2:15 pm mondays & wednesdays (day section) 9:15 … case and a few readings must be purchased on...

BUS 558 & 558P Syllabus Spring 2011 Thomas

Project Management and Collaboration

1:00 pm – 2:15 pm Mondays & Wednesdays (day section)

6:30 pm – 9:15 pm Wednesdays (evening section)

All Classes in Room 421

Professor: Dominic Thomas, Ph.D.

Office: Room 420 next door to our classroom!

Email: [email protected]

Phone: 404-727-7903

Fax: 404-727-2053 (shared, use cover sheet)

Skype: dominic.thomas

Web: www.dominict.net

Office hours: Every Wednesday from 5 pm to 6:15 pm. I typically eat at this time if no one

makes an appointment. If you want to join me for an appointment and dinner, we

can head to Doc Chey‟s, Everybody‟s or another nearby restaurant. Other times

also available by appointment. On guest speaker days, I will be taking the guest

speakers to dinner in the area. Limited spaces are available on request.

Teaching Assistants

Aleksandr Ephshtein, James (JB) Smith III and Dave Wu

Required Materials:

I will provide a course packet of distributable items.

The case and a few readings must be purchased on Study.net:

http://www.study.net/r_mat.asp?crs_id=30019518

Project Management (4th

Edition) Harvey Maylor ISBN 978-0-273-70432-4

Sharepoint site (requires login):

https://collaboration.bus.emory.edu/course/Project_Management/default.aspx

We will be using Microsoft Project Software in some work during our course. You can

download it for free from our (Microsoft Developer Network Academic Alliance [e-

academy]) MSDNAA site through a special agreement with Microsoft. You get a full copy

of the software. You will have received an email at the beginning of the semester for this

site. Please be sure to use that password to access the site. You can also use this software in

the computer lab. http://www.bus.emory.edu/software/msdn.html

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.study.net/r_mat.asp?crs_id=30019518

https://collaboration.bus.emory.edu/course/Project_Management/default.aspx

http://www.bus.emory.edu/software/msdn.html

BUS 558 and 558P Thomas Sp11 Syllabus

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Catalog Description

This course provides a comprehensive introduction to project management. Projects provide

businesses a time-delimited tool for improving, expanding, and innovating- the primary means

for converting strategy into action. Success differentiates top performing firms. We will use

Project Management Institute (PMI) materials and focus on discussion and analysis of business

cases that convey core project management skills. We will particularly focus on the challenge of

managing projects involving dispersed team members from multiple organizations. This course

can be credited toward PMI Project Management Professional (PMP) certification.

Teaching Goals

This course targets its content at students with little to no background in project management as

well as students highly experienced in project management. The experienced students will have

an opportunity to reflect on and refine their own practice, extending their understanding to

alternate contexts beyond IT or engineering to finance and marketing, for example. The students

with little to no background will learn about the basics of project management including how to

manage projects and use PM tools. This course assumes project management applies broadly to

all strategic change efforts in firms and can enable improved effectiveness of all sorts of business

activities including mergers and acquisitions, new product/service development, brand

management, and product/service distribution and production.

Learning Objectives

The specific learning objectives exist for each session of the course. The course materials and

techniques have been aligned with the objectives to best achieve them. For example:

o Describe how effective project management enables achieving strategic goals of

firms.

o Apply basic techniques for planning, implementing, and evaluating projects

effectively.

o Use and manage at least one project with one project management software package

(in a case at least), and describe pros and cons of at least three other PM software

alternatives as well as at least 10 project collaboration tools/techniques.

o Describe different types of projects, and evaluate appropriateness of different PM

strategies for each type.

o Apply frameworks to evaluate ailing projects and craft interventions to fix them.

o Evaluate a project against its portfolio brethren using portfolio management

techniques and use applicable research findings to recommend a best course of action,

such as pulling the plug.


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Extended Description Increasingly, project management serves as the

primary way of organizing strategic business

efforts in all sectors due to its proven ability at

delivering successful change. We see companies (selected examples in parentheses) such as

major investment firms (Goldman Sachs, J. P. Morgan), manufacturers (GE Energy,

Proctor and Gamble and Kimberly-Clark), retailers (Sears, Wal-Mart), and

especially services vendors (Sodexho) requiring PM knowledge and skills when

hiring upper-level employees in various roles including finance,

marketing, and accounting beyond the traditional PM in IT and operations and

implementing PM in new

organizational forms. PM‟s key

differentiator from more traditional change

organization and delivery methods revolves

around carefully planned encapsulation and delivery through goal-oriented teams.

