Contents of the subject

All sections of the course content are introduced by theory and real-world examples, and "experienced" in highly-interactive exercises.  
The content comprises the following sections:

- Foundations: What’s a project and when do we need project management (in contrast to “general management”)?

- Project Design: What are the building blocks of a project and how to define a new project in an international/diverse team?

- Project Teams: What are skills, roles, and responsibilities in a project team and how to assemble a high-performance project team?

- Project Approaches: What are the different schools of project thinking; what are differences between agile and traditional project management approaches?

- Project Contracting: What are good practices for balancing quality expectations, time constraints, and financial budget, and what are types of legal project contracts?

- Project Communications: How to identify project stakeholders, how to deals with different communication needs, and how to set up a project communication plan?

- Project Scheduling: How to break-down project work, define work packages as well as milestones, estimate effort (time/cost), and organize / visualize the flow of work?

- Project Risks: What is a project risk (and what is it not)? How to identify and prioritize project risks, and how to define appropriate actions for dealing with project risks?

- Project Performance: How to measure project performance; how to report and control project progress? What are the limitations, strengths, and weaknesses of various project controlling approaches?

Qualification aims of the subject

The course aims at providing a sound understanding and working knowledge in the following areas: (1) key success factors of project management, (2) good practices of project design, (3) the different schools of project thinking, (4) handling an international and diverse project team, and (5) professionally communicating project progress.

Content-oriented learning outcomes

Upon successful completion of this module, students will be able to

- ILO 1: characterize business scenarios / situations, in which the tools and techniques of “project management” (as a discipline) are required

- ILO 2: select from a variety of proven project management techniques, and apply those techniques, which are appropriate for a particular project

- ILO 3: understand all stages of the project life cycle, from a project customer’s perspective as well as from a project manager’s perspective

- ILO 4: describe the structure of the most important project documents (e.g. charter, mission statement), and draft simple documents of this type

- ILO 5: name the particular conditions of international projects, and be aware of the related risks and opportunities

- ILO 6: practically manage international projects of low complexity

Skill-oriented learning outcomes

Upon successful completion of this module, students will

- ILO 7: be able to understand professional “conflict of interest” as an information-sharing problem rather than an emotional or personal issue

- ILO 8: learn to be critical regarding their own judgments, and clearly differentiate between “observation” and “interpretation”,

- ILO 9: be able to reflect on their learning, and present their findings orally in front of the class

Applicability of the subject

Bachelor/Program: IBMAN

The nature of the examination / requirements for the award of credit points

The examination comprises

- A: 50% practical project (small student teams work on a challenging 10-week project)

- B: 50% written test (questions addressing all areas of the course content as mentioned above (25)).

The examination is related to the desired learning outcomes in the following way:

A (practical project):

- Select and apply project techniques/tools (ILO 2)
- Experience the life cycle of a project (ILO 3)
- Create project documents (ILO 4)
- Work in an international team (ILO 5)
- Perform a project with uncertain outcome (ILO 6)
- Conduct regular project reflections/retrospectives; and actively manage the project team (ILO 7, ILO 8)
- Present learning on project management based on the practically experienced project (ILO 9)

B (written test):

- Name criteria for project categorization (ILO 1)
- Assess brief case studies (ILO 1, ILO 2, ILO 5)
- Describe project management approaches, documents, as well as project management techniques (ILO 2, ILO 3, ILO 4)

Literature and learning resources

Compulsory reading:

Verzuh, E.: The Fast Forward MBA in Project Management, Hoboken 2016.

Habermann, F., Schmidt, K.: Project Design – Thinking Tools for Visually Shaping New Ventures, Berlin 2017

Additional / optional reading:

Selected current articles from Harvard Business Review, and other (project) management journals.

Teaching and learning forms

Seminar

Participation requirements

Completion of basic studies with profound knowledge of Economics and Business Administration