Course: Project Management

Course Code: MGT641

Rationale

Most organisations are not project-based operations and have to consistently make decisions on which aspects of business development should be segregated into a project focus. The course will provide students with the factors which influence those decisions and the subsequent interrelationship of projects within the organisation.

This course focuses on the key concerns project professionals face today. These men and women operate in an environment dominated by chaos and uncertainty. Their jobs are undergoing tremendous transformation as companies and organisations undertake radical efforts at corporate engineering under pressure to make the leap towards greater productivity, provide more with less, create superior customer value, and implement new and innovative processes supported by modern information systems.

To help project managers function effectively in the new environment, this course will equip participants to clearly define projects and to align results with the goals of the organisation, manage project resources to ensure success, use basic project management tools and techniques to successfully complete projects, and create and maintain a comprehensive project plan with the assistance of project application software.

Course Description

The course addresses the principles which govern the practice of Project Management and the application of these principles to case studies drawn from actual implemented projects. While focus is appropriately placed on the quantitative aspects of Project Management practices, the influence of qualitative factors too often receives less focus; this course will place appropriate emphasis on these qualitative factors, including Leadership, Human Resource Management, and the issues of Power in the process of managing Projects.

The course commences with an environmental context, exposing the traditional framework of Projects and Project types before exploring the knowledge areas of Project Management and their application. All areas of Project Management covered in the course will be referenced to the respective case studies for discussion and a view of the diverse approaches to project development and management. The course completes the knowledge base with the use of Project application software in demonstrating this tool in the management of a project. Upon successful completion of this course, learners would have moved beyond the traditional concern with time, budget and specifications and developed broader core competencies of effective project professionals, including scope management, time management, human resource management, cost management, quality management, contract/procurement management, communication management and risk management.

General Objectives

To demonstrate an advanced understanding of and successfully apply project management topics and concepts to improve project success.

At the end of the course, the students will be able to:

• Explain the conceptual relationships between Project Cycle, Project Phases and Project Processes and the strategic relevance of each in the Project Management Framework.

• Apply the major principles which guide the practice of Project Management and demonstrate how these principles are integrated and interrelated in the Project Cycle.

• Examine the internal and external impact of variables within organisations and explain how these impact Project Management.

• Discuss the importance of Project Management as a tool of organisational strategy.

• Explain the impact of qualitative factors on Project Management success.

• Utilise Project application software in Project Management.

• Demonstrate an understanding of the limitations of Project Management in guaranteeing success.