BUS 116 - Project Management

1. Explain why project management is crucial in today’s world.
   • Understand why project management is becoming a popular practice in business.
   • Understand why project management is such a challenge.
   • Understand the concept of project “success,” including various definitions of success.
   • Recognize the development of project management professionalism in the discipline.
   • Recognize how learning about project management enhances critical employability skills, such as communication, critical thinking, collaboration, knowledge application and analysis and business ethics.
2. Apply financial and nonfinancial criteria to assess the value of projects.
   • Explain the six criteria for a useful project selection screening model.
   • Evaluate a variety of screening and selection models such as the checklist model and the simplified scoring model to select projects.
   • Learn how to apply financial models, such as discounted cash flow analysis, net present value and internal rate of return.
   • Understand various types of project costs, such as direct/indirect, recurring/nonrecurring, fixed/variable and normal/expedited.
   • Recognize the nature of the control cycle and the four key steps in a general project control model.
3. Differentiate the stages of the project life cycle.
   • Explain the stages of the project life cycle: conceptualization, planning, execution and termination.
   • Distinguish the activities that typically occur at each stage of a project:
     • Conceptualization - initial goals, technical specifications, scope of work, identify resources, stakeholders
     • Planning - specifications, scheduling, work packages, process for completion
     • Execution - Develop a project execution plan.
     • Termination - four main forms, seven key steps, reasons for early termination, final report
4. Summarize the significant role that organizational culture plays in managing projects.
   • Identify critical project stakeholders and how to manage them.
   • Recognize the strengths and weaknesses of three basic forms of organizational structure and the implications for managing a project.
   • Identify the key roles project champions play in project success.
   • Recognize the important role ethics plays in project leadership.
   • Understand the steps in project team building.
5. Describe the characteristics of effective project teams and traits of effective project team leadership.
   • Explain the steps involved in project team building and stages in the development of groups.
   • Know the characteristics of effective project teams and why teams fail.
   • Recognize the important role ethics plays for successful project leadership.
   • Identify the principles that typify the new project leadership.
   • Recognize key behaviors in which project leaders engage to support their projects.
6. Explain the elements necessary in effective project planning, including scope, scheduling, accountabilities, cost, risks and others.
   • Identify the steps in developing a scope statement.
   • Understand and apply key project scheduling terminology, such as scope, work breakdown schedule, work package, project network diagram, path, event, etc.
   • Develop an activity network using Activity on Node (AON) technique.
   • Understand the various types of common project costs and key differences between them.
   • Define the four key stages in project risk management and the steps necessary to manage risk.
7. Apply strategies for managing various stakeholders.
   • Identify various internal and external project stakeholders.
   • Understand the key concepts of corporate culture, how cultures are formed and the implications of corporate culture on the project management process.
   • Describe the nature of conflict and evaluate response methods.
8. Evaluate how managing projects involves balancing the technical and sociocultural dimensions of the project.
   • Describe how to achieve cross-functional cooperation in teams.
   • Understand how project management is a “leader-intensive” profession.
   • Identify the key roles project champions play in project success.
   • Construct and comprehend Gantt charts.
   • Evaluate alternative means to accelerate projects, including their benefits and drawbacks.
9. Analyze different kinds of projects and how projects differ from routine operations.
   • Distinguish between the role of a manager and the characteristics of a leader.
   • Understand the concept of project “success,” including various definitions of success, as well as the alternative models of success.
   • Recognize the basic properties of projects, including their definition.