Context:
A formalisedproject management approach is essential for project decision-making on actions critical to project success. Furthermore, significant risks must always be identified and their impacts qualified/quantified in terms of time, cost and quality.Following the module’slectures/seminarscoupled with your additional studyon the subject, you should be familiar with the practice, theory and contemporary research within Project and Risk Management. You may also have your own varied professional experience to draw upon in order to help construct a comprehensive critique of this complex issue that ever increasingly permeates the business management.
Assignment Task:
The learning outcomes 1-4 will be assessed through the production of a written assignment counting for 50% of the final mark for the module. You are asked to critically analysetwoprojects from a single reference class(e.g. infrastructure construction, enterprise automation, new product development, etc) and will be required to evaluate the projects and assess theirpositive and negative attributes according to project management and risk management methodologies, procedures and techniques taught in the module.
Consider a project in which you have personally been involved or any project of your choice on which you are able to obtain a sufficient amount of information/data. Scrutinisethe project management approach taken in each of the chosen projects and generalise their positive features, analysing and explaining the impact thesehave had on the overall project delivery and its subsequent performance. The outcome of thisproject evaluation part is expected in terms of a set of definite rules/success factors (‘Best Practice’) for future projects in the same area or of the similar scope/budget, induced from the array of historical undertakings you have investigated.
In the second, risk management part, you are required to appraise the same projects of your choice, yet now with a view to identifying various constraints and issueswhich occurred during project planning and implementation. This will form the basis of a potential risk register for future reference class projects. After assessing the inherent risks and determining some of the most critical, recommend how to mitigate/manage these particular risks.
Your standpoint should be balanced and analysis well-written, generously complemented with suitable references to the relevant, contemporary literature as well as referring to personal experiences, observations and insights where appropriate.
Format of Submission:
You should follow the established report format and all referencing must adhere to the Harvard Referencing System. All figures and tables should be consecutively numbered and captions provided. Do not forget to indicate clearly how many words you have used in your submission. Do submit the hard copy of the assignment to the B&L Faculty Office as well as an electronic copy via Turnitin® forplagiarism monitoring purposes.Please make every effort to submit work by the due date indicated above. Students are advised NOT to assume that granting of an extension is a matter of course. Factors such as standard work pressures, holidays, etc. are not regarded as appropriate reasons for granting extensions. Assignments received after the deadline(without an approved extension) will be subject to a penalty in line with the College’s policy.
Regulations:
Ensure that you have retained a back-up electronic copy of the assignment submitted. Most importantly, please ensure that you clearly understand the notion of plagiarism and conform to all the University of Lincoln’s regulations in relation to the submission of written assignments. When you submit an individual assessment under your name you are understood to be stating that this is your own work. If a submission is similar to someone else’s work, an assumption of cheating may arise. If you are planning on working with another student, it is acceptable to undertake research together and discuss issues, but it is not acceptable to jointly develop or share solutions unless this is specified by your lecturer.You should take reasonable care that your assignment is not, accidentally or deliberately, obtained by other students.Note that the content of your reports will be treated as confidential and will only be accessed by the first/second marker and the external examiner.
Marking Criteria:
The analysis should be based on appropriate and substantial research, which must be evidenced in the assignment.A mere composition of the past case studies taken straightaway from certain sources without your own substantial elaboration, critical evaluation and synthesis of original recommendations will not be deemed a highly original and contributive work and, consequently, will attract low marks. The report should be properly presented and referenced, acknowledging all sources used andemploying the Harvard Referencing System.Along with the usual criteria such as the document’s structure,appropriate use of sub-headings, logical and smooth flow of argument,language style andthe correct use of grammar and punctuation, other more in-depth performance indicators will be employed (see next page).