APPLIES TO ACADEMIC YEAR 2016/2017

GRA 8512 Consultancy Project

Responsible for the course
Jon Lereim

Department
Department of Leadership and Organizational Behaviour

Term
According to study plan

ECTS Credits
30

Language of instruction
English

Introduction
This course is part of the Executive Master of Management in Energy in cooperation with BI Norwegian Business School and IFP School.

The consultancy project is an integral part of the Executive Master of Management in Energy (EMME) curriculum intended to allow participants to apply the knowledge and skills acquired during the program in a real-life business, organizational or political situation. The Consultancy Project is commissioned by a company, an organization, or a public authority to address a challenge or problem which it faces.
The subject should in most cases be provided by a company, an organization or a public authority and approved by the faculty coordinators in the EMME Program. The project is usually supervised by a company, organizational or institutional representative who ensures that the project is relevant to their practices, as well as by a professor (supervisor) from one of the institutions (BI or IFP) whose role is to validate the theoretical and methodological quality.

Learning outcome
The aim of the consultancy project is application of the knowledge and skills the students have acquired during the EMME program. This will be done through a project where the students are to provide concrete advice on how to solve a real-life substantial economic or political managerial problem/challenge relevant to an organization in the energy sector.

Acquired knowledge and skills:
The consultancy project trains the students in how to produce an evidence-based and conceptually well framed analysis of a substantial managerial problem/challenge. Their concrete advice on how to analyse and solve the managerial problem/challenge is communicated both as a written report and as a presentation in front of an audience.
The consultancy project will to enhance the students’ ability to:
1. address the challenge/ or solve the problem in a way that is considered relevant by the commissioning party.
2. apply adequate method and data analysis to reach evidence based conclusions
3. use relevant theory and/or conceptual and analytical models
4. present a well-structured line of argumentation written up clearly and elegantly

The team of 3 to 4 students shall submit a report equivalent to a professional consultancy report, with recommendations that provides grounds for strategic or managerial decisions. The report shall explicitly present and justify the theoretical/conceptual basis for the work as well as the methodological approach taken. It shall have a clear problem formulation, a stringent structure and a well written argument.

Reflection:
As part of the consultancy project, the participants should present critical reflection on theory, method and applicability.

Prerequisites
Granted admission to the Executive Master of Management in Energy programme.

Compulsory reading

Recommended reading

Course outline

The report should be of approximately. 40-50 pages in length, including a 1-3 pages executive summary and excluding appendixes.

The work with the consultancy project will be supported by lectures, workshops and discussions in four of the course modules as outlined below. This comes in addition to guidance from the individual supervisor.

Year I
Module 1 – March (Oslo)
· Introductory lecture and workshop on consultancy projcets

Module 2 – September (Paris)
· First presentation of ideas for consultancy projects, and workshop to develop them towards clear proposals
· Contact with consultancy project supervisors

Module 3 – November (Oslo/)
· Refinement of consultancy propposals, workshop to consolidate method and analytical framing.
· Approval of consultancy project theme and supervisor

Supervision by assigned supervisors (November-March)

Module 4 – March (Paris)
· Project Coaching

Supervision by assigned supervisors (March-May)

Year II
Module 5 – May (Oslo)
· Early stage consultancy project issues: concepts, methodos, relevance etc. Workshop and presenations to refine analysis

Supervision by assigned supervisors (May – September)

The consultancy project should be handed in via It's learning and will then be distributed to the faculty advisor (internal examiner) and an external examiner. The project should also be delivered to the company/organization in the form of a final consultancy report and a presentation.

Attendance of all sessions in the course is compulsory. Students who must miss part(s) of the course have to ask for leave of absence in advance. 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

Examination
Each consultancy project group will be evaluated by an assessment of the quality of the consultancy project report and an oral presentation in front of a jury composing of the company/organization representative (voluntary), the advisor and an external examiner.

The Consultancy project is graded as a whole, but the written report counts 70% of the total grade and the oral presentation with visuals counts 30 % of the total grade.

Each group will have a total time of 45 minutes to present their project.
- Presentation: approximately 20 minutes
- Questions: approximately 25 minutes

Attendance:
- All group members
- The company / organization / authority representative (voluntary), the BI and/or IFP supervisor + a co-grader from the other school.

The group decide themselves who will be presenting the report, however, it is strongly recommended that all members of group take some part in their presentation. All group members must be prepared to answer questions from the examiners. Slides should be with the logo/mask of the IFP & BI.

In special cases the report may be confidential with only the supervisor and the co-grader having access.

This is a course with continuous assessment (several exam elements) and one final exam code. Each exam element will be graded using points on a scale (e.g. 0-100). The elements will be weighted together according to the information in the course description in order to calculate the final letter grade for the course.

Specific information regarding student evaluation 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
Examination code(s)
GRA 85121 - Continuous assessment; counts for 100 % to pass the course GRA 8512, 30 credits

The course is a part of a full Executive Master of Management in Energy (EMME) and examination in all courses must be passed in order to obtain a certificate.

Examination support materials


Re-sit examination
At the next ordinary exam.

Additional information
Re-takes are only possible at the next time a course will be held. When course evaluation consists of class participation or process elements, the whole course must be re-evaluated when a student wants to retake a exam. Retake examinations entail an extra examination fee.