Syllabus for PJM-520

PROJECT LEADERSHIP AND COMMUNICATION

COURSE DESCRIPTION

Project Leadership and Communication provides leadership and management guidelines for the project manager in a variety of situations. Principles of effective planning, communication, and motivation throughout the project life cycle are the focus of this course. Project Leadership and Communication presents principles of project control from initiation through execution to closure in a clear and practical manner.

Students Please Note: Students should have successfully completed Project Management (PJM-510) before beginning this course.

Additional Notes: You will need access to Microsoft Excel to view some of the commentary material in this course. Also, your computer will will need to have a media player, such as Windows Media or RealPlayer, in order for you to view the videos in this course. A free download of RealPlayer is available by clicking the RealPlayer link. Follow the instructions for downloading the free player (not the SuperPass or 14-day trial).

COURSE OBJECTIVES

Upon completion of the course, students should be able to:

1. Course Objective 1 Discuss leadership skills that lead to effective project management.

1. CO2 Analyze the ways projects can be controlled through processes, influence, and metrics.

1. CO3 Explain and evaluate effective means of managerial communication throughout the project life cycle.

1. CO4 Evaluate the importance of project control during project initiation, planning, and execution.

1. CO5 Analyze effective team building and maintenance.

1. CO6 Apply communication principles to motivation, conflict management, and change management.

1. CO7 Discuss tracking and monitoring processes through the project life cycle.

1. CO8 Evaluate important principles for project closure.

COURSE MATERIALS

You will need the following materials to do the work of the course. The required textbook is available from the College's textbook supplier, MBS Direct.

Required Textbooks

1. Tom Kendrick, Results Without Authority: Controlling A Project When The Team Doesn't Report To You (New York: AMACOM, 2006).

ISBN-13: 978-0814473436

1. Harold Kerzner, Project Management Case Studies, 3d edition (Indianapolis: Wiley, 2009).

 ISBN-13: 978-0-470-278710

            COMMENT:  

            "Add same Kerzner casebook to course/syllabus as is being used in 510."

1. Steven Flannes and Ginger Levin, Essential People Skills for Project Managers (Management Concepts: 2005).

ISBN-13: 978-1567261684

            COMMENT:  

            " Most likely Drop Flannes & Levin PMI e-read/book.  Since it's online there is no urgency on the                                           decision though..."

CD-ROM

1. Working with Teams. ManageMentor Plus series. Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing.

            COMMENT:  "Drop the CD."

Student Membership in the Project Management Institute (PMI)

If you have not already done so, you will need to take out a student membership in the Project Management Institute. This membership will cost $40 ($30 for the yearly membership and a one-time $10 application fee). To receive this price, it will be necessary to provide verification of your college enrollment. (You will need to submit a transcript or a letter from the registrar stating that you are an enrolled student.) Obtain this membership by going to The Project Management Institute and following the links for a student membership under "Become a PMI Member/Join Now." Memberships must be submitted via fax or by the U. S. mail. Credit card information is required in order to process payment. Without this membership you will be unable to access certain electronic materials to complete your assignments in this course.

COURSE STRUCTURE

Project Leadership and Communication is a three-credit online graduate course, consisting of three (3) modules. Modules include topics, learning objectives, study materials, and activities. Module titles are listed below.

1. Module 1: Means of Project Control

2. Module 2: Project Initiation and Planning

3. Module 3: Project Execution, Monitoring, and Closure

1. Module 4:  Final Project

COMMENTS: 

1. There are actually 4 modules - Module 4:  Final Paper.  Module 4 is allocated two weeks in the course calendar.

1. In the OL course listed under each of the Module titles above are topic breakdowns and knowledge areas - these have been moved t the individual modules in Google Sites.

ASSESSMENT METHODS

For your formal work in the course, you are required to participate in online discussion forums, complete written assignments, case studies, exercises, and complete a final paper. See below for more details.

Consult the course Calendar for due dates.

Discussion Forums

Each week you will participate in one or more online class discussion forums. All discussion forums take place asynchronously on the class Discussion Board.

Online discussions provide an opportunity for you to interact with your classmates. During this aspect of the course, you respond to prompts that assist you in developing your ideas, you share those ideas with your classmates, and you comment on their posts. Discussion board interactions promote development of a community of learners, critical thinking, and exploratory learning.

Please participate in online discussions as you would in constructive face-to-face discussions. You are expected to post well-reasoned and thoughtful reflections for each item, making reference, as appropriate, to your readings. You are also expected to reply to your classmates' posts in a respectful, professional, and courteous manner. You may, of course, post questions asking for clarification or further elucidation on a topic.

Click link for an Evaluation Rubric.

Written Assignments

You are required to complete written assignments, exercises, and case studies. The written assignments are on a variety of topics associated with the courses modules. This course contains several types of modular assignments:

1. Exercises: These types of assessments usually consist of relatively simple questions that do not require an extended answer.

2. Written Assignments: These assessments require more analysis or interpretation than exercises. They ask you to demonstrate mastery of various module concepts.

3. Case Study: Students read the case study and then answer questions about the case.

Click the link for a Written Assignment and Case Study Rubric

Final Paper

In your final paper for this course you will apply the principles of project management to a real project. You will choose a project to study, research it, and discuss how 5 to 7 topics from this course are illustrated successfully or unsuccessfully in this project. Your paper will be 12 to 15 pages (3000 to 3750 words) long. Complete instructions are given in Module 3 under Assignment Modules.

If you are interested in knowing how your paper will be graded, click the following link. It shows the standards for grading, telling you what would constitute an "A" paper, a "B" paper, and so on.

Click for a Final Paper Rubric.

