SPRING SEMESTER 2017

MBA-IV

PROJECT MANAGEMENT
MGT 610

C O U R S E L E V E L : G R A D U A T E
CONTACT HOURS: 48
CREDIT HOURS: 3

Commander Ijaz Ahmed TI(M) PN

ijaz@bui.edu.pk
0334-5017740/051-20062343

D E P T . O F M A N A G E M E N T S C I E N C E S

BAHRIA UNIVERSITY ISLAMABAD

Course Description

Projects are an integral part as well as a consequence of living in society. Whether in

professional, family or social environments, we are likely to undertake projects; some having
successful endings while others may be potentially disastrous. Not acknowledging the
pervasiveness of projects in our daily lives is refusing to face facts and the reality of "living" in
organizations. Thus the aim of this course is to provide participants comprehensive knowledge of
various dimensions of concepts and methods used in understanding and subsequently managing
the projects, with emphasis on the ones in the workplace.
This course familiarizes the students with a range of approaches used in the discipline of
project management with an emphasis on approaches commonly used in practical settings. The
advantages and limitations of different approaches for project management are examined, as well
as their applicability in different contexts. Experience is provided in the design of project,
analysis & interpretation of models used for project management and in the management of
affairs involving projects. An introductory session on various dimensions related to project
management would enable students to analytic understanding of projects.

The course is aimed at integrating theory and practice in meaningful ways. A systematic
approach focusing on debates and opinions shall enable students to develop insights on problems
and their solutions. The course material will be up-to-date and relevant consisting of books, latest
articles and cases. The students will be expected to engage in discussions and prepare
assignments to develop overall awareness, analysis and objective rationalization of project
management. Upon completion of the course, students would acquire skills that would be useful
in the management of projects in their own or chosen environment and in the critical evaluation
of others.

Course Objective:

Businesses regularly use project management to accomplish unique outcomes with

limited resources under critical time constraints. In service sector of economy, use of project
management is even more common to achieve an organizations goals. Advertising campaigns,
voter registration drives, political campaigns, a familys annual summer vacation, and even
seminars on the subject of project management are organized as projects. A relatively new
growth area in the use of project management is the use of project as a way of accomplishing
organizational reorganization and change. Indeed, there is a rapid increase in the number of firms
that use projects as preferred way of accomplishing almost everything they undertake.

The aim of this course is to equip students with the knowledge of project management
and skills that a successful project manager uses for effective initiation, implementation and
termination of a project. Students will get knowledge of different players involved in projects as
well as an in depth information regarding organizational structure and communication etc. for
project. Students will also be taught how to prepare project feasibility study and manage projects
which are the core outcomes of this subject.

The objectives of the course are:

 To understand the basic concepts of project management
To acquire basic knowledge of project management in Pakistan
To comprehend role of project management in enhancing organizational efficiency
To differentiate between portfolio, program, project and operations.
To study various forms of organizational structures viz-a-viz project management
To understand the internal and external environment of an organization, project
managers, vendors , and users of the projects end products ( deliverables) in the
context of project management.
To learn about the importance of and role of project manager in the life of a project.
To familiarize students with various types of feasibility studies in the domain of project
management.
To learn about project management processes for a project.
To enable participants to effectively select, plan, implement, control, monitor, assess and
terminate the social sector and infrastructure projects.
To familiarize students about managing the scope, time, cost, quality, HR, risks, procurement
and communications with a view to achieve the pre-assigned goals of the organization.
To have adequate awareness of software, techniques and tools integral to project management.
To develop capacity to manage change in the scope and requirements of the projects.
To enhance skills to become an effective project manager in any institutional
environment.

Teaching Approaches:

A variety of teaching approaches will be utilized including lectures, case studies,

presentations, self readings, quizzes and assignments. The method employed for the course is
substantially interactive. Lecture will be delivered using power point presentations and
discussions. However, students will be required to do essential readings for each lecture
beforehand which will be discussed each week in the class.

