University of Maryland, College Park

Pearl Diving Assignment 1

Mehmed Repesa
Communication for Project Managers: ENCE 424
Dr. Shana Webster-Trotman
February 24, 2024
Introduction
Taking on the Construction Project Management(CPM) minor is a different task in
comparison to my architecture major that I have focused on more during my studies at the
University of Maryland. Although there is some source of communication within architecture, it
is primarily used to just share ideas and expand creativity within an architect’s design. Although
my time in CPM has been short, I have already grasped an understanding of how important
communication is within the field. Without communication, many things can go wrong within a
project which is why Communication for Construction Managers is a crucial course and is
required within the program. I believe I have a lot to learn about communication, especially in
the field of work and I believe this course can help me do so. Throughout this essay, I will
explain how my perspective has changed while reading the class textbooks, my opinions on the
self assessments I have taken, and how I prepare to approach the process of bettering myself as a
future architect or project manager.

Concepts/Techniques from Class Readings

We have done quite a few readings so far throughout the semester and all of them contain
many different concepts. The first concept that stood out to me was the idea that great
communication can successfully make an idea or plan into reality from the book, FIVE STARS.
The first chapter in the book focused on this idea and a great example they used to show this was
Kennedy, “ Carton identified the rhetorical formula behind Kennedy’s successful communication
and explained how his speaking skills triggered massive action”(24 Gallo). Following this quote
the author continued to explain how Kennedy used four steps to persuade people that getting a
man on the moon back then was possible, and this task wasn’t easy since back then there were
more non-believers than believers. Using these steps though made that task possible, and
eventually brought the plan to action and got a man on the moon, and the fact he did this with
communication is remarkable. Before this reading, I’d been told that communication has power
like this, but I was never really on board with the idea, and now hearing this example has shown
me how serious this concept and idea is.
Additionally, the example doesn’t stop at inspiring NASA, but it continues to even
outsiders who weren’t the intended primary audience of Kennedy’s speech and communication.
While his speech was primarily to inspire NASA employees, the whole world still heard his
speech, and many people in the younger audience took the speech to heart, more specifically Eli
Harari. On page 26 of, FIVE STARS, the author describes a 16-year-old Israeli boy who heard
Kennedy’s speech which motivated him to pursue big things and ended up creating SanDisk. I
added this part of the story as well to push the importance of communication even more.
Anybody who can communicate and collaborate with others with ease should use that gift
because it doesn’t come easy for everyone and this story is just one reason why. Not only can
communication lead to reaching our goals and completing different projects, but it can also lead
to innovation and so many other things because it intertwines with almost everything in life.
Another concept from the same reading, FIVE STARS, that really connected with me and
that I have seen once before is storytelling. At first glance, it sounds like I’m talking about
reading a children's book to a kindergarten classroom, but it is a lot bigger than that and can be
used as a powerful tool. The book takes one of Avinash Kaushik’s quotes, “Storytelling is a
powerful way to get your clients to think differently”(45 Gallo), and I heard a similar phrase in a
book I read last semester, Start With Why by Simon Sinek. Both books used the same example
which was Apple and that Apple differentiate themselves from others from the start because they
would sell a story and not a product. Over the last year, I have connected to this concept because
whenever I listen to someone speak, the way they deliver the speech and the tone they talk in
matters so much to me. Changing the way you approach a speech or conversation can affect how
your audience receives the message you are trying to convey and storytelling in my opinion is
one of the more effective. If I am trying to give an audience a message, sell a project, or even get
a project group to do something my way, I have recently been trying to sell it like a story and
show them how it would positively affect them. To do this I slow down my pace of speech, lower
my tone, take more pauses, and in a professional setting I believe this style of speech works very
well. Luckily in our other reading, A Pocket Guide to Public Speaking by Dan O’Hair, chapter
five talks about all of this and I have been able to get some more tips from reading and enhance
my storytelling concept of speech.
This doesn’t mean that this concept or style of speech is the only and best way to
communicate with others. If anything this should show that styles of communication that engage
the audience more are the best way to communicate with others and get your point across. An
example I use to prove this point is college lectures, more specifically two and a half hour long
lectures. With my own experience, I have been able to endure the long lectures but I tend to get
bored and lose focus, especially when the teacher is just talking the whole time. Other classes,
such as ENCE 424, that engage students and make them communicate their ideas and opinions
are much easier to endure because my brain is always engaged and I feel like I focus more on the
content and retain more information. Not only is this an efficient way of speaking but it teaches
communication for young adults that they can use in life after school.
A final concept or even maybe technique that, A Pocket Guide to Public Speaking by Dan
O’Hair, has emphasized and is making me focus on it more, is the development of a speech.
Being a student who hasn’t worked at a higher professional level, I have only made speeches for
assignments that I have been given throughout high school and college. This being said, other
than researching information and making slides, I do not prepare for speeches and I would say
that I haven’t developed them that well either up until this point. Chapter two in the book
explains multiple steps in the development of a speech and the step that jumps to me as the most
important first is audience analysis because like I said earlier, the whole goal of a speech is for
someone to listen and take in the information you are speaking about. On page 34 the author
writes about attitude, beliefs, and values which I think are important in work settings. Working at
a company you get to know your employees better with time and I think you can learn about
their attitudes, beliefs, and values which can help you tailor a speech to get the audience's focus
easier. I hope to be a future manager or even owner of a company and I believe I can use this
technique to get points across better and enhance production from my future team.
With the development of a speech also comes practicing your speech to make sure you
can present it to its best ability. I can write the best speech but if I go up and only look at note
cards, read off the slides, and speak in a monotone voice the point won’t come across. Recently I
have been practicing more, and according to, A Pocket Guide to Public Speaking, “prepare and
practice”(32 O’Hair), also helps control anxiety during speeches which I tend to occasionally
get. I feel practicing does help but it isn’t the only technique you should use to combat anxiety.
The book provides many more techniques through pages 16-19, some that I have started using
and believe work are: meditating, setting a positive mindset, and controlling anxiety with motion
during a speech. Practicing a speech while using these new techniques is now part of my speech
development process that I use when I have a speech coming up and it has increased my
presentation abilities significantly. There are a lot of ways that you can develop a speech and
everyone’s process is different, but I believe once you find that process you should stick with it
and it will make presenting to a large audience much easier than before.

