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Assignment 1: Project Plan Report

Learning Outcomes Assessed

 Analyse complex projects to design and allocate tasks to a project team;

 Manage the key project variables of time, cost and quality;

 Use project management software to develop, implement and monitor projects

At the postgraduate level you are expected to:

 show evidence of assignment planning

 have a high standard of presentation, structure, layout and design

 demonstrate appropriate coverage, critical appreciation and evaluation of relevant literature

 demonstrate a critical understanding of key concepts and the application of theory to practical solutions show evidence of originality of thought and approach, and of creative problem-solving ability

Assignment Brief – Question 1

Question 1: Planning a project [45%]

 Propose and outline a project. Clearly outline the project’s rationale and objective(s).

 Using Microsoft Project software, break your project down into at least thirty tasks, stipulate the anticipated duration of each (start and end dates), and define relevant relationships between the tasks.

You may also wish to group the tasks to reflect the distinct phases of the selected project’s life cycle from initiation through to completion.

Please also list and allocate all envisaged resources relevant to the project.

After completing the assignment submit the following items:

1) In a MS Word document:

a) Propose and outline your project. Clearly outline the project’s rationale and objective(s).

b) Describe in detail how you have used the MS Project software to manage the project. You may include screenshots of the MS Project, as required.

2) An Adobe .pdf document which marks the printout using MS Project showing:

a) Project Overview

b) Tasks List with work breakdown structure with task durations, resources, and dependencies

c) Gannt Chart relating to the tasks lists in (b)

d) Gantt Chart with only Milestones visible.

e) Task cost and/or resource cost

f) Critical path (highlight in red)

g) Project status: Budget vs actual percentage of completion of tasks

Guidelines Steps to create your Gantt Chart in MS Project:

• Create a work breakdown structure (WBS)

• Break each work package into tasks in MS Project

• Make a to-do list for each work package. Think about the gap between your baseline and your goal. What needs to happen to get from the starting point to the desired end point?

• Determine task dependencies in MS Project

• Dependencies are tasks that cannot be started until another task has been completed.

• Use the predecessor column to indicate the task dependency

• Determine total time needed for each task (task duration) in MS Project

• Go back to your task list or task dependency and consider how long it will take to accomplish each task. Assume that the person assigned will be working diligently on the task without interruptions

• Determine Start & End dates for each task in MS Project

• Identify important milestones in MS Project

• Milestones are checkpoints that highlight the successful completion of major events, tasks, or groups of tasks along your project timeline.

• For example of a milestone when you accomplish something important:

i. Project approval

ii. Requirements review

iii. Design approval

iv. Project phase milestones

v. Final approval

• A milestone is represented by a diamond-shaped icon or symbol on your Gantt chart with Zero duration.

• Tasks show up as horizontal bars on the Gantt chart

• Determine the critical path using MS project

• https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/show-the-critical-path-of-your-project-in-project-ad6e3b08-7748-4231-afc4-a2046207fd86

Checklist:

a) Project Overview

b) Show Gannt Chart

c) Tasks List with 4 or 5 phases of the project lifecycle

d) WBS work breakdown structure

e) Set baseline start and end dates

f) Actual start and end dates

g) Duration

h) Project status: Budget vs actual percentage of completion of tasks

i) Resource Names

j) Predecessor - Determine task dependencies

k) Cost and Fixed costs - Task cost and/or resource cost

l) Gantt Chart with only Milestones visible (Use MS project function)

m) View and print Critical path (Use MS project function)

Submission

1. Use MS Project to print to PDF - Ensure all the columns for (c) to (k) is visible with the view of the entire project Gantt chart OR Submit the MS Project mpp file if unable to see all columns and print to PDF

2. Items (l) and (m) – Use MS Project function to print PDF

3. Item (k) – optional – show resource sheet

Assignment 2: Individual Essay

Learning Outcomes Assessed

 Evaluate the various risks inherent to the project environment and mitigate accordingly

At the postgraduate level you are expected to:

 show evidence of assignment planning

 have a high standard of presentation, structure, layout and design

 demonstrate appropriate coverage, critical appreciation and evaluation of relevant literature

 demonstrate a critical understanding of key concepts and the application of theory to practical solutions show evidence of originality of thought and approach, and of creative problem-solving ability

Question 2: Individual Essay [55%]

In today’s world of expanding globalization, the rapid pace of change, and intense competition are forcing organizations to recognize that their strategies for implementing transformation projects are becoming increasingly complex. Organizations are faced with unforeseeable and unexpected situations when pressed to deliver results within aggressive timescales and tight budgetary constraints.

Critically discuss the steps that organizations can take to improve the success of their transformation projects. What are the several strategies that can be pursued by organizations to develop appropriate organizational capability and implement successful projects? What are the project uncertainties that need to be managed to ensure that complexity in their projects is navigated successfully?

Research Areas To Consider

 Evaluate your existing business situation

 Get executive buy-in

 Get employees’ buy-in. Engage all employees

 Focus on your communication strategy. Choose carefully the communication channels you’re about to implement

 Build an efficient change management process

 Setting clear goals and communicating them to the employees

 Enable cross-departmental collaboration

 Be agile and encourage new ideas

 Close the skill gap at your organization

 Measure your employees’ engagement

 Clear and shared change vision and strategy

 Change readiness and capacity for change

 Change team performance

 Activities for managing change management

 Resistance management

 Effective and constant communication

 Motivation of employees and change agents

 Stakeholder engagement and commitment

 Leadership, sponsorship

 Reinforcement and sustainment of change

 Approach for change

 Monitoring/measurement

Suggested Readings

1. The determinants of organizational change management success: Literature review and case study https://doi.org/10.1177/18479790211016273

2. Saliunas, J. (2007). Transformation program management. Paper presented at PMI® Global Congress 2007—North America, Atlanta, GA. Newtown Square, PA: Project Management Institute

3. Michael T. Pich, Christoph H. Loch, Arnoud De Meyer, (2002) On Uncertainty, Ambiguity, and Complexity in Project Management. Management Science 48(8):1008-1023. https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.48.8.1008.163

4. De Meyer, Arnoud & Loch, Christoph & Pich, Michael. (2002). A Framework for Project Management under Uncertainty.

5. Direct and indirect influence of project managers’ contingent reward leadership and empowering leadership on project success

6. https://doi.org/10.1177/18479790211073443