The class room discussions would be interactive. Students would be provided with the
soft copy of the slides (on demand). Please be advised that the contents on the slides are only to
stimulate your memory. Students would be expected to have gone through the subject matter
(designated chapter from the prescribed / course book as well as additional reading from other
sources) prior to and after the scheduled lecture with a view to achieve maximum benefit from
the class activities. At no instance, students are to rely on slides only. Students must refer
to the books for total evidence.

WEEKLY PROGRAM
COURSE SCHEDULE FOR 16 WEEKS SEMESTER

Week Date Lecture Content Remarks

1 Introduction to course goals, objectives,

expectations and material.

Introduction to subject

What is a Project?
What is Project Management
Relationship to other Management Disciplines
Related Endeavors

The Project Management Context

Project Phases and the Project Life Cycle
Project Stakeholders
Organizational Influences
Key General Management Skills
Social-Economic-Environmental Influences

2 Project Management Processes

Project Processes
Process Groups
Process Interactions
Customizing Process Interactions
Mapping of Project Management Processes

3 Quiz- 1 Assignment 1

The Project Management Knowledge Areas

Project Integration Management
Project Plan Development
Project Plan Execution
Integrated Change Control
4 Project Scope Management
Initiation
Scope Planning
Scope Definition
Scope Verification
Scope Change Control

5 Project Time Management Assignment 2

Activity Definition
Activity Sequencing
Activity Duration Estimating
Schedule Development
Schedule Control

6 Quiz-2

Project Quality Management

Quality Planning
Quality Assurance
Quality Control

7 Project Human Resource Management

Organizational Planning
Staff Acquisition
Team Development

8 Revision

Midterm Exam
9 Project Communication Management
Communications Planning
Information Distribution
Performance Reporting

10 Project Risk Management

Risk Management Planning
Risk Identification
Qualitative Risk Analysis
Quantitative Risk Analysis
Risk Response Planning
Risk Monitoring and Control

11 Quiz 3 Assignment 3
 Project Procurement Management

12 Controlling Project

Scheduling and Networking

Monitoring and Information system
Project Control

13 Quiz 4

Project Cost management

Estimate costs
Determine budget
Control costs

14 Assignment Case presentations

(Group Assignment)

15 Assignment Case presentations

(Group Assignment)

16 Wrap Up/Revision/Feed Back

Final Exam

Please note that the instructor may change, rearrange, add or alter the contents mentioned above.

Recommended Reading and Text:

References and readings will be provided for individual lectures. A certain amount of
reading will be required in relation to topics to be discussed in the class. There is no single set
text book for this subject. A number of texts exist which cover aspects of the conflict
management; however, they vary considerably in their approach and in the detail with which
they cover different topics. The book prescribed for this course is PMBOK 4th Edition
In addition to the prescribed book mentioned above, students are encouraged to consult
additional literature. They are also advised to take maximum help from Internet and explore as
many Websites as possible particularly the ones dealing with cost management and
computerization of project management techniques. The latter would become handy in real
world scenarios. A list of selected books is given as under for general guidance:

PMBOK 5th Edition available online. Hard and soft copies held. Soft copy will be
provided.
 Schwalbe, Kathy (2009). Introduction to Project Management, 2nd Edition. Course
Technology, John Wiley & Sons Inc., New York .

Boddy, D. (2003). Managing Projects. Prentice Hall-Financial Times, Harlow, England.

Gray C. and Larson W. (2006). Project Management the Managerial Process, 3rd Edition,
McGraw-Hill Irwin, New York.

Turner, J. Rodney., & Simister, Stephen J. (2004). Project Management A

Comprehensive Handbook. Infinity Books, New Delhi, India.

Meredith & Samuel. Project Management --- A Managerial Approach , (6th or 7th
edition).

Murphy, Owen Jay. (2005). International Project Management. Thomson Higher

Education, 5191 Natorp Boulevard, Mason, Ohio 45040, USA.

