Title: Exam 1
Course: KVCC BUS208 > Section: Assessments

Chapter 1

The first chapter of the text introduces and defines many of the topics that are necessary for us to know to progress in the course. The following questions will be about these topics:

a. One of the first things that we have to do is define what a project is and what it isn’t.

i. What is a project?

1. What are the major characteristics?

ii. How does it differ from your everyday work?

iii. Provide a scenario to illustrate the difference between the two.

b. Once it is clear what a project is, then we need to know more about the person that manages them, that of the Project Manager.

i.           What does a project manager do?

ii.           Why are they important?

iii.           Have you ever managed a project before where you completed many of these same tasks:

1.     If so, then please describe the project and how you managed it?

2.     If no, then think of an area that you possibly might manage some kind of project within your workplace, how would you manage this project if it happened?

c. We will not always be the managers with there being times that we are just part of a team. We should have allow worked in some form of team in the past. Answer the following questions on your working within teams:

i.           What is your view of working in teams? What caused you to have this view?

ii.           Did you have to work in teams much at your current or past workplaces?

a.      Was this work ever rewarding?

1. If so then what made it be that way?

2. If not, then why?

b. What could you do to make these teams a better experience for:

1. You

2. Your fellow team mates

3. The project manager

d. The book lists a few drivers in terms of pushing towards project management they are:

i.           Compression of Product life cycle

ii.           Knowledge explosion

iii.           Triple Bottom Line (planet, people, profit)

iv.           Corporate downsizing

v.           Increase customer focus

vi.     Small Project represent big problems

Out of this list, I want you to pick the item you consider the most important reason while projects are becoming more important. Defend your stance and provide evidence, further research may be necessary.

e. The final thing in this chapter talks about the sociocultural and technical sides of project management.

i. Which do you consider the most important? Why?

ii. Which area do you think you would be better in? Why?

iii. Would you prefer to be stronger in one side or more balanced? Why?

Chapter 2

Chapter 2 deals with the alignment of the goals of the organization with that of the projects it develops. Answer the following questions on this topic:

a.      The first step in this process is to develop the corporate strategy and then develop a structure to manage it from then on. This process is called strategic management. The book lists four steps in this process. I would like you to explain what each consists of by giving a business scenario that walks through the process.

i.           Review and define the organizational mission

ii.           Analyze and formulate strategies

iii.           Set objective to achieve strategy

iv.           Implement strategies through projects

b.     Once you have the organizational strategy the next step is to develop some kind of system to allow you to select the projects that best fit the needs and desires of the organization. In order to accomplish this the book talks about developing a portfolio management system.

i.           What are the benefits of developing a system like this?

ii.           If it were your decision in a business, would you use a system like this? Why/Why not?

c.      No matter how complex the selection system is you still require some form of criteria to rank your options. The books list a few types such as financial and nonfinancial with methods such as check lists and ranking systems.

i.           Which method(s) would you select in your business? Why?

ii.           How does the method eliminate many of the problems such as the sacred cow and emotions when it comes to rejecting projects?

d.     If you have a system in place to select projects, then you now have to develop a method for people to submit proposals. How would you encourage your employees that their opinions matter and that you want any and all of their ideas?

i.           If you were personally, the employee what methods would work on you to get you to feel like you and your thoughts were valued?

e.      The final thought in this chapter deals with risk and the level that companies are willing to accept. They rank these levels based on the amount of risk balanced against the reward. These ranks include bread and butter, pearls, oysters, and white elephants.

i. What ranks would you want within your organization? Why?

ii. What would you avoid? Why?

iii. If a project seemed too good to be true, what would you do?

iv. How would you evaluate these projects?

Chapter 3

The third chapter covers how a business can adopt projects into their corporate structure and examines their culture as a whole. The following questions are on these topics:

a. The book lists three method to structure projects within a business they are functional, project teams, and matrix based. Do an analysis of each by describing how they work and the advantages/disadvantages for each?

b. After the examinations, which do you, believe would be the best method to implement in your current or past work place? Why defend your stance?

c. The book lists 10 characteristics of an organization that can be used when examining the corporate culture. Describe each of the 10 and provide an example that you have encountered within your personal/professional experience.

i.     Which do you believe to be the most important ones? Why?

ii.     What are the least important? Why?

d. Think of a company that you have worked for in the past and look for an example of something that worked but would have only worked within that configuration of people and that culture, and then describe it in detail. Why do you think this worked in that situation? What would happen if this were tried in another organization? Why?

Attached Files: | - KVCC BUS208_ProjectMgmt_Asessment 1(3).pdf