CIS 663 - Project Communications Management and Leadership - End of Term

This was a very informative and interesting course where we explored leadership and communication techniques at various levels in project management and in general. Communication is very essential and this course helped me understand how to effectively use communication. We learnt about great leaders, their communication styles and how effective they were in communicating their messages, which was a great learning experience for me.

1. Given your knowledge and experience at the end of these courses, which course objectives did you master?  (Objectives can be viewed in the Syllabus button).

Based on the course objectives, i feel very confident about the knowledge and experience i gained in this class. I have mastered the following objectives

• Understand the relation between leadership and project management skills
• Various training and development methods utilized by organizations to train and develop project managers. (This course itself is a very good example in my case)
• Understand various leadership styles
• Role of organizational culture on project leadership and communication
• How to build, lead, and communicate effectively with teams
• Methods for improving communication and conflict management
• Best practices for improving project communication by reviewing various case studies.

2. Given your knowledge and experience at the end of these courses, which course objectives still look troublesome to you?

I feel I still need to master reading and understand biographies more effectively to analyze leadership style and communication style. Often times the message leaders convey is for a common goal, but the way they communicate and do the things they have done differentiates them. Sometimes I find similarities and at other times not that much. I just need to dedicate time to read, read and read to overcome his hurdle.


3. What obstacles did you run into during the course? How did you try to overcome them?

Personally the biggest hurdle for me during the course was to prioritize the work I do. This year specifically is turning out to be a very busy year at work. We have been working on multiple parallel projects, learning new tool, developing, deploying, supporting and all and added to this mix is performing well in this course. The course requires time and effort and by prioritizing the way i do things I was able to run it through the goal to overcome all the hurdles. All in all it was a great experience.

4. How do you feel here at the end of a term as you look at your efforts and accomplishments? 

Time and effort well spent, that is all I can say about the efforts and accomplishments.

5. What did you learn this semester and how will you use that in your current or future work?

This is a very valuable course as I am actively engaged in various projects at work. This course helped me understand and relate the different communication styles and how best to communicate on projects. This course also helped me gain a good insight into effective project management and the required skills. I might soon try my options on managing a project and deliver it successfully. That would be a true testament to what I have learnt in this course.

Thanks to Professor Emad Rahim for keeping us on track and the valuable suggestions he made in the assignments that helped me understand where I could improve.

CIS 663 - Project Communications Management and Leadership - Learning Journal - Mid Term

Before taking up this class, I had some exposure to project management at my work place and it was easy for me to relate the topics in this class with the real world scenarios. This course specifically focuses on communication and leadership techniques that should be used by project managers for effectively dealing with issues related to resources, stakeholders, global teams, and changing technology.

As per the course objectives, I feel I have achieved the following:

1. Compare project leadership skills and project management skills and discuss their relation to each other.
2. Assess various training and development methods utilized by organizations in the development and training of Project Managers.
3. Illustrate the various styles of leadership – by type, role, and situation. 
4. Evaluate the role of organizational culture on project leadership and communication
5. Compare various methods for improving project communication and managing conflict
6. Analyze a particular leadership style and communication style and develop an argument for or against that particular style.

The following objectives are yet to be accomplished as I am still in the process:

1. Demonstrate how to build, lead, and communicate effectively with teams
2. Formulate a set of best practices for effective project communication and leadership by reviewing various case studies.

So far I was able to clearly understand the qualities of a leader, creating partnerships between various teams (project manager, customers, contractors, management etc.), authority of control, conflict resolution, organization charts and their importance, different leadership styles and how they relate to each other. These topics  have helped me to gain perspective of some of the key qualities that need to be present in a leader. In terms of project management an effective leader is a key requirement to make sure the project progresses as planned and achieves the set goals. I am trying to influence myself with these qualities so that one day I too can take the responsibility and lead a team to success.

I am clear in my understanding of the topics covered so far and they have immensely helped me to achieve a level of confidence regarding project communications management and leadership topics. I look forward for an exiting second half where I would expect to learn more about leading a team successfully and about best practice recommendations through case studies.