2. PJM-52024: PROJECT LEADERSHIP AND COMMUNICATION
Final Paper
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In your final paper for this course, you will apply the principles of project management to a real project. Choose a project or endeavor that has recently been completed and that has been reported on in the media. You may find it simplest to choose a project that underwent difficulties because such projects will have had more coverage. For example, Boston’s Big Dig or the Hurricane Katrina or Sandy recovery efforts are projects which much has been written about.
The steps in completing this paper are as follows:
1. Decide on a topic for the final paper. CHOOSE ARMY RECRUITMENT FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF A NONCOMMISSIONED OFFICER. Submit your choice to your mentor for approval and advice. Consult the Course Calendar for the relevant date for submitting your choice. Try to choose a topic that is as current as possible. However, the project or some major phase of it should be complete so that you can draw conclusions about it.
2. Submit a topic idea for your paper to your mentor for approval during Module 3. If you have difficulty coming up with ideas, your mentor can make some suggestions.
3. Do research so that you understand the scope of the project, its progression, its problems, and its outcome.
4. Review the project management concepts presented in this course and discuss how at least 5 (but no more than 7) are illustrated successfully or unsuccessfully in this project. Analyze what you think went wrong and how problems might have been avoided or corrected.
5. Write a paper of 14 to 15 pages (3500 to 3800 words) discussing the project and the project management concepts you chose. Refer to the following list of guidelines for more complete instructions.
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GUIDELINES
• Your paper should be 14 to 15 pages (3500 to 3800 words) long and should cover the topic already described.
• Follow accepted research approaches and citation format (APA).
• Your paper should be well developed and convey your understanding of the readings and concepts.
• Your paper should be organized, coherent, and unified.
• Your paper should be free of spelling and grammatical errors.
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WRITING AND RESEARCH RESOURCES
The following links provide online writing and research aids to help you with your paper assignments.
• OWL (Online Writing Lab) at Purdue University
• Writer’s Handbook, the Writing Center at the University of Wisconsin–Madison
• APA Guidelines
Information Literacy for TESU Students (an online guide from the New Jersey State Library to assist you in starting your research, searching databases for articles, citing sources, using ILLiad to request books or articles, etc.)
3. PJM-64024: GLOBAL PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Final Project
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OVERVIEW
For your final project in this course, you are required to produce a report to company executives. Details of what your paper should contain and how it should be structured are below.
Course objectives covered in this project include: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
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THE SCENARIO
You have been hired as the Senior Global Project Manager by the Timm Coconut Transnational Motor Corporation to manage their newly created Project Management Office.
You are in charge of their first international expansion of their automobile sales to Johannesburg, South Africa.
The company wants to start exporting and selling their cars and trucks from America to Johannesburg, South Africa, 12 months from today. Following that, in 24 to 36 months, they plan to start manufacturing their cars and trucks in Johannesburg, South Africa for African, Australian, and Indian markets.
You are tasked by the executives to send them a proposal on the viability of this vision using the guidelines noted below.
The deliverable for the assignment is a document suitable for executive consumption in the home organization.
Qualities of completeness and succinctness are highly prized, as they are in all good business writing.
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RECOMMENDED FORMAT
Following is a recommended format for the project. The project should include the following:
1. Cover Page
2. Executive Summary
3. Organizational Vision and Mission (estimate 1/2 page)
4. Overall Strategy (est. 1/2 page)
o Generic strategies and modes of entry
o Source of sustainable competitive advantage
5. Analysis
o External Environment (Risks: Opportunities and Threats) (est. 1+ page)
Global business environment (risks)
• Legal & contractual / Ethical / Trade barriers
• Technological / Intellectual property
• Social / cultural & religious / political
• Economic / business / financial
• Industry environment (immediate competition)
o Internal environment (competencies: strengths and weaknesses) (est. 1+ page)
Audit of:
• Project management best practices, methodology, maturity
/distinctive competencies and capabilities
Organizational factors
• Culture, formal structure
o Summary of internal strengths and weaknesses v. external opportunities and threats (SWOT) (est. 1/2 page)
Gap analysis
6. Enterprise-Wide Project Management Strategy
o Subcontracts, partnerships, networks, other interdependent structures
o Project management organization (est. 2 pages)
Roles and functions (centralized and standardized)
Sponsorship and executive champions
o Project Portfolio (est. 1 page per project; 2 or 4 projects)
Strategic linkages to mission and other projects
Cost: Funding, ROI, NPV, Payback (general discussion)
Scope
Schedule
7. Summary and Conclusion (est. 1/2 pages)
8. References
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GUIDELINES
• Your paper should be 2800 to 3000 words long (with a typical font and spacing this will be between 11 and 12 pages in length) and should cover the directives already listed.
• You should follow accepted research approaches and citation format (APA).
• Your paper should be well developed and convey your understanding of the readings and concepts.
• Your paper should be organized, coherent, and unified.
• Your paper should be free of spelling and grammatical errors.
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EVALUATION RUBRIC
If you are interested in knowing how your paper will be graded, check the rubric found in the Evaluation Rubrics folder on this site.