Introduction Effective communication is a key

Introduction Effective communication is a key

Effective communication is a key requirement for organizations to remain

learning, competitive, and sustainable organizations. Ineffective communication threatens

organization performance, morale, productivity, leadership, competitive advantage,

bottom line profits, and sustainability. The focus of this study was to explore the lived

experiences of business analysts, programmers, and programmer analysts pertaining to

communication behaviors or constructs associated with ineffective communication. This

chapter includes the background of the study, the theoretical or conceptual framework for

the study, definition of terms, scope and delimitations, limitations, research questions, and

shared meaning, understanding, feedback, and learning, this exchange is considered as

communication (Smart, Witt, & Scott, 2012). Although organization leadership and

project team members understand the importance of effective communication, this

understanding does not mean communication is always effective between the people

involved in communicating. Effective communication behavior or constructs help

employees to address complex, confusing dialogues and conflicting situations at multiple

levels throughout the organization leadership team, project team, end users, business

partners, and among employees and to solve problems (De Vries, Bakker-Pieper, &

Oostenveld, 2010). Understanding the reasons behind miscommunications can help

organization leadership to implement improved communication plans, educate employees

on effective communication strategies, and assist in the development of methods to

environments (Weimann, Hinz, Scott, & Pollock, 2010), but there are not ample studies

that address the problems with communication behavior or constructs associated with

virtual and face-toface work environments (Maynard, Mathieu, Rapp, & Gilson, 2012)

that impede effective communication. Effective communication skills and models

(Robson & Robinson, 2013) are required for project teams to learn, share information,

and negotiate regardless of the work environment being virtual or face-to-face.

Organization leadership understand that project teams can be faced with obstacles in

virtual and face-to-face work environments causing ineffective communication, ranging

from cultural differences to emotional intelligence and lack of skills, but developing

strategies to combat those obstacles is not an easy task. More understanding from the

There is a need for effective communication in IT project development and

implementation, but projects continue to fall short of success and IT management,

business analysts, programmers, programmer analysts and end users have a need to

understand why and how poor communication contributes to this shortfall. The literature

United States is estimated to be about $60 billion to $70 billion (Charette, 2005). The cost

of software maintenance to fix software errors is estimated to be 100 times higher than

implementing software that works, solves the problem, and meets the needs of the user

the first time implemented (Charette, 2005). Software project failures can cause

organization failures as seen in 1996 with FoxMeyer Drug Company, a $5 billion

wholesale drug distribution company that was forced into bankruptcy (Charette, 2005).

The IT Cortex agency (2012) found through surveying IT project managers that project

failures were attributed to missed deadlines (75%), over budget (55%), ineffective

communication (40%), and inadequate project requirements (37%). Communication and

collaboration from the start to the end of projects needs to be effective for success

analysts, programmers, and programmer analysts and their perspectives are not part of the

initial decision for development. This explanation could account for the ineffective

communication statistics documented in the literature. Communication and collaboration

are important in initial decisions and all the stakeholders should be involved.

The importance of stakeholder involvement in communication and collaboration

that work for educational problems, to forge better doctor and patient relationships in

medicine, to understand and solve climate change problems, to manage big data issues, to

address poverty issues faster, to create innovated solutions to problems, and to effect

social change. A critical component in communication strategy and practice is to

understand the communication style of other team players and the individual

communication style (Edmondson, 2009). Communication occurs in multiple forms; it

can be expressive, systematic, and direct and influence how information is given and

perceived (Edmondson, 2009). Understanding the mental and emotional state of the

communicator and understanding why certain behaviors impede communication is

important for management decisions on appropriate communication plans. Yukl (2012)

content, the attitude of the communicator, and the behavior exhibited are important during

the exchange of information (Žemgulienė, 2012). Effective communication is important

to design, develop, and implement successful IT projects (Petersen, Bjoernes, &

Bertelsen, 2010). The IT developers receive requirements from organization management,

the software applications provides a means to develop a new approach to communication.

Looking at the reasons behind poor communication within a group of key players

in software development and implementation can facilitate more understanding of

communication practices used and how to improve communication skills. There is

support for addressing the communication problem within IT and information systems

(IS) through a behavioral mode of thinking (Hadar & Leron, 2008; Yukl, 2012). The

literature is extensive on discussions concerning communication behaviors or constructs

and shows that communication is a factor in IT project failures; the gap in the literature is

the lack of understanding the communication behavior or constructs exhibited by the

people involved when communicating on IT projects and the association to ineffective

communication leading to IT project failure (Hadar & Leron, 2008). This study covers the

include supportive, authoritative, disruptive, collaborative, cooperative, insubordinate,

advocate teamwork, good listener, champion feedback, and passive. This list of behaviors

or constructs is not exhaustive; there may be other behaviors or constructs for future

exploration. I selected these 10 communication behaviors or constructs as having an

social change.

Problem Statement

The problem was a lack of information specific to business analysts’,

programmers’, and programmer analysts’ behavioral and communication constructs that

contribute to IT project failure rates when working on an IT software development project

with the assigned responsibility of performing analysis, requirements gathering, coding,

testing, project management, implementation, quality control, or production support.

