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MS418 Project Management

1.

Peter Flett September 2016

Class title
Academic Year:

Project Management
2016-17

Class code
credit value
standard/level
core/optional
autumn semester
pre-requisites

MS418
20
level 4
Optional
1
N/A

Peter Flett peter.flett@strath.ac.uk room SWD613


Isi Osagie isimemeh.osagie@strath.ac.uk room SWD 612
Department of Management Science
Lecture times and Location : Monday 3-5pm Royal College 512 (weeks 8-11
and 13-18), Week 11 in TG310

2.

Rationale
Project management and project
based
organisations
are
becoming increasingly common
in industry, therefore this class
assumes
that
every
management student requires
some knowledge of the tools
and techniques used to manage
projects within organisations.
The class aims to provide the student with these. It will introduce the student with no
project management background to: 1) the concept of the project lifecycle 2) project
management as a strategic tool and 3) the methodologies and tools that enable
efficient project execution. The techniques are illustrated with examples in a variety of
industries, including IT, construction, space, event management and transport. A
number of case studies will be examined, analysing some of the more dramatic projects
of recent years. I also hope to have the occasional industry guest lecturer as well.

3.

Class description/introduction/cohesion
The class will familiarise the student with the basic concepts associated with project
management. It is designed around the following main areas:
Project management basics
Setting objectives and defining project deliverables
Planning projects and time planning
Risk management
o Quality Management
Managing people and teams
Contemporary approaches and issues
Managing performance
These areas will provide the student with a general understanding of
project management that will complement their studies in other areas of
the course, such as management finance and strategy, where the

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MS418 Project Management

Peter Flett September 2016

execution of company strategy may require the use of project management


techniques.

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MS418 Project Management

4.

Aims

5.

Peter Flett September 2016

To provide the student with an understanding of the organisation as a set of


projects
Appreciate the practicalities of project evaluation and management;
Understand and use techniques for the evaluation, planning and management
of projects;
Examine the issues and problems in being a project manager;
To provide the student with an appreciation of the project environment.

Learning outcomes
Subject Specific Knowledge and Skills:
During this class students will develop an understanding of:
The process of project management
The role and activities of the project manager
A range of methods and tools used in project management
The organisational contexts in which project management is useful
Current debates in the field of Project Management
Ongoing developments in theory in the field of Project Management
Cognitive Abilities and Non-Subject Specific Skills
On completion of this class students will be able to:
Communicate effectively using the vocabulary of project management
Work effectively in project teams
Demonstrate presentation and management reporting skills
Manage their time and work to deadlines
Apply the practice of project management in a variety of contexts

6.

Teaching and learning methods


The class will comprise classes that include a mixture of lectures, supervised class
work, and assessed student presentations. In the supervised class work, students
will initially practice applying those concepts presented in lectures so that they can
gain a basic understanding. In this process, learning of the concepts will be enhanced
by the students examining texts on the subjects under study, both in groups and in
private study, and presenting to the rest of group the essence, relevance and
usefulness of those texts that they are examining.

7.

Reading list and other sources of information on Projects


There is a plethora of texts on project management and they typically contain the
same content (albeit with their own themes) Therefore there is no one text I would
recommend although Maylor has been used as the course text in the past:
Harvey Maylor (2010) Project Management (4th edition) Prentice Hall
Field and Keller (2007) Project Management Cengage Learning
Shtub, Bard, Globerson Project Management (Prentice Hall)
The library has many other texts on project evaluation and management and the
International Journal of Project Management can be useful for some parts of the
course.
There are plenty of other ways to see
examples of project management in
practice.
The Channel 4 television series Grand
Designs provides endless examples of good
and bad project management practice.
(http://www.channel4.com/programmes/gran
d-designs/4od)

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MS418 Project Management

Peter Flett September 2016

The Project Management Institute (PMI) (http://www.pmi.org/) are seen as one of the
main global project management bodies that aims to professionalise project managers.
They have some interesting articles and their A Guide to the Project Management Body of
Knowledge is often quoted in project management text books. The original guide which
was basically a book of definitions was free but they now charge for it. The PMI UK
Chapter often has events in Glasgow which you can usually gain access to they have
sometimes been held in the universitys Centre for Corporate Connections
(http://www.strath.ac.uk/business/cee/)
The Association of Project Management (APM) (http://www.apm.org.uk/AboutUs) is a
UK equivalent of the PMI and again is aimed a professionalising project management.
Newspapers and news websites often carry stories of current major projects, typically
ones which are failing or are perceived to be failing (and these are the ones which
provide the best learning material!). High profile project failures in Scotland in the last
decade
include
the
Scottish
Parliament
building
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/3746943.stm ) and the current favourite the
Edinburgh
Tram
Project
(http://www.theguardian.com/uk/scotlandblog/2013/mar/21/edinburgh-trams-lost-faith) which has had multiple issues from the
start.
High profile UK projects in the pipeline include
HS2 (http://www.hs2.org.uk/ ) and the upcoming
Commonwealth
Games
2014
(http://www.glasgow2014.com/ ) which are due
to take place in Glasgow next year. We aim to
have a guest lecture from the Scottish IT
infrastructure company NVT (http://www.nvtgroup.co.uk/ ) who are the official
technology services integrator for the event.

