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2019/2020  KAN-CPSYO1603U  Project Management

English Title
Project Management

Course information
Language English
Course ECTS 7.5 ECTS
Type Mandatory
Level Full Degree Master
Duration One Quarter
Start time of the course Spring
Timetable Course schedule will be posted at calendar.cbs.dk
Study board
Study Board for BSc/MSc in Business Administration and Psychology, MSc
Course coordinator
  • Joana Geraldi - Department of Organization (IOA)
Main academic disciplines
  • Management
  • Organisation
  • Project and change management
Teaching methods
  • Blended learning
Last updated on 11-12-2019

Relevant links
Learning objectives
  • Contrast two distinctly different theoretical perspectives on project management (tight and loosely coupled), and their implications for the selection and application of management tools and concepts,
  • Describe, critique and integrate concepts related to the managerial levers discussed in class (aiming, collaborating, coordinating and adapting) throughout project’s lifecycle
  • Apply appropriate tools, concepts, models and theories to analyze project cases and make recommendations to practice
  • Critically engage with the notion of project success in general and in specific projects
Examination
Projektledelse:
Exam ECTS 7,5
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 Individual oral exam based on written group product
Number of people in the group 2-4
Size of written product Max. 10 pages
Assignment type Essay
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
Grading scale 7-point grading scale
Examiner(s) Internal examiner and second internal examiner
Exam period Spring
Make-up exam/re-exam
Same examination form as the ordinary exam
Description of the exam procedure

Individual oral examination based on the results of a group work written as an essay. Groups will be between 2-4 students (the same group as your consultancy project which will take place in parallel). You will conduct an analysis of a project case based on the concepts you will be exposed to in the course.

 

An intermediary version of the work will be peer reviewed.
Course content, structure and pedagogical approach

Projects are part of the daily life of firms. They are used as vehicle for e.g. boosting innovation, generating new knowledge, bringing about change, and creating new products and services. This module aims at enhancing participants’ knowledge about project management, while fostering a reflexive approach to the subject and its practice.

It will introduce two different theoretical perspectives on project management: one represents the traditional view on project management, clearly portrayed in international standards and most textbooks. The other perspective represents the so called ‘Scandinavian school’ of project management, which on the one hand acknowledges the need for classic planning tools and methods, but also reflects on the need for flexibility and co-creation to cope with the high uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity of projects. We call them tightly and loosely coupled perspectives, respectively.

We then bring the two theoretical perspectives into four managerial levers that every project practitioner will do:

  1. Aiming: develop project vision, purpose, scope, success and benefit and connect it with plan and activities
  2. Collaborating: engage with people within and outside the project, for example, attracting relevant stakeholders, and accommodating different requirements from different stakeholders
  3. Coordinating: coordinate work of different people and organizations through e.g. planning and scheduling, monitoring and controlling
  4. Adapting: assess and adapt to the impact of uncertainty and change in projects

The two perspectives and four project practices form a 2x4 matrix that will guide the course.
Description of the teaching methods
We will use a combination of the following teaching methods:
- Reading: Students are expected to read the material individually or in groups at home
- Lecturers: We will have classic lectures, discussing the material and illustrating it based on cases from students and beyond
- Presentation of the group work: students are expected to present the preliminary results of their essays at least once in class.
- Group work: students are expected to engage with a project case.
- Peer review: students are expected to review each other's essays.
Feedback during the teaching period
The students will receive feedback in three formats
1. Individual Peer Feedback to group delivery: Students will hand in a draft of their group assignment (the essay) which will receive peer reviewed. Students will assess their peers based on the learning ob-jectives and an overall assessment of the current status of the work and specific and constructive sug-gestions of how the work could be improved. Beyond fostering foster peer-to-peer learning and provid-ing formative feedback, the peer review has other two objectives. First, the students will develop a good understanding of the course’s learning objectives. Second, they will be exposed to different forms of writing the essay.
2. Ongoing feedback: The lecturer will provide ongoing feedback on exercise classes when assisting each group’s development and discussing their case analysis.
3. Oral examination: Each student receives individual feedback after the final oral examination.
Student workload
lectures 36 hours
groupwork 70 hours
Expected literature

Introduction

Davies, A. (2017) Chapter 1: Introduction. Projects: A very short introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 1-18.

 

Lundin & Söderholm (1995) Theory of a temporary organization. Scandinavian Journal of Management, 11(4), pp.437-455.