Networking
Networking is a crucial aspect of a college student's life because it's a chance for students
to make a name for themselves and sell themselves to thousands of companies around the world.
LinkedIn has made networking much easier for everyone with its innovative website and it's
crucial to build connections there, especially with classmates with similar fields. So far in this
class, I have connected with the Professor and students named: Leilani McAdams, Christopher
Hooper, Devin Usal, Sebastian Batanero, Mark Rybski, Jane Gorman, Madison Sunshine,
Mahum Shah, and Maya Filipovitz. Although it's nice to connect on Linkedin I have still been
making an effort to get to know people in class as well. The Professor gives us a group activity
each class and I use this to get to know others in the class and make potential friendships that I
can hold on to in college and maybe afterward as well. I also ask a lot of questions when students
have similar majors to mine since everyone approaches courses and projects differently and I
always think that having multiple perspectives and opinions is the best way to assess different
situations and problems.
Furthermore, one of the books we are reading in class, Networking For College Students
And Graduates by Dr. Michael Faulkner, focuses on networking, and in chapter three I connected
with the book. Chapter three focuses on types of people to network with and one of the examples
said, “people at your gym”(60 Faulkner). This exact example happened to me at my gym and
helped me create new relationships and ever since then, I have believed that even communicating
with the most random people can be networking and a window for new opportunities.
Additionally, chapter two of that same book by Dr. Faulkner has shown me many new techniques
to use at networking events to increase my networking abilities. Chapter two gave a 14-step
networking plan while attending events, and while I might not use all of the steps and tips it
provided there was still a lot of valuable information to better my skills. All these reasons are
why networking is so important and everyone should put an effort into it if they want to create
new opportunities for themselves and have a successful future.