There was a problem with communication behaviors or constructs according to the

statistics on project failures documented in the literature. Statistics on the reasons for IT

software projects is successful. Ninety percent of managers (Grenny, Maxfield, &

Shimberg, 2008) believed communication problems influence and cause organization

behavioral issues. These managers called the problem of ineffective communication

within these organizations a cancer (Grenny et al. 2008) and organizations that have

and programmer analysts will assist to provide additional understanding to use in

improving communication. Interviewing at the individual business analyst, programmer,

and programmer analyst level provides a means to understand communication behavioral

aspects from their point of view. The SurveyMonkey questions addressed the perspective

of the participants concerning information sharing from management, information sharing

among team members, and strategic direction of the organization in reference to the

communication plan for IT projects.

Research Questions

The research questions pertained to communication behaviors or constructs that

cause verbal and nonverbal communication to be effective or ineffective. Neufeld,

Zeying, and Yulin (2010) defined communication effectiveness as a shared understanding.

poor communication was used to gather data. Questions 1-6 were descriptive

characteristics, 7-16 were derived from the first research question, and 17 were derived

RQ1: What do business analysts, programmers, and programmer analysts believe

are the root causes of poor communication in the IT workplace that could lead to

IT project failure?

RQ2: What do business analysts, programmers, and programmer analysts believe

organization leadership should do to improve poor communication in the IT

workplace?

Conceptual Framework

There are multiple components that feed into whether communication is effective

or ineffective, thus requiring the use of three theories. The theoretical or conceptual

framework is based on communication theory or CT, organizational information

processing theory or OIPT, and critical social theory or CST (Farazmand, 2003; Goodhue,

Wybo, & Kirsch, 1992; Lee, Y., Lee, Z., & Gosain, 2004). The conceptual framework

depicts the areas that communication takes place within the IT work environment

culture, and disorder within organizations at all levels of management and disorder within

phenomena, which includes communication. CT is used in a wide range of domains and

across disciplines to understand (Guo, Vogel, Zhou, Zhang, & Chen, 2009) the behavior

of individuals when faced with chaotic problems that include how systems, people, and

processes operate or fail to operate in the world and in IT and IS. These theories provide a

means to base the exploration of communication behaviors or constructs that influence IT

project failure.

The CT, OIPT, and CST theories provide a means to base the discussion on the

importance of effective communication within the IT work environment in the

development and implementation of software and hardware projects. Established in the

solutions documented can engage the leadership of organizations for profit and not for

profit to develop solutions to world problems faster that leads to positive social change.

When organizations embark on solutions, regardless of the type of project,

communication is at the front and dispersed throughout the project to develop a solution.

The process of change management and the fundamental strategies associated with

social responsibility (CSR) to address global strategies for positive social change.

Organizations commit to social change initiatives through philanthropy, compliance with

global regulations, and collaborative efforts with internal and external business partners

requiring effective communication and collaboration (Babin, Briggs, & Nicholson, 2011).

Communication is included as a key component of erecting effective leadership.

Leadership is 80% effecting change and ensuring that the change continues to work

efficiently, while the remaining 20% is concerned with the management of budgets,

planning, problem solving, and communication with employees as important for

successful outcomes (Fickenscher & Bakerman, 2011). IT is an enabler to facilitate

communication, learning, increasing profits, and training, assisting the disabled with

contribution to society (Salb, Friedman, & Friedman, 2011). CSR initiatives assist

organizations to remain viable and stable entities. CSR initiatives require communication

and marketing strategies. CSR projects not only assist the organization to remain

competitive and profitable but allow the organization to show stakeholders, customers,

feedback was the specific aim of this study. Communication includes written, verbal,

listening, and visual mannerisms. Understanding the communication behaviors or

constructs associated with communication reinforces, promotes new knowledge creation,

and provides a means to work toward new and innovative strategies and practices that

lead to positive social change within communities on a global scale.

The first chapter included an introduction to the problem that ineffective

communication can cause IT project failures. This chapter included an alternative method

to study communication through a behavioral lens. People are unique and instrumental

competitive advantages for an organization. Chapter 2 included the supporting literature;

Chapter 3 included the research study methodology. Chapter 4 included the results of the

study. Chapter 5 included the discussion of the findings, conclusions and

recommendations for future research.

decision making, requirements gathering, design, development, implementation, and a

lesson learned process. The review then presents specific literature pertaining to the

problem of communication behaviors or constructs that influence IT communication. The

sections that follow include the literature search strategy, the literature reviewed,

summary, and conclusions.

Peer-reviewed literature and reputable professional websites comprise the sources

used. The Walden University library databases used include ProQuest Central, Academic

Source Complete, EBSCOhost, InfoSci, PsycINFO, ScienceDirect, and Computers &

Applied Sciences Complete. Journal articles were retrieved using specific keywords

construct influences on effective and ineffective communication encounters.

