Share this
Mister Wong
Digg
Del.icio.us
Slashdot
Furl
Yahoo
Technorati
Newsvine
Googlize this
Blinklist
Facebook
Wikio
Hear this text
Export PDF
Print
E-mail
Tags
The role played by the media as a channel for project communication on public infrastructure projects
Multimillion-dollar projects are becoming more and more common in today’s increasingly complex world.
Public infrastructure projects such as the Gautrain Rapid Rail involve billions of rand spent over long periods of time to achieve critical economic and political objectives.
One key stakeholder group in all public sector projects is the “public”. The way the public understands the objectives, participates in, and eventually utilises the deliverables of these public infrastructure projects, is critical to the successful achievement of the project objectives.
Throughout history, successful ventures can be attributed to proper planning, organisation and control. Whether we stand in awe in front of the Empire State Building in New York, think back on the words of Neil Armstrong when he set foot on the moon in 1969, or whether we swallow the lump in our throat during Disney’s The Lion King, we cannot help but wonder how it all came together.
One thing is for sure: none of these successful ventures happened as a result of luck. Although we rarely think of the people who organised and led the efforts to ensure the success of these ventures, they are the real heroes behind the scenes.
These people are the managers who use the principles of project management to facilitate the successful transition of an idea or a dream, to reality.
Most projects are done to achieve some goal or set of goals. Sometimes a product or a service is the end result of a project.
Irrespective of the type of project, there always will be a stakeholder group that has certain expectations and objectives that need to be met by the project.
Therefore, the success of the project is directly coupled to meeting the stakeholder’s expectations. The difficult part is to define who the stakeholders are.
Carroll and Buchholtz, in Bourne (2005:31), define the different claims that a stakeholder may have as follows:
* Interest – The person or group will be affected by the project and/or decisions made on the project.
* Right – The person or group could have a legal right to be treated in a certain way or to have a specific right protected, or a moral right.
* Ownership – The person/group has a legal title to an asset or property.
The interrelationship between a project and the rest of the system is critical.
Stakeholders form part of that system and Figure 1 shows a stakeholder model as presented by Walker, in Bourne (2005:32).
The intensity of the influence of a stakeholder will differ depending on the claim the stakeholder holds. Identifying which stakeholders are relevant to the project is essential to understanding their power and influence on the project and subsequently managing the impact they may have on the project.
Flyvbjerg et al., 2003 apply the concept of stakeholder management to the decision-making process on megaprojects. Due to the complexity of these projects and the magnitude of potential stakeholders, decision-making and communication strategies need to be based on the composition of stakeholder groups. Figure 2 shows the processes and their interrelationships with the stakeholder community.
Communication is a critical mechanism to use in the process of stakeholder management. Regular contact with stakeholders facilitates proactive identification of potential issues and also keeps stakeholders informed about the progress of the project.
A formal stakeholder management/communication plan should be compiled to identify how stakeholders and their opinions and actions will be managed.
Organisations use communication mechanisms to influence the opinions of their stakeholders from a state of hostility, through acceptance, to a point of empathy.
The benefits realised by the communication exercises are applicable to both the organisation and its stakeholders.
The chances of achieving the objectives and benefits of such communication exercises and mechanisms are directly related to the extent to which the organisation formalises its communication through a process of planning, execution, measurement and control.
Communication with the organisation’s audience is a complex task, requiring the correct level of focus and skill. Understanding what to communicate, when to communicate and to whom to communicate, is critical for the success of the communication. It requires a specialised skill to plan and execute a communication plan.
The need for a formal communication plan or programme is evident. Aligning the plan with the objectives of the organisation will inform the organisation’s audience/stakeholders and give them the opportunity to respond. Proper implementation, execution and measurement of the programme will allow the communication specialist to align the programme with the objectives of the organisation and to adjust the programme as the input from the audience/stakeholders becomes available.
The communications strategy and plan, resulting from such a formal process, not only serves the organisation, but also provides input to similar integrated communication plans on projects.
