Course Overview

Welcome to the course, Applied Project Management. In this course, managers and project team leaders will learn the critical processes required to plan and organize projects successfully. This is a practical course, and we encourage participants to attempt all exercises/activities at the end of each sub-heading of a unit. The course is divided into five units.

In Unit 1, we examine the process by which project management and project portfolio management can contribute to the success of organizational strategy by incorporating balanced scorecard in the project selection criteria. Your major take away in this unit is that strategy has little value until it is implemented. The consequences of misalignment could be dire and include confusion during strategy and projects implementation, waste of resources, reduced worker productivity, low motivation of individuals and teams, internal conflict, and project failure.  Unit 2 presents ten broad knowledge areas of project management, namely, integration, scope, time, cost, quality, human resources, communications, risk, procurement, and stakeholders. In Unit 3, you learn that projects are divided into components, and that a project manager must be knowledgeable in each of these areas. In this unit, we explore the concepts and skills needed by the project manager to understand and meet the expectations of the most important stakeholder—the client—and the various means and methods for motivating the client to contribute to project success. Unit 4 discusses three broad soft skills of communication, leadership and negotiation. A successful working relationship between individuals begins with appreciating the importance of emotions and how they relate to personality types, leadership styles and negotiations. A team is a collaboration of people with different personalities that is led by a person with a favoured leadership style. Managing the interactions of these personalities and styles as a group is an important aspect of project management. In Unit 5 we described the four stages of project development, namely, initiating, planning (or project preparation), executing, and closing. You will learn that effective project organisation is crucial to the successful delivery of projects under the constraints of time, budget and performance. The key functions on a project include sponsor, project manager, controls, procurement, technical quality and administration. A project manager should adopt an effective and efficient organisational approach for the project that will help to deliver the project according to specifications and customer expectations.

Course Assessment

1. Attempt Activity 1.2 and submit for assessment before the end of the second week of your study.
2. Attempt Activity 4.3 and submit for assessment before the end of the fourth week of your study.
3. Attempt the Course Test and submit for assessment before the end of sixth week of your study.

Study Programme