Conceptual Framework

CT, CST, and OIPT theories are the foundational framework in studies that govern

system development across cultural boundaries. These theories are the premise for the

study of communication, leadership, culture, behavior, and disorder within organizations

OIPT, and CST (Farazmand, 2003; Goodhue, Wybo, & Kirsch,

communication from a behavioral mode of thinking can assist management and

employees in the identification of new creative ways to improve communication skills

from the top down and from the bottom up.

Organization leadership recognizes that 10% of the problems encountered with

communication are due to a lack of training within the area of communication skills

(Arzymanow & Cooke-Davies, 2003; Dyer, 2006; Farazmand, 2003; Hadar & Leron,

organization communication plan perspective. Framing the phenomenological study using

OIPT, CT, and CST helped to frame the exploration of lived experiences of individuals

through a behavioral lens. The exploration of communication behaviors or constructs

could add to the previous literature generated by various authors such as

(Farazmand, 2003; Goodhue, Wybo, & Kirsch, 1992; Lee, Y., Lee, Z., & Gosain, 2004).

Literature Review

Human Behavior Influence on Communication

conducive to effective communication leading to problems with how people

communicate and how people convey meaning to their communication. IT and IS

business analyst, programmer, and programmer analyst professionals require a range of

communication skills similar to behavior analysts.

People embark on personal and professional endeavors daily that could have an

influence on communication. Blell, Alai-Rosales, and Rosales-Ruiz (2010) expressed that

a behavior analyst requires skills in conflict mediation and resolution, supportive

communication, the ability to confront, manage, and master a range of emotional

behaviors exhibited by clients that are not associated with the behavioral analyst job

responsibilities. More so than men, women tend to provide comforting or supportive

communication. Another point emphasized by Blell et al. (2010) is that age plays a role in

the communication strategies employed by individuals. Training in communication skills

communication to be strained and less than adequate. The author described CA as a fear

or anxiety about sharing information with others leading to ineffective communication.

CA leads to problems for an employee within the workplace when the fear of talking to

others overshadow a persons’ ability to share knowledge. Russ (2012) believed when

people exhibit the behavior that is traitlike CA it means the person has a problem with

human contact. Russ stated context CA means the person has a fear of sharing knowledge

within a group, personal conversations with others, in meetings, and presentations. Jorfi,

Jorfi, Yaccob, and Shah (2011) believed that organization leadership and employees need

emotional intelligence when communicating for the result to be effective, meaning the

receiver and sender of information understands the message. Employees may require

Gender Influence on Communication

It is possible that gender influences how people communicate. According to

Kapidzic and Herring (2011), there are differences between gender in the use of

technology and written online communications. Women display a more polite and

supportive behavior than men in computer-mediated communications. Kapidzic and

Herring examined the influence of Web 2.0 technologies on the communication behaviors

of teenagers, men, and women. The authors found that the new technologies provide a

are differences in the approach to communication styles between men and women doing

verbal and nonverbal interactions.

Technology Influence on Communication

Prior studies have addressed communication technologies using the Internet.

Today’s business environments use computers, cell phones, text messaging, and instant

messaging (IM) to engage in communication with business counterparts internal and

external to the organization. In academia, students use the computer, cell phones, text

messaging, and IM to communicate with university personnel and to receive campus

alerts. Junco, Merson, and Salter (2010) discussed that texting uses no more than 160

characters to communicate messages to others. The content of those messages in the case

of business needs to be understandable to the receiver of the text. Junco et al. (2010)

noted that a new language has emerged from cell phone use and texting, which influences

recognized that university students have a need to develop communication skills to be

research study to understand the behaviors that influence communication. Technology

continues to improve and advance at an alarming speed. Communication skills and

techniques must coincide and advance with the advancements in technology.

Communication Style Influence on Communication

The communication styles and techniques from one person to another are different

simply because each person is different and unique. Edmonson (2009) believed

understanding personal communication styles and the communication styles of colleagues

helps to increase understanding, productivity, and allows working as a constructive team

member. According to Edmonson (2009), there are four behaviors, expressive,

systematics, sympathetic, and direct. Edmonson (2009) suggested, expressive

communication styles require others to communicate using a calm, slow speech, and

controlled tone. Systematics tends to be characterized as cautious and requires

communicators to be patient, and nurturing. Sympathetic behavior requires others to be

supportive and sharing. Directs have little time, require the facts, no detail, and appear to

be unemotional. Edmonson (2009) reported the communicator should strive to be detail

The organization leadership has a responsibility to empower employees to be

open, honest, encourage collaboration, feedback, and support becoming professional

depends on culture, leadership, communication, structures, and IT and IS. In order for