When considering communication on megaprojects, the interaction with society immediately comes to the fore. The ability to influence stakeholders on a cognitive, attitudinal, and/or behavioural level is critical for the success of these megaprojects.
Stakeholders require regular updates regarding progress and performance. The performance reporting process gathers information regarding the baseline and performance information for distribution to the stakeholders.
Satisfying the needs of the stakeholders and resolving their issues through effective communication will prevent the project from veering off track; will enhance synergy between stakeholders and the project; and will limit disruptions and delays on the project.
Determining the most appropriate channel for communication is an important element in the ultimate success of the communication exercise. The media, with all its complexities, is certainly the most important channel through which mass communication can be achieved.
Throughout history, the media has played a role in providing us with information: highlighting important issues, exposing corruption, creating sympathy, promoting political views; and sensationalising events.
The media acts as a channel for disseminating information. Today, organisations use this channel to reach their customers, establish their brands, defend their reputation, position themselves and communicate with their stakeholders.
The media processes and filters all information received and presents it in ways that serve its own objectives. This means that the information does not always come out the other side in the same format with the same underlying message as it was intended. The challenge for companies is to acquire the skill and know-how to manage the media effectively as a communication mechanism to support their objectives.
Another important aspect of dealing with the media is to have good relationships with key players in the media. Not only does this help you when you want to promote a specific message, but it also helps when you need to react or respond to negative publicity.
Interacting with the media is not an ad hoc activity that should be done on a reactive basis. It should be part of an integrated communication strategy and plan. Not only is it important to ensure that the right media coverage is achieved, but that the responses and opinions formed, as a result of the communication, are monitored continuously.
Being able to track the results of the interaction with the media is only one component of an integrated communication plan.
The saying, “prevention is better than cure ”, reflects the need to ensure that the work done up to the point of releasing the communication to the media is sufficient to support the stated objectives of the communication.
Active management and measurement of the media interaction through formal models and processes is essential. These processes and models not only provide information that can be used to adjust the communication plan, but also can allow information and opinions from stakeholders to flow back to the organisation.
Interaction with the media from a project perspective will be planned based on the objectives of the project and will form an integrated part of the communication plan of the organisation as a whole.
When looking at the Gautrain Rapid Rail Project and the team executing this mega infrastructure development to link some of Gauteng’s major centres and its international airport, we see that it consists of both government and private individuals. International players form part of the team and bring expertise and technology to the table.
The Gautrain Project is not only part of a bigger political system, but also part of an existing infrastructure system (existing commuter lines). The proposed routes affect existing residential and commercial systems, whereas the funding of the project forms part of another system (taxpayers).
Involving stakeholders from the inception stage of a megaproject is one of the critical success factors. Not only will it prevent unnecessary delays during the very expensive implementation phases, but it also will ensure that the operational phases are economically viable as a result of the acceptance and support from stakeholders.
Success or failure can be seen from many perspectives. The identification of the goals and objectives of a megaproject such as the Gautrain requires dedicated attention right from the start of the project. The entire stakeholder community has to be taken into consideration when identifying goals and objectives.
Research done by Ingrid Jensen, a member of the communication team on the Gautrain Project, highlights the keys to effective strategic communication on the Gautrain Project:
* Analysis of stakeholders;
* Regular media monitoring (daily);
* Frequent media analysis (weekly);
* Conducting a perception audit (annually); and
* Research (ad hoc, in-house, independent).
Due to the nature of the Gautrain Project, it generates high levels of interest from stakeholders. This necessitates the implementation of an integrated communication plan.
The approach taken in the development of the communication strategy was to do thorough research to identify the strategic considerations that would guide the detail planning and execution of the communication plan.
The communication approach adopted by the Gautrain team was to identify the three main streams or programmes.
The first was the Promotion Campaigns, focusing more on the operational stage of the project. Issues such as safety, user benefits and logistics were the focus of this programme.