Lock, Dennis. (2003). Project Management (8th Edition). Gower Publishing Ltd.,
Hampshire, England.

Kerzner, Harold. (2005). Using the Project Management Maturity Model (2nd Ed). John
Wiley & Sons, Hoboken New Jersey, USA.

Kerzner, Harold. (2006). Project Management: A Systems Approach to Planning,

Scheduling, and Controlling, 9th Edition. John Wiley & Sons Inc, New York. (soft
copy available with the undersigned) (7th Edition held in the BU Library).

Kerzner, Harold. ( 2010). Project Management: Best practices, 2nd Edition. John Wiley
& Sons Inc, New York.

Handouts (to be issued on as required basis)

Visits to Projects Sites :

Efforts would be made to arrange at least one visit to a project site in / around Islamabad
during the study hours. Students (volunteers would be adequately compensated for the
effort) are encouraged to suggest and assist in arranging visits to project sites within one - two
hour drive from the University.

Quizzes and Assignments:

All efforts would be made to conduct at least 4 quizzes and 4 assignments including one
presentation (Group). The latter would be selected through mutual consultation. The general
guidelines for Assignments / Research Papers / Projects etc are:
 Do not miss the quiz. There is no policy of repeat quiz.
Submit your assignments on time.
Utilize all the sources books, journals, e journals, magazines and books to make your
research paper authentic, impressive and worthy of submission.
The assigned paper should reflect your personality.
Make it a habit to visit library at least once a week.
Make use of Internet as much as possible to download useful information.
Always quote reference when you have borrowed literary material from somewhere.
Otherwise it would be termed as plagiarism.

Group Project Assignment

Working in a group of 3-4 people, your task is to examine the implementation level of
Project management in a division, company, or multiple companies. The purpose of this exercise
is to give you experience using the course concepts in an actual field situation; it will help you to
develop your clinical and analytical skills. Provide you the opportunity to "road test" some of the
ideas from the course, and to get some understanding of barriers and issues in the
implementation of the course concepts.

Your project can focus on the following types of issues

1) assess the extent to which the current project management policies and
practices are aligned with the strategy of the firm, the degree of internal consistency and
consistency with the strategy, and what changes you would recommend

2) identify a specific project management problems, diagnose the source of the

current problems(s), and provide feasible recommendations for organizational action;

Regardless of the focus, however, part of your assignment is also to identify project
management that the organization knows it should be implementing but that is not currently
doing. In other words, you will undoubtedly encounter instances of misalignment in which the
organization is, at some level, aware that it is not doing what it ought to be doing, but is doing it
anyway. So, in each instance, part of your assignment is to explain why the organizations
knowledge is not being used and develop an action plan to overcome these barriers to
implementation. This is a critical part of the assignment for it helps you understand why the
concepts of the course are not always readily or easily implemented and provides more value
because you attend to issues of actually accomplishing change as contrasted with just doing a
nice report.

Your insights will be developed from a research you conduct of an organization or a

department or set of departments. You should use interview and possibly other methods as well,
to help in your analysis. Possible methods include observation, unstructured, semi-structured, or
structured interviews, questionnaires, or archival information. In doing interviews, It is helpful to
ask more "what" than "why" questions. It is also useful to interview in pairs. Dont miss the
opportunity to get objective, archival information that will help in your analysis, and dont miss
the opportunity to get information from different levels in the organization.

Requirements for the Group Project Assignment:

Written Report: This component evaluates the students ability to write a comprehensive report
to communicate their findings and discuss their learning in the situation. The Written report will
comprise of three parts as outlined below

1. The initial Project Proposal (due week 3) will provide a brief outline of the aim
of the project and how you will achieve it.

a) who is in your group

b) the organization or department you will analyzing
c) a brief statement about the focus of your project.

