BF804: Project Management in Science (5 ECTS)

STADS: 04006101

Level
Master's level course

Teaching period
The course is offered in the spring semester.

Teacher responsible
No responsible teachers found, contact the department if necessary

Timetable
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Prerequisites:
None

Academic preconditions:
It is recommended that the students are at the M.Sc. level.

Course introduction
The purpose of the course is to enable the student to analyze projects and project processes, and as a result, contribute to the accomplishment of the project. The aim is that the student builds up a substantial methodological competence so that he/she understands how he/she is able to promote a good accomplishment by applying appropriate methods and tools and applying appropriate behavior.

The student will obtain insight into the project management discipline and its’ concepts and assumptions, and will be able to independently employ/utilize the knowledge obtained to work out a project mandate with matching analyses and plans, and also to be able to evaluate project descriptions, analyses and plans worked out by other people. Furthermore, the student will be able to independently follow-up on analyses and plans, and in the light of these provide proposals for an appropriate management effort.

The student will attain knowledge about how to guide a process in which more persons are involved in accomplishing the abovementioned activities. Furthermore, the student will be able to employ this knowledge to make suggestions on how activities concerning project planning and following-up can be organized.

The student will attain knowledge on how a person’s behavior related to project management may have a hampering or a promoting effect on the accomplishment of the project, and will be able to independently apply this insight to (1) propose suggestions on his/her own, appropriate behavior in relation to the work on a single projects, and (2) be able to analyze and offer interpretations of the appropriateness of the behavior in project courses, where others are involved.

Competence in project management is in the course understood as a generic competence, which can be applied in all project types and in the private as well as the public sector. The student will, therefore, in principal become able to contribute to management of any project. Examples and cases will, though, be drawn from projects relevant for science, e.g. environmental projects, health promotion projects, projects related to nature.

Expected learning outcome
By the end of the course the student should be able to:

• formulate the project purpose and objectives
• structure the project in main course and effort areas
• work out a milestone plan
• conduct a stakeholder analysis
• conduct an uncertainty/risk analysis
• work out detail plans for the project
• plan the financial issues of the project
• establish procedures for following-up on the project progress (including performed work, time schedule, and budget)
• plan and follow-up by applying a project management software (eg. Microsoft Project Standard 2007)
• work out a quality assurance plan for the project
• make suggestions for the organizing of the project
• work out a milestone responsibility chart and an activity responsibility chart
• make suggestions on criteria for staffing the project
• work out a communication plan for the project
• propose teambuilding activities for the project team
• propose tasks in the continuous management of the project team, among these motivating the team members, anchoring the project and the project objectives in the basis organization, and handling conflicts

Subject overview
The course covers the following topics:

The history of projects
Project foundation
Project purpose and objectives
Project profile
Project main course
Structuring the project
Milestone planning
Stakeholders and stakeholder analysis
Risk/uncertainty analysis
Detail planning
Financial management in projects
Pro-active management and follow-up
Project planning and following-up by applying a project management software
Quality in project work
Project organizing and staffing
Project communication
Teambuilding
Continuous management of the project team
Appropriate behavior in projects

Literature

• Andersen, Grude, and Haug: Goal Oriented Project Management, Kogan Page, 4th edition.

Website
This course uses e-learn (blackboard).

Prerequisites for participating in the exam
None

Assessment and marking:
Oral exam with internal examiner. Graded after 7 mark scale.

Reexamination in the same exam period or immediately thereafter.

Expected working hours
The teaching method is based on three phase model.
Intro phase: 20 hours
Skills training phase: 20 hours

Educational activities

Language
This course is taught in English, if international students participate. Otherwise the course is taught in Danish.

Remarks
The course is compulsory in the following curricula: (1) Science communication, (2) Business and innovation

Course enrollment
See deadline of enrolment.

Tuition fees for single courses
See fees for single courses.