In the past year, I have been exposed to the topic of project management in three of my classes. For large projects such as the construction of a chemical plant, there is a lot of integration between planning, organizing and managing resources in order to achieve successful completion. Projects have to achieve set goals while taking into account the scope, time, and budget. Additionally project managers need to optimize the allocation and integration of inputs to meet pre-defined objectives for successful completion. Efficient communication is needed between the project teams in order to achieve the above. I was seeing how the use of networks could help with the organization of a project.

Social Network Analysis is used to develop links between individuals and organizations. However it has not been used frequently to see how computer use affects communication within large, diverse project organizations. Ego-centered networks can establish the range of an individual’s influence, while whole network analysis indentifies the key participants in a specific network. More importantly, network analysis can be used to establish the influence of specific information technology line email or a project intranet.

Many projects use well-understood organizational structures that allow individuals to distribute information to other members of the project team. Because communication is a dynamic process, communications often change during the life cycle of a project. As the project develops, members join and leave the team, disputes develop, and barriers to communication evolve. New communication linkages are also developed while others fade. Then as participants gain experience with each other the initial barriers dissolve and new ones from. In this study it was found that in the early stages managers had high centrality scores and takes on key communications roles in the project. With the use of UCINET, a program to develop sociograms, it can be seen that design-build managers, the project manager, and the superintendent were key to the construction. Subcontractors, design engineers, and owner’s representatives remain relatively isolated from the project network. It is also shown that certain people are isolated from one another such as the electrical and mechanical engineers. With this knowledge, planning teams can better organize their communication system to increase productivity and efficiency.

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