Course Description

 Everyone is involved from time to time in carrying out projects, whether it is a small task, like planning a vacation or a large activity, like a development project in a business or other organisation. Projects differ very much from on-going routine operations and are usually one-off unique events with a characteristic life cycle and well defined goals and objectives. Within organisations, project management has become increasingly important in the past decade for many and varied reasons. Project management can be contrasted with operations management and also with the functional management of organisations. Although effective project management does not require completely different skills and methods to those required in other areas of management, the emphasis changes and some skills become much more important, and new techniques are needed. Typically, not only are projects unique events but, if they are of any significant size and importance to the organisation, they will cut across the normal functional and departmental boundaries within the organisation and bring together teams of people with differing backgrounds, skills, allegiances and so on.

This course aims to introduce project management methods in a way which links to the life cycle of a typical project from the early project identification and definition stages, through project execution and control, to issues of implementation and change. The coverage of the early stages of the project cycle uses methods emerging from the systems movement and stresses the strategic relevance of project management. The operational management of the project is covered by introducing techniques for the planning, scheduling and controlling of projects. Attention is also given to people management aspects of this process especially to leadership, team working, motivation and direction. Emphasis is placed on the role of projects in the management of change within organisations and the approaches needed to achieve successful implementation.

Course Objective

 By the end of the course you should be able to:

·         Understand the strategic relevance of projects;

·         Understand the operational management of projects;

·         Understand the importance of people management within projects;

·         Understand the importance of change management aspects of projects;

·         Integrate your knowledge about project management with your own experience;

·         Apply your knowledge about project management to real projects;

Who Should attend?

As an effective project manager, you organize scarce resources, work under tight deadlines, control project change and generate maximum team performance. Through a simulated case study, you learn how to successfully plan, manage and deliver projects.

You also learn how to implement project management processes, develop leadership skills and respond to real-world scenarios. At the end of the course, you take away templates and checklists for use back at the office.

Course Outline

 The topics to be covered on the course include:

·         Overview of project management and project life cycles

·         Strategic aspects of project management

·         Project proposals and definition

·         Planning and compression

·         Operational management of the project

·         Cost and Quality

·         Team Working and Leadership

·         Project Control

·         Understanding the organisation and the problem

·         Managing change

·         Risk management

·         Delay and disruption

·         Project learning