Understanding and identifying changes required and implementing change within the

infrastructure requires understanding the behaviors and communication required for

change deployment. The activities involved in change implementation must be identified

and appropriate action implemented. The understanding and interpretation of change is

seen through individual perspectives and the facilitation of the individual’s needs. The

idea of enforcing change by ensuring individuals understand the benefit to the

organization structure and ensuring they are involved, and recognize the benefit to the

and provide meaning to the message, but that does not mean the message is always

positive or negative. Keyton et al. (2013) expressed that communication behavior can be

repeated, and people can discern to select effective communication skills versus

ineffective skills. Among the effective communication skills are listening, negotiation,

other people, a person can conform singularly, or independent of others, resulting in a

inclusive of listening, asking and answering questions, discussing, information sharing,

agreement, feedback, explaining, cooperating, small talk, providing help, providing

information, decision-making, knowledge gathering, respect, keeping others informed,

and planning. The authors reported that 84.13% of the participants in their study

identified listening as the top verbal communication behavior in the workplace. The

second, 81.75% believed asking questions was important. Keyton et al. (2013) reported

discussing, and sharing information was 76%, agreeing and suggesting 74.60%. An

interesting revelation by Keyton et al. (2013) is the ranking of getting and receiving

context, and organization. The authors argued that communication behavior in the

workplace encompasses the expression of frustration, and displeasure using means that

are considered effective communication behaviors. Keyton et al. believed that effective

communicators possess the ability to organize work tasks through asking questions,

communication behaviors that influence communication in IT environments. The verbal

within the specific type of organization, profession, and industry.

Relationship Management Influence on Communication

The area of public relations, business, information technology, and other

partners. According to Kim and Rhee (2011), communication behaviors of employees are

critical to building organization relationships that increase information sharing positively.

These authors reported that employee’s communication behavior is critical to building a

network of individuals posed to bring information into the organization, and to provide

positive information about the organization to the parties externally. Kim and Rhee

(2011) reported that megaphoning could be positive or negative. Kim et al. (2011)

described scouting as employee volunteered information sharing behavior where the

information sharing occurs internally and externally to the organization. These authors

described a new communication behavior concept as micro boundary spanning. Micro

boundary spanning is the combination of megaphoning and scouting. This concept allows

organizations to transfer knowledge from within the organization to internal and external

information sharing, and a form of positive megaphoning, or effective communication

crisis management, when the effective communication behavior increases in importance.

The Net Generation and the Educational Influence on Communication

The process of obtaining and sharing information has changed dramatically over

learning are no longer working. There has been a paradigm shift in how people teach,

learn, and share information. The Internet, Extranet, Intranet, is accessible and allows

people to learn at their own pace whenever they choose from any location domestically

and internationally. The generation of students today communicate in ways that facilitate

learning at faster speeds, and creation of innovative solutions emerge quicker.

Communication is through multimedia means and practice, more than lecture from

teachers. The students seek information through research and knowledge sharing using

technological advancements. Students, for example, learn by presentation of a problem to

be solved, research, and analysis, instead of the traditional lecture. The teacher performs

in a mentor role, guiding, and answering questions, ensuring rigor and quality in the work

performed. The communication between student and teacher is facilitated by information

the communication behaviors assist to discover the reasons that lead to specific actions

and reactions to communication strategies and practices. According to Kirzinger et al.

(2012) methods used in gaining information and communication traits contribute to

political and social behaviors. The authors believed genetic factors influence

communication behaviors and see heredity as a factor that influences media behavior and

communication. Television, Internet, e-mail, and videos have an influence on the way

people communicate. The authors summarized that genes and environment play a role in

how people communicate. Understanding communication behaviors allows understanding

the motivation behind the way people communicate. Information technology has altered

the way people communicate and reinforces the need to become better communicators.

Customer Relationship Management and Influence on Communication

virtual environments. The virtual environments require effective communication

relationships within the project team. It is crucial to develop a cohesive and productive

team environment that works well together to accomplish tasks. Effective communication

strategies and practices are important to foster virtual team and organization success

(Richards et al., 2012). Effective communication does not become less important due to

assessments to identify the threats to an organization. The identification of threats and the

to outside business partners. Strecker, Heise, and Frank (2011) introduced a

multiperspective modeling method for IT risk assessment that includes provisions for

within an organization. The involvement of upper management and other stakeholders

communication. Security management is considered a core activity, which requires the

leadership, and employees to communicate and collaborate to understand threats to the

organization, and how to control the potential for harm to the organization. Security

teams are needed to focus on the threats, methods of control, and to communicate the

findings and control methods to others. Effective communication allows others within the

organization to be informed and active participants in the security management practices.

Strecker et al. (2011) proposed six requirements for risk assessment and security

management. The requirements include communication, collaboration, sharing

information, transparency, and reducing the complex environment surrounding security

issues. Communication is an important requirement to manage security effectively

Outsourcing allows virtual organizations to focus on core processes within the

as critical to daily business needs. The literature on outsourcing is vast and informative.

Manzin and Kodrič (2009) believed the landscape of outsourcing has changed

telecommunications make communication in a virtual environment possible. People can

workplaces requires clear communication, adequate finances, executive management

buy-in and continued support, a plan for outsourcing, and a strategy to manage people

outside the organization. Information communication technologies (ICTs) assist

employees to gain new knowledge, communicate, to be productive, and help the

organization to remain competitive.

