PPMP20014 - Complex Project Management

General Information

Unit Synopsis

This unit provides an introduction and overview of the field of practice known as complex project management. Complex project management is when a project has three characteristics. Firstly, complex projects are very complicated with lots of parts and interconnections. Secondly, there is a great deal of uncertainty. Finally, they are heavily time-constrained so there is little time to make decisions. In this unit you will explore these characteristics and how to manage them by undertaking assessments for complexity through analysis and systematic inquiry. You will investigate approaches to complexity by forecasting impacts and modelling outcomes. You will analyse the complexities of causes and effects, such as the role played by leaders, setting objectives, environmental and technological limitations and factors, and other constraints that increase complexity. In the unit you will be introduced to a number of examples of complex projects through case studies. You will be able to investigate and discuss the case studies with your peers and lecturers to increase your understanding and proficiency with the management of complex projects.

Details

Level Postgraduate
Unit Level 9
Credit Points 6
Student Contribution Band SCA Band 4
Fraction of Full-Time Student Load 0.125
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites

Students must have completed the CQUniversity Graduate Diploma of Project Management or equivalent Project Management qualification from another Institution in order to do this unit.

Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).

Class Timetable View Unit Timetable
Residential School No Residential School

Unit Availabilities from Term 1 - 2023

Term 1 - 2023 Profile
Brisbane
Melbourne
Online
Perth
Sydney
Term 2 - 2023 Profile
Brisbane
Melbourne
Online
Sydney
Term 3 - 2023 Profile
Brisbane
Melbourne
Online
Sydney
Term 1 - 2024 Profile
Brisbane
Melbourne
Online
Sydney
Term 2 - 2024 Profile
Brisbane
Melbourne
Online
Sydney
Term 3 - 2024 Profile
Brisbane
Melbourne
Online
Sydney

Attendance Requirements

All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes – in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).

Assessment Overview

Recommended Student Time Commitment

Each 6-credit Postgraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.

Assessment Tasks

Assessment Task Weighting
1. Group Discussion 40%
2. Online Quiz(zes) 10%
3. Written Assessment 50%

This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%).

Consult the University’s Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades

Past Exams

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Previous Feedback

Term 1 - 2020 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 4.3 (on a 5 point Likert scale), based on a 15.75% response rate.

Feedback, Recommendations and Responses

Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.

Source: Unit Evaluations
Feedback
The students believe they were able to develop valuable knowledge and experience with great practical applications that will benefit their career.
Recommendation
The unit may maintain the integration between the theory and the practice by explaining the complexity aspects and concepts with real examples.
Action Taken
The same teaching strategy was maintained by enriching the unit with real-life examples. Updated the case studies.
Source: Unit Evaluations
Feedback
Students admired the tutorial classes and think it was effective and helpful.
Recommendation
Maintain the same design of the tutorials and promote interactive classroom discussion.
Action Taken
The same was applied.
Source: Email
Feedback
The students believe that the unit has included very effective learning materials and assessment details.
Recommendation
Keep the textbook by Terry and Cook (2011). The UC can also maintain the use of the external tool and the reading list via Moodle as well as update the materials and the resources.
Action Taken
More resources and articles were provided.
Source: Unit evaluation
Feedback
Students are very much appreciating the integration of real-life cases.
Recommendation
The UC can keep the current case studies and may offer new complex cases from real-life, particularly for the final assessment.
Action Taken
The same teaching strategy was applied by enriching the unit with real-life examples. Updated the case studies.
Source: Unit Evaluation
Feedback
Discussion forums are the best to build scaffolding learning.
Recommendation
Maintain the scaffolding teaching approach in the discussion forums to map the weekly knowledge with a specific complex case study.
Action Taken
The same was applied.
Source: Unit evaluation
Feedback
Students suggest that reducing the number of forums and thus increasing the weights can help them to concentrate more on other units.
Recommendation
UC may reduce the number of discussion forums to four and increase the weight of each to 10 points.
Action Taken
The discussion forums have been updated and changed.
Source: Students' evaluation
Feedback
The unit offered real-life case studies and there is a wealth of good examples and complexity aspects being discussed over the unit
Recommendation
Keep the good practice and use real-life examples and cases in explaining the unit content. Assessment tasks are designed to investigate real complex cases.
Action Taken
Nil.
Source: Students' evaluation Teaching team
Feedback
The teaching team was very supportive and the additional drop-in session were highly appreciated in explaining the content, assignment tasks, and the informal discussion.
Recommendation
Due to the online transition, there were a few issues with student adaptation to online mode and there was a need to further support the students learning. Extra informal drop-in sessions were scheduled to further explain the assessment tasks and the unit content. Moving forward feedback and discussion of assessments will continue to be provided within the weekly tutorials
Action Taken
Nil.
Source: SUTE data
Feedback
Moodle maintenance was very clumsy. It should improve, and even the feedback for the assignments was given very late.
Recommendation
The Moodle site is to be updated to ensure easy access. Assessment tasks should be all placed in one section. There was some delay in sending back the assessment feedback where a new teaching staff asked for more time to build a learning curve in one campus.
Action Taken
Nil.
Unit learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  1. Explain the causes, environments, and properties of complex projects.
  2. Identify different tools and techniques to aid a project manager manage complex projects.
  3. Critically analyse whether different projects cases are complex projects.
  4. Formulate, argue and defend a strategy that a project manager can apply to a complex project case study.
  5. In a team analyse the root causes of failure with a number of sample complex project cases.

Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4 5
1 - Group Discussion
2 - Online Quiz(zes)
3 - Written Assessment
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
Advanced Level
Professional Level
Graduate Attributes Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4 5
1 - Knowledge
2 - Communication
3 - Cognitive, technical and creative skills
4 - Research
5 - Self-management
6 - Ethical and Professional Responsibility
7 - Leadership
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
Advanced Level
Professional Level
Assessment Tasks Graduate Attributes
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
1 - Group Discussion
2 - Online Quiz(zes)
3 - Written Assessment