Assessment Details and Submission Guidelines
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Unit Code
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MN601
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Unit Title
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Network Project Management
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Term, Year
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T1, 2019
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Assessment Type
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Assignment 1, Individual
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Assessment Title
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Individual case study assignment
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Purpose of the assessment (with ULO Mapping)
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The purpose of this assignment is to build a clear understanding of project management fundamentals and their application, specifically:
- demonstrate project leadership skills; identify and assess risk in designing, executing a major project;
- critically reflect on current project management ethics, research, and theory and practice;
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Weight
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15%
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Total Marks
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30
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Word limit
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800‐1000
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Due Date
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Week 7, Friday, 11.55 PM.
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Submission Guidelines
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- A draft of the report must be submitted on Moodle by the day before the Week‐6 class, to get feedback from the tutor in Week‐6. Updated version of the report must be submitted on Moodle the day before your Week‐7 class.
- The assignment must be in MS Word format, 1.5 spacing, 11‐pt Calibri (Body) font and 2 cm margins on all four sides of your page with appropriate section headings.
- Reference sources must be cited in the text of the report, and listed appropriately at the end in a reference list using IEEE referencing style.
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Extension
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- If an extension of time to submit work is required, a Special Consideration Application must be submitted directly on AMS. You must submit this application three working days prior to the due date of the assignment. Further information is available at: http://www.mit.edu.au/about‐mit/institute‐publications/policies‐ procedures‐and‐guidelines/specialconsiderationdeferment
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Academic Misconduct
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- Academic Misconduct is a serious offence. Depending on the seriousness of the case, penalties can vary from a written warning or zero marks to exclusion from the course or rescinding the degree. Students should make themselves familiar with the full policy and procedure available at: http://www.mit.edu.au/about‐mit/institute‐publications/policies‐ procedures‐and‐guidelines/Plagiarism‐Academic‐Misconduct‐Policy‐ Procedure. For further information, please refer to the Academic Integrity Section in your Unit Description.
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THE BEST PROJECT MANAGERS ARE EMOTION-DRIVEN LEADERS
~ By Claude Emond
Acknowledgement: The following case study is taken verbatim from https://www.projectsmart.co.uk/the-best-project-managers-are-emotion-driven-leaders.php
A short while ago, Charles J. Pellerin, the author of, How NASA Builds Teams: Mission Critical Soft Skills for Scientists, Engineers, and Project Teams, came to Montreal to lead a one-day workshop based on his book. This event was organised with the sponsorship of the PMI-Montreal chapter.
This was a very enlightening day. Charles used his own personal ill-fated story, as the project director for the launch of the Hubble telescope, to get us to travel with him on his journey to the discovery of true leadership. This journey not only got him to redeem himself through an officially `unauthorised` 60M US$ fix mission to get astronauts to repair the telescope, but also got him to better understand the root of true leadership and design a system to make it happen. This is this system he talks about in his book. This is the system he is now applying as a consultant to NASA teams with radical performance improvements, thoroughly documented, scientifically measured…and all generously and clearly explained to us for our own usage in his amazing book.
His leadership competency model is based on two continuums axes: the Emotional- Logical decision making process continuum and the Intuited-Sensed data preference continuum. Out of the reunion of those two continuums emerge four types of leaders, which are basically characterised as follows:
- The cultivating Emotional-Intuitive leader (green): great at giving gratitude, s/he is a people-builder who cares deeply about human beings and creates strong loyalty; the ultimate coach for large very complex projects.
- The including Emotional-Sensing leader (yellow): great at making you feel included as a part of the greatest whole, s/he is a team-builder who develops harmonious teams and can mobilise and get the most difficult people to work as a team; the ultimate marketer for large complex projects.
- The visioning Logical-Intuitive leader (blue): mastering reality-based optimism and living through complete commitment, s/he is an idea-builder, fond of creative ideas and demanding excellence; the ultimate innovator that can lead research and early phase projects…but might get stuck there.
- The directing Logical-Sensing leader (orange): organiser in chief, s/he is a system-builder, highly disciplined, well organised and using reliable processes; the ultimate project `deliverer and closer` in hard times, putting the task first and meeting the objectives ruthlessly.
Charles goes on, in his book and in his workshops, explaining that the most effective project leaders are those that can lead through their emotions, the `green` and the `yellow` ones, because project management is all about teamwork and human relationships, all about journeying together towards a better place for all stakeholders. He also says that, although emotion-driven leaders can always compensate for less logical abilities, by finding good `blue` and `orange` team collaborators, the reverse is not possible. So, ultimately, in order to become a very effective project leader, one who does not have innate emotion-driven leadership will have to develop the necessary genuine `gratifying` and `including` behaviours to succeed, and be able to handle effectively larger, more complex project teams.
Charles has been using assessments of these leadership competencies to measure leaders` and teams` profiles and behaviours along the two continuums. He has also designed programmes to get teams in NASA and elsewhere to improve their profiles, behaviours and, subsequently, performance in delivering outstanding projects.
I wrote above that Charles Pellerin was very generous in the material he shares in his fabulous book. He is also very generous on his website, How NASA Builds Teams. If you go there and register, you`ll get access to some of his presentation PowerPoints. You will also be able to make a free assessment of your individual leadership style as well as a free assessment of your team profile. And, if ever Charles gets to your town for a workshop, just go have a journey into project leadership with him. This man, innately a `blue` Logical-Sensing guy, has succeeded his transformation into a gratifying, very including man, who will lead you to a better self and coach you to awaken the great project leader you were born to be.
Assignment task
Write a report on the above case that addresses the following issues; and carry out research on project management practice and discuss the ethical implication. In your report, you must use the headings given in Table 1. We encourage you to use 5‐ 10 key peer reviewed sources for your analysis (a combination of journals, conference papers, website or any other reliable source to support your analysis).
Table 1: Report headings, their description, and marks for each
Heading
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Description
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Marks
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1. Executive Summary
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Give an executive summary that gives a big picture of the issues presented in the case study.
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5
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2. Leadership issues
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Explain the problems that can arise if the project leader is ineffective.
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5
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3. Leadership styles
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Describe the leadership styles articulated by Charles Pellerin.
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5
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4. Project Success
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Explain which leadership styles can build teams that can lead to project success, and why?
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5
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5. Ethical issues
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Research and describe the Ethical issues in the Hubble telescope launch case?
What were the possible solutions to these Ethical issues?
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5
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6. References
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List all references and give in‐text referencing using IEEE style.
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5
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TOTAL
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30
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Marking Rubric:
Grade → Mark →
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HD 80‐100%
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DI 70‐79%
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CR 60‐69%
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P 50‐59%
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Fail
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For ↓
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Excellent
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V. Good
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Good
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Satisfactory
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Unsatisfactory
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All questions
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All points discussed are pertinent and covered in depth. Demonstrated the ability to think critically and
make good use of the source material.
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Points presented are relevant and soundly analysed.
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Points presented are generally relevant and analysed.
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Points presented are somewhat relevance and briefly discussed.
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Points presented are not relevant to the assignment topic.
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