Community Collaboration & Project Analysis

Community Collaboration & Project Analysis
Designing a project such as the construction of a school requires the participation of a variety of different stakeholders for success. In the case of having a high school built in the city of Bowie, this entails planning to extend the infrastructure by building a second high school, the participation of students, parents, constructors and the local authority as the stakeholders of the project is of utmost importance. In their inclusion in the project, it is necessary identifying the role of each stakeholder in the project and the community (West, & O'Mahony, 2005). Next, the evaluation of the relation of the party to the problems that necessitates the initiation of the project should follow
. The subsequent phase entails the identification of the mode of coordination in facilitating the accomplishment of the goal of the project. Given that the design and construction of a second high school in Bowie requires community collaboration, the article will utilize the Metterssich text guidelines in conducting the evaluation. The objective is to ensure the building of a sustainable structure that meets the needs of all parties who will use the facility either directly or indirectly.  ok
Methods for Engaging the Project Participants
The most reliable criteria that would be used in the engagement of the project participants would include Charrattes, advisory committees, and the advisory reference groups. The first of the three, Charrattes, also referred to as inquiry by design, involves the setting up of workshop that would accbord the participants the opportunity to assess the projects development and to make inquiries. On the other hand, the use of community reference groups would involve the involvement of a community of expertise in the project. The project participants would then be advised to seek the opinion and advice of the experts who would be expected to enlighten them with the appropriate information. The advisory committees would also work in these precepts as the committee members would be expected to advise the participants and ensure that their propositions and conceptions are aligned with the projects expectations. The combination of these three methods would ensure that the relationship between the projects managers and the participants is fostered and that joint creative thinking and problem solving is established to facilitate the fulfillment of the projects goals and objectives.
Communication Strategies
To ensure that there is an effective communication of information in ways that would enhance the operations of the project, there needs to be a downward communication strategy. The project operators, who will be operating at the projects helm of management, will communicate the project elements, changes, and propositions from the top of the management through to the stakeholders representatives. The representatives would then be required to communicate the information to the remaining stakeholders. The representatives would also be expected to indoctrinate the projects mission and vision into the stakeholders understanding.
In the collection and determination of the propositions that have been made by the stakeholders, the upward communication strategy would be used in which the stakeholders would communicate their ideas to the representatives who would in turn communicate the propositions to the projects managers. This back and forth communication strategy is targeted at maintaining order and ensuring that every stakeholder is engaged in the products development.  ok
Approach for the Assessment of the Project
The evaluation of the characteristic of the participants is mandatory as the first step to ensuring that the goals of the project corroborate with the needs of the stakeholders. Afterward, the process that is advanced is the identification of the role of the stakeholders. Then, the connection of the stakeholder to the target problems takes place. Consequently, the assessment identifies the method for engaging the stakeholders in a collaborative process.
Analysis
Students
For the building project in Bowie high in Prince Georges County, Maryland, the first category of stakeholder is school children who will utilize the facility, as their environment. The characteristics of this stakeholder is that they have little influence but high interest in the plan to increase learning facilities at Bowie. They are the indirect promoters of the project. Their role is communicating to the organizers of the project their needs in terms of classroom facility and suggestions for open spaces. The students also have the responsibility of helping is designing the project by presenting proposal that will ease task accomplishment. The needs of the students are sufficient space for participating in play among many other entertaining activities that make learning worthwhile. In the advancement of the project, the students are flexible and require facilities that improve learning. They relate directly to the problem of congestion since the condition makes attainments of the goals of learning difficult. The students will be engaged in convincing their parents to provide support for the construction of the school. The group can also advance studies that aid in the identification of the merits and disadvantages of the project. ok
Communicating the goals of the project to the students will involve the utilization of a combination of tactics. The first approach will require using the teachers to convey the message about the plan to the students. A school parade will equally serve as the platform for the conveyance of the message to the students. Management reports can also facilitate the process. The purpose of sharing the message is to minimize the possibility of conflict arising from the utilization of the infrastructure (Aas, Ladkin, & Fletcher, 2005). Land is the critical resources for use in the project since Bowie High school has exceeded the recommended limit by operating at 130%. Under ordinary circumstance, the limitation should not exceed 100% hence the premise for the extension of the facility through the construction of a second high school. ok
Parents
The second group of stakeholders is parents of the students attending the school in Bowie, M.D. They are responsible for catering for the needs of the students by offering monetary support. They have a huge stake in the construction as the link between the teachers, the constructionists, and the students. Their influence is high and interest also high. Their duties include contributing funds for the expansion project and advising the designers of the project on the ideals ways of streamlining the construction projects. Parents can equally help in forecasting the needs of the school for the years to come as they are affected by problems that involve learning in Bowie. Communicating to the group is critical in facilitating harmonization of the goals of the administration and the interest of all other stakeholders in the project. The approach utilized can entail the use of reports and meeting in which the group is informed about the advancement of the project. Project designers can equally use audiovisual images in communicating the process of construction and expectation to the group.
Local Residents
The residents in the neighborhood are also part of the stakeholders of the project since they are directly affected by the developments of the school. Some of the residents are also parents or teachers as well as representative of local organizations. The characteristic of the group is that they have high influence and low interest in the project (Rotman, Preece, Hammock, Procita, Hansen, Parr, & Jacobs, 2012). The school will conduct forums as the platform for sharing with the group information about the project. The purpose of communicating with the representatives of the local authorities is ensuring compliance with the legal stipulation (Aas, Ladkin, & Fletcher, 2005). The project takes place in their neighborhood and as such the law requires communication in advance when planning for projects of such magnitude as a school. The subsequent basis for communication is ensuring that the representatives of the local authorities conduct checks to approve the project. Provision of expertise advice can also follow. Accuracy in communication also helps in the identification of crucial areas that may pose glitch to the enactment of the project. ok
Teachers
The characteristic of teacher as stakeholder is that they demand space to facilitate accomplishment of their duties which is teaching students. The teachers as the primary stakeholders seek to ensure compliance with the legal stipulations (Senge, & Scharmer, 2008). Their interest and influence are high as they relate to the problem encountered by students seeking education at Bowie High school. The project directly affects the group as they conduct teaching in the environment where the project will take place. The teachers role is communicating to the students the expectation in the initiation of the process. They also liaise with the members of the local community, as well as, parents in ensuring alignment of the project with the legal stipulations. The resource the group requires is academic materials for easing the process of teaching. Examples include stationery and internet resources. They receive information about the progress of the project in meeting steered by the project designers and school administrators.  ok
Designers of the School Building
The constructors are the designers of the project. The environment in which they operate is the school premise where the construction of the new building will take place. Their requirements as stakeholders include funds for the purchase of construction materials. The professionals also need information about the demands of the students to ensure customization of the project in line with the students requirements (Aas, Ladkin, & Fletcher, 2005). Additional resources requirements include electricity and water. Their characteristics include acquaintances with the expertise required for constructing buildings. They have highs stakes in the project. The project designers relate to the problem because they dictate the mode of implementation of the design. They communicate to the owners of the project the progress with the construction once assigned the task. They use team meetings and project reports in the conveyance of information.   ok
Local Authorities, Environmental Agencies & Government Officials
Members of the local government are also the stakeholders of the project. They include representatives of the government, environmental agencies. The project of the school takes place within their jurisdiction in Prince Georges County. They coordinate with the national government in ensuring that institutions serve their mandate. In the design of the project, they regulate construction environment. Their characteristic is high influence and stakes vary. However, on numerous occasions the stakes are high for the group as Smith, Muhajarine, Smith & Delanoy (2011) notes. They coordinate with the school administration in conducting feasibility studies to ensure the project meets legal requirements. The authorities communicate with all stakeholders through the media on the requirements of the project and provide the necessary fund the project. The purpose of the local government is the regulator as the institution is directly affected by construction of the school in Bowie.  ok
Conclusion
Lastly, the success of a project requires participation of all stakeholders. Thus, it is imperative that the needs of each group be properly assessed in order to there to be success. Subsequently, the administration should liaise with the designers in communicating the process. This includes the identification of the environment, resource requirement, and purpose of each group as discussed above. Ok


