LBUSI7247 Final Project (Project Management) Course Descriptor

Course Overview

In this course, students produce a sustained piece of work, demonstrating their wide-ranging command of the material they have learned on the MSc Project Management programme. It is intended to ensure students demonstrate their skills in the theory and analysis of project management, as well as support students in being a knowledgeable and reflective practitioner in the field and developing habits conducive to ongoing professional development.

The work produced can take one of two forms:

• A traditional dissertation, involving a research question and a theoretical and/or empirical examination of the question and its implications for organisational strategies and operations;
• A case-based piece of work, involving a real-world organisation, normally undertaken where a student has previous professional experience of project management work.

Students are also expected to present and defend their work in a viva voce at the end of the process. This is intended to deepen the student’s understanding of their own work, develop their skills for presenting it, and enable them to practise a high-pressure situation in preparation for professional environments.

Learning Outcomes

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

Knowledge and Understanding

Subject Specific Skills

Transferable, Employability or Professional Skills

Teaching and Learning

This course has a dedicated Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) page with a syllabus and range of additional resources (e.g. readings or other resources, assignment briefs, discussion boards, signposting to Academic Writing support) to orientate and engage students in their studies.

Teaching and learning strategies for this course will include: Up to 3 hours of group workshops and a set of 1:1 supervision sessions (3-5 individual sessions throughout the process).

Faculty hold regular ‘office hours’, which are opportunities for students to drop in or sign up to explore ideas, raise questions, or seek targeted guidance or feedback, individually or in small groups.

Students are to attend and participate in all the scheduled teaching and learning activities for this course and to manage their directed learning and independent study.

Indicative total learning hours for this course: 600 hours including independent work.

Assessment

Formative

Formative assessment in this course takes the form of regular 1:1 discussions with the Project supervisor, and normally students are invited to submit a draft in good time before the AE1 deadline, for more detailed written feedback prior to the final submission. The skill of presenting one’s argument and findings orally is also practised in these meetings and will prepare the student for AE2.

Summative

Further information can be found in the Course Syllabus.

Feedback

Students will receive formative and summative feedback in a variety of ways, written (e.g. marked up on assignments, through email or the VLE) or oral (e.g. as part of interactive teaching sessions or in office hours).

Indicative Reading

Note: Comprehensive and current reading lists for courses are produced annually in the Course Syllabus or other documentation provided to students; the indicative reading list provided below is used as part of the approval/modification process only.

Books

The student’s project topic will determine the detailed reading list.

Depending on the student’s own academic background, we recommend consulting a general book on writing a successful Master’s dissertation, such as one or more of the following:

Hammond, M. (2022) Writing a Postgraduate Thesis or Dissertation: Tools for Success (Routledge Study Skills). Routledge.

Furseth, I. and E.L. Everett (2013) Doing Your Master’s Dissertation From Start to Finish. Sage.

Iltis, A. S., & McKay, D. (Eds.). (2020). The Oxford handbook of research ethics. Oxford University Press.

Coghlan, D., & Shani, A. B. (Rami). (2018). Conducting action research for business and management students (B. Lee, M. N. K. Saunders, & V. K. (Veekay) Narayanan, Eds.). SAGE Publications Ltd.

Saunders, M., Lewis, P., & Thornhill, A. (2019). Research methods for business students (8th Edition). Pearson education.

Fox, M., Martin, P., & Green, G. (2007). Doing practitioner research. Sage.

Journals

Students will be encouraged to consult material from sources relevant to their topic, which will depend on the direction of their work. Typically, the traditional dissertation format will require the use of academic journals, whereas a case study project format may necessitate the heavier use of resources from, for example, regulators or professional bodies in project management.

Indicative Topics

Students will study the following topics:

• Approaching and organising a postgraduate final project, including time management and principles for self-directed study.
• Academic writing for a research purpose.
• Deciding on the scope of a project and setting appropriate boundaries for an achievable project within the given time period.
• Composing an original topic based on finding a niche within academic literature

Selecting, and modifying if desired, tools and methodologies appropriate to the research question and topic area

• Justifying conclusions based on evidence.
• Implementing and managing the work ethically and compliantly.
• Documenting and presenting project work clearly and accessibly to diverse audiences and within a given set of parameters.

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