49002 Managing Projects
UTS: Engineering: Systems, Management and LeadershipCredit points: 6 cp
Subject level: Postgraduate
Result Type: Grade and marksThere are also course requisites for this subject. See access conditions.
Subject coordinator
David Eager
email: david.eager@uts.edu.au
Handbook description
This subject provides a sound knowledge of project management principles, including managing the project quality, risk, time and cost elements, techniques and practice associated with the various stages of a project lifestyle. The emphasis is an interdisciplinary one of relevance to all fields of engineering. The subject includes consideration of the management, financial and contractual responsibilities of project and engineering managers and organisations involved in projects.
Subject objectives/outcomes
The objective of this subject is to provide a sound knowledge of project management practice and the techniques associated with the various stages of a project lifecycle. The student learning objectives are:
- Provide a unified approach to Project Management;
- To understand the theory and practice of Project Management;
- Integrate the concepts of time, cost, quality and scope in relation to Project Management; and
- Understand the significance and need for communication and interface-management between various stakeholders within the Project Management environment.
Teaching and learning strategies
The subject is offered in several Modes: Standard and Distance.
In the Standard Mode students have the opportunity to attend lectures and participate in class and group activities, and are expected to do so. Classes are 3 hours per week x 1 semester (13 weeks). Students are expected to enrol in a particular session and remain in that session all semester.
In Distance Mode students have the opportunity to undertake the subject without attending classes thus enabling students who would have difficulty attending, for geographic or other reasons, to undertake the study of the subject.
The learning objectives and content are the same for all Modes. There are some differences in emphasis for some of the assignments because group/team work and presentations to staff and peers, whilst mandatory for students participating in the Standard Mode, is not possible for the Distance Mode students.
Content
The subject considers the legal, contractual and managerial responsibilities of engineering managers and organisations, from the definition phase of a project until the project reaches its conclusion.
Assessment
Assessment item 1: Assignment
| Weighting: | 10% |
| Length: | Approximately 2,000 words |
| Task: | Select an engineering project. It can be a current project, one already completed or a future project. Whatever project you choose, it must be a project for which you can readily obtain information. The project that you choose does not have to be a large or well known public project, or even one that you have personally worked on, it simply needs to be a project as defined by the theory and practice of Project Management. You are required to provide a brief background to the project and why you believe your example qualifies as a project. A brief discussion showing consistency between this project and the performing organisation’s overall business should be included. The various stakeholders in the project and their perspectives should be identified. Other requirements include:
The submitted assignment will be written in Report Format. The context/format must be suitable for presenting to an external project sponsor. The report needs to make sense as an overall document to an audience that has not been previously briefed on this project. It needs to be self supporting, coherent and concise. It is anticipated that this report will be equivalent to approximately 2,000 words. Marks with be deducted for reports that are verbose, lack clarity, have spelling and grammatical errors and do not address the various elements of project management stated above. |
Assessment item 2: Group Project (Standard and Block Mode students only)
| Weighting: | 30% |
| Length: | Approximately 5,000 words |
| Task: | You are to consider your Group as a team of engineering management consultants employed to produce a theoretical Report on an allocated topic. You are to produce the Report and give a presentation on that report. In addition you will peer assess another Group's Report and grade it. Working in your Group write a report on your allocated topic. Topics will be allocated in the second lecture. Two copies of this report will be submitted at the beginning of the lecture nominated in the Semester Timetable. You are reminded that this is a postgraduate subject and each Group is expected to undertake a rigorous literature search of discovery on your topic. You will use this search to identify a minimum of five (5) recent and relevant academic refereed publications. This is considered a mandatory component of the Report and you will be penalised if you do not meet this requirement. |
Assessment item 3: Presentation (Standard and Block Mode students only)
| Weighting: | 10% |
| Task: | Your group will make a 15 minute presentation based on your Report to the class. Specific requirements will be given by the class Lecturer during Class time. Marks will be awarded for the professionalism of this presentation. At the conclusion of your 15 minute presentation 5 minutes will be allocated for questions from the class. |
Assessment item 4: Project Report (Distance Mode students only)
| Weighting: | 30% |
| Length: | Approximately 4,000 words |
| Task: | Working individually, write a report on a topic choosen from the list provided on UTS OnLine. You are reminded that this is a postgraduate subject and you are expected to undertake a rigorous literature search of discovery on your topic. You will use this search to identify a minimum of five (5) recent and relevant academic refereed publications. This is considered a mandatory component of the Report and you will be penalised if you do not meet this requirement. It is anticipated that in addition to providing a theoretical discussion students will be able to demonstrate the relevance (or otherwise) of their findings to their work experience. It is expected that your research will extend beyond the material presented in the Textbook, the LRM, OnLine material, and any other courses offered at UTS. Marks will be awarded for originality and ‘value added content’. All extracts and/or quotations should be referenced at the end of the report using the UTS Harvard method. It is anticipated that this report will be approximately 4,000 words. |
Assessment item 5: Workbook (Distance Mode students only)
| Weighting: | 10% |
| Task: | You will complete all the exercise as set out at the end of each section of the LRM and include all working for all exercises and problems and submit your Workbook on a CD in docx or pdf format (ie no need to print). |
Assessment item 6: Final Exam
| Weighting: | 50% |
| Task: | 2 hour closed-book examination |
Minimum requirements
Students are advised that a 50% pass in the Final Examination is a mandatory requirement for passing this subject. Students who fail the Final Examination will be given a mark of 44Z or their total mark whichever is the lesser.
