Scenario:

Mallebare is an American company which designs and manufactures gaming accessories. Apart from keyboards, mice, and controllers, the company also manufactures high-quality headsets for which it is widely known. Recently, upon the request of numerous gamers, the company decided to manufacture mousepads too. For this project, Luke, the CEO of the company, assigned Ross, a senior designer of the company, as the project manager, whereas Smith, a senior engineer, was assigned as project sponsor. In addition, Luke stated the project should be complete within three months, as the company is aiming to promote the mousepads in a major gaming tournament. Lastly, Luke required them to utilize the guidelines of ISO 21502 to manage the project.

Initially, Ross mobilized the team and held a meeting with them to discuss and develop the project plan. He asked the team members to ensure that major functional aspects of the project are covered in the project plan and to identify any issue that might arise throughout the project life cycle. Ross explained that this request comes as a result of the tight deadline of the project and the team must develop a concise plan. Ross added that the plan will not be changed in any circumstance and will be followed in detail.

Following that, Ross and the team discussed the engagement of all relevant stakeholders throughout the project. Ross used a power/interest matrix to categorize all stakeholders in four different groups, where the tournament organizers were categorized as stakeholders with low interest but high power in the project. On the other hand, end users, the gamers, were categorized as stakeholders with high interest and high power in the project, so the project team created a survey to determine their needs and requirements.

Moreover, Ross was aware of the importance of effective communication for the success of the project. Therefore, he developed a communication plan which would ensure that each individual involved in the project gets the right information in a timely manner. The plan indicated that ad hoc discussions would be conducted in more complex and personal cases, whereas notes and text messages would be used for transmitting simple and factual information. Ross claimed that this model had been successful in previous projects conducted by the company because it allows faster processing of information and includes natural use of language. In addition, Ross determined that a relationship among project team members needs to be established to ensure productive work.

Question:

Based on scenario 6, which communication need did Ross address when he determined that a relationship among project team members needs to be established to ensure productive work?