Aim of Assignment:

Understand and analyse,

·         A specific principle / topic of interest from one of the ten knowledge areas of Project Management (PMBoK): please select only Stakeholder Management

·         Discuss the specific issues and interrelationships between your ‘specific principle (topic of interest)’ and the project management, knowledge area that the principle originates from. 

For example, your topic of interest may be “the various forms and benefits of Solicitation in Project Procurement Management.”

The assignment comprises of 2 parts.

Part 1: theory

Provide a brief overview of their chosen project management knowledge area as it relates to their topic of interest.

E.g. ‘Forms of Risk Assessment’ and explain how this principle relates within Risk Management.

Describe the usefulness of this particular principle and apply original thought with examples and critical thinking.

Part 2: Practical Application

Apply your chosen project principle to your business or social life and demonstrate how it could be applied to a future or an existing project, and what benefits you might gain from this experience.  Draw down upon your personal experiences.  In particular:

* Outline your project, in some detail.

* Describe your project and how the project management principle you have chosen could be applied and the benefits obtainable, which might contribute to the project’s success.

* Describe why the project principle may not be suitable for all your future projects (give reasons) and where the shortfalls may lie.

Length (written component – Part 1& 2 combined):

1500 words (absolute maximum 2000 words)

Some Guidance:

ü  At least sixty percent of your assignment should consist of original thought (i.e. Part 2 – discussion of practical example(s), but relate them to theory) and the rest (Part 1) to comprise of theory from texts.  At least 5 texts (or journals) must be referenced.

ü  Assignment is to be presented as a report. And observance is required to the manner in which a report is laid out & presented. I.e. the style of a report and professional appearance.

ü  Attach the marking sheet

ü  Use Chicago referencing (unless otherwise advised)

ü  Writing style – avoid unstructured work.  Headings and subheadings are useful and desirable.

ü  Overall – manage your work in a structured, well-organised way.  Have an outline structure before you write.  It is suggested that two drafts are produced prior to the final submission.

ü  Utilise Scholarly Databases – peer reviewed articles.  General web articles are not suitable unless from a reputable source notably educational institutions, professional Industry bodies, or government bodies / agencies.

ü  The best sources of information are likely to be available from Reference Libraries, as well as online data bases and peer reviewed journal articles:

Project management texts

General management texts

Industry specific texts – e.g. engineering management &, construction management.

Suggestions on the Report:

·         To commence your report, you will need to prepare a thesis statement (in the introduction), which informs the reader of your specific area of interest e.g. ‘Evaluation criteria is vital to achieving the best possible outcomes in Procurement Management.’ By providing a thesis statement you are effectively providing a guide for the reader as to what, why & how you intend to cover the topic within your paper.

·         Your paper should be based largely upon theory with elements of critical thinking, synthesis, and a demonstration by example that you understand the material and are capable of applying it.

·         Your paper (report) requires cited references (Chicago Referencing) and the information sources, ideally, will be a healthy mix of: books, journals (i.e. peer reviewed articles from scholarly databases), seminar papers, etc.

·         To meet the requirements of the assignment, students must do their utmost to incorporate an example (social or business in their lives) that helps demonstrate the application of theory to practice.  Remember that your example should be suitable for Part 3 – a possible Class Presentation section of the assignment.

ASSIGNMENTS – SOME HINTS & SUGGESTIONS

Report Style:

Ø  A table of contents page is essential and can be produced with the aid of MS Word (“Insert – Index & tables – table of contents”), however your text must have been produced using ‘headings and sub-headings, normal or body text etc’ using pull down menu left hand top corner.

Ø  Ensure table of contents has section (clause) numbers and pagination.

Ø  Reports require Introduction body & conclusion, plus references, and appendices (if applicable).

Ø  Reports provide concise information, a summary of information from various sources on a particular topic.  Reports tend to be precise and narrow in scope.

Ø   

Introduction:

Ø  Provides the reader with a guide to the information discussed in a general nature on what you have chosen and why (it can be likened to a scope statement).