Hi Yolanda
Thanks for completing this assignment. As you would notice in my comments, you did not seem to have done a good job of providing appropriate citations throughout your paper. Please be sure to edit and proofread your work for clarity in the future. Prior to working on the unit 7 assignment, please be sure to have reviewed the Scoring Guide to make sure that all of the required competencies have been included in the paper, just as we have done in this one.  Dr. Jay

Reference
Aas, C., Ladkin, A., & Fletcher, J. (2005). Stakeholder collaboration and heritage management. Annals of tourism research, 32(1), 28-48.
Rotman, D., Preece, J., Hammock, J., Procita, K., Hansen, D., Parr, C.,  & Jacobs, D. (2012). Dynamic changes in motivation in collaborative citizen-science projects. In Proceedings of the ACM 2012 conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work (pp. 217-226). ACM.
Senge, P. M., & Scharmer, C. O. (2008). Community action research: Learning as a community of practitioners, consultants and researchers. Sage Publications.
Smith, M. K., Muhajarine, N., Smith, J. A., & Delanoy, S. (2011). A community. the SPHERU KT Casebook, 23.
West, J., & O'Mahony, S. (2005). Contrasting community building in sponsored and community founded open source projects. In System Sciences, 2005. HICSS'05. Proceedings of the 38th Annual Hawaii International Conference on (pp. 196c-196c). IEEE.