A stakeholder complained they did not receive an important deliverable that was listed in the schedule. The team member responsible said they emailed the stakeholder to advise the deliverable would be late. What should the project manager have done to prevent this?

The project manager's role includes ensuring effective communication. In this scenario, the team member did communicate the delay, but the stakeholder did not receive the information. The project manager should have confirmed that the communication was not only sent but also received and understood by the stakeholder. This proactive verification is a key aspect of communication management. Communicating directly with the stakeholder about the delay (option B) might be necessary in some cases, but the primary failure here was the lack of confirmation, not necessarily the delegation of the initial communication. Asking the team member to send an incomplete deliverable (option C) is generally poor practice and could lead to quality issues and further stakeholder dissatisfaction. Preventing the team member from communicating directly (option D) is overly restrictive and can hinder efficient communication; team members often need to communicate directly with stakeholders, but under the project manager's oversight.