In this course we will learn key basics of project management as well as new research on how to

fix projects, how to decide to pull the plug and manage a project portfolio, and how to enable

better, dispersed, multi-organizational efforts. Guest speakers (not all confirmed yet) will be

visiting to share their experience.

Evaluation and Grading

Item Group/Individual %

Exercises I 25

Debate G 15

Project G 50

Peer Evaluation of Contributions I *

Self Evaluation of Contributions I *

* These evaluations are used to adjust the Project and Debate grades.

Instructions for the Exercises

You have exercises to complete at home. Each is worth about 3% of your grade. They build

core Project Management skills. Upload your answers as MS Project, PDFs or Word documents

as appropriate to the Assignments area of our First Class conference. Be sure to type the

exercise letter followed by your full name, last name first, in the file name and your email

subject line. Again, complete all exercises as a digital file and submit them using the following

file naming convention: [Exercise].[Last_name].[First_name]

So, for example, if I submit exercise A, my file would be called: A.Thomas.Dominic.mpp

Exercise Description Due

A New Wine Brand – Part 1 using MS Project Feb. 2

B Write your answers to the questions for “Three Project

Managers” page 18-20. Jan. 26

C New Wine Brand – Part 2 using MS Project Feb. 20

http://www.wherewomenwanttowork.com/careers/careersDesc.asp?jobID=787584

http://www2.jpmorgan.com/CorpInfo/Careers/AsiaPacific/ob_ams_content.htm

http://gepower.com/prod_serv/serv/industrial_service/en/pses/proj_mgmt.htm

http://www.intota.com/viewbio.asp?bioID=773040&perID=722564#WorkHistoryData

http://www.careerbuilder.com/JobSeeker/Jobs/JobDetails.aspx?job_did=J3G82W78LD0HP097BRR&cbRecursionCnt=1&cbsid=1b7ae6608b654332a677bcdb794056ad-235754043-VG-4

http://www.sodexho.com/SodexhoCorp/en/our_activities/food_management_services/remote_sites/trend/


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Instructions for the Debates

The debates are framed on topics you may encounter in meetings with peers when discussing

project management. The goal is to build your understanding of both sides of the argument

around each topic. I want each team to be as objective as possible and to support their arguments

with evidence and any research they can find as opposed to trying to convince through authority

and personal attacks. To this end, we evaluate the debates on how logically persuasive each

team presents and rebuts the arguments of the debate. You may find useful research within the

PMI library online, particularly in the Project Management Journal or in common other sources,

such as the Harvard Business Review or Sloan Management Review. Try to find high-quality

sources. Feel free to access materials from prior debates during prior sessions of our course.

It is an Oxford-style debate. The pro side will go first and present their arguments for 25

minutes. Next, the con side will present arguments for 25 minutes. We will take a 5-minute

preparation break for both sides to develop their rebuttal. You can staff the speaking and

preparation as you wish. If you want one or two people to handle all of the talking, that is fine. If

you want everyone to speak, that is fine too. It may be useful to have a couple of people

preparing rebuttal points and taking notes while others are speaking.

The pro side will then have a chance to rebut the con side for 5 minutes. The con side will rebut

the pro side next for 5 minutes. Next, the sides have 5 minutes to think and discuss. Following

these presentations we have 10 minutes for questions from the audience at the end of which we

vote through a Qualtrics survey emailed to your email account listed in the Google spreadsheet.

Please make sure the email address listed for you is the best one to reach you and one you can

access during class time.

My grading of the debate will take into account the preparation and solid argumentation as well

as the voting by the audience. I will deduct credit for any personal attacks and ploys to use

American political debate-style tactics of sensationalism, though being engaging and evidential

is highly valued.

