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2013/2014  KAN-DCM_LAMP  Leading and Managing Projects

English Title
Leading and Managing Projects

Course information
Language English
Exam ECTS 7.5 ECTS
Type Mandatory
Level Full Degree Master
Duration One Quarter
Course period Spring, Third Quarter
Time Table Please see course schedule at e-Campus
Study board
Study Board for BSc og MSc in Business, Language and Culture, MSc
Course coordinator
  • Charles Tackney - Department of Intercultural Communication and Management (ICM)
Main academic disciplines
  • Management
Last updated on 22-10-2013
Learning objectives
At the end of the course students should be able to:
Course prerequisites
Bachelor degree. Knowledge of corporate strategy, management theory, and organizational behavior is an advantage, but not a precondition for participation. The course is offered as required component in both the first year of the CMI concentration in Intercultural Management and the first year of Cand. Merc. (Psyk.). It is open to students in other CBS graduate programs, including international students participating in exchange programs.
Examination
Leading and Managing Projects:
Examination form Oral exam based on written product

In order to participate in the oral exam, the written product must be handed in before the oral exam; by the set deadline. The grade is based on an overall assessment of the written product and the individual oral performance.
Individual or group exam Group exam, max. 4 students in the group
Size of written product Max. 15 pages
Assignment type Report
Duration
Written product to be submitted on specified date and time.
15 min. per student, including examiners' discussion of grade, and informing plus explaining the grade
Grading scale 7-step scale
Examiner(s) Internal examiner and external examiner
Exam period Summer Term and May/June
Aids allowed to bring to the exam Limited aids, see the list below:
Course material, lecture notes, case discussion content are viable resources. Extra course material is welcome insofar as this enhances student performance in respect to the stated Learning Objectives
Make-up exam/re-exam
Same examination form as the ordinary exam
Description of the exam procedure
A group-based, project-feasibility report will form the basis for this grade assessment. Students will be expected to devise hypothetical (yet actionable) projects, steadily elaborating the development of a Project Proposal of about 15 pages with supporting materials throughout the term. Any reasonable student research topic of interest would be supported, including themes that may lead to later thesis work, entrepreneurial concepts, social action issues, or exploration of future employment areas.
 
Working groups would not exceed four students, although individual student project management reports would be permitted. Students would identify their groups and proposed Project theme within a few weeks of class. Initial Project themes would require course coordinator approval. Interim reports, at least one, would facilitate on-going progress assessment, as the lecture themes are steadily incorporated to the Project feasibility build-out. Depending on available hours, interim sessions with the instructor would be possible.
 
The Project Report will form the basis of the oral group examination, from which individual grades are then determined in light of the stated Learning Objectives.

Exam aids
Course material, lecture notes, case discussion content are viable resources. When needed for specific project management report topics, extra-course material is welcome insofar as this enhances student performance in respect to the stated Learning Objectives.
Course content and structure
This course will offer the tools necessary to design, manage and evaluate the complexities involved in projects by exploring the conceptual foundations for successful project management in today’s globalized, complex organizations and societies. We will go beyond simple “how-to” or best practice approaches to the subject of project management in two respects. First, we will explore the comparative employment ecologies of modern organizations in respect to their national origins and project sites (which may or may not be identical). The motivation for this comparative study concerns a proper, and properly critical, appreciation of the Toyota Way - considered an innovative and instructive approach to project management throughout the world. Second, in light of the different set and settings of employment law we will look at the assumptions behind conventional wisdom on project management.
 
Participants will consider how to manage uncertainty and risk associated with project work. We will explore how the human elements of power, politics, and interrelationships play into the success and/or failure of projects. The course will explore how concepts and practices introduced in other areas of the CMI curriculum are concretely encountered in project management. Such curriculum related themes include complex organizations, strategy, stakeholders, diversity, culture, geo-political regional differences, and sense making.
 
Analysis of several case studies that evidence both successful and unsuccessful project management will provide students with practical examples of the themes and principles under discussion. In particular cases the management of projects in transnational and intercultural contexts will refine student sensibility in respect to what information case-based studies provide for reflection – and what is left out. Thus, this course aims to help students become reflective and reflexive consumers of project management literature – able to read such material with a proper sense of case literature strengths as well as weaknesses.
Teaching methods
The approach includes traditional readings and lecture with inductive case reading, reflection, and guided class discussion, with small-group project reports to focus student insight for successful grade outcomes. Case discussions will employ the Harvard Business School style “case method.” Some cases lend themselves to small-group discussion in advance of a plenary summation, other benefit from an instructor-guided discussion.

The learning model presumes regular class attendance for appropriate understanding of the course materials and success regarding the learning objectives. Class discuss will depend on student preparation of cases in advance.
Expected literature
Harvard Business School Press, Managing Projects Large and Small (HBS Press, 2003) 192 pgs.
 
An Online case pack offered by Harvard Business School Press.
Last updated on 22-10-2013