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2013/2014  KAN-MIB_MI54  Project Management and Product Development

English Title
Project Management and Product Development

Course information
Language English
Exam ECTS 7.5 ECTS
Type Mandatory
Level Full Degree Master
Duration One Quarter
Course period Fourth Quarter
Time Table Please see course schedule at e-Campus
Study board
Study Board for MSc in Economics and Business Administration
Course coordinator
  • Kjell Tryggestad - Department of Organization (IOA)
Kjell Tryggestad
Main academic disciplines
  • Economics, macro economics and managerial economics
Last updated on 06-08-2013
Learning objectives
To remain innovative, companies need to develop new products – and do it quickly. This implies access to a variety of highly distributed forms of knowledge and technologies. However, obtaining access to such resources is only the first step towards a solution to the problem of innovative product development. The crucial and challenging task is to organize and manage resources so as to make them conducive to product innovation. The project has become an increasingly important form of organizing core business processes such as product development. This project-based form of organizing requires its own particular management competence. The course aims to provide students with analytical tools and capabilities that will allow them to comprehensively examine the challenges of organizing and managing innovative product development projects under high uncertainty. Incomplete knowledge of alternatives and consequences is assumed to be a prevailing condition.

By the end of the course students should demonstrate ability to
Use analytical tools to examine the challenges of managing innovative product development projects under high uncertainty
Account for required course reading and illustrate points from the literature with examples from the case
Understand theoretical-empirical relationships, for example by using theories to generate and explain issues concerning significant aspects of the case and by using the case to discuss fundamental assumptions, possibilities, and limitations in the applied theories
Carry out critical assessments of the scope of alternative theories and compare their relevance to the case
Examination
Project Management and Product Development:
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. 5 students in the group
The oral exam is individual
Size of written product Max. 5 pages
Assignment type Synopsis
Duration
Written product to be submitted on specified date and time.
20 min. per student, including examiners' discussion of grade, and informing plus explaining the grade
Preparation time No preparation
Grading scale 7-step scale
Examiner(s) Internal examiner and second internal examiner
Exam period December/January
Make-up exam/re-exam
Same examination form as the ordinary exam
Course content and structure

The course develops the theme of Project Management and Product Development in relation to organizational and behavioral theories. Innovative product development (including goods and services) is regarded as an organizational achievement. There is a strong focus on the way in which actors organize their product development projects, in relation to which institutions and with what consequences for the product development project. Theories covered include contemporary perspectives on project management and product development. The context of product development, notably the linkage between the project organization and the market, is emphasized. As a further foundation for the course, the literature on networks, knowledge creation and organizational learning is covered. The ways in which current project management tools for product development can enable and constrain the innovative process are also thoroughly discussed. As a part of the course students must investigate a real life case of product development and complete a short project carried out in groups that deals with themes and literature in the course curriculum.
Teaching methods
The course requires a high degree of commitment from students. It combines dialogue lectures, case studies and the students’ own presentations. As a part of the course students complete a short project which is carried out in groups and deals with themes and associated literature in the course curriculum. In order to equip students with methodological skills required for conducting the project, they will have to attend 2 workshops on empirical methods. The project is the basis for the course exam.
Expected literature

Enberg, C.,Lindkvist, L. & Tell, F. (2006), Exploring the Dynamics of Knowledge Integration. Acting and Interacting in Project Teams, Management Learning, Vol. 37:2 (pp. 143-165)
Hernes, T. and Weik, E. (2007), Organization as Process. Drawing a line between endogenous and exogenous views, Scandinavian Journal of Management, Vol. 23, Nr. 3, pp. 251-264.
Kreiner, K. and Tryggestad, K. (2002): The co-production of chip and society: Unpacking packaged knowledge, Scandinavian Journal of Management, Vol. 18, pp. 421-449.
March, J. G. (1999), “Introduction” to The Pursuit of Organizational Intelligence. Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell (pp. 1-10).
Last updated on 06-08-2013