Date Debate Pro Con

Mar. 16 1: “The best person to manage a project is a person with deep 1 2

D Write your answers to questions 1, 2, 4 and 7 on page 47 of the

textbook. Feb. 2

E New Wine Brand – Part 3 using MS Project (we will only do an

intro in class, you will finish this at home ) Mar. 20

F Prepare your solution to the Wells Fargo Case:

1)Why did they develop a balanced scorecard?

2)Develop the objectives, linkage map, and measures for

increase revenue per customer and reduce cost per

customer.

Feb. 9

G Answer the case questions on page 234-5 of the textbook for the

“It‟s a Risky Business” case. Mar. 12

H Answer questions 1-10 on pages 235-236 of the textbook. Mar. 12


5

area knowledge of the target business unit (not just PM know

how).”

Apr. 13 2: “It is a waste of time and money to establish a project

management office for a large corporation.”

3 4

If we have five or more teams, I will find additional assignments for them to complete as an

equivalent of conducting a debate. In the past, such duties have included updating our course

site content, serving as debate facilitators/discussants, or conducting special projects.

Instructions for the Projects

One major vehicle for the course learning will be projects conducted in small groups. Ideally,

these projects will be conducted within the contexts of the students‟ own work. I particularly

encourage the Evening and Executive MBAs to bring their own work into the course as a project

to help organize and analyze as a win-win that can benefit the course and the student hosting the

project. The daytime MBAs often are studying fulltime and do not have a current work context.

For them, I can organize project hosts or we can fit them into the Evening MBA project contexts.

I will make this decision based on your preferences. Please contact me ASAP if you have a

project you would like to use with the course based on your own work so that we can co-plan for

how a group may help you and get the learning they need from the course. You will define the

deliverables of your project with the Project Host once you have a project. They might include a

business case, scope definition, WBS, resource allocation, stakeholder analysis, risk assessment

and / or intervention plan. I expect you to have at least three PM deliverables in your project.

Notes on the Peer/Self Evaluations of Project and Course Contribution

These evaluations will be conducted through online surveys and will seek to distinguish low-

pass, passing, high, and distinguished performance in our course. I use these evaluations directly

in the grading, provided that they are supported by evidence that you provide.

On any given day, come to class prepared to discuss the Topics and Discussion Questions for the

day, having reflected on the readings.


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Work-Breakdown Structure (WBS) for our Course


7

Course Schedule and Readings (subject to progressive elaboration!)

Day Section Dates are Notes in [Brackets] where they are different from Evening Section

Date Topics & Discussion Questions Class Activities Class Preparations

Jan.

19 1. What are projects and why

manage them?

How are projects different from

„normal‟ work?

Which types of project need

formal management?

How does the project manager

matter?

Why does the technology of

project management matter?

What types of projects are

there, how do we recognize

them, and why do the types

matter to managers?

Reflection and Inquiry

What are the special needs of

strategic projects?

Course Overview

Activity – What are

your strengths as a

PM and how might

they affect your

team?

Interactive

Discussion

(do before next class)

Textbook: Chapters 1 & 2

Packet: 4 articles

Study.net: nothing

Jan.

26 2. Scope Project Work

What are the key elements of

defining a project‟s scope?

What really needs to be defined

and why?

How do our project

performance metrics influence

our thinking about scope?


Due to which special

circumstances would project

scope be particularly difficult

to define?

Exercise A: – New

Wine Brand – Part 1

using MS Project;

when done upload to

assignments area in

First Class (by Feb

2)

Interactive

Discussion

(do before class)


Packet: nothing

Study.net: 3 articles

Install: If you have a laptop

and want MS Project,

download it, burn it to a DVD,

and install it from MSDNAA

before class or use a laptop in

class. [Day: Jan. 24]

Exercise B: Write your

answers to the questions for

“Three Project Managers” page

18-20.

Upload your answers to the

assignments area in First Class.

Feb.

2 3. Plan Interaction

What does a project plan

entail?

Why do we make the project

Exercise C: New


using MS Project

(we will only do an


(7 optional)

Packet: 2 articles

Comment [DT1]: Good place to insert the 2-

hour house video as an illustration of what can

be accomplished with careful planning and

unity of purpose on a well-known project

domain with little task uncertainty.


8

plan?

Will we actually use the pieces

of the plan when we execute

the work?

How will collaboration tools

help us execute the project

plan?