8.

Assessment
The assessment will be 50% coursework and 50% exam . This will comprise of,
a) A piece of group work reflecting class-based exercises (50%) Deadline
Monday 14th November at 4pm.
b) A closed book seen exam in the December exam diet worth 50%.

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MS418 Project Management

9.

Peter Flett September 2016

Matrix of learning outcomes/assessment

subject specific knowledge and skills


The basic process of Project Management
The role and activities of the Project manager
A range of methods and tools used in project management
The organisational contexts in which project management is
useful
Current debates in the field of project management
Ongoing developments in theory in the field of Project
Management
Cognitive Abilities and Non-Subject Specific Skills
Communicate effectively using the vocabulary of project
management
Work effectively in project teams
Demonstrate presentation and management reporting skills
Manage their time and work to deadlines
Apply the practice of project management in a variety of
contexts

teaching/learning
method
l, dr, ir, rp
l, dr, ir, rp
l, dr, ir, rp
l, dr, ir, rp

evidence
outcome
e, cw, gp
e, cw, gp
e, cw, gp
e, cw, gp

of

l, dr, ir, rp
l, dr, ir, rp

e, cw, gp
e, cw, gp

teaching/learning
method
Cd, cw, gp

evidence of
outcome
cd, cw, gp,

Cd, cw, gp
Gp, cd, cw
Gp, cd, cw
Gp, cd, cw

cd, cw, gp,


gp, cd, cw
gp, cd, cw
gp, cd, cw

l lecture, c computer lab session, dr directed reading, ir independent reading, rp- research
papers, ep empirical project, gp- group presentation, e exam, cd class discussion, cw course
work, f feedback

10.

Indicative Student Workload

Activity
Formal teaching sessions
Class prep
Group assignments
Tutorials and support
Individual assignment
Total

Hours
24
30
46
12
88
200

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MS418 Project Management

11.

Peter Flett September 2016

Class Schedule 2016

Date
(Mon 3-5pm)
19th Sept

Week

Lecture
GH554

1 (8)

L1 Introduction to Project Management

1 (8)

L2 The Iron Triangle : Managing Cost,


Time and Expectations

3th Oct

3 (10)

L3 Planning Projects and Groupthink

10th Oct

3 (10)

L4 Quality the Big Q

17th Oct

4 (11)

L5 time and resource scheduling

24th Oct

5 (12)

L6 Approaches to project management:


Prince 2 and the LAS case study

31st Oct

6 (13)

MS418 Group Activity

7 (14)

(self-directed research activity - no


classes)
MS418 Group Activity

14th Nov

8 (15)

(self-directed research activity - no


classes)
L7. Risk and its management

21th Nov

9 (16)

L8 Project HRM and Managing


Performance

28rd Nov

10 (17)

L9 Contemporary Approaches to
Project Management

7th Nov

Directed Reading (in addition to


the relevant chapters in core
texts)
Maylor, H., Brady, T., CookeDavies, T., Hodgson, D. (2006)
From Projectification to
Programmification International
Journal of Project Management vol
24 pp663-674
Williams, Terry (2008) How do
organizations learn lessons from
projects and do they? IEE
Transactions in Engineering
Management Vol 55 No 2

Maylor, H. (2001) Beyond the


Gantt Chart: Project Management
Moving on European
Management Journal Vol. 19, No.
1, pp. 92100
Al Neimat, Taimour (2005) Why IT
Projects Fail The Project Perfect
White Paper Collection,
www.projectperfect.com.au
Pender, S. (2001)Managing
incomplete knowledge: Why risk
management
is not sufficient, International
Journal of Project Management 19
pp79-87
Opportunity to work on group
projects
Opportunity to work on group
projects
Turner, J.R., Muller, R. (2005)The
project managers leadership style
as a success factor on projects: a
literature review Project
Management Journal, June 2005

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MS418 Project Management

5thth Dec

Peter Flett September 2016

Revision session

Please note this timetable is subject to change and drift, check MyPlace and email frequently.
If there is the opportunity to have a guest lecture these topics and the order in which they run
may change.
Peter Flett 19/09/16

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