In today’s networked organizations and institutions, project managers must help interdisciplinary teams find effective ways of communicating with each other. Drawing on research conducted for his 2018 bookCommunicating Project Management, Professor Ben Lauren will present the factors and strategies professional project managers consider when supporting effective communication for cross-functional teams, and then puts those practices into conversation with efforts to lead interdisciplinary teams in university settings.
To provide an example, Professor Lauren will discuss how his recent work organizing a group of university, college, and community stakeholders dedicated to improving housing and food security outcomes for college students was buoyed by his research on project structures, cultures, and communication practices. Attendees will leave with a research-based framework for implementing participatory communication practices on their own interdisciplinary and cross functional teams.