I would talk to them and let them know that I need a certain amount of communication from them in order to keep my team on track. I could reach out to them and see if there is a better way for them to stay updated and keep others updated. I could make sure that there are thorough minutes taken during meetings to keep them updated. I could ask them if there a good time to contact them so I could fit better into their schedule instead of forcing them into mine. If after trying to work with them in multiple ways still doesn't result in effective communication and it starts to affect my team in a negative way, meaning missing deadlines or creating lulls in the development process I would have to ask for them to be removed from my team and replaced with someone else.

Communication is extremely important for a successful outcome. Each member of a team should know that they must communicate if they have any issues where they cannot make the deadline. If you have a unresponsive member, the first thing you must do is to reach out to them through e-mail or by phone. If that method fails, the PA should personally set up a meeting with this person and discuss any issues. If members cannot meet up at a single time than a conference call should be set up or a group email should be sent out regarding the latest updates/news. I agree with cdj24 that if you try all these methods and the member is still unresponsive than you should ask for them to be removed.

I think that the best way to deal with an unresponsive team member is to schedule a meeting with them either in person or over the phone. In the meeting I would discuss their unresponsiveness with them and hear from them why they have been so unresponsive to clear up any potential misunderstandings. I would also encourage them to be more responsive and participate more, and mention the consequences of their continued poor responsiveness. Hopefully this meeting would serve as a wakeup call for this team member and they begin to improve their communication, otherwise I would consider releasing them from the project team.

While I think all of the above are important, I think it is important to assess the situation. While a team member that is not good at communicating and keeping other team members up to date can certainly make a project more difficult, they may bring a unique skill or talent to the team that is not easily replaceable. In addition, if more than one team member seems to be having an issue communicating with the team, it may be an issue with the way the team is being managed. While in high stress situations it is easy to point fingers and try to remove people from the team, I think good leaders try to instead find out better ways to manage or communicate with specific people. An example is in manufacturing divisions at pharma companies engineers sometimes need to supervise union workers and learn to communicate with them in ways that they will want to listen and support the project. Removing people is not always the best option.

Communication is the most important part of working in a team. Everyone has their own life and own responsibilities but they must also understand that their team needs their commitment as well. When one of your team members is having trouble communicating, the first thing you must do is reach out separately to find out what is going on and how to resolve it. If the issue does not resolve itself and milestones are being missed, the next step is to inform the PM of the problem. Once that is done, the rest of the team members should continue to work with diligence and relieve the distant team member from their responsibilities and replace them.

This was something that was a very common issue when I took capstone. First of all our capstone group of 5 people had many individual commitments that made it very difficult to meet at the same time. One way that we addressed this was to break up into even smaller groups that could all meet at the same time and would focus on specific parts of the project. An even bigger issue than this, however, was difficulty meeting with our capstone sponsor. My group's sponsor was part of Albany Medical College so his schedule was always full. He was also horrible about responding back to emails we would send him. The best way we were able to deal with this scenario was through being persistent with emailing him, attempting to establish a line of communication with one of his coworkers, and ultimately, we tried to make our project less dependent on his feedback so that we would minimize delays associated with his unresponsiveness.

Persistence is important with unresponsive team members or even sometimes with the PM themselves. In a capstone project I participated in, with the our advisor acting as PM, we found it difficult to contact them for input outside of our weekly progress meetings due to their other obligations. To help with this issue our group was diligent in making sure any major design questions were brought up during meetings so that we could address any issues that were delaying our work on the project. The small window of communication that we were afforded in this instance actually helped us be more efficient in planning and designing among ourselves since we had to get in as much communication and input during our weekly meetings for the project to keep moving.

I think monique expressed how to communicate effectly as personal issues can often affect a persons ability to function. Therefore, speaking to the person and being understanding of their situation can often improve their ability to function,and make them feel appreciated as a valuable team member.

It is important to understand the other individuals point of view. There can be a multitude of reasons why the other individual is unresponsive or willing to have sit down meetings. Generally, if you are able to form a relationship with the individual in industry, they are more willing to listen and be of help. That open line of communication is important in any project. Once that has been established, it should be a lot easier to have the individuals who were not compliant before be a little more responsive to the meeting requests. Coming from a domineering point view does not always work out well from a managerial standpoint and in industry with project managers I have worked with, it is the ones that speak eye to eye with me and understand me on a personal level are the ones that I tend to be more responsive to and prioritize those tasks over others.

As a PA with an uncooperative member of the team, I would try to get some one on one time with them to figure out the situation. As others have mentioned there could be an underlining reason why they are unresponsive, whether that be personal reasons or work related. Once the situation is assessed and the details are out, I could work with them on trying to work around their situation so that they still could be of use to the team. If the reason is that just they are lazy and don’t want to put in the effort, then that’s a whole different story. Depending on the severity of their impact on the project, I could ask for them to be dismissed and have a new member brought in to replace them. Getting a new person up to speed is easier than having essentially no one working in the position.

In a previous Project Management course we were asked to identfy the personality styles of our team members, analyze how those styles might conflict and to come up with a set of ground rules for the project team to address those potential conflicts. What you are referring to in this post is conflict and how to resolve it. It is important for a Project Manager to understand different working styles and have basic knowledge about conflict resolution in these circumstances. Communication is of course very important, but since a PM has to work with so many different types of team members that may have important roles on the team, they must be able to manage those personalities. It is one of those "soft skills" that really needs development to excel in the project manangement field.

A successful project manager lays out the communication requirements and how information is shared through the team before the start of a project. This means what details of the project must be communicated, when there must be communication, who is responsible for communicating each aspect of a project, and the documentation of the communication. If a team member is not effectively meeting their communication requirements, the project manager must meet and discuss the issue directly with the team member. Maybe there is a reason for the missed requirements, but if there isn't, the problem must be resolved before serious conflict impedes the progress of the project. With the correct level of management established early on, the project team can successfully stay on schedule.

If I was the PM, I will try to find a time that members can meet in two different sessions to speed up the process. Also, an online meeting through Google hangout or skype would be appropriate. Another solution could be to record a video with people who can meet in-person, and send it out to the those who missed it and ask them the comment back via video in which we can have a digitally controlled meeting.
Since we are in the modern era, where meeting requirements and methods did change a lot by current smart technology, it is much easier to communicate and discuss the project phases remotely. It would demand more time and effort and would waste the time for other team members, but in the end, it should work.

The unresponsive team member’s communication delays the entire project or causes the organization to miss opportunities. Decisions may be delayed and delayed meetings disrupt project schedules . However chasing people for responses distracts people from more productive work. In case there is an irresponsive team member the ideal first course of action is to ask the reason behind it. If a conversation doesn't do the trick then project manager can be persistent in reminding the person, Ultimately escalate to a higher authority is a practical option. The communication plan should clearly state the need for responsiveness. There should be a high level overview so everyone in the team understand the purpose of what is being done and how their work fits into the overall project. The timing of communication can be a critical part of a project’s success. Project managers will need to make sure that team members are sharing important information . Project managers who understand how to send the right amount of information to the right people at the right time will be able to keep things moving smoothly, resulting in a successful project.