2. The Interim report (due week 8) should briefly outline progress to date,
findings, and any changes to the projects design and where the project is headed.

3. The Final Report will be due in week 13. You are also responsible for turning
in a final report (which you should offer to share with the organization you analyzed),
complete with an executive summary, text, and any supporting data or appendices. Late
submissions will not be graded.

Presentation:

The group presentations will be held in last two sessions. You will present what you
learned to your classmates. You will have approximately 20 minutes for the presentation and 5
minutes for discussion time, so plan accordingly. The particular session in which you will
present will be determined by a random drawing.

Attendance and Work Load:

Students are required to attend all classes and make meaningful contributions to weekly
classes, discussion and dialogue. Put simply: Being there is not enough, it is a minimal
requirement. Students regular and punctual attendance at class lecture is expected in this course.
Bahria University regulations indicate that if students attend less than eighty percent of
scheduled classes they are not allowed to sit in final examination.
 It is expected that students will spend adequate time per week studying this course. This
time should be made up of reading, research, working on exercises and problems, and attending
classes. In periods where students need to complete assignments or prepare for examinations,
the workload may be greater. Students should take the required workload into account when
planning how to balance study with job and other social activities.
Although, this is student responsibility to follow up on what they have missed through
absence from a teaching session by interaction with fellow students who attended the class
however, instructor can also be contacted for help in this regard for which extra time would
require to be devoted by the student.

Assessment:

Students will be assessed on the extent to which they are able to:

Demonstrate understanding of the elements which are important in project management.

The assessments are designed to examine the understanding and application of the
subjects learning objectives. The assessment details are as under:

Assessment Criteria

ASSESSMENT TASK LEGNTH WEIGHT FREQUENCY TOTAL MARKS

Final Examination 02 Hours 40% 1 40

Mid-Term
1:30 Hour 25% 1 25
Examination

Quizzes 20 Minutes 15% 4 15

Assignment Group
Presentation 15 - 20 Minutes 10% 1 10
(Group Task)

Individual
As specified 10% 3 10
Assignment

Grade Distribution:

GRADE: SCORES OBTAINED:

A 88 %
 B+ 80 87 %
B 72 79 %
C+ 66 71 %
C 60 65 %
D 50 59 %
F 50 %

Students are required to complete the prescribed programme of all quizzes, assignments,
presentations, exercises for the subject to the satisfaction of the subject lecturer. All quizzes,
assignments, presentations, class participation etc will be graded and counted towards the final
result.
Late Submission:

In keeping with standards of professionalism appropriate to management studies, it is

expected that deadlines will be honored. In fairness to course members who complete on time,
work submitted after the due date will incur a penalty for lateness. The penalty is 10% of the
maximum marks per day late. In the event of unusual or unforeseeable circumstances (e.g.
serious illness, family bereavement), you must discuss waiver of the penalty with the instructor
at the earliest opportunity and before the submission deadline.

Dishonest Practice and Plagiarism:

Plagiarism is a form of dishonest practice. Plagiarism is defined as copying or

paraphrasing anothers work, whether intentionally or through failure to take proper care, and
presenting it as ones own. In practice, this means plagiarism includes any attempt in any piece
of submitted work to present as ones own work, the work of another (whether of another student
or published authority). Any student found responsible for plagiarism shall be subject to
penalties, including deduction of marks for the piece of work submitted or a zero grade for the
course.

Dress Code:

In order to prepare students for professional life, university has implemented mandatory
dress code. Students not following the prescribed dress code would not be allowed to attend the
class. In accordance with university policy, they would be marked absent in the class and report
to this affect would be sent to HOD. Students are therefore, advised to follow dress code and
consult university for latest regulations in this regard.
Dress Code for Boys Dress Code for Girls

Dress shirt/closed collared Formal Dress

Dress pant Shalwar or trouser
Tie Medium to long Kameez
Formal shoes Closed shoes
No Jeans Neatly tied hair
No costume jewellery
No Jeans