Required text(s)
Walmsley M, Bagia R, Eager D, Project Management for Engineering and Information Technology + Project Management Dictionary - Custom Value Pack, McGraw-Hill Australia & New Zealand, 2009 (ISBN 978 007 028 5804). rrp $114.95
Co-op Bookshop at 3 Broadway, City Campus
The Textbook required for this subject is available from the Co-op Bookshop at 3 Broadway. During the semester the bookshop is open 7 days a week: Monday to Thursday 8.30am to 6pm, Friday 9.00am to 6pm, Saturday and Sunday 11am to 4pm.
The Co-op will also mail you the book: order through www.coop-bookshop.com.au, phone (02) 9212-3078 or fax (02) 9212 6303. Please have ready your credit card details, your student ID number and Co-op number if you are a member. They will charge you the cost of the book as well as postage by express post.
Co-op Bookshop at Kuring-Gai Campus, Blg 2, Level 5
Opening hours: Monday to Thursday 9am to 5pm, Friday 9am to 12pm. Closed weekends and public holidays. Email: kuringai@coop.com.au; web: www.coop-bookshop.com.au; phone (02) 9514 5318, fax (02) 9415 6553.
Indicative references
Carbone, T.A 2004, Project Risk Management Using the Project Risk FMEA, Engineering Management Journal, Vol. 16, No.4, pp. 28-35
Crawford, J. 2002, Project Management Maturity Model: Providing a Proven Path to Project Management Excellence, New York
Fleming, Q. and Koppelman, J. 2006, Earned Value Management, Project Management Institute, 3rd edition, USA
Flyvbjerg, Bent 2006, From Nobel Prize to Project Management: Getting Risks Right, Project Management Journal, Research Quarterly, Volume 37, No 3, Special PMI Research Conference Edition, August 2006
Goncalves, M. 2005, Managing Virtual Projects, McGraw-Hill, New York
Grant, K. and Pennypacker, S. 2006, Project Management Maturity: An Assessment of Project Management Capabilities Among and Between Selected Industries, IEEE Transactions On Engineering Management, Vol. 53, No. 1, February 2006
Gray, C. F. and Larson E. W. 2006, Project Management: the Management Process, 3rd Ed., McGraw-Hill Irwin, New York
Kerzner, H. 2005, Project Management, A systems approach to planning, scheduling and controlling, Wiley, 9th edition
Kerzner, H. 2006, Project Management Case Studies, McGraw-Hill, 1st edition, USA
Kwak,Y. and Ibbs, C. 2000, Calculating project management's return on investment, Project Management Journal., vol. 31, no. 2, pp. 38–47, June 2000.
Leach, L. 2004, Critical Chain Project Management, Artech House Publishers, 2nd edition
Leach, L. 2006, Lean Project Management: Eight Principles for Success, BookSurge Publishing, New York
Lewis, J. 2005, Fundamentals of Project Management, AMACOM/American Management Association, 3rd edition, USA
Lloyd, S. and Simpson, A. 2005, Project Management in Multi-Disciplinary Collaborative Research, Oxford University, 2005 IEEE International Professional Communication Conference Proceedings
Loch, C., Meyer, A. and Pich, M. 2006, Managing the Unknown: a New Approach to Managing High Uncertainty and Risk in Projects, Wiley, New York
Lock, D. 2003, Project Management, 8th edition, Gower, Vermont
Loosemore, M. 2006, Risk management in projects, Taylor and Francis, 2nd edition, London
Meredith, J. and Mantel, S. 2005, Project Management: A Managerial Approach, Wiley, 6th edition, USA
Pollock, S. 2005, Create a Simple Framework to Validate FMEA Performance, Six Sigma Forum Magazine, August 2005
Project Management Institute 2004, Project Management Body of Knowledge, Third Edition, USA
Rad, P. and Levin, G. 2003, Achieving Project Management Success Using Virtual Teams, J. Ross, USA
Regev, S. Shtub, A. and Ben-Haim, Y. 2006, Managing Project Risks as Knowledge Gaps, Project Management Journal, Research Quarterly, Volume 37, No 5, PMI, December 2006
Rozenes, S., Vitner, G. and Spraggett S. 2006, Project Control: Literature Review, Project Management Journal, Research Quarterly, Volume 37, Number 4, PMI, September 2006
Taylor, H. 2006, Risk Management and Problem Resolution Strategies for IT Projects: Prescription and Practice, Project Management Journal, Research Quarterly, Volume 37, No 5, PMI, December 2006
Wysocki, R. F. 2006, Effective Project Management: Traditional, Adaptive, Extreme, Wiley, 4th edition, USA
Other resources
Lectures and Reading Material (LRM)
Students enrolled in the Standard Mode can obtain the LRM from UTS Union, Level 3 Building 1. The LRM is sold at cost to students enrolled in this subject. For more information, visit:
http://www.eng.uts.edu.au/Current_Students/Distance/wheretobuy.htm
Lecture Support Notes (LSN)
Students enrolled in the Standard Mode can obtain the LSN from UTS Union, Level 3 Building 1. The LSN is sold at cost to students enrolled in this subject. For more information, visit:
http://www.eng.uts.edu.au/Current_Students/Distance/wheretobuy.htm.
The LSN is a printout of the Powerpoint presentations. The LSN printout may vary slightly from the actual electronic material delivered as the ppt may be updated after printing. Also individual lecturers may vary their material to suit the needs of their class.