How do we build their usage

into the plan?


How will the average worker

engaged in a project get value

out of typical project plan

deliverables?

intro in class, you

will finish this at

home and upload the

result to First Class

by Feb 20) [Feb. 2]

Activity: Project

Network

Diagramming [Jan.

31]

Interactive

Discussion

Study.net: 1 article

Exercise D: Write your

answers to questions 1, 2, 4 and

7 on page 47 of the textbook.


assignments area in First Class.

Feb.

9 4. Forecast Strategic Value

What is the difference between

strategic value and financial

value?

How do we assure ourselves

that both types of value will be

achieved?

Why do we get fooled into

thinking there is value where

there is none?


What is the ultimate 'value‟ of

a project?

In your experience, does this

value get lost in the PM

processes?

How is it represented?

Exercise E: – New


using MS Project

(we will only do an

intro in class, you

will finish this at

home and upload the

result to First Class

by Mar 20) [Feb. 9]

Case: Wells Fargo

Online Financial

Services (A) [Feb. 7]

Activity: Earned

Value [Feb. 9]

Interactive

Discussion


Packet: 1 article

Study.net: 1 article, 1 case

Exercise F: Be prepared to

discuss the Wells Fargo Case.

Prepare your solution to:

1)Why did they develop a

balanced scorecard?

2)Develop the objectives,

linkage map, and

measures for increase

revenue per customer

and reduce cost per

customer.


Assignments area in First

Class. [Feb. 7]

Feb.

16 5. Design Team

How do we identify and

represent the stakeholders in

any given project team?

How do we setup team

expectations?

In today‟s distributed projects,

how do we connect and

empower team members?


Activity: Personality

and Team Cohesion

Interactive

Discussion


Packet: 1 article

Study.net: 1 article

Comment [DT2]: RACI table – ensure

communications and access to appropriate

information. Could use Majcharzak 2000 as a

case for teaching this material.


9

What special team dynamics

emerge in specific industry

settings, such as healthcare?

Feb.

23 6. Allocate Resources

What are the resources for a

project and how do we allocate

them?

What benefit(s) does resource

pooling give us? How do we

achieve it?


How do you join „siloed‟

resources to pool for strategic

projects?

Activity: Resource

Leveling

Go over Exercise G

and H in class.

Interactive

Discussion

Textbook: (Chapter 14

optional)

Packet: 2 articles

Study.net: nothing

Mar.

2 &

9

No Class session due to Colloquium and Spring Break. This is a good time to observe at your

host site. I am available to meet during these weeks by appointment.

Exercises G & H: (due Mar 12 at 11 pm) Answer the case questions on page 234-5 of the

textbook for the “It‟s a Risky Business” case. Answer questions 1-10 on pages 235-236 of the

textbook. Upload answers to the assignments area of the First Class conference.

Mar.

16 7. Monitor and Lead

What do we need to monitor?

How do we monitor,

particularly when we are not

regularly face-to-face with

team members?

What sort of leadership will

best affect the outcomes we

desire in our projects?

Who are we leading in our

project teams? Do we lead all

of the stakeholders as project

managers?


What particular project

leadership challenges can you

forecast for strategic projects?

Debate 1: “The best

person to manage a

project is a person

with deep area

knowledge of the

target business unit

(not just PM know

how).” [Mar. 16]

Project Time [Mar.

14]

Interactive

Discussion

Textbook: Chapter 12

Packet: 1 article

Study.net: nothing

Mar.

18

Knowledge Futures: The Agility

Imperative Guest Speaker:

Steve Delgrosso,

Director of Project

Management, IBM;

Member of Board,

PMI. + others!

Come and

See agilityimperative.com for

more information. I have

invited key decision-makers

and strategists from various

industries. They will be flying

in from around the US and a

few international. Keynote will

be Dr. David Alberts, a key


10

participate in this

free conference in

room 130 including

free lunch.

strategist for the Department of

Defense.

Mar.

23 8. Fix

How do we improve projects

when they are not working as

well?

Why might projects not work

as expected in our project

plans?


What particular project

leadership interventions must a

leader be prepared to make in

distributed projects?

Project Time

Interactive

Discussion

Meetings with

Groups (I will meet

with each group

individually.)


