Epoka University

FACULTY OF ECONOMICS AND ADMINISTRATIVE SCIENCES
DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
COURSE SYLLABUS

2021-2022 ACADEMIC YEAR

COURSE INFORMATION

Course Title: PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Code	Course Type	Regular Semester	Theory	Practice	Lab	Credits	ECTS
BUS 207	C	3	3	0	0	3	5

Academic staff member responsible for the design of the course syllabus (name, surname, academic title/scientific degree, email address and signature)	NA
*Main Course Lecturer (name, surname, academic title/scientific degree, email address and signature)* and Office Hours:**	Dr. Esmir Demaj edemaj@epoka.edu.al , Thursday; 09:00-11:30, E-102
*Second Course Lecturer(s) (name, surname, academic title/scientific degree, email address and signature)* and Office Hours:**	NA
Teaching Assistant(s) and Office Hours:	NA
Language:	English
Compulsory/Elective:	Elective
Study program: (the study for which this course is offered)	Bachelor in Business Informatics (3 years)
Classroom and Meeting Time:	Tuesday, E-214, 13:45-16:30
Code of Ethics:	Code of Ethics of EPOKA University Regulation of EPOKA University "On Student Discipline"
Attendance Requirement:	min 60%
Course Description:	The course covers key components of project management including project integration, project scope management, project time and cost management, quality management, human resource considerations, communications, risk management, and procurement management. This course guides students through fundamental project management concepts needed to successfully launch, lead, and realize benefits from projects in profit and nonprofit organizations. Successful project managers skillfully manage their resources, schedules, risks, and scope to produce a desired outcome. In this course, students explore project management with a practical, hands on approach through case studies and class exercises. A key and often overlooked challenge for project managers is the ability to manage without influence—to gain the support of stakeholders and access to resources not directly under their control.
Course Objectives:	- Understand project management design, development, and deployment - Use project management tools, techniques, and skills - Align critical resources for effective project implementation - Understand the implications, challenges, and opportunities of organizational dynamics in project management - Identify and use key performance metrics for project success

