Question on Calculation of communication channels - Please help with solution

Submitted by jomuphilip on Mon, 05/23/2011 - 06:46

1.       You are managing a telecom project. You have got two teams reporting to you. One team is responsible for equipment installation and the other team is responsible to commission and test that equipment. Both teams are working in parallel such that as soon as the installation teams finishes equipment installation at one site they move on to another site for installations and the commissioning and testing team start their activities on the newly installed site. The reporting structure is such that each of the teams has 5 engineers headed by a team lead. Each team member interacts with each other; however only the team leads interact with you. Both the team leads also interact with each other to synchronize their operations.


How many communication channels do you have in your project?

A.       33

B.       23

C.       42

D.       78

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niteshrs

Mon, 05/23/2011 - 11:13

No of members in the team = 5
Since you are managing the team, you are also a team member, hence n = 6
Each team member interacts with each other -> No of communication channels = n(n-1) = 6(6-1) = 30
Only the team leads interact with you -> 2 team leads interacting with you -> No of communication channels = 1
Both the team leads also interact with each other to synchronize their operations - > No of communication channels = 2
Total No of Communication channels = 30 + 1 + 2 = 33


 

jomuphilip

Mon, 05/23/2011 - 11:29

Thanks, the answer is 33 and logic convinces (But the explanation is little misunderstanding, so I am putting in different words)


Here we have two independent teams.


Each team has 6 members, i.e., 5 engineers and one team lead.


Each team member is interacting with each other, so communication channels for each team are (6)(6-1)/2=15.


Both the team leads are communicating with you (PM) so there are two communication channels for this interaction.


Further since both the team leads are interacting with each other there is an another communication channel between them.


Hence the total communication channels in your project is 15+15+2+1=33

niteshrs

Tue, 05/24/2011 - 05:23

Absolutely. This is perfectly fine. Thanks for the correction.

babai

Thu, 01/29/2015 - 23:14

Simple formula, but so many misinformations.

Old one, but the right answer is D. Isn't it?

PMBOK:

the project manager should also consider the number of potential communication channels or paths as an indicator of the complexity of a project’s communications. The total number of potential communication channels is n(n – 1)/2, where n represents the number of stakeholders. For example, a project with 10 stakeholders has 10(10 – 1)/2 = 45 potential communication channels. As a result, a key component of planning the project’s actual communications is to determine and limit who will communicate with whom and who will receive what information. 

YogSam

Sun, 02/01/2015 - 15:21

Option D looks incorrect. Communication is restricted. Read the ques. again. 33 in my view.