Teaching and project manangement

Ross Woods, 2022

These are lessons learnt from event management, and will apply to at least some other kinds of projects. Due to these problems, teaching has extra challenges. Top live events cannot use trainees for several main reasons:

• There may be no time to give instruction on the job—people have to already know what they are doing. Time is what you don't have. The manager has no choice but to remove a trainee who slows down the process. If a schedule is very tight, there may be very little time to set up and check that everything works.
• There is sometimes no room for error. Either get it right or you're out of business. The line between success and failure can be very fine. You could be judged a failure if one unjustified complaint gets to around to prospective clients. Good reputation is essential.

Teaching it

The purpose of project management studies must include a practical component, even in graduate studies where much of the program is dedicated to more theoretical issues. Practicum students should also gro through a complex project from beginning to end.

Many aspects of the process depend on a good understanding of business management, and these aspects lend themselves very well to a higher education style of delivery. That is, there are limitations in teaching it as purely a practical set of skills.

Even though you do everything possible to prevent crises, it is preferable that students experience one sometime during their training.

Stages generally follow the on-job learning guidelines. I've generally sequenced as follows:

Some things go in three steps. Students start by hearing from and observing project managers. They then progress to participation as team member. Finally they take charge of a team or project.

It is hard to decide on the order that the more difficult elements should be introduced, as long as observation comes close to the beginning. Students should do observations with sets of questions that guide them in what to look for. (Otherwise they might only say, Yeah, it was good and learn little from the exercise.)

This is a behaviorist approach of adding new elements of difficulty one at a time. However, your students should be able to progress more quickly when they are more familiar with the whole process. The sequence below is not the only one possible:

Stage 1: Induction

Start with induction, help-out roles, and introductory units. These seem like "cannon fodder" roles but they are a more important learning exercise than students think at the time.

Students should pass an interview with the manager of the practicum organization before placement, and the practicum should have clear learning goals and performance standards for the student.

A lot has been said about the transition from classroom to workplace and need not be repeated here: expectations, learning curves, adjustments, etc.

Stage 2: Simple projects

1. Planned observation activities of a real project being managed. (They may not speak at the time, but should write questions for later debriefing and discussion.)
2. Simulations of simple projects as a team using existing systems.
3. Simple projects as a team using existing systems.

Stage 3: More complex projects

At the higher levels where students would be training to handle large complex projects, they should spend some time studying management topics like organizational behavior, organizational communications, accounting, etc.

1. Planned observation activities of a real intermediate project being managed.
2. Intermediate projects as the person in charge using purpose-built systems.
3. Rehearsals of intermediate projects as a team using existing systems.
4. Intermediate projects as a team using purpose-built systems.
5. Complex projects.
6. Explore issues.

Learning activities

An internet search is a very appropriate learning exercise, especially if it relates to putting together a detailed plan.

A case study approach is ideally suited to project management, both for education and research.

Guest speakers with experience in very different kinds of projects would be beneficial.

I would set students assignments to go interview project managers in their quiet periods and tease out their procedures. (Some managers of fairly major projects still carry everything in their heads and keep inadequate written notes.)

If you interviewed guests, your questions might include:

1. What did the client want?
2. What did you do? Describe it step by step.
3. What were the key Critical Success Factors?
4. What did you learn?
5. What took most time?
6. What was unexpected?
7. What were the major risks? What did you do about them?
8. Can we see your run sheets or schedule?
9. What would you do differently next time?

How to assess it

Assessment poses particular problems. It is unlikely that even a graduate will be appointed to a position as a project manager in charge of a complex project, but that is what is really required. Off job assessment does not really count; assessment really needs to be on the job. It follows that some qualifications cannot be done like a regular campus course. However, it is still valuable to assess the knowledge component, which will vary according to the purpose and level of the course. At the advanced levels, it is reasonable to expect fairly sophisticated theoretical knowledge of the processes.

1. Do an assignment based on an Internet search for a specific kind of project
2. Projects assessed similarly to those used for summative assessment.
3. There is a role for essays that explore issues, especially in management, ethics, and social impacts.
4. There is also a role for reports, e.g. of trends, survey of funding opportunities, relationships between projects and government, etc.
5. Applied, field-based research may also be quite appropriate, e.g. survey patrons, participants and/or neighbors of a large project on a specific topic.

Here's an example of a summative assessment of applied skills: