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COMSATS Institute of Information Technology Park Road, Chak
Shehzad, Islamabad, Pakistan
MODULE HANDBOOK Project Stakeholder Management Faculty of
Business Administration Department of Management Sciences Master of
Project Management (MPM) Program & Master of Science in Project
Management (MSPM) Program Weekly on Mondays, 6.00 P.M - 9.00 P.M
Course Instructor: Dr. Aurangzeb Z. Khan Class: MPM-I (Core Module)
/ MSPM II (Elective Module) Current Version: Spring Semester
2012
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Course Instructors Welcome Message 02
About the Course Instructor ... ... 03
Course Background .. 05
Course Objectives and Expected Outcomes . 06
Course Prerequisites .. Course Duration and Presentation
Style
06 06
Student Assessment: Written Examinations .
07
Student Assessment: The Project Assignment
10
Student Grading System
16
Course Quality Improvement
17
Library and Information Services ..
18
Student Discipl ine .
18
Ethics and Honesty ..
19
Student Support .
20
Course Literature ..
21
Course Syllabus .
23
Appendix
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Appendix 1: Subject Examination Papers
Appendix 2: PowerPoint Slides (to be e-Mailed weekly)
Appendix 3: Article Collection (to be distributed separately in
class)
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Course Instructors Welcome Message Dear MPM/MSPM Course
Participants,
On behalf of the Department of Management Sciences at the
COMSATS Institute of Information Technology and our MPM/MSPM
program it is my pleasure to welcome you all to my course module
Project Stakeholder Management.
Together we are about to embark on an exciting fifteen-week
journey during which you will be acquainted with many novel
concepts, processes and tools, and practical examples of
stakeholder management and engagement drawn from numerous projects,
large and small, some which have been undertaken and others which
presently are being undertaken across our globe. For many, if not
all of you, much of the material you will be exposed to may seem
somewhat un-conventional or exotic. Let me assure you, though, that
you will find the know-ledge acquired in this course immensely
useful and practical for managing your own projects provided that
you make the best use of it. The Essence of Know-ledge is Having It
to Apply It a timeless saying so eloquently formulated more than
two thousand years ago by the great Chinese Philosopher Confucius
and as much true today as it was back then in ancient times.
We are the university which pioneered the MPM and the MPSM
degree pro-grams in Pakistan. My colleagues and I have worked very
hard on developing our course modules and attaining a standard
which not only sets a benchmark in project management education in
this country, but also rivals the standards set by long established
project management degree programs offered at universities in North
America, Europe and Australia. Hard work is, off course, not a
one-way road. From nothing comes nothing! We expect all of you to
start working very hard in all our modules from day one. Even the
most intellectually able and pro-fessionally experienced among you
will find all modules highly demanding, at times quite stressful,
even intimidating perhaps. It is up to you to make the most of what
our flagship MPM/MSPM offers and I hope that you will not hesitate
to seize this golden opportunity.
So lets commence our journey then! Carefully read through this
handbook for starters and then well proceed on to the exciting
world of project stakeholder management!
Dr. Aurangzeb Z. Khan Islamabad, January 2012
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About the Course Instructor
Dr. Aurangzeb Zulfiqar Khan is Assistant Professor in the
Department of Management Sciences at the COMSATS Institute of
Information Technology in Islamabad, Pakistan. A product of the
German university system, he holds a PhD and masters degree in
public administration from the Ger-man University of Administrative
Sciences in Speyer, and a Diplom (masters) in business
administration from the University of Trier.
Dr. Khan started his professional career in 1992 as Executive
Assistant in Hilal Consultants, a small Pakistani consulting firm
specializing in infrastructure pro-jects. He subsequently joined
the Hanns-Seidel Foundation of Germany as Pro-gramme Coordinator at
its Pakistan country office in Islamabad. There he worked closely
with the Foundations partner organizations in government, academia
and the non-governmental sector on various joint projects,
primarily in institutional capacity building and event management.
After leaving the Foundation he work-ed as a Research Fellow at the
Institute of Strategic Studies, Islamabad, a policy think tank
operating under Pakistans Ministry of Foreign Affairs. During his
tenure at the Institute and Hanns-Seidel Foundation, he extensively
researched the possibilities for economic confidence-building
measures in South Asia, auth-oring two pioneering and acclaimed
papers on the subject, in which he proposed the creation of an
integrated hydro-power based electrical grid system for South and
Central Asia, expansion in trade, joint ventures and investment
between South Asian countries, and a regional program of
collaborative science and tech-nology projects.
