psychological research but in the practical effects and actions of applying the Communication Accommodation Theory (CAT) theory in the context of project communications from the project managers point of view in regards of terminology and cultural inclusiveness. Constructive research methods were used by using qualitative methodology to gather needed data for the thesis. Interviews were conducted and results were analyzed in reflection to the theoretical framework. The outcome of this thesis is a development plan to give insights on how to support project managers on developing their communication competence focusing on diverse teams and terminology used. It will bring added value for project managers that work with projects and organizations that can use the plan as a starting point for planning their learning offering. The focus will be on how to develop project managers’ competence on the communicational challenges in leading diverse teams and the project specific terminology needed.