Ø  Written material in either the introduction or conclusion should be referenced.

Body:

Ø  This section concerns the details and specific issues of your report.  Keep it simple, and ensure relevancy to the topic.  Avoid going off in tangents or relating spurious (questionable material).  Always keep language and word selection simple – avoid the need for the reader to require a dictionary to read / understand your material.

Conclusion:

Ø  Don’t introduce any new material.

Ø  The conclusion usually repeats a large portion of the material (or meaning) found in the introduction

Ø  Conclusion recaps the main points of your writings and finishes with confirmation of your thesis statement.  Eg.  It is for these reasons that project communication will remain an essential element for project success.

Referencing:

Ø  Use solid research material from acknowledged books and other sources

Ø  High standard academic writings have many any varied reliable sources of information cited.

Ø  Chicago referencing, is required for MBS641 Project management (refer to Murdoch’s website on reference style, method etc).

Ø  References must be from peer reviewed recognised sources ie material…books, Industry journals, scholarly databases, reliable internet sources e.g. University or acknowledged education or government sources.

Ø  Quotes require references and page numbers.

Quotes:

Ø  Stand-alone quotes lose their effectiveness (impact).  Ensure they are suitably introduced into your writings.  For example.  Turner (2008, p.4) believes that “project management is the process that will ensure the survival of countless projects,” although the process must also be tailored to suit the complexity of the project and the level of understanding within an organisation or project team (PMI 2008).

Ø  Quotes are like condiments or spices…salt, pepper or chillies… use sparingly to enhance the flavour of your work. 

Ø  Long quotations – 4 lines or more, need to appear in “Italics” and are always referenced – include page number wherever possible.

Ø  Unless the author has written something that is particularly poignant or better than you yourself then directly quote them.  Otherwise paraphrase, paraphrase, paraphrase.

Paraphrase is a restatement of an original piece of written or oral text into your own words.  When you paraphrase you do not change the meaning or the ideas nor do you leave any information out (as you would in a summary); you change the language.

Why paraphrase…to prove your understanding of what an author has written using your own language and knowledge of when to quote and when not to.  Remember the ideas still belong to the author whose work you are using to support your own ideas, therefore provide “parenthetical” citations.  Ie reference appropriately

Style / Grammar / Syntax etc.

Ø  Have a colleague or someone that you believe has a good knowledge of English and academic writing to check your work, and writing style.

Ø  Avoid hearsay or applying original thought unless making comparisons or attempting to link material or providing critical analysis.  Remember academic writing requires you to draw down from others then to apply critical analysis, synthesis and comparison techniques.

Tables & Figures

Ø  Must be correctly labelled and referred to with a brief description of what they portray or signify.  You must anticipate that the reader may skip past the table and miss the relevant information.  Or that they will not see the point that the table or figure is making.

Critical Thinking

Involves…avoiding personal bias or prejudice that would interfere with your reasoning or cause you to jump to conclusions.  Critical thinking requires ‘high-order’ thinking –analysis, synthesis and evaluation and may include:

Ø  Developing a logical argument

Ø  Identifying the flaws or weaknesses in the argument

Ø  Making relevant connections or links across disciplines or from theory or practice

Ø  Analysing the material in a range of sources and synthesising it

Ø  Applying theory to particular cases

The outcome of the above is to ….

Ø  Ask yourself what is really important here?

Ø  How does this relate to what I already know?

Ø  What examples might illustrate this idea?

Appendices:

Ø  A useful and important way of adding further information, or representing data in a report / document.  It will not add to the word count.

Ø  Appendices (attachments) must be relevant and referred to in order to support a particular view or add important information.  Note that appendices must be referred to somewhere within the body of your report.

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Project Management

Marking Guide: Assignment 1 – Material (20%)

(ATTACH ELECTRONICALLY AS NEW PAGE AT END OF YOUR SUBMISSION)

                                                                                                                            TOTAL SCORE:

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