Communications Management ◾ 99
14. Increasingly, many organizations are using portals or more sophisticated
internal knowledge management systems as a way to maintain informa-
tion and make it easy to access. You are, however, working in an avionics
company in which the founder, who is 93, still comes to work, and many of
the executive team members have been with the company 40 to 50years.
It did, however, diversify its portfolio and is working now as a software
provider for a major aviation company as well as continuing its successful
product line. The executives meet monthly to review the portfolio and make
resource allocation and investment decisions. You were hired as a portfolio
manager and are striving to implement new processes and procedures. Since
it is a new function, you are involving others and preparing a portfolio com-
munication plan. In this situation, you should:
a. Realize stakeholders prefer reports
b. Set up an internal portal to store information
c. Use dashboards distributed via e- mail
d. Suggest that the avionics company move into knowledge management as
its next step
15. Assume you are the portfolio manager. You have completed your stakeholder
analysis and have classied them into groups to best manage their communi-
cations expectations and inuence as well as to recognize their interest in the
portfolio. You have a small staff of four reporting to you, and you decided to
assign one of your team members to work with each stakeholder group. One
team member met with you today and was concerned that:
a. The group lacks interest in the portfolio
b. Some stakeholders have different interests
c. Some stakeholders seem to require constant attention, and other assigned
work is suffering
d. The stakeholder group desires more of your attention, not that of the
team member
16. Assume you have prepared your communications strategy for portfolio-
related information, and your strategy emphasizes transparency in terms of
portfolio priorities and status. This approach provides:
a. Support for the Portfolio Oversight Group
b. Credibility for the portfolio manager
c. A basis for a portfolio management information system
d. An approach to manage stakeholders with varying degrees of interest