MSc Construction Project Management

Year of entry: 2024

Course unit details:
Management of Projects

Course unit fact file
Unit code ENGM60061
Credit rating 15
Unit level FHEQ level 7 – master's degree or fourth year of an integrated master's degree
Teaching period(s) Semester 1
Available as a free choice unit? No

Overview

The unit involves study in depth to acquire coherent and detailed knowledge, most of which is at, or informed by, the forefront of defined aspects of Project Management. The unit helps prepare students to tackle and solve a substantial range of Project Management problems, some of them complex and/or novel. The centrepiece of the unit is the team coursework in which students will produce a video documentary based on a real-world project to which apply areas of the APM Body of Knowledge (BoK), identifying similarities and differences between the BoK and the real practice of project managers. The unit will introduce students to the APM BoK though this and another coursework leading to the possibility of obtaining the APM Foundation Certificate (APMFC). The APM also sponsors a prize for the top-performing students on 60061 awarded during an event in semester 2. There are also prizes for the best project documentaries, awarded at another event in semester 2. The unit involves  study in depth to acquire coherent and detailed knowledge, most of which is at, or informed by, the forefront of defined aspects of the relevant (engineering) topic / discipline and study of non-technical topics which complement the engineering content.

Aims

This unit is designed to provide a foundation to the practice and profession of project management and to the entire MoP degree, introducing students to the range of management issues that are incorporated under the term ‘management of projects’. 

Syllabus

Foundations of Project Management
- Defining projects and management of projects, ‘Projectisation’, the ‘Iron Triangle’ and its limitations
Project Management in Context
- Projects and the relationship with programmes, portfolios
Project Strategy, Stakeholder Management and Selection
Basic Planning/Scheduling Techniques
- Scheduling, networks, critical path analysis, resource allocation/management, crashing
Cost estimation and Control
- Bottom up vs. Top down costing
PM BoKs and Professionalisation
- The Associations, BoKs and Standards in Project Management, Theories of Professionalism, The status of the occupation
The ‘Human Side’ of Project Management
- Motivation and Leadership of Project Teams
Project Procurement and Commercial Management
- Procurement in a project context
Lifecycle Management and Change Control
 

Assessment methods

Method Weight
Report 70%
Set exercise 30%

Feedback methods

In class test - Instantly

Report - after marking

Video - after marking in a report for each team

Study hours

Scheduled activity hours
eAssessment 2
Lectures 27
Project supervision 70
Tutorials 36
Independent study hours
Independent study 15

Teaching staff

Staff member Role
Kun Wang Unit coordinator

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