Project Management 801

What Is Project Management?

Introduction

Imagine the following scenario: you've just been hired as an employee in the project management group of your new company. The company has been newly reorganized and your project management group's responsibilities are to develop conceptual project statements of work and prepare project work plans for management review and approval. You observe that your firm's permanent and contract employees have widely varying levels of experience with projects and project management issues, especially "people skills." You also notice that they have the concerns most of us have about doing well in our jobs, getting our ideas heard, and balancing family and work.

You also learn that some members of your group are located in satellite offices in other cities. The firm has reduced the travel budget, and the team will meet face-to-face only at major project milestones. Most of the team communication will be through e-mail, voice-mail, and teleconferencing. In addition, you hear rumors that management is telling employees to "do more with less" and that an overall corporate "re-engineering" effort is underway. At the same time, you begin hearing about numerous conflicts erupting between team members under the direction of the new manager. The conflicts finally get so bad that they hinder normal work operations tremendously.

In this course, you will learn about how organizational structure and leadership style play a part in situations like this one, and as you do so, you will think about, evaluate, and practice your communication and leadership skills. This course will also help you enhance your ability to identify projects, project processes, and project management processes; create project life-cycle diagrams; describe the structure of different organizations; understand how these structures influence project management; and develop or acquire the leadership skills needed by the effective project manager. In this course, your skills in these important areas of project management will be advanced, whether you are experienced in managing projects or are new to the process.

Course Objectives

By the end of this course, you will be able to

• define a project and create a map of the project life cycle for a given project (Lesson One);
• prepare a Project Overview Statement (Lessons Two and Three);
• identify the five key phases of the project management process (Lesson Two);
• describe the project management life cycle at your organization (Lesson Two);
• diagram and describe the structure of functional, matrix, and project-driven organizations (Lesson Two);
• discuss the effects that different types of organizations and decision-making processes have on projects (Lesson Two);
• help develop team operating rules (Lesson Two);
• describe the skills and competencies needed by a project manager (Lesson Three); and
• assess your own project management skills (Lesson Three).

Course Overview

This course—What Is Project Management?—is comprised of three lessons, and is designed to be completed in seven (7) weeks. For each lesson, you will work on practice exercises, submit an individual assignment, and participate in required online discussions to complete a team assignment. (See the course schedule for assignment due dates.) The final assignment is the development of a team project overview statement, which will be due at the end of this course.

Completing this Course

To successfully complete this course, you must do the following:

• read these online course materials and the assigned sections of the texts;
• complete and submit all written assignments;
• participate in specified team activities; and
• actively contribute to each lesson's online discussion topic as specified in each lesson.

About the Texts

• You will find that the three required texts for this program complement each other quite nicely. Effective Project Management (EPM) serves as the "backbone text." It gives a comprehensive overview of the concepts and techniques of project management along with practical examples and applications. Each chapter begins with a list of learning objectives to guide your study of the text material.
• A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) lays out the widely accepted standards and practices of the project management profession. It is published by the Project Management Institute (PMI), a certifying organization for practitioners of project management. Its outline format clearly illustrates how various project management processes are interwoven, and what the inputs and outputs are for each phase of each process.
• Project Planning, Scheduling & Control (Lewis) has been included because of the strength of the information it contains on project manager skills. It describes the elements of effective leadership and suggests ways to develop flexibility in dealing with different personalities in "problem" situations. It strives to help you help others to feel empowered.

Optional Materials

The following optional materials will be helpful to you in this course:

• access to standard business productivity software, including word processing, spreadsheet, and project management software; and
• a simple drawing software package for use in this course.
  
  This type of software is very useful for creating tables and charts; you will need to be able to create simple drawings to share with your fellow teammates or to submit with your assignments. If you do not have access to drawing software, however, you should be able to create any drawings required by the assignments with a straight edge and a pencil. If you have drawing software, you may be able to share your drawings with fellow students by sending them as e-mail attachments. Do not submit drawings that are part of assignments as e-mail attachments, however, since formatting may be lost (see "Submitting Assignments" in this introduction for more information on assignment submission).