DISC Personality Assessment

After completing the DISC personality assessment and getting my results, I can easily say
that I agree with the majority of what my results had to say about me. To start, the results said
that I nurture the relationships that I create and I completely agree with this. Having relationships
and connections can be such a huge benefit for you in life, especially in the field of CPM. It
gives you advantages over other people sometimes and can even make many jobs cheaper. My
close family and family in Bosnia, which is where my parents are originally from, have provided
me with many examples to show how important relationships are. Currently, we are building a
house in Bosnia and we found both architects and contractors through my uncle for cheaper than
regular firms, and additionally it was prioritized much higher than other jobs they have. So yes, I
do nurture relationships highly but I still think I can work on creating more relationships to
strengthen. As of becoming a college student, whoever I talk to I try to leave a good impression
because you never know what opportunities a person could provide you.
Furthermore, the test results also mentioned that I am very optimistic and fun to be
around. I can’t disagree or agree with that second part since I believe that’s more of an opinion
for the people that I am around, but I can agree that I am very optimistic. When I approach
situations or even when things go wrong I tend to always look on the bright side. I feel like
wasting my energy on becoming angry or scared is a waste of time when I can be thinking about
ways to fix a situation or even just make it better. Also, I truly believe that stress is not good for
your health and I just feel so much better when I know people around me are stressing and I’m
just calm and relaxed. This leads me to have better time management and organization skills
since I know that if I want to be calm I have to put in an effort because things won’t get done by
themselves.
The final result the assessment mentioned was that I have a natural enthusiasm for all
types of ideas and projects, and while I’m not too sure what the assessment means by that I still
don’t think that analysis is completely true. I do have interest and enthusiasm for some projects
and ideas, but they have to be ones that I like or ones that I’ll enjoy working on. Other than
those, there are a lot of bad ideas out there and sometimes when I hear some of them I get a little
angry because I can’t believe that someone thought of an idea so bad. For projects, it's kind of
the same too, I’ll work on a project that I don’t like but I just won’t complain but that doesn’t
mean that I’m bringing all my enthusiasm, it just means that I am professional. So I don’t agree
with this part of the test results, but like I said earlier, for the most part, the results were accurate
and described me very well.
Conflict Management Assessment
When I tallied up my points after concluding the conflict assessment, the results showed
that my strongest style is the collaborating style and that my weakest style is the accommodating
style. I am glad that the collaborating style is my strongest because I believe collaboration is of
large importance when talking about effective communication. Being able to collaborate well
allows for a much smoother process in group work and it allows for you to communicate well
and make sure everyone is on the same page and this is vital for group work. Also, collaborating
helps create relationships between people, and having connections like these proves to be
essential in the professional world. I haven’t had a job yet where I have to work with others to
attack a project, but I have so many experiences through group work especially in college since I
am an architecture student and a lot of projects require good collaboration to succeed and
produce creative designs. Additionally, since I am pursuing a minor in construction project
management I believe communication is vital. I have briefly talked with many different firms,
companies, etc, and they all state how important collaboration and communication between
project managers are and that it is slowly losing its value and causing a lot more delays and
dilemmas for thousands of projects around the world.
Thankfully two of my least preferred strategies are avoiding and accommodating, which
doesn’t mean they aren’t useful at all, but I believe they shouldn’t be used as often as the others.
Avoiding confrontation and problems hinders someone’s communication skills greatly since
there is a fear of messing up, and that shouldn’t be the mindset of someone, especially a project
manager. Accommodating on the other hand isn’t as bad, but I still believe that you shouldn’t
always value a relationship over your own goals and that you should be able to find the right
balance between both. In addition to those two, compromising was one of my lower tallied styles
as well and I would like to try and improve that style. I have already begun working on this style
within class almost every time we have a group activity. A lot of the time the groups I am a part
