Course Outline – Project Management

General Information
 Course: MBA  Faculty Name: Dr C.S. Arora
 Semester: IV  email: drcsarora@gmail.com
 Year: 2018-19  Mobile no: 9868259509
 Number of credits: 4  Office Location: NA (Guest Faculty)
 Level: Postgraduate

Course Overview

The course is designed to equip students with an integrated view of project management,
sensitizing them about the complexities involved in managing projects and equipping them
with techniques for effective project management. Viewed from managerial perspective, the
course has been structured into various sessions using the project life cycle as the primary
organisational guideline

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

L01: Understand the project management life cycle and get familiarised with various
models, techniques and methods for initiation, planning and execution of projects in diverse
domains.
L02: Comprehend and discuss practical examples and cases of project management as
applicable in various business scenarios – including those in government and non-
government sectors.
L03: Integrate the application of conceptual models of project management with practical
parameters in business environment.

Instructional Method

The course will start with an overview of the concept of project management life cycle
followed by weekly illustrative case studies as examples of various facets of project
 management. Every week, a quiz will also be administered by the Faculty for initiating class
discussion on the subject for initiating student interactivity in the topic of the week.

Apart from the lectures and quizzes, the students will take part in discussions on case
examples – one in every week. The idea is to make the students understand the project
management concepts, tools, techniques and methods for application in diverse business
environment, and discuss practical examples and cases. The students will also work in
groups for researching and preparing an executive summary of an actual large Indian
infrastructure project – separate for each group and present to the class for discussions.
Evaluation will comprise of class quizzes, case studies, group case presentations, mid-term
and end-term examination.

Course pre-requisite(s)
Being an interdisciplinary and compulsory course for all students in the final semester,
understanding of the fundamental concepts of all functions and areas of management and
information systems is assumed as the pre-requisite.

Required Course Text Book:

• Meredith J.R., Mantel S.J. and Shafer S.M. (2015), “Project Management: A Managerial
Approach”, (9th Ed.), Wiley Publishing, International Student Version

Course Reference Books:

• Charvat J. (2003), “Project Management Methodologies: Selecting, Implementing
and Supporting Methodologies and Processes for projects”, (1st Ed.), John Wiley & Sons.

• Straw G., (2015), “Understanding Project Management”, (1st Ed.), Kogan Page Ltd.

• Project Management Institute, (2013), “A Guide to the Project Management Body of

Knowledge”, (5th Ed.).

Course Schedule
Session Unit/Topics Chapters of the
No. Course Book
(Meredith, Mantel,
Shafer)
UNIT 1: Project Management Principles
1-2 Definition of project, project management processes and Ch.1, 2 and other
other key concepts reference books
3-4 Principles of project management, Ch.2,3
roles and responsibilities of the project manager

5-6 Project life cycle, causes of project failures Ch.1-3

UNIT 2: Planning the project

7-8 Project planning process, project charter and project plan Ch. 6

9-10 Work Breakdown structure (WBS) techniques, Ch.6

11-12 Project structuring and organization considerations, change Ch.4,5

management and conflict resolution issues.
UNIT 3: Estimating Project Costs
13-14 Type of costs, Elements of budget Ch.7

15-16 Approaches for estimating cost and budget Ch.7

17-18 Factors influencing quality of estimates. Ch.7

Unit 4: Estimating Project Time:
19-20 Activity sequencing, Estimating time Ch.8

21-22 Precedence network diagram, Ch.8

23-24 Critical path method, program evaluation and Ch.8

review techniques

25-26 Project scheduling, basics of scheduling. Ch.8, 9

UNIT 5: Project Quality Management

27-30 An Overview of PQM processes and their integration with Ch 6,10,11
Project Management Plan
UNIT 6: Managing Risks, Project Control and Performance Management
31-32 Risk concept and identification Ch 9, 10

33-34 Risk assessment, prioritizing risks, CH 10,11

35-37 Risk response planning, Project tracking and Ch.11,12

control elements,

38-40 Earned Value Management, factors contributing to Ch 11,12

successful project control, Measures of project success.
FINAL UNIT: Group Presentations & Course Summarization
41-44 Group Project Presentations (10 Groups) Ch 1 & 13 and other
reference books.
45-46 Course Summarization Ch.1 to 13 and other
reference books