Nancy is the project manager of a project with 78 stakeholders. This is a high-profile project and
she needs to express to her project team and to the management the importance of
communication in this project. She would like to show the number of stakeholder communication
channels in the project. Based on this information how many communication channels exist within
this project?

A.
78

B.
156

C.
3,003

D.
6,084

Explanation:
Communication channels are paths of communication with stakeholders in a project. The number
of communication channels shows the complexity of a project’s communication and can be
derived through the formula shown below: Total Number of Communication Channels = n (n-1)/2
where, n is the number of stakeholders. Hence, a project having five stakeholders will have ten

communication channels. Putting the number of stakeholders in the formula we can get the
required communication channel for the project. It is (78 x 77)/2 for 3,003 communication
channels.
Answer options A, B, and D are incorrect. These numbers do not reflect the accurate number of
communication channels in the project.