GRA 8170 The Management of Projects (2019/2020)

GRA 8170 The Management of Projects (2019/2020)

Course code: 
GRA 8170
Department: 
Leadership and Organizational Behaviour
Credits: 
2
Course coordinator: 
Jonas Søderlund
Jon Lereim
Course name in Norwegian: 
The Management of Projects (2019/2020)
Product category: 
Executive
Portfolio: 
EMBA Global - Programme Courses
Semester: 
2020 Spring
Active status: 
Active
Level of study: 
-
Teaching language: 
English
Course type: 
One semester
Introduction

In most sectors, the vast majority of improvement and innovation endeavors are carried out in projects. In that respect, projects are important for driving innovation and firm performance. As a consequence, the ability to manage projects is critical for competitiveness and growth. However, despite the importance of managing project successfully firms today continuously fail to deliver high value projects. This is a problem that more and more managers are becoming increasingly aware of – the ability to generate and implement projects should be of a top management concern.  

This course will go beyond the standard and straightforward project management approaches but will deal with managing complexities that exist when you work in projects that are constrained in terms of time, budget, people and technologies. The course will address how companies can make better use of organizing activities as projects and the criticality for an increasing number for firms to develop project management as a core competence for single projects and for the portfolio of projects 

Projects differ in two respects: complexity (magnitude of the effort, number of groups and organizations that need to be coordinated, and diversity in skills or expertise needed) and uncertainty (predictability of the final outcome in terms of time, cost and technical performance). Many concepts, models, methods and techniques have been developed and applied to manage projects with respect to the main elements of these dimensions. In addition, most projects need to be managed simultaneously and in connection to each other.  

The ability to make a sound contribution to project management presupposes in-depth knowledge and understanding of the theoretical and empirical bases of multiple dimensions of project management. In this course, students will be challenged to examine the appropriateness, usefulness and academic status of project management principles and methods that are generally applied in the field of process and product innovation.

Learning outcomes - Knowledge
  • Understand the theoretical and empirical basis of the management of projects;
  • Understand contemporary approaches to the management of projects;
  • Understand the importance of strategic project portfolio management
  • Know the drivers of project success, and especially how to control, organize and evaluate for project success
Learning outcomes - Skills
  • The capability of bridging the business strategic issues and the planning and selection of projects
  • The capability of managing the project portfolio in organisations
  • The capability of performing excellent project governance and mastering the project owner & project manager roles
General Competence
  • The benefit and relevance of using the approach of management of projects
  • Achieve a thorough perception of the critical factors for project success
Course content
  • The current state of research into the management of projects?
  • The current state of the practice of the management of projects?
  • What are complexities and uncertainties in projects?
  • How to unravel project complexities?
Teaching and learning activities

1 ECTS credit corresponds to a workload of 26-30 hours. 

The course is conducted as a teaching module divided into two days each. Students will have classes all day for two days, a total of 16 hours 

Attendance to all sessions in the course is compulsory. If you have to miss part(s) of the course you must ask in advance for leave of absence. More than 25% absence in a course will require retaking the entire course. It's the student's own responsibility to obtain any information provided in class that is not included on the course homepage/ It's learning or other course materials.

This is a course with continuous assessment (several exam components) and one final exam code. Each exam component will be graded using points on a scale 0 -100. The components will be weighted together according to the information in the course description in order to calculate the final letter grade for the course. Students who fail to participate in one/some/all exam components will get a lower grade or may fail the course. Candidates may be called in for an oral hearing as a verification/control of written assignments.

Specific information regarding the points system and the mapping scale beyond the information given in the course description will be provided in class. This information may be relevant for requirements for term papers or other hand-ins, and/or where class participation can be one of several elements of the overall evaluation.

The course is a part of a full Executive MBA programme and examination in all courses must be passed in order to obtain a certificate.

Software tools
No specified computer-based tools are required.
Qualifications

Granted admission to the EMBA programme. Please consult our student regulations.

Exam categoryWeightInvigilationDurationGroupingComment exam
Exam category:
Activity
Form of assessment:
Class participation
Exam code:
GRA 81701
Grading scale:
Point scale
Grading rules:
Internal examiner with external supervisor
Resit:
All components must, as a main rule, be retaken during next scheduled course
50No -Individual 50 % - classroom contribution (Individual, oral and collaboration skills)
Exam category:
Submission
Form of assessment:
Written submission
Exam code:
GRA 81701
Grading scale:
Point scale
Grading rules:
Internal examiner with external supervisor
Resit:
All components must, as a main rule, be retaken during next scheduled course
50No1 Semester(s)Individual 50 % - Written assignment (Individual written report)
Exams:
Exam category:Activity
Form of assessment:Class participation
Weight:50
Invigilation:No
Grouping (size):Individual
Duration: -
Comment:50 % - classroom contribution (Individual, oral and collaboration skills)
Exam code:GRA 81701
Grading scale:Point scale
Resit:All components must, as a main rule, be retaken during next scheduled course
Exam category:Submission
Form of assessment:Written submission
Weight:50
Invigilation:No
Grouping (size):Individual
Duration:1 Semester(s)
Comment:50 % - Written assignment (Individual written report)
Exam code:GRA 81701
Grading scale:Point scale
Resit:All components must, as a main rule, be retaken during next scheduled course
Type of Assessment: 
Continuous assessment
Grading scale: 
ECTS
Total weight: 
100
Sum workload: 
0

A course of 1 ECTS credit corresponds to a workload of 26-30 hours. Therefore a course of 2 ECTS credits corresponds to a workload of at least 54 hours.