Interesting in joining academia, he returned to Germany in 1998,
where he en-rolled in the masters program and, on its successful
completion in April 2000, subsequently in the doctoral program in
public administration at the German University of Administrative
Sciences in Speyer from where he graduated in 2004 after his
dissertation on application of information and communication
technology in Germanys federal police agency, the
Bundeskriminalamt, was accepted and later published.
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On the faculty of the young and rapidly expanding Pakistani
public-sector univer-sity COMSATS since March 2005, Dr. Khan taught
project management and other management subjects to hundreds of
students. In September 2008 he launched his universitys and
Pakistans first professional masters degree pro-gram in project
management, the MPM, which he headed for its first year of
ope-ration. He taught three of the MPM programs core modules -
Fundamentals of Project Management, Project Stakeholder and
Communication Management, and Project Controlling - in addition to
hosting the elective module Seminar in Project Management. His main
area of interest is project stakeholder manage-ment, which he
introduced for the first time as a subject taught at a university
in Pakistan and which, through his teaching and intensive research,
he is vigorously attempting to bring into mainstream project
management.
Dr. Khan is winner of the Higher Education Commission of
Pakistans coveted national Best University Teacher Award for the
year 2007. In acknowledgement of the outstanding quality of his
teaching and research, with more than a dozen publications in the
United States, Germany and Pakistan, CIIT nominated him from the
universitys entire faculty body in 2008 for the Pakistan
presidential award Izaz-i-Fazeelat.
As a Fulbright Visiting Scholar, Dr. Khan spent eleven months in
2010-11 under-taking research at the University of Maryland in
College Park, USA. In the spring semester 2011 taught two
specialized project management courses (one for undergraduates, the
other for graduates) at the Universitys prestigious A. James Clark
School of Engineering. He is presently writing a book on project
stake-holder management.
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Course Background
Stakeholders are central to all projects in all categories and
levels of complexity. They exist across space and time: No project
in history has been stakeholder-less. Projects are conceived,
initiated, planned, executed, controlled and evalua-ted by
stakeholders for stakeholders. Yet, surprisingly, in project
management degree programs at colleges and universities across the
globe, the subject of stakeholder management is largely ignored as
project management teaching focuses primarily on a projects
technical areas such as scheduling, cost, risk, scope and quality
management and their myriad processes, tools and delivera-bles.
Though numerous projects performance surveys undertaken over time
consistently attribute project success or project failure in large
measure to stake-holder influences, many project owners, planners,
managers and implementers still are seemingly ignorant of the
potential impact of their project stakeholders or simply take them
for granted and fail to invest the time, resources and effort
needed to ensure attainment of the requisite level of stakeholder
support and goodwill which is so essential for the success of their
projects.
This innovative and unique course, which has been developed
through years of research, seeks to address this deficiency by
spreading awareness of the impor-tance of stakeholders on projects
and providing guidance on how best to manage and engage them in a
professional and ethical manner so that a project achieves its goal
and objectives more effectively and efficiently, encounters less
risk caused by ignoring the concerns and power of its stakeholders,
and adds value to its stakeholder community resulting hopefully in
a win-win situation for all the stakeholders.
This course is the only one on project stakeholder management
being offered at a Pakistani university and is currently one of a
handful of modules being taught at universities across the globe
which give a deep insight into this exciting, challen-ging and fast
evolving though fragmented and still rather overlooked area of
project management.
The course has been developed independently by Dr. Aurangzeb Z.
Khan. Some of the concepts, ideas and suggestions contained therein
are his own and based on his on-going comprehensive and in-depth
research on the subject.
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Course Objectives and Expected Outcomes
The course aims to provide students with a comprehensive and
rigorous expo-sure to all important areas of project stakeholder
management and engagement. The class presentations and student
assessment system have been carefully designed with a view to
encourage students to apply their classroom-acquired knowledge
prudently to practical situations involving stakeholders which they
can be expected to encounter when performing managerial roles and
responsibilities in projects undertaken in their professional
environment.
The bottom line is to equip students with the knowledge and
instill in them the confidence needed to manage and engage their
project stakeholders effectively and efficiently, with a very high
standard of ethics and in an innovative manner which seeks to
attain a win-win situation for all or for as many stakeholders as
possible.
Course Prerequisites
Students are required to have attended a foundation
semester-long course in project management as prerequisite for
attending this course. Students who in addition have attended
related specialized courses such as project management law, project
human resource management, and project communications will be at an
advantage.
Course Duration and Presentation Style
The course comprises fifteen taught classes over the semester.
Each class is of three hours duration, which includes a fifteen
minute break for light refreshments. Student attendance will be
taken twice in each class.
