Project Management (Spring 2012)
TERM PROJECT
Due: June 8, 2012
(20% of the final grade)
Introduction
The purpose of this term project is to prepare you ready to study the literature of the assigned topic so
that eventually you will locate certain areas of interest for your future research projects. Members of
each team will coordinate to locate research articles relevant to the topic assigned to the team.
Remember this is a team project. Everyone must contribute. Please carefully read through the
requirements below.
Components of the project
This whole term project is 20% of your final grade. The components for this term project are listed in the
able below:
Item
(1) Project paper
Weight
50% of the project
(2) Project presentation
25% of the project
(3) Project peer evaluation
25% of the project
Calculation of your grade
Your peer evaluation score/100 * score of project
paper
Your peer evaluation score/100 * score of project
presentation
Your peer evaluation score is the average of
evaluations about you. For example, if you have 3
members on the team and they rated you 90, 80,
and 70 for your effort on the project, then your
peer evaluation score is (90 + 80 + 70)/3 = 80.
An illustration of how your project score is calculated
Suppose the team received 90 for the project paper, and 80 for the presentation. You received 90, 80
and 70 from your team members regarding your effort on the project.
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Your peer evaluation score is calculated as (90 + 80 + 70)/3 = 80. This means that your effort on
the project is worth 80% of the project score.
Your project paper score is calculated as: your peer evaluation score/100 * score of project
paper = 80/100 * 90 = 72.
Your presentation score is calculated as: your peer evaluation score/100 * score of presentation
= 80/100 * 80 = 64
Your final project score: (project paper * 50% + peer evaluation * 25% + presentation * 25%) *
total weight of this project in your final grade = (72 * 50% + 80 * 25% + 64 * 25%) * 20% = 72 *
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Project Management (Spring 2012)
20% = 14.4. This means that you have earned 14.4 out of 20 (14.4/20=72%) for your final grade
on the term project.
Topics assigned to teams
1. Requirements engineering, collection and management
2. Team/group dynamics in project management
3. International (inter-company, inter-institutional, etc.) project management
4. Financial analyses
5. Risk management
6. Communication issues
7. Skills and behaviors of project manager and team members
8. Innovations in project management
9. Learning/teaching/education in project management
10. Factors that affect stakeholders
11. Virtual teams in PM
12. Scheduling and resource allocation
Term paper
You will turn in a term paper (10 single-spaced 11-point pages) with a cover page and references section.
The cover page, references section and charts/tables are NOT counted toward the 10 page limit. I would
like contributions from each team member to complete the term paper. All citations and references
should be in the APA style. The paper should have the following sections.
1. Cover page (course, year, instructor, team number, members, date of completion, etc.)
2. The main topic.
a. Discuss the topic assigned to your team and other areas/topics relating to the assigned
topic.
b. Discuss the academic disciplines that the assigned topic may have been researched.
Provide evidence (e.g., citation to articles) to support your argument.
3. Literature review. You should study at least 12 journal articles that are related to your assigned
topic. Make sure you select articles from academic journals. Journals indexed in SCI or SSCI or
those listed on the following web site are acceptable.
http://ais.affiniscape.com/displaycommon.cfm?an=1&subarticlenbr=432
4. Write the following for each article.
a. Topic
b. The main problem(s) the study is trying to resolve.
c. Why do you think the problems are worth studying?
d. Main hypotheses. Identify the hypotheses that are near common sense. Identify those
that may not have a direct answer until a study is conducted to research it.
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Project Management (Spring 2012)
e. Methodology. Also discuss methodology flaws.
f. Findings
g. What are the areas that the study has not answered? What are the topics for future
study? Why are these areas worth studying? Any evidence?
5. Five topics that have not been studied but are worth of studying. The following is the check list
that should be done for EACH of the potential research topic.
a. Is the area interesting? To Whom?
b. Is it worth studying (is it not common sense)? Why?
c. Is the idea original?
i. If not much of originality, discard the idea.
ii. If the idea is very much original, is it big enough (i.e., revelatory)?
iii. If the idea is small in its contribution, you might want to consider giving it up.
d. Will the idea offer any practical contribution? Is the solution(s) developed for the idea
useful? To whom?
e. Is the scope too small? Can it be used to write a term paper or a master’s thesis?
Provide your justifications of the magnitude and complexity of the problem.
6. Draw a mind map to show the topics that have been studied and the topics that are good
candidates for future research. Make sure you clearly highlight the two types of research areas.
7. References
Peer evaluation
Each student should evaluate the performance of your team members based on the following criteria:
1. Effort
2. Contribution
3. Intention (eagerness to learn, work and assist others)
Send your evaluation through email to me. Your evaluation should be based on a one hundred point
scale. In your email, you should write (a) team number, (b) each team member’s name, (c) the score you
assigned to the team member, and (d) the reason that you assigned the score. Enter “PM: Peer
evaluation of term project” in your subject line. The peer evaluation is due at 11:59 p.m. June 8, 2012.
Please keep this in your calendar. If the peer evaluation is not submitted, you will receive a zero for the
term paper. If it is turned in late, incomplete or rules in this document not followed, penalty will apply.
Submission of your term paper
You should zip your term paper and ALL the articles (in PDF format) that are cited in your term paper.
Email the final zip file to me and my assistant. Enter “PM: Submission of final term paper”. Your term
paper will not be graded if any of this is missing in your submission. The term paper is also due at 11:59
p.m. June 8, 2012.
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Project Management (Spring 2012)
Presentations – Date: 6/8/ 2012
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Each group will have a maximum of 20 minutes to present their work. Consider presenting your
project in about 18 minutes and allow 2 minutes for questions.
Practice your presentation before class.
Here are some areas you should present:
o Introduce each team member and the assigned topic
o Articles studied.
o Areas that have already been researched. Make sure you clearly present your reasoning
and findings from literature search.
o Findings and conclusion
o Areas that have not been studied, but are worth studying. Why do you think these areas
are worth studying? Any supporting evidence?
The criteria used to evaluate your presentation are:
o Professionalism of presentation
o Understanding of the materials
o Preparation of presentation
o Depth of work
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