Posted: September 14th, 2017

Advanced Project Management

Advanced Project Management

ESSAY
An essay on a contemporary issue in project management. The essay may explore from a theoretical and/or practice perspective.
TOPIC Selection
An important part of the essay is to justify why the topic should be considered advanced. If you are thinking of tackling a familiar topic (eg one from the iron triangle), see if you can present it in a novel way or from an unusual perspective. You can also pick a more contemporary project management issue for example the effect of lean and agile. Potential topics include the future direction of project management or whether project management is a profession. You could choose other areas at the project level such as stakeholder management, sustainability, scope or change management. Is the project management critical to the future of organisations? Future role of the PMO? What is project success? The people side of projects also provides potential topics eg what makes a good PM? How can Myers Brigs aid the project manager? It could be interesting to assess trust in project management. Ethics and project management? Recruiting, training and retaining PMs? Away from the project level, there are many issues around programmes and portfolios. How about the linkage between strategy and projects? How is strategy translated into project? The effect of knowledge management/culture/structure on PM. Are Project Management Institutes useful?

Assessment:
– Contemporary issue in project management (75%)
– Reflective account (25%)
The work will be assessed using the following criteria:
– Subject knowledge and understanding. Depth of knowledge and level of conceptual understanding demonstrated; range of topic addressed.
– Intellectual skills. Demonstration of ability to determine relevance; evaluation of theory; extent that arguments are developed logically and supported with reasoning; innovation and creativity.
– Presentation. Structure and clarity; appropriate use of professional vocabulary; syntax and grammar; ability to present ideas in a logical, coherent and succinct manner.
– Referencing. Depth and breadth of sources used, quality of sources, correct acknowledgement of sources, consistency between citations and reference list, compliance with Harvard referencing style.