Project Management and the Influence of Communication

When IT organizations embark on projects, there are specific skills and behaviors

expected from project team members. Jetu and Riedl (2012) believed project team

success is derived from leadership, teamwork, behavior that is conducive to producing

team cohesiveness, flexibility, the ability to adapt, a team collective spirit to meet team

goals, and communication that leads to success. Project management requires effective

communication to garner successful outcomes regardless of the industry. Project

programmers, and programmer analysts discuss with users the functionality of proposed

modifications to software or hardware understanding the language used by the user is

important. Understanding the language used by the business analyst, programmers, and

programmer analyst is equally important. To obtain the knowledge held by others people

must become skilled at negotiation and communicating.

The subject of this literature review is how effective and ineffective

communication plays a role in IT and IS systems management. Some of the topics

explored are the literature search strategy, review of the concepts surrounding effective

These subject areas included information concerning the influence of effective and

ineffective communication behaviors. These subject areas addressed the phenomenon of

governance, compliance, and social change all of which assists organizations to remain

viable and competitive. Chapter 3 addresses the research methodology.

The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore the lived

experiences of business analysts, programmers, and programmer analysts pertaining to

the communication behaviors or constructs associated with ineffective communication.

Exploring these communication behaviors or constructs assisted to provide additional

understanding to use in development of improvements for ineffective communication.

The research design, study population, sampling process, sample size, instrument, data

collection process, data analysis technique, dependability, credibility, transferability, and

confirmability are covered in this chapter. The Walden University Institutional Review

transferability (Houghton, Casey, Shaw, & Murphy, 2013). To work toward credibility,

dependability, confirmability, and transferability, I collected questionnaires over an

extended period, 4 weeks total. If needed, multiple follow up questions were scheduled

with participants to collect the data and to confirm understanding. The data from the

questionnaires are complete when all participants have responded. Transferability refers

to the findings and the application of those findings to other disciplines, businesses, and

society. I exercised the use of researcher reflexivity to provide additional meaning and

interpretation to participant responses. To accomplish researcher reflexivity, notes are

recorded (Houghton et al. 2013). The recorded notes provided the basis for analysis of the

data from the questionnaires.

Appendix F). Member checking was used to assist with accuracy. Member checking

provides the participant an opportunity to approve the transcript of the interviews and to

make desired corrections. Member checking helps to ensure the data obtained is of the

highest quality, accurate, and credible. These measures assisted in acquiring quality and

The data were analyzed using open and axial coding. The open coding technique

emerging data. For example, a label assigned could be leadership. Axial coding allows

identifying and categorizing the relationships found in the data from the open coding (see

leadership influences effective communication. The data is presented in tables, figures,

words in the data collected, theme development from the codes, the identification of the

patterns based on the categories and themes identified in the data. The data analysis was

completed when saturation was achieved, which means no new themes and patterns are

emerging.

were clear and understandable before the start of the study (see Appendix B). The pilot

study consists of three participants that are not part of the participant pool of 20-business

analysts, programmers, or programmer analysts working in IT within the region with

similar job responsibilities while working on a software development project. The same

questionnaire was used in the study. The three participants were asked the following

application and NVivo software helps to eliminate or control bias perspectives from the

researcher. There was the potential for participants to respond with less than honest

interpretations of the interview questions. To mitigate this potential issue the participants

were informed about the study, and the information provided by the participants remains

opinions and the incompleteness of data collected. Data collected from the participants

as necessary.

Transferability

People seek information from peers and colleagues across all discipline’s and

information needed by others and to provide information to others clearly (Nevo,

Benbasat, & Wand, 2012). The descriptions of the phenomena of ineffective

communication as described by the lived experiences of business analysts, programmers,

and programmer analysts will be included in the findings. Due to the small number of

participants, and one geographic location, findings from the phenomenological study will

most likely not result in transferability to other disciplines and industries. The design of

the phenomenological study can be replicated and results compared possibly leading to

improvements in communication within those disciplines and industries. The findings

from the phenomenological study can be distributed to other disciplines and industries in

an executive summary format for review, decision-making, and consideration for action.

Dependability

to the data collection process start. The process and procedures are documented in a

protocol was defined, documented, and reviewed with participants for understanding

ensure credible and accurate data was obtained.

into NVivo accurately. I ensured the participants understood their role and the protocol. I

the participants understood a number not a name would identify them.

environment to study communication behaviors or constructs and lived experiences of the

participants. I strived to ensure integrity, high ethical standards, and morals throughout

the research.

Participant Informed Consent

documentation that the data procedure was understood and approved to collect data from

data could be collected from the business analysts, programmers, and programmer

argued that communication skills are needed to master the art of software and hardware

negotiations, requirements, implementations, business decisions, and social change. I

discussed the reason a phenomenological study was selected as the design instead of

other methods. The target population, setting, sampling procedure, sample,

Chapter 4: Results

The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore and

describe the lived experiences of business analysts, programmers, and programmer

analysts pertaining to the communication behaviors or constructs associated with

ineffective communication. Exploring and understanding the lived experiences of

business analysts, programmers, and programmer analysts may assist to provide

additional understanding to use in improving communication. The findings of the study

are documented in this chapter.

included in the pilot study. The aim of the pilot study was to determine if the

Appendix B). The participants received a copy of the participant request letter (see

Appendix H and M), the informed consent form (see Appendix I), and the

the following questions to clarify the questionnaire and the instructions: • Are the

instructions in the questionnaire protocol clear and understandable?