BASIC CONCEPTS OF THE COURSE

1	Project Management Functions
2	CPM
3	PERT Techniques
4	Work Breakdown Structure

COURSE OUTLINE

Week	Topics
1	Overview . In the first week, students will be introduced to main concepts of project management, its origin and applications. In previous years in many companies, project management existed in only a small portion of the business, which made it difficult for some projects to get total company support. The rapid rate of change in both technology and the marketplace had created enormous strains on existing organizational forms. The traditional structure, which was highly bureaucratic, showed that it could not respond rapidly enough to a changing environment. Thus, this traditional structure was replaced by project management that was highly organic and could respond very rapidly as situations developed inside and outside the company. Students will learn on how the organic nature of project management practices today allows project managers to customize the project management tools and processes to adapt to a variety of different environments. Chapter 1 (pg.1-37)
2	Chapter 2- The growth of project management can be traced through topics such as roles and responsibilities, organizational structures, delegation of authority and decision making, and especially corporate profitability. In this week students will be presented with the evolution of project management. It will be learned about the lifecycle phases for project management maturity and also benefits of project management in prospective of past and present view will be compared. We will discuss about why project management was difficult for companies to accept and implement. Students should distinguish between concepts of project, product and system. Success factors and causes of project failure will be listed and analyzed. Another important issues is analyzing business costs, even though it is not an easy task because of the amount of estimating involved. Concluding, this chapter will focus on organizational change management and corporate cultures, benefits harvesting and cultural change. Chapter 2 (pg. 39-88)
3	Chapter 3,4 : Organizational Structures, Organizing and Staffing the Project Office and Team In this week we will cover two chapters. Chapter 3 includes the structure used in a company, which must be one that optimizes company performance by achieving a balance between the social and the technical requirements. We will confront the advantages and disadvantages of traditional organization. Product organization form is another category of organizational structure, where long lead times are avoided. Further, we continue with discussion on matrix organizational form, which is an attempt to combine the advantages of the pure functional structure and the product organizational structure. After comparing all these structures students can answer the question “how can executives determine which organizational form is best?”. Chapter 4 will cover staffing problems and the skill requirements for project and program managers. To understand the problems that occur during staffing, we must first investigate the characteristics of project management, including the project environment, the project management process, and the project manager. Two major kinds of problems are related to the project environment: personnel performance problems and personnel policy problems. Chapter 3(pg. 89-114), Chapter 4 (pg. 115-144)
4	Chapter 5,6,7; Management Functions, Communications Management, Conflicts In chapter 5 we will discuss about management functions: planning, organizing, staffing, controlling and directing. Each of these functions is described in detail. Next, the understanding of barriers to project team building can help in developing an environment conducive to effective teamwork. The following barriers are some of the typical for many project environments: differing outlooks priorities and interest, role conflicts, project objectives/outcomes not clear, dynamic project environments etc. In chapter 6 we will focus on communications management. Some people argue that the most important skill a project manager can possess is the ability to communicate effectively to everyone. Project manager as a communicator will be put into focus and there will be illustrations on company policies and procedures that can be established for the development of communications channels. In chapter 7, we will answer questions on conflict: why do they occur, how do we resolve conflicts and analysis that could identify possible conflicts before they occur. Lastly, ways to handle conflict will be considered. Chapter 5 (pg.145-202), Chapter 6 (pg.203-236),Chapter 7 (pg.237-256)
5	Chapter 8: Special Topics In this chapter we will put attention on these topics: Performance measurement, compensation and rewards, managing small projects, managing mega projects, morality, ethics, and the corporate culture, professional responsibility etc. Proper financial compensation and rewards are important to the morale and motivation of people in any organization. We mention the overall responsibility, specific duties and responsibilities, qualifications. We are discussing project management in both small companies and small organizations within a larger corporation. Internal and external working relations with partners are emphasized by project management methodologies. Chapter 8 (pg. 257-298)
6	Chapter 11: Planning This chapter is about planning function. Planning, in general, can best be described as the function of selecting the enterprise objectives and establishing the policies, procedures, and programs necessary for achieving them and the project manager is the key to successful project planning. Developing business cases is an important beginning step for projects and typical information of a business case includes: business need, opportunity options, benefit realization plan, assumptions made, high level objectives, project metrics etc. Nine major components of the planning phase to mention are: objective, program, schedule, budget, forecast, organization, policy, procedure, and standard. WBS or work breakdown structure will be discussed. The work breakdown structure acts as a vehicle for breaking the work down into smaller elements, thus providing a greater probability that every major and minor activity will be accounted for. Chapter 11(pg. 345-408)
7	Chapter 12: Network scheduling techniques Scheduling techniques help in coping with the complexities, masses of data, and tight deadlines. The most common techniques include Gantt or bar charts Milestone charts, Line of balance, Networks, Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT), Arrow Diagram Method (ADM) (Sometimes called the Critical Path Method [CPM])2,Precedence Diagram Method (PDM),Graphical Evaluation and Review Technique (GERT). PERT and CPM charts will be analyzed and compared. Students will build charts for activities and events and decide on the critical path. The calculation for slack time is performed for each event in the network. Estimations on completion assumptions include optimistic completion time, pessimistic completion time and most likely completion time. In order to calculate the probability of completing the project on time, the standard deviations of each activity must be known. The total path standard deviation is calculated by the square root of the sum of the squares of the activity standard deviations. Chapter 12(pg.409-452)
8	Midterm exam
9	Chapter 12: Network scheduling techniques Scheduling techniques help in coping with the complexities, masses of data, and tight deadlines. The most common techniques include Gantt or bar charts Milestone charts, Line of balance, Networks, Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT), Arrow Diagram Method (ADM) (Sometimes called the Critical Path Method [CPM])2,Precedence Diagram Method (PDM),Graphical Evaluation and Review Technique (GERT). PERT and CPM charts will be analyzed and compared. Students will build charts for activities and events and decide on the critical path. The calculation for slack time is performed for each event in the network. Estimations on completion assumptions include optimistic completion time, pessimistic completion time and most likely completion time. In order to calculate the probability of completing the project on time, the standard deviations of each activity must be known. The total path standard deviation is calculated by the square root of the sum of the squares of the activity standard deviations. Chapter 12 (pg.409-452)
10	Chapter 12: Network scheduling techniques Scheduling techniques help in coping with the complexities, masses of data, and tight deadlines. The most common techniques include Gantt or bar charts Milestone charts, Line of balance, Networks, Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT), Arrow Diagram Method (ADM) (Sometimes called the Critical Path Method [CPM])2,Precedence Diagram Method (PDM),Graphical Evaluation and Review Technique (GERT). PERT and CPM charts will be analyzed and compared. Students will build charts for activities and events and decide on the critical path. The calculation for slack time is performed for each event in the network. Estimations on completion assumptions include optimistic completion time, pessimistic completion time and most likely completion time. In order to calculate the probability of completing the project on time, the standard deviations of each activity must be known. The total path standard deviation is calculated by the square root of the sum of the squares of the activity standard deviations. Chapter 12 (pg.409-452)
11	Chapter 14- Cost control. In this chapter we will analyze cost control as a crucial factor to long-term success. Cost control implies good cost management, which must include: Cost estimating Cost accounting, Project cash flow, Company cash flow, Direct labor costing, Overhead rate costing, Other tactics, such as incentives, penalties, and profit-sharing. We will cover also the control codes. Since project managers control resources through the line manager rather than directly ,project managers end up controlling direct labor costs by opening and closing work orders. Budgets is another issue of this chapter. The project budget must be reasonable, attainable and based on contractually negotiated costs and the statement of work. We will also make calculations of different variance variables: cost variance, schedule variance. Variances are critical items that decide if there is a cost-overrun condition or a behind-schedule condition of project. Chapter 14 (pg. 501-548)
12	Chapter 17- Risk Management In this chapter, we will see some major risks projects can face and how risk management processes help in mitigating these risks. We will define risk in the context of project management and talk about risk tolerance. We will also define risk management and how we can make decisions under certainty, risk and uncertainty. With definitions aside, we will dive into the processes of risk management such as planning for risk, analyzing it, and responding to risk. To implement these processes, we will go through important questions to be answered and look into how to use the learned lessons for future projects when risk has a significant impact. Because there can be a lot of risks, we have to prioritize them, but also think about the tolerance of each component to risk so that we don't overreact or under-react to it. Chapter 17(pg.599-642)
13	Chapter 19- Contract Management In the process of providing products and services, we encounter contracts.For us to provide products and services, we will be needing procurement, which is defined as acquiring what we need in order to produce.Procurement can happen at the corporate level and the project level.We will look closer into the processes of procurement such as planning, conducting, administering and closing. For us to understand contracts and procurement, we will need to explore basic contractual terms such as agent, arbitration, infringement and warranty. We also have various types of contracts, which have diverse terms such as target cost, profit ceiling, point of total assumption. Important topics to consider after entering contracts are administration and closure.Chapter 19(pg.661-696)
14	Project Presentations, Final Review