A Note About Research

The use of Wikipedia or other online encyclopedias for graduate-level papers is inappropriate. Aside from the uneven quality of the information that may be found in these sources, the real issue is that the information presented in these sources is "already digested." Use of such sources is an unacceptable shortcut for the graduate student. Students gathering information from these sites are essentially obtaining analyses done by someone else, not doing the work themselves. Rather than exploring the literature on a subject, such students are merely using the words of others who have already taken this vital step in academic research. It is imperative that graduate students be able to search the more academically-oriented literature, sift through useful (and not so useful) information, analyze, synthesize, and report the results of their assignments. All of these steps are bypassed if information is cited from an online site such as Wikipedia. To sum up: Using information summarized or annotated by someone else is an unacceptable shortcut for a graduate student.

GRADING AND EVALUATION

Your grade in the course will be determined as follows:

1. Online discussions—25%
2. Written assignments/case study—30%
3. Exercises—15%
4. Final paper—30%

All activities will receive a numerical grade of 0–100. You will receive a score of 0 for any work not submitted. Your final grade in the course will be a letter grade. Letter grade equivalents for numerical grades are as follows:

To receive credit for the course, you must earn a letter grade of C or higher on the weighted average of all assigned course work (e.g., assignments, discussion postings, projects, etc.). Graduate students must maintain a B average overall to remain in good academic standing.

STRATEGIES FOR SUCCESS

First Steps to Success

To succeed in this course, take the following first steps:

1. Read carefully the entire Syllabus, making sure that all aspects of the course are clear to you and that you have all the materials required for the course.

1. Take the time to read the entire Online Student Handbook. The Handbook answers many questions about how to proceed through the course, how to schedule exams, and how to get the most from your educational experience at Thomas Edison State College.

1. Arrange to take your examinations by following the instructions in this Syllabus and the Online Student Handbook.

1. Familiarize yourself with the learning management systems environment—how to navigate it and what the various course areas contain. If you know what to expect as you navigate the course, you can better pace yourself and complete the work on time.

1. If you are not familiar with Web-based learning be sure to review the processes for posting responses online and submitting assignments before class begins.

Study Tips

Consider the following study tips for success:

1. To stay on track throughout the course, begin each week by consulting the course Calendar. The calendar provides an overview of the course and indicates due dates for submitting assignments, posting discussions, and scheduling and taking examinations.

1. Check the Announcements page and class Discussion Board regularly for new course information.

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY

Students at Thomas Edison State College are expected to exhibit the highest level of academic citizenship. In particular, students are expected to read and follow all policies, procedures, and program information guidelines contained in publications; pursue their learning goals with honesty and integrity; demonstrate that they are progressing satisfactorily and in a timely fashion by meeting course deadlines and following outlined procedures; observe a code of mutual respect in dealing with mentors, staff, and other students; behave in a manner consistent with the standards and codes of the profession in which they are practicing; keep official records updated regarding changes in name, address, telephone number, or e-mail address; and meet financial obligations in a timely manner. Students not practicing good academic citizenship may be subject to disciplinary action including suspension, dismissal, or financial holds on records.

Academic Dishonesty

Thomas Edison State College expects all of its students to approach their education with academic integrity—the pursuit of scholarly activity free from fraud and deception. All mentors and administrative staff members at the College insist on strict standards of academic honesty in all courses. Academic dishonesty undermines this objective. Academic dishonesty takes the following forms:

1. Cheating
2. Plagiarizing (including copying and pasting from the Internet without using quotation marks and without acknowledging sources)
3. Fabricating information or citations
4. Facilitating acts of dishonesty by others
5. Unauthorized access to examinations or the use of unauthorized materials during exam administration
6. Submitting the work of another person or work previously used without informing the mentor
7. Tampering with the academic work of other students

Academic dishonesty will result in disciplinary action and possible dismissal from the College. Students who submit papers that are found to be plagiarized will receive an F on the plagiarized assignment, may receive a grade of F for the course, and may face dismissal from the College.

A student who is charged with academic dishonesty will be given oral or written notice of the charge. If a mentor or the College official believes the infraction is serious enough to warrant referral of the case to the academic dean, or if the mentor awards a final grade of F in the course because of the infraction, the student and the mentor will be afforded formal due process.

If a student is found cheating or using unauthorized materials on an examination, he or she will automatically receive a grade of F on that examination. Students who believe they have been falsely accused of academic dishonesty should seek redress through informal discussions with the mentor, through the office of the dean, or through an executive officer of Thomas Edison State College.

Plagiarism

Using someone else’s work as your own is plagiarism. Although it may seem like simple dishonesty, plagiarism is against the law. Thomas Edison State College takes a strong stance against plagiarism, and students found to be plagiarizing will be severely penalized. If you copy phrases, sentences, paragraphs, or whole documents word-for-word—or if you paraphrase by changing a word here and there—without identifying the author, then you are plagiarizing. Please keep in mind that this type of identification applies to Internet sources as well as to print-based sources. Copying and pasting from the Internet, without using quotation marks and without acknowledging sources, constitutes plagiarism. (For information about how to cite Internet sources, see Online Student Handbook > Academic Standards > “Citing Sources.”)

Accidentally copying the words and ideas of another writer does not excuse the charge of plagiarism. It is easy to jot down notes and ideas from many sources and then write your own paper without knowing which words are your own and which are someone else’s. It is more difficult to keep track of each and every source. However, the conscientious writer who wishes to avoid plagiarizing never fails to keep careful track of sources.

Always be aware that if you write without acknowledging the sources of your ideas, you run the risk of being charged with plagiarism.

Clearly, plagiarism, no matter the degree of the intent to deceive, defeats the purpose of education. If you plagiarize deliberately, you are not educating yourself, and you are wasting your time on courses meant to improve your skills. If you plagiarize through carelessness, you are deceiving yourself.