Packet: 2 articles

Study.net: nothing

Mar.

30 9. Update

Who needs to know what when

during the project?

How do we enable the flow of

communications needed for

parallel, distributed updating?

How accurate are our updates?


Who needs to update a project?

Why might they fail to give

timely, accurate updates?

Project Time

Interactive

Discussion

Meetings with

Groups (I will meet

with each group

individually.)


optional)

Packet: 2 articles

Study.net: nothing

Apr.

6 10. Manage Project Portfolios

What is a project portfolio?

How do we manage a project

portfolio?

Why is it useful to think in

terms of project portfolios?


What dimensions would you

use to evaluate a portfolio of

projects? Why?

Interactive

Discussion


optional)

Packet: 1 article

Study.net: nothing

Apr.

13 11. Organize for Projects

Do we need different

organizational structure to get

maximal value out of projects?

What would that „difference‟

Debate 2: “It is a

waste of time and

money to establish a

project management

office for a large


Packet: nothing

Study.net: nothing

Comment [DT3]: Getty case?


11

be?


Where would you start this

analysis of an organization?

corporation.” [Apr.

13]

Interactive

Discussion

Apr.

20 12. Pull the plug?

How do we decide to terminate

a large, strategic project that is

not going so well?

Why is this so difficult?

What do we need to do to make

termination decisions

executable and acceptable?


Do you think pulling the plug

is a problem in strategic or

distributed project

environments?

Presentations

(schedule TBD)

Interactive

Discussion

Textbook: nothing

Packet: 1 article

Study.net: nothing

Apr.

27 Final Exam Date (unconfirmed) Presentations

(schedule TBD)

Interactive

Discussion

Special Sessions

In the past I have arranged special sessions for the class on Saturdays or on other weekday

evenings for additional training on Microsoft Project and preparation for the PMP exam. If you

would be interested in having such sessions, you must volunteer or volunteer someone to

organize the best date for the session in coordination with me. Nathaniel Poon, PMP, has

already volunteered to give an introduction session to taking the PMP exam, if anyone is

interested.

Classroom Environment and Expectations

What you can expect of me: What I expect of you:

Come prepared to every class. Come prepared to every class.

Stay focused on your learning. Stay focused on your learning.

Exhibit only professional behavior. Exhibit only professional behavior.

Design course and activities to achieve

stated goals and learning objectives.

Complete all work required on time, and

with proper attention and thought.

Listen, guide, and create environment for

learning.

Listen, stay actively involved, study, and

learn.

Foster mutual respectful learning

environment in classroom.

Treat classmates and instructor with

appropriate respect.


12

Provide a model of how experts in the

field diagnose and solve problems.

Respect instructor‟s expertise in this field

and emulate the model provided.

Consider that it‟s not always your fault if

you do not understand the material.

Consider that it‟s not always the instructor‟s

fault if you do not understand the material.

Use best professional judgment to

evaluate performance fairly, and not be

capricious or prejudiced in any way.

Recognize that instructor uses best

professional judgment to evaluate

performance and is not “out to get” students.

Preserve fairness of performance

evaluation by upholding high standards of

academic integrity.

Preserve fairness of performance evaluation

by adhering to high standards of academic

integrity.

We are bound by the Goizueta Business School Honor Code.

(http://www.bus.emory.edu/honor_code.htm).

There is a zero tolerance policy for violations of the code in this course. Violations by any one

student are unfair to all other students and go against the values of the instructor, the MBA

program, and Emory. If you have questions about what is acceptable, please ask.

ODS students with additional needs should meet with me and provide me with copies of the

appropriate paperwork by the 2nd

week of classes so the appropriate arrangements can be made.

During class, it is ok to your laptops, Blackberries, and other digital media. When we have

guests and during presentations, please mute your devices so that they do not disrupt. On

occasion, I may ask that we put away our devices if a special circumstance requires it, though I

do not foresee the need at this point. It is going to be a fun and exciting semester. Thank you for

joining our journey!

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Project Management Course Workload

Reading Exercises Debate Project

http://www.bus.emory.edu/honor_code.htm

2:15 pm mondays & wednesdays (day section) 9:15 … case and a few readings must be purchased on...

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