 

Andersen, E. S. (2014) Two Perspectives on Project Management. In Lundin, R.A. &

Hällgren, M. (2014) Advancing Research on Projects and Temporary Organizations, Copenhagen Business School Press & Liber.

 

Lenfle, S., & Loch, C. Lost roots: how project management came to emphasize control over flexibility and novelty. California Management Review, 53(1), 32-55.

Game and reflection on what makes projects.

 

Context

Engwall, M. (2003). No project is an island: linking projects to history and context. Research policy, 32(5), 789-808.

 

Winch, G. M. (2014). Three domains of project organising. International Journal of Project Management, 32(5), 721-731.

 

Snowden and Boone (2007) A leader's framework for Decision Making. Harvard Business Review. Nov2007, Vol. 85 Issue 11, p68-76. 9p.

 

Grint (2005) Problems, problems, problems: The social construction of ‘leadership’. Human Relations. 58(11): 1467–1494.

 

Pellegrinelli (2008) Awareness of organizational constraints. In Pellegrinelli, S. Thinking and acting as a great programme manager. New York: Palgrave, p. 158-169

 

Aiming

Maylor, H. (2010) Chapter 4. Stakeholders: success and failure. In Project Management. Essex: FT Prentice Hall, p. 74-95.

 

Kreiner, K. (1995) In search of relevance: project management in drifting environments. Scandinavian Journal of Management. 11(4): 335-346.

 

Pitsis, T. S., Clegg, S. R., Marosszeky, M., & Rura-Polley, T. (2003). Constructing the Olympic dream: a future perfect strategy of project management. Organization Science, 14(5), 574-590.

 

Collaborating

Vogwell, D. (2003). Stakeholder management. Paper presented at PMI® Global Congress 2003—EMEA, The Hague, South Holland, The Netherlands. Newtown Square, PA: Project Manage-ment Institute.

 

Tryggestad, et al. (2013) Project temporalities: How frogs can become stakeholders. International Journal of Managing Projects in Business, 6(1), pp.69-87.

 

van Marrewijk, A., Ybema, S., Smits, K., Clegg, S., & Pitsis, T. (2016). Clash of the titans: Temporal organizing and collaborative dynamics in the Panama Canal megaproject. Organization Studies, 37(12), 1745-1769.

 

Coordinating

Maylor, H. (2010) Chapter 6: Time planning.  In Project Management. Essex: FT Prentice Hall, p. 130-147.

 

Bechky, B. (2006). Gaffers, Gofers, and Grips: Role-Based Coordination in Temporary Organizations. Organization Science, 17(1), 3-21.

 

Lindkvist, L., Soderlund, J., & Tell, F. (1998). Managing product development projects: on the significance of fountains and deadlines. Organization studies, 19(6), 931-951.

 

Brady, T., Davies, A., & Gann, D. M. (2005). Creating value by delivering integrated solutions. International Journal of Project Management, 23(5), 360-365.

 

Adapting

Weick, K. E. (2003). Sense and reliability. A conversation with celebrated psychologist Karl E. Weick. Interview by Diane L. Coutu. Harvard Business Review, 81(4), 84-123.

 

Musca, G. N., Mellet, C., Simoni, G., Sitri, F., & De Vogüé, S. (2014). “Drop your boat!”: The discursive co-construction of project renewal. The case of the Darwin mountaineering expedition in Patagonia. International Journal of Project Management, 32(7), 1157-1169.

 

Cunha, M. P. E., Clegg, S. R., & Kamoche, K. (2006). Surprises in management and organization: Concept, sources and a typology. British Journal of Management, 17(4), 317-329.

 

Success

Kreiner, K., (2014) The Project Success; Restoring Project Success as Phenomenon. Working Paper.

 

Atkinson, R. (1999). Project management: cost, time and quality, two best guesses and a phenomenon, its time to accept other success criteria. International journal of project management, 17(6), 337-342.

 

Flyvbjerg, B. (2014). What you should know about megaprojects and why: An overview. Project Management Journal, 45(2), 6-19.

 

Ika, L. A. (2018). Beneficial or detrimental ignorance: The straw man Fallacy of Flyvbjerg’s test of Hirschman’s Hiding Hand. World Development, 103, 369-382.

Practitioner or academic case – to be confirmed

 

Project Society

Jensen, A. F., Thuesen, C. & Geraldi, J. (2016) The projectification of everything: Projects as a human condition. Project Management Journal, 47(3), pp. 21-34.
Last updated on 11-12-2019