Introduction to the Coursework
This is an individual coursework (cw) of 2000 words, worth 100% of your total mark for this module. The coursework aims to assess the depth and breadth of your appreciation, reflection and critical analysis of management of a real project using the PM aspects discussed throughout the module.
You will choose a large project from your own country to analyse. It should have several main stakeholders (e.g., the government, major companies, public, etc.) and the product or service of the project should serve the whole country (e.g., developing a new higher education system in the country) or a considerable part of the country or a region (e.g. a highway connecting east to west, improving agricultural systems in part of the country, etc.). The project should be widely known in your country for its failure in delivering the product or the service it was supposed to deliver or have delivered a product or service, but the stakeholders hold very controversial views (e.g., some have benefited from the project and deem it as a success but others disagree and deem it a failure).
2. Aims of the Essay
The essay aims at evaluating your capabilities in: identifying what a project is; describing a large project through valid sources of information; critically analysing the project from the PM aspects taught in the module; identifying weaknesses and strengths of management of the project and assessing full or partial success or failure of the project.
Ultimately the essay evaluates the depth and breadth of the (dos and don’ts) lessons you learned from the project analysis and your reflection on how these will affect your approach to the management of projects in the future.
3. Overall Expectation of the Essay The essay should be developed as an ‘academic’ piece of work, which entails developing strong analytical and critical discussions and reflections. Throughout the essay you need to use the
concepts, tools and techniques learned in this module for description, discussion and analysis. Essays that are purely descriptive and are based on intuitive explanations (e.g., very long/detailed project historical or technical specifications and common-sense discussions) do not attract high marks. Throughout this essay you should clearly demonstrate that you have used formal and academic project management knowledge and information from the valid project sources (e.g., project or company websites, formal news agency websites) in developing any of the above items. You will gradually build up the required knowledge for developing a good essay through: attendance in the lectures and engagement with the contents; participating in exercises and case study discussions; besides enough independent background studies. 4. Essay Content 4.1 Project Selection For the essay, you need to select and review a large project from your own country (e.g. restructuring a major bank, digitizing national health system, mechanising agricultural systems, or the healthcare system) as explained in the above Introduction. The project should have been completed within the last 3-5 years or had been cancelled somewhere through its life cycle
(without achieving its goals) so that you could discuss its full or partial success/failure. In some cases, you could use a project, which is part of a large programme There is no restriction in the industry or the discipline of the project. Hence, you can select a project in line with your personal or career interests or in line with your educational backgrounds. Examples of sources for finding such projects are websites of: public or large private organizations; city councils, ministries, municipalities; PM professional bodies or similar institutes (such as construction or financial institutes) active in your country, and formal news agencies, to name a few. Consult Ramesh in the rare case you think that none of such sources are available. In any case, you should make sure that for your analysis you would be able to access enough valid data and information in the ‘public domain’.
Important Notes:
1) Very well-known projects, especially from a long time ago, have already become published case studies (for example, their stakeholders or SWOT analyses widely published in journals and websites and easily appear in a Google search) are not appropriate or acceptable. These will not let you to demonstrate your own capabilities and at the best your essay will become a description and collection of others’ analysis and insights.
2) Do NOT select projects that fall in any of the following categories:
– Projects discussed in the lectures of the module.
– Projects on Airports, Airplanes, Olympics, World Cups, NHS, O2, Scottish Parliament, Channel
Tunnel, NASA, Three Gorges Dam, Grenfell Tower, Bicycle sharing, Uber, Disney, Tesco in China, M&S and Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge. – Projects that had finished more than 15 years ago. 4.2 Main and General Areas
Here are the main and general areas to be covered in your essay (see the grade descriptor for much further details):
a. Introduction to the essay and the project (20%) A brief introduction to the cw content and structure and the significance of your selected project. Background to the project, its objectives, context, conflicts/challenges/problems (more details should be explored in the analysis), expected and actual outcomes. It should typically explore and answer WH Questions: Who, What, Why, When, Where, How, How Much? b. Body of the essay: Project analysis (55%) This section of the essay should provide an integrated discussion and analysis of the
management of your selected project. You need to use an appropriate range of the concepts and tools discussed during the module to provide a structured analyse. This should demonstrate the depth and breadth of your knowledge of and ability in using a wide range of PM tools and techniques. Important Notes: 1) Using only one or two general tool such as PESTEL over two-three pages is not acceptable and could not demonstrate your PM knowledge and skills. As an example, PESTEL could be done precisely in a comprehensive table (as seen in the lectures). Then this should be linked to and inform the rest of the analysis. Hence, first decide, which tools and concepts would be relevant to your project’s analysis and apply them in the right order, with enough and
necessary connections. 2) You could better explore the controversial nature of your project when you find and read
sources expressing various views (e.g., what a contractor sees as the source of the project problems might be different from what the project sponsor might see). Hence, only one source on the project does not provide you with enough evidences on the project issues or controversies. The same applies in literature where different authors might have different views on the same subject. c. Conclusions (25%) Based on the previous sections of your essay, here you should provide a brief account of your findings besides the lessons learned from this teamwork experience. The section needs to clearly and concisely: – Sums up the main points and findings of your analysis. – Explains and justifies: 1) THREE main good practices you learned from this project and would carry over if you manage such a project in your future career? 2) THREE main mistakes made in this project that you would avoid repeating if you
manage such a project in your future career? 3.1 5. Coursework Format and Structure 5.1. Format Margin: Normal Structure: Make sure your essay is structured with sections separated with appropriate and relevant titles and subtitles as required. Essays without titles and subtitles are hard to read and mark. Paragraph: Should be ‘justified’. Avoid using very long paragraphs. Break very long paragraphs into manageable small ones with a clear central idea and a few relevant sentences focused on one or two clear themes. (Additional info: use Study Skills textbooks)
Line Space: 1.5 Titles Font: Larger than 12, bold, and should be easily distinguished from the body text. Font of the Body of Essays: 12, Times New Roman or Arial. Figures and Tables Fonts: 10 or 11 (preferred), Times New Roman or Arial. These should be very clear and easy to read if they are part of a copied picture or figure. Cover page: Should include module code and name, title of the assignment, your student ID and the word count. Table of Contents: provide the list of the titles and subtitles used in your text with their page numbers on the first page after the cover page. 5.2. Structure * You should choose appropriate titles and subtitles (the above are indicative titles) to fully
structure your text. You should decide yourself on the length and word count of each section as appropriate for your essay. * Pay careful attention to the weight of each section, especially the conclusion. With 25% weight, this section should obviously go beyond a simple and general summary. It should at least clearly state your main findings, learnings and actions you will take for your future role as a project manager/analyst. (review the essay aims once more) 6. Further Notes on Resources and Referencing – Essential resources: It is absolutely necessary that you initially study the main references given for each topic in the lectures and then move on to further background studies using other resources. This will ensure you have appreciated the fundamentals as far as expected. It will also help you to select better and more relevant resources for your further studies, rather than a random selection of numerous PM/non-PM online resources, which might not be of a high quality or academically valid. – Further resources: You are strongly advised to use a good range of relevant textbooks and papers from academic journals. See above point for more details. – Correct citation: It is necessary to follow the Harvard referencing system as suggested by the University/School guidelines.