A concept for measuring effectiveness of communication in project teams

Aim/purpose – The aim of the paper is to introduce a concept for measuring effectiveness of communication in project teams, taking into account 19 effectiveness aspects which enables to evaluate individual communication effectiveness of each team member, the overall communication effectiveness of a team or organization and to compare teams or organizations for communication effectiveness. The results of a small scale study serve as a proof of the proposed concept comprising the questionnaire and the way of presenting its results. Design/methodology/approach – First, a list of communication effectiveness aspects is proposed, based on a literature review. They are additionally grouped into aspects dependent on the sender, the recipient, and both. On the basis of the identified communication effectiveness aspects a questionnaire for measuring the level of communication effectiveness is prepared and the way of presenting its results is demonstrated on a small scale research sample. The case study is used to validate the presented concept. Findings – The developed questionnaire, based on the identified communication effectiveness aspects, together with the proposed form of presenting its results can be successfully applied to evaluate individual communication effectiveness of specific team members, the overall communication effectiveness of a team or organization and to compare teams or organizations for communication effectiveness. Research implications/limitations – The presented concept enables a graphically enriched assessment of communication effectiveness of individual team members, whole teams or organizations and also brings to the attention of the respondents the various aspects which influence communication effectiveness. It should be, however, noted that the results of the questionnaire base on the declarations of the respondents, which makes them subjective. Originality/value/contribution – The proposed concept of measuring communication effectiveness can be used as a tool for enhancing the communication effectiveness in project teams where some flaws or infirmities are observed. It constitutes a comprehensive way of tackling this problem by addressing an extensive list of communication effectiveness aspects and provides clear and meaningful tools of presenting the results.