Prerequisite(s):
Textbook(s):	Kerzner, H. (2017). Project Management: A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling, and Controlling, 12th ed., John Wiley & Sons, Inc. ISBN-13: 978-0-470-27870-3
Additional Literature:
Laboratory Work:
Computer Usage:
Others:	No

COURSE LEARNING OUTCOMES

1	Recognize issues in a realistic project scenario
2	Employ work breakdown structures (WBS) in a project application
3	Demonstrate the use of appropriate network scheduling techniques
4	Produce a project proposal
5	Discuss the implementation of a proposed project plan

COURSE CONTRIBUTION TO... PROGRAM COMPETENCIES
(Blank : no contribution, 1: least contribution ... 5: highest contribution)

No	Program Competencies	Cont.
Bachelor in Business Informatics (3 years) Program
1	Identify activities, tasks, and skills in management, marketing, accounting, finance, and economics.	4
2	Apply key theories to practical problems within the global business context.	4
3	Demonstrate ethical, social, and legal responsibilities in organizations.	5
4	Develop an open minded-attitude through continuous learning and team-work.	5
5	Integrate different skills and approaches to be used in decision making and data management.	5
6	Combine computer skills with managerial skills, in the analysis of large amounts of data.	4
7	Provide solutions to complex information technology problems.	3
8	Recognize, analyze, and suggest various types of information-communication systems/services that are encountered in everyday life and in the business world.	3

COURSE EVALUATION METHOD

Method	Quantity	Percentage
Homework	4	2.5
Midterm Exam(s)	1	30
Project	1	20
Final Exam	1	40
	Total Percent:	100%

ECTS (ALLOCATED BASED ON STUDENT WORKLOAD)

Activities	Quantity	Duration(Hours)	Total Workload(Hours)
Course Duration (Including the exam week: 16x Total course hours)	16	3	48
Hours for off-the-classroom study (Pre-study, practice)	16	2	32
Mid-terms	1	10	10
Assignments	5	1	5
Final examination	1	20	20
Other	1	10	10
Total Work Load:			125
Total Work Load/25(h):			5
ECTS Credit of the Course:			5

CONCLUDING REMARKS BY THE COURSE LECTURER

Language:English language is compulsory in this course. Attendance: Students should attend at least 60% of the classes. Exam content: Content for exam questions will be developed from class sides, discussions, assignments and student presentations. Academic integrity: Cheating,plagiarism or any other type of academic dishonesty is not tolerated. Each student is responsible for understanding the Epoka Unversity Student Discipline Regulation and Exam Rules. Grading: Student grade is not subject to negotiation. In case of perceived human error by the lecturer side, the student should submit their concern in writing and ask for reevaluation of the exam paper/assignment/project.