This assignment requires students to critically analyze his/her ‘Project for Learning’. This requires the students to demonstrate an appreciation of the particular circumstances of the organization(s) concerned (contextual aspects), the organisational, managerial and technical issues that shaped the project development. In analyzing the ‘Project for Learning’, the students will need to apply concepts and theories from the course, and other sources such as academic journals and books in order to develop an integrated understanding of the multiple dimensions of the project. That is, the how and why of the targeted project needs to be fully explained. This might require not only searching for additional supporting academic references but also collecting additional empirical information. Informed personal reflection on project management processes, surrounded by specific situations and leading to specific outcomes, constitutes the core of this assignment. A minimum of 10 (ten) academic references is expected to be used to substantiate the theoretical section of the report. This assessment provides opportunities to students to use their own valuable personal experience and enables the application of an action-learning approach using a real project.
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Write My Essay For MeThus, this assignment was designed to get you thinking critically about how concepts/theories for managing complex project are applied in diverse context-situations. It was also designed to develop your generic skills in writing and presenting a logical and persuasive argument. To develop this major report, you have to go through three major stages:
STAGE 1: you need to select one of the following cases in order to develop your PfL:
- The Deepwater case Part A (Chapters 1 & 4),
- The Deepwater case Part B (Chapters 3 & 4),
You can also find them at:
- Deepwater: The Gulf Oil disaster & the future of offshore drilling (2011), Report to the President, Commission on the BP Deepwater Oil spill and Offshore drilling, January, 2011 [available on the internet].
https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/GPO-OILCOMMISSION/pdf/GPO-OILCOMMISSION.pdf
STAGE 2: You need to use two theories/concepts from themes 1-4 (see below) that you think will help you to explain your PfL. Theme 1 is compulsory, as you will need to apply one of conceptual models presented in this course to manage complex projects. Then you need to select another theory/concepts from themes 2-4 (see below).
In order to facilitate selection of concepts/theories I have summarised them:
Theme 1. Models for managing complex projects:
- Project complexity- features and challenges
- The 8-features model
- The Cynefin model
- The Diamond model
Theme 2. Implementation of Complex projects
- Change management processes
- Models of change
- Managing the unexpected
Theme 3. Power assisted project management
- Organisational politics & project management
- Dimensions of power
- Analytical tools to cope with political behaviour
- Managing & influencing stakeholders
Theme 4. Knowledge Management in complex projects
- KM strategies
- Mechanisms to transfer knowledge in complex projects
- Learning in complex projects
STAGE 3: Your written report must have three core components.
The first component is an analysis of the type of project complexity associated to your PfL. In order to develop this task you must use one (or maximum two) models from theme 1 that you think will satisfactorily explain your PfL. You do not need to describe the model(s) you are using. You need to apply and explain how the model(s) you have selected help to understand the complexity of your PfL.That is, you need to elaborate on how the type of complexity associated to your project affected the development of the project.
The second componentis the theory section. Here you need to briefly outline the main arguments, challenges and/or tensions associated to the theories/concepts you selected from themes 1-4. This involves explaining the connections (complementarities, competing or contradictory views) as well as strengths and weaknesses of theories/concepts used to analyse your PfL. Remember, this section is not a simple summary of some literatures.
The third components,is the actual application of theories/concepts (selected from themes 2-4) explained in the previous section in order to perform an overall analysis of your PfL. Here you need describe links between theories and practice, explain (compare and contrast) ideas and apply them to your PfL raising practical implications. Your explanations must be sustained by a combination of the specific events that occurred in your PfL and concepts/theories you selected to explain them. This means that you need to develop critical explanations regarding how/why conceptual tools and theories help (or do not help) to explain main outcomes of your PfL. Extent to which student recognises the role of embedded assumptions in the ‘models’ or ‘concepts’ applied is very important.
Suggestion of Structure (% indicates suggested size of section in number of words)
- Introduction[10 %]: Briefly describe the key stakeholders, contextual aspects and characteristics of your PfL in terms of people, organisation and technology; explain the main issues associated to your PfL; state & justify the conceptual focus (definition of themes) you will use to explain the project.
- Component one [20%]. This is the first core component of your report.
- Component two [20%]:This is the second core component of your report.
- Component three [40%]:This is the third core component of your report. This is the most important section of your report.
- Conclusion [10%]:This is not a summary of your work. In this section you must reflect about the strengths and/or limitations of tools and concepts used and their connections with the competing contingencies that shaped your project.
- Appendix:Please enclose a copy of your PfL (3 pages maximum). Appendix is not included in the word count.
Specifications and Format
This is a 3000 words report (excluding references, appendix & cover page).
Use Times New Times, font 12, single space.
Pages must be numbered (top right).
In the cover page indicate: Full name; Student ID number; title of PfL (case study); total number of words (excluding references, appendix & cover page).
References need to be presented in either Harvard or APA style. Please note that failing to comply with format and/or submission procedures involves an extra penalty of 10 % of marks.
Additional remarks
- The quality of your theory section is directly related to (a) the quality of your references; (b) the extent to which your references are linked to the issue/theme that you are analysing.
- The quality of your explanations is the most important aspect of this assignment.
- You need to provide explanations tounderstandwhy and how the project failed or was a success,
- Yourexplanations need to be based on the combination of the (a) review of the literature, (b) application of concepts and models for managing complex projects and (c) the specific circumstances of your PfL.
- It is not necessary to provide ‘recommendations’ regarding whatshould be done in the project,
- This assessment is not about simple ‘application’ of models. It is about explanations about how/why your PfL was a failure or a success.
Remarks about references
- See the ‘List of Readings’ section. Those Journals are high quality academic journals.
- Use of textbook need to be kept at minimum (20 % max).
- Avoid building your main arguments based on references from one or two Journals only.
- Be aware of bias. e.g using ‘technical oriented’ journals only.
- The requirement of 10 references includes academic Journals (80%) and textbooks (20%). You can use other sources, but they will not count as one of the 10 references.
- Donot use Wikipedia or Google to find your academic references. Use electronic resources from the library to search for your academic references.
- Be aware of statements posted on the Web by official company web sites. They are bias.
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