• Is the questionnaire clear and understandable?

The results of the pilot study indicated the data collection instrument was

acceptable for the phenomenology study. The pilot study participants did not recommend

any changes to the questionnaire. The pilot study participants stated the questions and

instructions were clear and understandable. The questionnaire allowed similar themes

Participants were recruited for the research study using social networks using a

snowball sampling technique. The participants were asked to respond to a SurveyMonkey

obtaining participant responses.

Demographics

The research population was a set of business analysts, programmers, and

programmer analysts working in the United States with similar responsibilities and

characteristics. The estimate for business analysis or computer systems analysis jobs is

544,400 (U.S. Department of Labor, 2013). The sample size of 20 business analysts,

programmers, and programmer analysts working in the United States was adequate and

acceptable for a qualitative phenomenological study. According to Patton (2002), the

sample size is sufficient when it is large enough to analyze the research problem and

answer the research questions. A sample size of 20 or until data saturation occurs is

sufficient for a qualitative study, according to Walden University and based on

Moustakas’s (1994) position that five to 25 participants are acceptable for

phenomenological studies. The participants were informed about the study through social

communication when working on IT projects, and the type of communication used (see

There were 23 participants that responded to the questionnaire. Each participant

was assigned a number, P1-P23. Two participants were eliminated, P22 and P23. These

participants did not meet the criteria due to answering NO to Question 2, never having

worked on a software development project. Sixteen men and five women participated in

the research study. Job titles vary by organization but the responsibilities were the same

as the job title of business analyst, programmer analyst, and programmer. Participants

included six business analysts, two programmer analysts, three programmers, and 10

other job title specifications that included senior business/data analyst, systems support

analyst, IT associate director, systems analyst, network administrator, program manager,

participants on a daily or weekly basis included e-mail, face-to-face meetings,

telephone

(mobile, desk, VOIP), teleconferencing (SKYPE, GoToMeeting, and other

teleconferencing software), water cooler business chats, instant messenger, status reports,

dashboards, and SharePoint. Elevator business chats was not a type of communication

33% through the use of the telephone (mobile and desk).

executive summary at the conclusion of the study. The participants provided data for the

study using a questionnaire containing open-ended questions.

Table 1

Participant Job Title and Responsibility

Research Results

Twenty-one participant questionnaires were exported from SurveyMonkey and

transcribed. The transcripts were reviewed immediately after receipt. The data was

manually analyzed, categorized, and coded for relevant experiences across the 21

behaviors or constructs associated with ineffective communication are detailed in Table 4

where 90% of the participants agreed that end users, management, and project team

The data collection process defined in the protocol (see Appendix D) was

followed. The SurveyMonkey questionnaire was exported, printed, and explored. Each

SurveyMonkey questionnaire was assigned a number to identify the selected participant,

frequently used words across the participant responses. During this process, notes were

written on the printed document that identified a theme or pattern in the data. The

SurveyMonkey questionnaire responses were reviewed multiple times until no new

information could be discerned from the data. Open coding and an iterative process of

reviewing the SurveyMonkey data transcripts helped to ensure the accuracy of the coding

and categorization. Axial coding allowed defining and assigning categories and themes to

the data based on the information collected from participants P1-P21 (see Appendix D).

The categories identified that influence ineffective communication within IT software

categories and the emerging themes.

Table 3

Developed Codes using Manual and NVivo 10 Coding

Themes

Effective Communication

Requirements

• clear expectations

• written documentation

Factors influencing ineffective or

poor communication

• no face-to-face meetings

• too reliant on e-mail for

• inability to detail

• approval process

People

• support

• buy-in of stakeholders

• staffing – employees

• transparency

Business Procedures and

Processes

• Goals, Strategy

• Functionality

• Information

Project Management

• Project Status

(table continues)

Table 4

Ten Communication Behaviors or Constructs

The data revealed the reasons for poor communication include multiple issues.

The participants identified the following list of potential causes of poor communication in

commented, “More clarity, time invested in explaining the business process, as opposed

to what they feel the IT process should be. I understand the tech, but I don’t necessarily

know their business.” The concern regarding education about the business processes was

echoed by participant P6, who mentioned, “Education of process.” Participant P7

communication and repeating what was heard. Participants stress this technique would

The participants identified the following list of potential improvements to communication

plans and processes in response to research question RQ2:

organization leadership should do to improve poor communication in the IT

workplace?

team (employees and vendors) so that all have buy-in.” Participant P2 commented, “Be

encouraging and helpful to each other.” Participant P3 commented, “Provide

opportunities to meet clients in a fun environment for building relationships.” Participant

P3 made a point that management should provide training, and all team members must be

issues.” The participants shared a common idea that constant feedback and sticking to the

original design plan was important for project successes. Participant P5 stated, “Provide

scope, instead of constant shifting.” Participant P6 stated, “Transparency.” Participant P6

stated, “Communication skills are needed to be successful and education of process,

identification of requirements, and execution of requirements” as being important to

improve communication.