of produce many ideas, examples, etc, for the question we are given and we must compromise to
only choose a few of them due to time constraints and limitations the professor assigns us to
challenge our communication and collaboration skills within our groups. Conflict is something
we see a lot of in our everyday lives and many different settings and taking an assessment such
as this one is important in my opinion to know where you strive and where you need to improve
in conflict resolution.
Jung Personality Test
After taking the Jung Personality Assessment the results said that I am an ISTJ,
introvert-sensor-thinker-judger, and looking at it I would say these results are much more
accurate than the DISC Assessment. I also enjoyed taking this exam in comparison to DISC
because of the format of the questions. The DISC exam had multiple questions where I didn’t
like the options which I think skewed the results, and the Jung exam questions were a lot more
straightforward and the answers made sense.
The results also provided statements that describe ISTJ people and the first one that stood
out to me said, “is hardworking and prefers uninterrupted privacy”(123test.com). I would say
this describes me perfectly since I have always been hardworking in life from school to sports to
work and uninterrupted time is so important to me because it allows me to get so much done. I
always dedicate a chunk of time in my day to get things done whether it's school work or going
to the gym to improve my health or even some daily errands. I have been using this method for
most of my life and I find it to be the best way to get things done but still have time to relax and
live my life as a young adult. I eventually will most likely have to change up the method a little
bit when I get a job in my field, but since I have been doing this for a while I don’t think I will
have trouble adapting.
Another statement the results mentioned was, “pays attention to systems, procedures and
getting the job done”(123test.com). In regards to this statement, I believe I pay attention to a lot
of things in life, not just job procedures. I’m always aware of my surroundings because I was
told to do that at a young age and I feel like occasionally I’ll remember the most minute and
intricate detail of something that won’t catch other people’s eyes. When it comes to projects
though, as long as every piece of criteria is listed in front of me I will follow the program
properly and make sure every goal and objective is hit within a project. Usually, when I do this I
create basic ideas at first, but after I try to move things around to tailor a project to my style and
make it much more creative. So yet again the Jung exam result described me pretty well in
comparison to the DISC exam and I would recommend this test to others which I usually do not
say after completing these.
Conclusion
I have only been in the communications for project managers course for about half a
semester, and I can already say that I see the value and importance of communication.
Communication is in our daily lives but is even more in our professional lives and it is important
to understand how it can positively affect your career and uplift your rankings as an employee or
manager. There are many concepts and techniques as mentioned earlier in this paper, and each of
them can boost your skills in communication. Furthermore, communication is a very useful skill
when it comes to networking if you're a student or even an adult looking for a better opportunity
in life. Additionally, communication helps build relationships which are very key in almost all
fields of employment and it helps build other skills like collaboration, listening, confidence, etc,
since so many regular skills and tasks intertwine with communication. In conclusion, we use
communication every day and the biggest thing that I have taken away so far is that you should
not be afraid to speak up in situations of distress and always make sure to voice your opinion
even if you are the minority. Doing things like this helps you stand out from a crowd and shows
how professional and skilled you are when around other students, employees, managers, etc, so
show how well you know how to speak and communicate because it will help you in the long
run.
 Works Cited

“DISC Personality Test Result - Free DISC Types Test Online at 123test.com.”
Www.123test.com, www.123test.com/report/G8NKRPNUMDSJLNMQLZ/.
Accessed 24 Feb. 2024.

Faulkner, Michael L, et al. Networking for College Students (and Recent Graduates) :
Nonstop Business Networking That Will Change Your Life. Boston, Ma, Pearson
Learning Solutions, 2011.

Gallo, Carmine. Five Stars: The Communication Secrets to Get from Good to Great. St.
Martin’s Griffin, 2019.

“Jung Personality Test Result- Free Jung Personality Test Taking Online at 123test.com.”
Www.123test.com, www.123test.com/report/CY81FNE8V7NVFRDAAJ/.
Accessed 24 Feb. 2024.

O’Hair, Dan, et al. A Pocket Guide to Public Speaking. Macmillan Higher Education, 27
Nov. 2015.

Sinek, Simon. Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action.
London, Portfolio/Penguin, 2011.