Communication in project management: an action research approach in an automotive manufacturing company

Over the years, countless companies have implemented project management to ensure the integration of people with processes and deliveries, with a direct impact on quality and cost. In the automotive industry, this approach helps stakeholder and challenge management. However, to achieve excellence, communication between project managers and their teams, between stakeholders and sponsors, or simply in the workplace must be efficiently managed. The objective of this study was to help a PMO from an automotive manufacturing company, which has been experiencing difficulties in terms of communication management, for five years. This study highlights the improvements performed in order to change the situation. An action research approach was applied, taking in consideration the context of the work developed using the principle of “learning by doing”. Participant observation was carried out, namely in meetings and the daily practices of the team. Finally, questionnaires were released in order to obtain the KPIs used in the study. Subsequently, following the best communication management practices according to PMBOK and using the PDCA method, an improvement strategy was defined. Finally, KPIs were developed providing measurements to the communication improvements.