“Using a production support tool instead of e-mail or telephone to capture and

communicate production issues.” This participant believed that management should

advocate a sense of fairness, compassion, and empathy in dealing with end users and

project team members. Participant P9 stated, “Allow team to perform duties without

and feedback. Good listening skills including repeating what is heard, frequent

communication and collaboration between end users, management, and project team. The

participant resources pointed to the importance of written documentation, emotional

intelligence including compassion and empathy for others. Theme 1 was shared by 86%

of the participants. Participant P1 commented, “To communicate in a way that you are

their advocate (end users), you understand their issues and want to make their work

better. Listen and repeat what you hear.”

Effective Communication Requirements

Table 10

Risk Management

Theme 8: Education and Training

The participant data revealed ineffective communication was a direct result of a

failure to provide education and training to end users, management, and project team

members concerning business processes, procedures, and project goals. Participant 3

believed additional training and problem solving skills are required to be successful

communicators. Participant 3 stated education and training was needed for end users,

management, and project team. Participant 4 said, “You need the right skills, experience,

and knowledge to have good communication.” Participant 6 commented in reference to

end users being subject matter experts requires more education of the business processes.

p

articipants in

a

Education

and

raining

62

Theme 9: Cost

The participant data revealed ineffective communication occurs as a result of

financial concerns related to project cost. End users and management request changes to

applications that require multiple resources from people to equipment in some cases.

Management is more focused on the financial cost of an implementation than

implementing a workable solution. Participant P2 stated as a reason for poor

communication, “trying to save money, not caring if a part of the implementation failed,

experiences of business analysts, programmers, and programmer analysts pertaining to

understanding regarding the experiences of business analysts, programmers, and

programmer analysts in relation to the reasons for ineffective communication between

end users, management, project teams, and the correlation to 10 behaviors or constructs

associated with communication which are supportive, authoritative, disruptive,

collaborative, cooperative, insubordinate, advocate teamwork, good listener, champion

feedback, and passive. Chapter 5 contains the conclusions and recommendations based on

the findings presented in Chapter 4. In addition, Chapter 5 provides the study

conclusions, interpretation of the study, relationship to social change, limitations of the

study, and recommendations for future research.

Chapter 5: Discussion, Conclusions, and Recommendations

The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore the lived

experiences of business analysts, programmers, and programmer analysts pertaining to

the communication behaviors or constructs associated with ineffective communication.

spiral of IT project failures and result in social change for stakeholders.

Interpretation of the Findings

found in the data from the open coding that pertained to ineffective communication.

Responses by the participants provided rich data that led to nine themes and the findings

in answering RQ1: What do business analysts, programmers, and programmer analysts

believe are the causes of poor communication in the IT workplace that could lead to IT

project failure?

Based on participant responses effective communication requirements (ECR)

behind the modification or new application should be provided to the project team.

People have a need to understand the reason for the project to develop a sense of owning

the project. The stakeholders involved in the project are from various units within the

organization to ensure requirements are addressed for each unit and the effect on each

effective communication. The stakeholders might work within virtual team environments

requiring the use of ICTs to communicate making it more essential to use communication

behaviors that are conducive to success. These findings point to the research of Neufeld et

al. (2010) who stated ICT allow organizations to share knowledge from remote locations.

The location of the employee engaged in communication is a nonfactor with the

advancements in ICT. However, the leadership, communication style, and behavior of the

people engaged in discussion regardless of location and method used is a factor. End

users, management, and project team members require effective communication styles

and behaviors for success regardless of the method used to communicate. These findings

are consistent with Neufeld et al. (2010), who argued that communication within virtual

genes and environment play a role in how people communicate. Understanding

communication behaviors allows understanding the motivation behind the way people

communicate. Feedback on project requirements and project status should occur from the

start to the end of a project. End users, management, and the project team need to use

opportunity for project success. Critical to project success was the importance of written

face-to-face meetings including teleconferencing technologies.

In some cases, ineffective communication causes (IEC) stem from no face-to-face

gender. More specific questions pertaining to gender and age could be a second

component to extend the research study.

Business resources-people (BR-P) are essential for effective communication.

People should be supportive and buy-in to the software development project to ensure

effective communication and project success. The participants stressed the importance of

stressed the importance of working together in a supportive manner, termed as teamwork,

to accomplish the tasks. The leadership of project manager was important. Some

participants believed the right project manager was the first step to ensure effective

communication. These findings are consistent with research by De Vries, Bakker-Pieper,

and Oostenveld (2010) who stated effective communication requires an effective leader

who uses human oriented leadership. This human oriented leadership style includes

expressing behaviors of friendliness, dominance, supportive, and caring behaviors. The

participants noted that some leaders use a charismatic leadership style as defined by De

Vries et al. (2010), which was associated with behaviors that are supportive, assuring,

argumentative, precise, and nonaggressive from a verbal stance. The participants pointed

including authoritative, supportive, passive, and disruptive behaviors. Some project teams

had no documentation or a limited amount of documentation that lead to a breakdown in

communication. The project team did not have written information to refer to during the

software development project, and did not have access to subject matter experts to answer

the software development project should be provided to end users, management, and the

the project and the approval process.

