Topic outline

  • TU-E2031, Advanced Project-based Management D, 5 cr

    14.01.2021 - 08.04.2021

    Professor in charge: Prof. Karlos Artto, Aalto University (firstname.lastname@aalto.fi)

    Lecturers: Prof. Karlos Artto, Jere Lehtinen (jere.j.lehtinen[at]aalto.fi), Tom Olsson (firstname.lastname@aalto.fi)

    Contact person in practical matters: Tom Olsson

    Level of the Course: Master level (major/minor)

    Teaching Period: III-IV (spring)

    Lectures (Zoom) on Thursdays at 12:15-16:00

    ·       14.01. - 18.02.

    ·       04.03. - 08.04.

    Workload 5 cr (135 h)

    ·       Pre-assignments (reading pre-material, watching videos, doing assignments, personal reflection) 9 x 9 h = 81 h

    ·       Lectures (incl. class assignments, personal reflection) 9 x 3,5 h = 31,5 h

    ·       Final course essay (revisiting materials, writing the essay, personal reflection) 22,5 h

    ·       Total 135 h

    Learning Outcomes

    Upon completion of the course, students are able to:

    1.     Identify different project types, and apply different management approaches that fit specific project type and context at hand

    2.     Apply project management principles by looking at the project’s impact over a wider temporal continuum of the system lifecycle. Explain and apply the various principles of scheduling and managing time in projects, and their inherent implications on organizing.

    3.     Recognize risk and uncertainty and their different variants (e.g. from known uncertainty to chaos). Differentiate the pros and cons of various systematic risk analysis and management methods and apply the principles of project risk and uncertainty management in different situations over the project lifecycle.

    4.     Describe a project’s external environment, differentiate project network from project milieu, and analyze project stakeholders.

    5.     Recognize and analyze the role of innovation in projects and how innovation is connected to entrepreneurial mindset, opportunities, uncertainty, and risk.

    6.     Describe the various ways how projects affect the firm’s business, and vice versa, how a firm’s business affects projects and their management.

    7.     Identify the specific features of buying a project vs. buying other types of goods or services and apply different logics of buying a project or subproject.

    8.     Recognize specific features of selling a project vs. selling other types of goods or services. Explain value in project business and apply different logics of selling a project or subproject.

    9.     Distinguish different contractual approaches, and their implications for a project, and apply the principles of project contracting. Know how to divide the responsibilities skillfully, i.e. which party should deliver what, and which party should integrate other parties and their delivered components, to finally create a well-functioning project end-product.

    10.  Differentiate various types of project strategy, and explain a project’s connection to the parent firm (and/or multiple firms) and their strategies

    Assessment Methods and Criteria

    ·       Pre-assignments (60 %), Lecture participation and class assignments (10 %), Final essay (30 %)

    Study Materials

    ·       The course material consists of selected articles, book chapters, videos, and assignments that are distributed to students via MyCourses

    Contents

    ·       The course discusses the practical application of project management in different types of projects, and in different organizations and industries. The course covers advanced project management approaches and methodologies in specific core areas, including organizing, scheduling, and management of time in project and system lifecycles, buying projects and subprojects, selling project and subprojects, contracts and value, project strategy, management of risk and uncertainty, innovation in and of projects, management of projects at the firm level, and management of external environment

    Substitutes for Courses: TU-22.1445 (5 cr) / TU-E2030 (5 cr)

    Prerequisites: TU-C3010 Introduction to Project Management or similar

    Grading scale: 1-5

    Registration for Course: Registration via WebOodi by the first lecture

    Language: English