MIS 44152 Fall 2011 Datta

Syllabus

MIS 44152: Collaborative Project Management

Professor: Dr. Pratim Datta

Semester: Fall 2011

Class Meetings: Virtual

Office Hours: Email pdatta@kent.edu 

Phone: (330) 672-1229.

Text: No textbook required.

Global Collaborative Project Management

This course provides an overview of global project management from initiation through planning, execution, closing and with general emphasis on control. It is designed to augment the basics of domestic project management with information pertinent to the global project environment. The course begins with a practical look at investigating the cultural environment in order to understand the context of managing a global project. The course will further cover: Step-by-step initiation of a global project with emphasis on organizational culture as it relates to global projects; Global project planning aspects that augment typical domestic project planning (i.e. managing foreign offices and multinational teams); Fundamentals of communicating with different cultures; Familiarization with global law as it applies to international projects; Global contracts and business alliances; Generalities of negotiating in different cultures; Basic concepts for control and close-out of global projects.

More than ever, major decisions in global projects are made by collections of individuals, and groups and teams are responsible for executing tasks in the workplace. What happens when members of these groups get together to reach decisions and get things done? In this course, we will open up the black box of group functioning. We will also try to reveal the fundamental building blocks of group decision-making processes- a key issue in global project management.

STUDENT RESPONSIBILITIES AND COURSE FORMAT (refer to the Schedule for the calendar and specifics):

Short-Answer Quizzes (3 quizzes) based on Readings and Case Studies: 45% (450 points) There will be three (3) announced quizzes based on lectures and readings. Quizzes will count towards 45% of your overall grade.

Group Presentation [IDNKT (I Did Not Know That!)]:                       25% (250 points)

Students will prepare and present a narrated PowerPoint Slideshow lasting ~10 minutes on topics related to Global Supply Chains (GSC). All topics will cover around 14 narrated Powerpoint slides (without any embedded videos) in 15 minutes or less. All presentations must capture 3-4 advantages and disadvantages (each) of a particular topic and provide managerial recommendations at the end. Tutorials for narrated presentations can be found at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/powerpoint-help/CH006350068.aspx or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZp3jumnWUg. A narrated presentation is a great training tool and you can use them in your own organizations and reduce variances in delivery and focus.

Hint and Tip: In a virtual collaborative project, you may find it useful to have various team members contribute to creating and recording their voices over topical sections. However, it is important that you choose one of your tem members to integrate the slides with sounds to ensure they work properly. Try saving slides as .ppt rather than .pptx because it helps integration.

Final Virtual Collaboration Project:                                                     30% (300 points)

Your final virtual collaboration project will be offering real-life project solutions for non-profits in our area. I have worked closely with Steve Kleiber, the CEO of United Way, Portage County, to gather projects for you. I will assign groups of 3-4 per project and you will work on providing solutions just like a PMO (project management office) with proper milestones, deliverables and solutions including a final narrated powerpoint presentation of your solution and an executive report on the same. The projects are available at https://sites.google.com/site/bccpprojects/.

Projects will randomly assigned to teams and you will work virtually to complete the project.

Use Narrated Powerpoint for presentation and Google Docs for written reports. All project deliverables must be updated via the calendar and task milestones on the projecrt site. This is to assure transparency and keep you on schedule (very important on remote collaborative projects).

I particularly ask you to consider a collaborative platform such as Google Docs to complete the report parts of your virtual projects. You must share the project with me. A demo on the use can be found at http://www.google.com/google-d-s/tour1.html.

The topics are as follows.

1. 10 impacts of Earned Value Management (EVM) in Global Project Management: Problems, Prospects and Decisions:

       Group 1: Donna Aldhizer, Darla Angle, Michael Pascaru and Nicholas Bailey  vs.

       Group 2: Erin Boivin, Colin Borchert, Andrew Paulenske and Hannah Burleigh

2. 10 impacts of Regulations on Global Project Management (cover HIPAA and SOX): Problems, Prospects and Decisions:

       Group 3: Nichole Butcher, Carol Campbell, Albert Polosky and Jordan Carpenter vs.

       Group 4: Elise Caston, Judith Zongo, Sherry Dangremond, William Qualich and Biagina Decarlo

3. 10 Lessons for implementing IT Security standards (e.g. CoBIT) in Global Project Management: Problems, Prospects and Decisions:

       Group 5: David Dunford, Emily Gainer, Jeffrey Rawlings and Peter Grasso vs.

       Group 6: Jared Haas, Marcus Heggestad, Shaun Riccio and Stacey Hruska

4. 10 ways to manage Project Risks in Global Project Management: Problems, Prospects and Decisions

       Group 7: Benjamin Hutchinson, Kathy Kane, Alfred Roberts and Kori Kobasic vs.

       Group 8: Amy Kurt, Jacqueline Lally, Luis Sanchez and Drew Laurenti

5. How ERP systems can help on hinder Global Project Management: Problems, Prospects and Decisions

       Group 9: Tuan Le, Margaret Lombardo, Charles Sanfilippo and Stephen Lucas vs.

Group 10: Benjamin Mariner, Amanda Miller, Jason Schmidt and Christopher Nottingham

6. The role of PMBOK in Global Project Management: Problems, Prospects and Decisions

       Group 11: Jay Silva, Ginger Swartz, Aaron Thompson and Daniel Young

Students' Final Grade will be based on the following percentages:

The final course letter grade will be assigned according to the following percentage breakdown of total points earned as stipulated by Kent State University (+ and - will also be assigned).

The Following Policies Apply to All Students in this Course 
 

1. Students attending the course who do not have the proper prerequisite risk being deregistered from the class.

2. Students have responsibility to ensure they are properly enrolled in classes.  You are advised to review your official class schedule (using Student Tools/Flashfast) during the first two weeks of the semester to ensure you are properly enrolled in this class and section.  Should you find an error in your class schedule, you have until Friday, January 30, 2009 to correct the error with your advising office.  If registration errors are not corrected by this date and you continue to attend and participate in classes for which you are not officially enrolled, you are advised now that you will not receive a grade at the conclusion of the semester for any class in which you are not properly registered.

3. Academic Honesty:  Cheating means to misrepresent the source, nature, or other conditions of your academic work (e.g., tests, papers, projects, assignments) so as to get undeserved credit.  The use of the intellectual property of others without giving them appropriate credit is a serious academic offense.  It is the University's policy that cheating or plagiarism result in receiving a failing grade for the work or course.  Repeat offenses result in dismissal from the University.

4. Please make sure you know the course withdrawal deadline. Withdrawal before the deadline results in a "W" on the official transcript; after the deadline a grade must be calculated and reported.

5. University policy 3342-3-01.3 requires that students with disabilities be provided reasonable accommodations to ensure their equal access to course content. If you have a documented disability and require accommodations, please contact the instructor at the beginning of the semester to make arrangements for necessary classroom adjustments. Please note, you must first verify your eligibility for these through Student Accessibility Services (contact 330-672-3391 or visit www.kent.edu/sas <http://www.registrars.kent.edu/disability/>  for more information on registration procedures; ).

Schedule (Tentative)