The business processes (BP) and procedures need to be documented for review by

others at any point during the project. The documentation serves as a means for people to

evaluate information and to obtain answers to questions during the software develop

project life cycle. People have a need to understand the reason for the software

development project. People have a need to understand the organization goals, mission,

and strategy. The functionality of the existing application is important to comprehend, so

the new software application or changes do not cause existing processes to fail. Managing

information within the organization, and the project team is of high importance. People

organization. This method of inclusion makes people feel good about management, and

the organization in which they work. People need skills in speaking at the level of the

audience listening. When IT people are communicating and collaborating, IT terminology

is acceptable. When IT people are communicating and collaborating with non-IT people,

to project success. An understanding that each person is accountable and should not be

afraid to ask questions, and seek answers from the subject matter experts was important

to project success. Project status should be conveyed to end users, management, and

project team at an agreed upon schedule. These findings are supported by the work of

Jetu and Riedl (2012), who believed project team success was derived from leadership,

teamwork, behavior that is conducive to producing team cohesiveness, flexibility, the

ability to adapt, a team collective spirit to meet team goals, and using communication

skills at a level that leads to success.

Outside vendor management (OVM) was revealed as a cause of ineffective

communication. Organizations use consultants to work on software development projects,

the business process and procedures prior to starting work on a software project. These

findings are consistent with Manzin and Kodrič (2009) who believed the landscape of

outsourcing has changed due to global economics and virtual workplaces. With the

realization that organizations function in global virtual environments more education,

that management is not always concerned with their challenges. The lack of concern by

management can result in software project failures. These findings are consistent with

Heyman, et al. (2009) who stated when the topic for discussion belongs to the

communicator; the behavior may be different from the person who has no interest in the

topic of the conversation. The leadership of the project needs communication behaviors

displayed that show support and interest in the communicator’s conversation. The

interactions and the reactions of end users, management, and project team members

require supportive and collaborative communication behaviors or constructs to succeed

with project implementations.

Education (EDU) and training is crucial to software project development success.

supported by Theme 9: Cost. The recommendation for end users and management to

buyin to the project and make time for requirements gathering, meetings, questions,

testing, and the approval phase is crucial for successful software implementations. This

recommendation is supported by Theme 3: People, Theme 4: Business Procedures and

recommendations founded on the findings from this study could lead to management

project team members. The findings could directly lead to social change for stakeholders

through improved communication skills, solutions that work to solve problems in society

and organizations. The recommendation to build an IT work environment where project

expectations are clear, including verbal and written documentation, people are supportive

and cooperative, collaborate with each other, work as a team, listen to each other, and

provide constructive honest feedback was optimal for effective communication and

successful IT project implementations. This recommendation is supported by Theme 1:

Effective Communication Requirements, Theme 2: Factors Influencing Ineffective or

communication skills, business knowledge, and abilities in the area of IT software

development based on the perspectives of programmers, business analysts, and

programmer analysts. From a theoretical perspective, the CT, CST, and OIPT guided the

research study based on the premise that the role of theories reinforce the processes and

practices, project leadership, cultural challenges, and communication behaviors or

constructs that are not conducive to developing successful IT projects. The study

confirmed based on participant responses there was an association between ineffective

communication, and the behaviors or constructs that include supportive, authoritative,

disruptive, collaborative, cooperative, insubordinate, advocate teamwork, good listener,

champion feedback, and passive during interactions with others while working on

software development projects. The study confirmed that leaders, project team members

and end users require a balance between social skills, emotional intelligence, and

communication skills to be effective leaders, team players, and communicators. The study

confirmed that end users, management, and project team members believe they are

processes, business procedures, and training are needed to become successful

communicators.

The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore the lived

experiences of business analysts, programmers, and programmer analysts pertaining to

the communication behaviors or constructs associated with ineffective communication.

The research questions pertained to the identification of communication behaviors or

constructs related to poor communication. The attitudes, interactions, and reactions of end

users, management, and project team members was explored to develop a sense of

Based on the participant responses there are problems with communicating that require

management, end user, and project team interventions to correct the problems

encountered. The problems with communication stem from the wrong stakeholders

involved in the project, not all stakeholders buying in to the project, a lack of gathering

the correct project requirements, lack of documentation, no face-to-face meetings, using

e-mail correspondence only to understand requirements for a project and project status,

cost of the project leads to a rush by management to implement in a short window of

time, risk of implementation not documented and understood by all stakeholders, and

attitudes of authority, inflexibility, passive, and disruptive behaviors or constructs.

Findings from the study supported a recommendation to include additional education and

training for end users, management, and project team members in the area of improving

communication skills, social skills, organization processes, and procedures.