In this module, we go beyond the scope of straightforward projects to look at programmes and portfolios of projects, some specific techniques such as PRINCE2 and Critical Chain and the nature of complex projects. Additionally, this module brings together ideas from other modules to show how project management methods can inform a complex situation from a real consultancy project.

The module provides you with an understanding of the relationship between projects and the business. It offers insight into the strategic, business, commercial and financial issues within projects and their relationship to project and organisational performance. You will gain an understanding of how projects are used to underpin and support the organisation and enable the achievement of its mission and strategy. After completing this module you will be able to:

• Contextualise project management issues within broader business and strategic situations.
• Identify and recognise how business and commercial performance affect and are affected by the development of projects and how project management activities and processes interface with business issues.
• Apply and utilise appropriate strategic frameworks, undertake strategic analysis and construct an appropriate response to inform the development of business and project planning and to determine a suitable management approach.
• Identify, construct and explain the content of a business plan or business case and how such documents contribute to organisational strategy and the purpose and development of a project.
• Explain the procurement and supplier management processes and recognise how they relate to project management, organisational strategy and the development of a project.

This module provides you with a theoretical and practical understanding of relevant concepts relating to organisational behaviour and leadership in the contexts of projects, supply chains and (temporary multi) organisations. This incorporates an understanding of self-awareness, teams within and between organisations, leader- and followership, as well as the leadership of change. After completing this module, you will be able to:

• Interpret your own self-awareness as well as your own self-management
• Demonstrate social awareness, including empathy and relationship management and team membership
• Examine the development, composition and performance of teams and, in particular, of cross-functional teams
• Evaluate and apply team leadership in terms of leading with and without authority in different organisational structural contexts
• Appraise and lead change in organisations
• Demonstrate the ability to think clearly and apply critical thinking skills, including critical analysis, for example, to reading academic journals or your own academic writing
• Show how the role of critical reflection applies to personal learning and development
• Demonstrate and apply standards of academic practice to assignments, specifically with regard to referencing, plagiarism, structuring, signposting and development of a reasoned, justified and cohesive argument.

This module presents the tools and techniques needed to effectively initiate, plan and manage a project through to successful completion. The approach is primarily practical and pragmatic, providing an integrated planning process that supports the production of a holistic and robust project plan. Examples from a broad range of industries are introduced throughout the module. After completing this module, you will be able to:

• Explain and critically evaluate the purpose, importance and relevance of project management and its role in delivering successful projects
• Explain and critically evaluate the core knowledge of project management processes and methods within practical applications
• Explain and critically evaluate how the use of processes and methods links with the development of positive attitudes and behaviours appropriate to successful project completion

This module provides you with the skills to work professionally, think creatively and reflect critically, practice responsibly and to conduct a research project. It enables you to be workplace-ready but at the same time have the foundation to progress your studies to doctoral level, if you so wish. After completing this module you will be able to:

• Critically engage with other people’s work, sources of information, digital information systems and problems in practice
• Formulate valid and reliable research questions, hypotheses or conclusions through critical analysis and interpretation of information
• Appreciate the connection between research philosophy, approach and design as well as data collection and analysis techniques
• Develop a research design that is suitable and justifiable to address a particular research question, considering the relative strengths and weaknesses of different research methods
• Demonstrate the adoption of ethical standards in research and /or professional environments including the appraisal of ethical principles and moral or ethical problems that can arise in a business environment
• Evaluate and develop responsible practice in terms of economic, legal, ethical, social, environmental and philanthropic aspects for self-regulation in a business environment
• Demonstrate understanding and knowledge of key theories of critical reflection and development towards becoming a reflective practitioner

This module encourages holistic thinking approaches and provides you with a portfolio of techniques for a systemic insight into projects. It builds your ability to solve complex problems by identifying, formulating and structuring business problems and enables you to recognise the need for and initiate a systemic process of change. This then leads to practical aspects of managing change in projects. After completing this module you will be able to:

• Apply a systems perspective to projects within organisations
• Appreciate the nature of change on and in organisational life
• Integrate a change management perspective into the deployment of projects
• Apply a variety of methods and concepts to frame complex problem situations as systems
• Understand and analyse the perspective and inputs of multiple stakeholders
• Describe and explain theories, frameworks, concepts and models that help to inform, analyse and explain change processes
• Appreciate the skills of a successful change agent in building and maintaining stakeholder engagement

One of the options for the dissertation is to undertake a summer project in a real company that requires a real outcome. The challenge in this module is to create a project that will deliver that outcome, then to plan and manage that project to completion. The dissertation is a critical reflection on your learning about project management from that experience. The project is usually undertaken as group work of two to three students whereas the dissertation is an individual work.

Undertaking this dissertation option offers you a valuable opportunity to research an area of project management in-depth, linking this to business problems that arise in the real world. You will have the opportunity to develop into a competent and capable research investigator who is able to design, develop, and implement a research methodology appropriate to the research being undertaken. Throughout the project, you will develop your knowledge and understanding of professional academic engagement both in your interactions with the supervisor and in the reporting of your outputs and discourse on your research.