The Online Team Discussions

An important part of this course, and the certificate program as a whole, are the Web-based online team discussions. Online discussion is increasingly used by project management teams, and developing the skill to communicate with other team members in this environment is important for your success as a project manager. Several modes of group discussion are available to you: teleconferencing, where a toll free dial in telephone number can be setup for your team to hold a teleconference; and a discussion forum, where you can send and receive messages, send attachments, and sort messages by topic, date, or sender. The discussion forums can be accessed through the course syllabus and from the course calendar page.

This course includes individual assignments requiring you to use the online environment for Lessons One. For the online component of the team assignment for Lesson Two, the class will be divided into four to five project teams, and each team will be assigned a discussion forum. For Lesson Three, each team will prepare a final project overview statement and decide on an organization to represent.

Satisfactory completion of the team assignment will be measured by:

• how well you complete your part of the team assignment,
• your participation in the review process at the team level, and
• the submitted team assignment.

All three components must be completed for you to receive a satisfactory participation grade for this segment of the course work.

The online discussion feature of this certificate program also enables you to stay connected with your fellow class members. With this tool, you will be able to share work experiences and coordinate work on required team activities. (You should also plan on using e-mail and teleconferencing to communicate with classmates and to work on team assignments.) The discussion takes the place of open-ended discussions and question-answer sessions found in the traditional classroom setting.

About the Lessons

Each lesson in these online course materials provides a reading assignment, a list of objectives, a list of key terms, my commentary, practice exercises, and an individual or team assignment. The material included in the lessons is designed to help you use your new skills as you learn them. Examples are provided from various types of industries, and interactive exercises and assignments ask that you relate course concepts to your own work situation. These online course materials will also coordinate your reading and writing assignments, as well as your Team Project Notebook deliverables, and it will help you prepare for the online discussions.

Key Terms

Each lesson includes terms that are important to the concepts you will learn in the lesson and are intended to serve as guides to your study; these terms are boldfaced and italicized where they appear in the text, and are also shown in a sidebar. You will not be held responsible for key term definitions per se, but you will be expected to use the terms in your written work and presentation material whenever possible. You will find the terms defined either in the lesson commentary, the assigned readings, or both. There is a glossary in the back of the Lewis text that you may find helpful.

About the Assignments

There are three types of assignments in this course. Practice Exercises (which are not graded) require you to compare the project management concepts presented in the lesson to your real-life work experiences; individual assignments, which you will submit either to your instructor, to your fellow project team members, or to the discussion forum; and you will work with your team to complete team assignments, and select one team member to submit them for evaluation. (See "How Do I Submit Assignments?" in this introduction.) As part of Assignment 3, you will collaborate with classmates to develop a Team Project Overview Statement and Team Operating Rules that your team will submit as an assignment for this course as well as as a Team Project Notebook Deliverable.

Lesson One

Practice Exercises

You will identify differences between projects and programs, and describe the various project phases for a recent "real life work" project you have worked on.

Individual Assignments

You will answer questions in an online discussion about your real-life project work experience and the types of projects your real life work organization (past or present) typically performs. You will also develop ideas for potential projects that can be used as a team project using an online discussion.

Lesson Two

Practice Exercises

You will identify the advantages and disadvantages of three types of organizational structures; and create a chart of your "real-life work" organization, showing roles and responsibilities of organization members.

Individual Assignment

The Instructor will assign you into teams based on organization/industry, job description, computer skills, submitted project ideas and other factors. You and your teammates will decide on your team ground rules and select the team project idea; this process will help your team reach consensus in a positive, productive manner. Ground rules include such operating procedures as how decisions are made, how conflicts are handled, and how the team prioritizes tasks. You will then prepare a draft POS for the team project and e-mail it to your other team members for review.

Lesson Three

Practice Exercises

You will assess your people skills and leadership style as a Project Manager, then create an Action Plan for improvement in areas where you feel you need more skills.

Individual Assignment

You will answer questions on the Team Project cycle and organizational structure, and e-mail your responses to your fellow team members. You will review your team member’s responses and begin finalizing the Team POS. Your team may wish to hold teleconferences to finalize the team POS.

Team Assignment

Your team will finalize its Project Overview Statement through e-mails, online discussion forum and/or teleconferences. Each team will select one team member to submit the final team POS to the instructor and submit it to the Team Project Notebook Deliverables site (see Team Project Notebook Deliverables: Submissions and Discussion Forum on your online course syllabus). Each team member will endorse the team POS by posting acceptance of the final POS on the online discussion forum.

How Do I Submit Assignments?

All assignments will clearly inform you as to how each portion of that assignment is to be submitted. All assignments shall be submitted using electronic mail or through posting on the online discussion forum as specified in the assignment. Due to time limitations and the nature of the material, no mailed assignments will be allowed. Assignments should not contain any kind of graphics or tables.

Team Projects and Notebook Deliverables

Your instructor will assign you to a team based on organization/industry, job description, computer skills, and other factors.

• In Lesson Two, your team will establish the ground rules by which you will work together, Each project team will then develop ideas for a potential project. Your instructor will assign a specific project idea to each project team in Lesson Two. Finally, you will develop a draft Project Overview Statement (POS) for a potential team project.
• In Lesson Three, you will review all the Project Overview Statements prepared by your fellow students in Lesson Two. Each project team will then prepare and submit a final Project Overview Statement.

Your team assignment will continue throughout the remaining courses in the Project Management Certificate Program. Please read the Introduction to the Project Management Certificate Program for additional information about the Team Assignment. The final team product will be creation of a Team Project Notebook.

To carry out your team assignment, take advantage of the variety of communication options you have available: e-mail, online discussions, and teleconferencing. You can accommodate your personal needs and enhance teamwork by selecting the method most suited to the work to be done.

Team Project Notebook Deliverables

Throughout the course, your team will be responsible for posting deliverables to the Team Project Notebook (each team should select one member to post to the Team Project Notebook). It is your team's responsibility to post these deliverables before the end of the program. You will most likely want to do so after you receive your instructor's feedback on related assignments and can integrate any changes into the notebook deliverables. At the end of the program, the instructor of the final course PM 805 (and also the program mentor), will review your Team Project Notebook and provide feedback. Your course instructor can also provide additional guidance in creating your Team Project Notebook deliverables.

Note: Team Project Notebook deliverables do not always correspond to the assignments; each team must work out the what, how, and when for managing these deliverables. While reminders are placed throughout the course, Team Project Notebook deliverables are due by the last day of the course.

Participation Requirements

You are required to participate interactively in this course the following ways:

• You must make the required number of contributions to the online discussions. (Details of these requirements will be clearly outlined in each lesson of these online course materials.) You are encouraged, however, to make additional postings and to respond to others in the online discussions. Your participation in the online discussions will be deemed either satisfactory or non-satisfactory, and will count toward assessment of your overall performance in the course.
• You must submit all individual and team assignments on time.

Evaluation and Grading

Because this is a noncredit professional certification program, all submitted assignments are graded on a satisfactory (S) or non-satisfactory (NS) basis. To earn a satisfactory grade for this course, you must complete and submit all individual and team assignments, and participate in the group and team discussions, as described earlier.

Study Tips

Keeping the following in mind may help as you work on the material in this course:

• This course is designed to be completed in seven (7) weeks. Plan ahead to give yourself extra time to complete the readings and assignments.
• Work with your fellow teammates—try practicing concepts and resolving your questions together.
• Use the learning objectives and key terms listed in these online course materials at the beginning of each lesson to direct your study.
• Use the objectives listed at the beginning of chapters in EPM, and the questions and review points at the end of chapters in Lewis as guides to your study.
• Post your questions on course material to the class discussion forum.
• Take advantage of your instructor's expertise!

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