MNGT617 Practical Project Management Summer Term 2023/24

The group submission will be completed by teams of 6 people.

The list of team members is provided on the Moodle Page.

Overview

This is a group project. We are anticipating that you will collaborate with the people in your group in order to create extra value through the processes of dialogue, discussion and group sense making.

We anticipate that if you do this work collaboratively (rather than slice it up and do each element as an individual) you will not only learn more but also the final product will be of a higher quality.

The case study that you will be using is the executive summary of a National Audit Office (NAO)

Report into a failed project. The NAO is an independent public spending watchdog that reports to

the UK parliament. Their remit is to hold government to account and to help improve public services through the provision of high-quality audits.

The specific audit we are looking at covers a project run by the British Broadcasting Corporation

(BBC) to implement the ‘Across the UK’ (ATUK) strategy to strengthen its delivery for the whole of the UK, particularly in areas where perception of the BBC’s relevance are relatively low, and to

ensure that every household gets value from the BBC. All of the information (about the case) is

contained in the executive summary. We do not anticipate that you will need to engage in further independent research about the case itself (although you will about the application of project

management to large scale projects such as this one).

The link to the executive summary is

https://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/the-bbcs-implementation-of-across-the-uk- summary.pdf

The Task:

The task is to analyse this case and to identify areas of interest in the case study. These could be the examples of excellent practice as well as tensions in the practice (e.g. poor lines of communication,    lack of leadership) as well as omissions (things that should have happened but didn’t). As you do this seek to take a broad view / holistic perspective to the case so that you can fully understand the challenges organisations face as they seek to apply effective project management practices.

Rather than providing your initial analysis as a bullet point list add value to your presentation by the thoughtful application of a framework such as the People, Systems & Organisation (PSO) diagram, a  PESTEL analysis (or similar), the McKinsey 7-S model (see Maylor’s book for more information), a

Mind Map or a Fish Bone diagram (See Appendix 1).

Note: this section of the report will probably be clearer to the audience if you present it in a visual   ‘rich picture’ that you talk us through. Additional value will be gained by explaining how the various issues are interconnected to create complex problem situations.

You will then choose 3 of these items from your initial analysis and provide critically informed insight on practices and behaviours that would mitigate against the negative consequences / maximise the opportunities by eradicating them.

Note: this section of the video will probably be more engaging if you use bullet points, diagrams, charts etc. in your presentation and expand on these in your oral presentation.

When we are saying critically informed we expect you to do the following:

a)    Connect the item to the material that you have covered in MNGT617.

b)    Engage in academic research on the item that you have chosen using key resources from the Leganto Reading list that is available on the Moodle site.

c)    Push your research further to cover recent articles (i.e. last 5 years) that are not contained in the reading list.

Important: The databases provided by the university (particularly ProQuest One Business and

Academic Search Ultimatehttps://lancaster.libguides.com/az.php?a=a&p=1) should be your first port of call in developing your in-depth analysis of the topic(s).

Important: all content that is sourced must be referenced using Harvard referencing. This includes core texts, articles, slides from the module etc. Where a direct quote is used then the precise page number must also be given. Where a diagram or chart is used then the precise page number must  also be given. This requirement is non-negotiable and is essential.

The format for the presentation of this work is a formal video. We have selected this format of assessment to support your further professional development and have opted for the video format to allow you the opportunity to provide the work to the best quality that you can.

Video Requirements:

.    The video is strictly up to 15 minutes long (i.e. 15 mins maximum). It is your responsibility to check that you have not exceeded this maximum time limit.

.    The video will be loaded onto Moodle. One single copy per group is required (i.e. do NOT load multiple copies up).

.    The file name for the video needs to have your group number in it i.e. Group 1 MNGT617 Video Presentation.

.    The video file should not exceed 2 GB. If you are recording your video in camera select the   appropriate settings to ensure that it fits this system constraint. Alternatively, you will need to compress the file to ensure it is less than 2GB.

.    We do not anticipate special effects etc. rather we expect that the video is clear (visually) and audible.

.    The style of the video is your choice although you should keep in mind that it is a

professional presentation i.e. a news report may be appropriate but a slap stick comedy approach is not.

.    The format of the video may be a voice over of a slide deck (e.g. PowerPoint or Prezi) that is shared and recorded via MS Teams. If you have not done this before here are the

instructionshttps://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/record-a-meeting-in-teams-

34dfbe7f-b07d-4a27-b4c6-de62f1348c24

.    The format of the video may be more personal (i.e. with the people presenting visible).

The marking rubric for this assignment is contained in the attached document:

Individual Examination

The individual examination is a 2-hour test, to take place on 23rd  May 2024 at 13:00 hrs – 15:00 hrs.

The examination will be an online test of 50 questions which you will use a PC Lab computer to answer.

You must work alone when completing this test. You will be asked to sit at a specific work station desk in the examination room. Invigilators will be present to take a register of attendance and to  ensure that you are sat at the correct desk.

The examination will require you to demonstrate the knowledge you have gained from all lectures delivered in this module.

The questions will cover a variety of styles. These include requiring you to ‘drag and drop’ the

correct answers to diagrams, correctly select missing words from drop-down lists, select one or more correct or incorrect answers from multiple choice checklists, order items into the correct

sequence, correctly answer true or false questions, and so on. There will also be some ‘free-text’ style questions.

These examination questions have been designed to robustly test your knowledge of what you have  learned from the module lectures. They have been deliberately designed to make it very difficult to pass the examination through guesswork.