Posted: December 6th, 2014

• Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s Great Britain versus his Great Eastern (1800s) • The Pruitt-Igoe housing complex in St Louis versus Levittown in Pennsylvania (1940s/1950s) • Sydney Opera House versus the Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao (1950s/1990s) • The Boeing 747 jumbo jet versus the BAe-Aerospatiale Concorde (1960s) • The British Rail Intercity 125 versus the Advanced Passenger Train (1970s) • The DeLorean DMC-12 sports car versus the Mazda MX-5 (1970s) • The airline People Express versus Southwest Airlines (1980s) • The TV station GMTV versus Sky News (1980s) • The movie ‘Cutthroat Island’ versus the movie ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ (1990s) • The 1991 World Student Games versus the 2002 Commonwealth Games (1990s/2000s) • The London 2012 Olympic stadium versus the new Wembley Stadium (2000s)

Order Description

You should select a pair of similar projects, one of which is considered to be a success and the other a failure. Choose projects about which there is plenty of publicly available information. This can be in the form of books, on the internet, and in the news media about such projects. The project may be recently completed, still under way, or finished some years ago so its full impact can be seen. Do not choose projects which are not finished yet.

Here are a few examples, but I am very happy for you to select a pair of projects from your own country, or in areas like arts, social services, health, etc. The more variety of projects there is, the more interesting the coursework is to mark. These examples may be used by you but I will only allow a maximum of ten people to choose each one.

• Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s Great Britain versus his Great Eastern (1800s)
• The Pruitt-Igoe housing complex in St Louis versus Levittown in Pennsylvania (1940s/1950s)
• Sydney Opera House versus the Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao (1950s/1990s)
• The Boeing 747 jumbo jet versus the BAe-Aerospatiale Concorde (1960s)
• The British Rail Intercity 125 versus the Advanced Passenger Train (1970s)
• The DeLorean DMC-12 sports car versus the Mazda MX-5 (1970s)
• The airline People Express versus Southwest Airlines (1980s)
• The TV station GMTV versus Sky News (1980s)
• The movie ‘Cutthroat Island’ versus the movie ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ (1990s)
• The 1991 World Student Games versus the 2002 Commonwealth Games (1990s/2000s)
• The London 2012 Olympic stadium versus the new Wembley Stadium (2000s)

This list is overwhelmingly Anglo-American and transport or construction orientated because that is what I know about. I will not presume to identify projects in your part of the world that provide these contrasts but I am sure you know of them and can write about them!

Before you start doing lots of research please send me an email (to [email protected]) so I can check and approve your choice of the two projects. I advise you to do this no later than Friday 2 November.

You should consider the following questions for each project:
• Was the strategy clear that the project was aiming to help achieve?
• How was the project sponsored, paid for and governed?
• Were the estimates of the economic and other benefits the project would bring realistic? (Did it achieve the promised benefits?)
• Were the right stakeholders identified and properly involved?
• Were the estimates of the time and resources to do the project realistic? (Was it finished on time and on budget?)
• Were the technical and people challenges of the project properly understood?
• To what extent did cultural factors affect how well (or badly) the project performed?
• Were the project risks properly identified and managed?
• Were there unexpected problems during the project and how were they dealt with?
• In your opinion, what lessons can be learned by comparing the two projects?

It is not compulsory, but you may find the following models helpful in analysing the information and explaining your answers:
• The Shenhar and Dvir diamond (or NTCP) model of project dimensions
• The Shenhar and Dvir model of project success
• A stakeholder engagement matrix (include 4 – 6 stakeholders in the analysis for each project)
• A risk table (include 4 – 6 significant risks for each project).

You will be expected to justify your conclusions with reference to recognised sources of expertise and analysis in the field of project management, such as textbooks, journals, news media and government reports. I should be able to verify facts about the projects you write about. References which are not in English are acceptable. Remember that this is an exercise in looking at the project aspects of two examples, and you should not restrict your coursework to a discussion about the purely business management aspects of each case. In other words view your examples through a ‘project lens’.

You may feel that a project typically labelled as a ‘failure’ ought to be regarded as a ‘success’ or vice versa. If you can back up your claim with evidence that is perfectly acceptable.

This piece of coursework accounts of 60% of the total possible marks for this course. Marks (maximum 100%) will be allotted as follows:
• A description of the chosen projects and why each is perceived, in whole or part, as a success or failure – 15%
• Analysis of the available information to determine causes of project success or failure – 45%
• Lessons that can be learned that would help future similar projects to stand a greater chance of success – 20%
• Use of references and models to help the analysis, and quality of coursework presentation – 20%

Word count: Your piece of coursework should be no more than 2,500 words long. Anything beyond 2,750 words will not be marked. Word count on pictures and diagrams will be assessed as 50 words (unless the exhibit is especially wordy). Tables and appendices will be considered to be part of the overall word count. The reference list will not. Declare your word count on the front cover of your document.

References: References must use the Harvard referencing system.

Format: Word document. Appendices can be in Word, Excel, Powerpoint or MS Project. Please add your name and library card number to the footer of all pages, together with the page number, in the format: “Page x of y” where x is the page number and y the total number of pages.

PLACE THIS ORDER OR A SIMILAR ORDER WITH US TODAY AND GET AN AMAZING DISCOUNT 🙂