The following programme was the Operationalising Campaign, focusing on the implementation of the project, with specific reference to the process, impact issues, progress reporting and economic development issues.
The last programme addressed the positioning of the Gauteng Provincial Government. The key message themes and interrelationship of the programmes are shown in Figure 3.
Due to the private-partnership model, it was necessary to compile an integrated communication framework between Bombela and the Gauteng Provincial Government. This integrated approach would ensure alignment among all the different project participants, as well as alignment with government communication.
The Gautrain communication team identified the high-level stakeholder groups as shown in Figure 4.
The internal stakeholders are mainly Gauteng Provincial Government departments, Bombela, the Gautrain Project Team, Airports Company South Africa, National Treasury, the National Transport Department and relevant metropolitan councils.
Interested parties and affected parties were identified as anyone in the broader sense who has an interest in the project, or potentially could be affected by the project. This group represents civil society.
The media group included international, national, provincial, community, trade, consumer and online. The interesting element of this grouping is the split between potential passengers and the broader public. This allows for more focused communication.
On the Gautrain project, the communication team created an integrated communication plan, establishing relationships with the media from the outset.
This continuous interaction with the media created an environment of mutual respect, and although it does not prevent negative publicity when things go wrong, it certainly establishes a base from which this negative publicity can be addressed successfully.
Working from a base of mutual respect will allow the project team access to people when urgent communication needs to be processed and it will also assist in ensuring that the intent of the message is left mostly intact.
The interrelationship between the project and its stakeholders is facilitated by communication.
The media, as a method of communication, needs to be managed in a very specific way to ensure that the process of informing, influencing and deriving the required actions from stakeholders is successful. The delicate balance of this scale easily can tip in the wrong direction.
Research aimed at getting confirmation from a representative group of knowledgeable and interested people about the interaction between the project, its stakeholders and the media, was conducted by the author in 2007.
The research hypothesis can be described by the following statements:
* The media is an integral part of the communications strategy of large public infrastructure projects.
* Public opinion and participation is a crucial element in the critical success factors of large public infrastructure projects.
* Active management of the media in supporting the objectives of large public infrastructure projects can be advantageous.
Based on the responses received from the interviews, the review of related literature, discussions with stakeholders of the Gautrain Project, and the author’s own experience in project management, there seems to be consensus – or at least high suspicions of consensus – that the media can play a significant role in supporting the objectives of public infrastructure projects.
The qualifying statement that supports this notion is that of transparency and trust. Once the media picks up on something that is being swept under the carpet, trust will be broken and the relationship will sour.
Throughout this article, the importance of stakeholder management, communication and the media has been highlighted.
Communication plays a crucial role in the success of any project, even more so when the stakeholders of a project involve the public.
The media, as a method of communication, has a significant impact on the success of any project communication strategy. How the media is managed from the outset could determine the extent to which it could be an asset or a liability to the project.
Figure 1: Stakeholder model
Source: Adapted from Bourne (2005:35)
Figure 2: Stakeholder-based approach to decision-making
Source: Flyvbjerg et al., (2003:113)
Figure 3: Gautrain communication - key message themes
Source: Gauteng Provincial Government (2006)
Figure 4: Gautrain stakeholders groups
Source: Gauteng Provincial Government (2006)
André Engelbrecht
References
Bourne, L. 2005, “Project Relationship Management and the Stakeholder Circle”™, Unpublished Doctoral Thesis, Graduate School of Business, RMIT University, [Online] Available from: http://www.mosaicprojects.com.au/PDF_Papers/P021_L_Bourne_Thesis.pdf [Downloaded 2007-04-09].
Flyvbjerg, B., Bruzelius, N. & Rothengatter, W. 2003, Megaprojects and Risk: An Anatomy of Ambition, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Gauteng Provincial Government. n.d, Research [Online] Available from http://www.gautrain.co.za/contents/presentations/Gautrain%20PRISA%20(25-10%20IJ).pdf [Downloaded: 2006-12-10].