The course will be delivered in lecture mode using approximately
seven hundred MS PowerPoint slides developed by the instructor.
Several subject-related videos produced by corporate, government
and non-governmental organizations, as well as videos made by the
instructor with Camtasia screen capture software, will be
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presented over the semester using the installed ceiling-mounted
digital projectors. Occasional use will also be made of the
class-room whiteboard. Considerable emphasis is placed on
interaction: Throughout the course students will be invited to ask
questions, discuss topics, make comments and suggestions, and share
their personal experiences.
The PowerPoint slides and subject course material for each
semester week will be e-mailed by the instructor to the MPM/MPSM
Program Coordinator Mr. Zahid Malik who in turn will e-mail them to
the class representative. He/she is expected to promptly forward
them to all the course participants. Students are requested to
refrain from approaching the instructor directly with requests for
slides or any other material.
Student Assessment: Written Examinations
The student assessment system is based on the standards
prescribed by the COMSATS Institute of Information Technology
(CIIT) for all course modules offered by its Department of
Management Sciences undergraduate and graduate degree programs. The
assessment system followed for this module comprises: (A) the
Written Examinations for which 75% of the total course marks are
allocated and (B) the Project Assignment (see section Student
Assessment: The Project Assignment) for which the remaining 25% of
total course marks is allocated.
The written examinations will be conducted at different points
in time over the semester. There are three written examinations
(two sessionals and the terminal) for the MPM program and two
examinations (midterm, terminal) for the MPSM program. The
examination dates are fixed by the CIIT Examinations Office and
will be communicated to the students in the MPM/MSPM semester
schedule which they will receive at the beginning of each of their
program semesters. The examinations (with marks allocation and
duration) are:
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Program Examination Marks Duration
MPM First Sessional Examination 10% 1 Hour
MPM Second Sessional Examination 15% 1 Hour
MPM Terminal Examination 50% 3 Hours
Program Examination Marks Duration
MPSM Mid-Term Examination 25% 2 Hours
MPSM Terminal Examination 50% 3 Hours
One or two questions will be asked in each MPM sessional
examination covering material presented and discussed in class from
the beginning of the semester until the examination date. Two or
three questions will be asked in the MPSM midterm examination which
will likewise cover material presented and discussed in class from
the beginning of the semester until the examination date. The final
examination will cover the entire course syllabus material and will
contain three to five questions, some or possibly all comprising
sub-questions. All questions in all MPM/MPSM examinations are
mandatory. No Multiple Choice Questions will be asked in any
examination all questions are exclusively essay-type. Students who
in the examinations reproduce con-tents of slides presented in
class or passages from documents verbatim can expect to be heavily
penalized. High achievers are typically those who can understand
and carefully and critically analyze the questions and
sub-questions in a holistic perspective, demonstrate good
analytical skill, are systematic, can communicate convincingly in
writing and propose realistic and creative solutions. As mature,
academically well qualified and professionally experienced adults,
a very high standard of work from MPM/MSPM students is expected
much higher
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in fact than the standard we would expect from our universitys
BBA or even MBA students. The marked answer booklets of the
sessional and midterm examinations will be shown to the students in
class in the week following the respective examination and must be
returned to the instructor by the end of that class. The answer
book-lets of the terminal examination will not be shown to students
as these must be submitted for archival to the examinations office
with immediate effect on completion of the evaluation process. The
sessional, midterm and final examination papers from previous
semesters have been included in this handbooks appendix for the
information of the students. The examinations for the current
semester will be structured accor-dingly. No arguing over marks
will be entertained in connection with the examinations and the
project assignment! The instructor makes every attempt to evaluate
the students work fairly and, in fact, spends considerable time
carefully reading through each submitted work line by line and
making comments in red ink where deemed necessary. Students are
expected to read these comments and act accordingly. Students may
note that the quality of their work not the quantity - is the sole
criteria on which their evaluation is based. It is far better to
write one page which shows insight, analytical ability, sound
reasoning and creativity than to write ten pages at the end of
which the instructor is none the wiser about what is intended to be
communicated by the student and whether the student has actually
benefited from his/her participation in the course. In attempting
their examination papers students should to spend some time very
carefully reading and re-reading the set questions, especially in
their terminal examination, consider what is being asked from
different angles, and then make rough notes before starting to
formu-late their answers. In most cases the examination questions
are such that there is no single correct answer but, depending on
the perspective from which they are viewed, possibly multiple
correct answers and the students are challenged to apply their
class-acquired knowledge and professional experience to come up
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with good realistic and innovative solutions in the allotted
examination time which is quite sufficient for the purpose.
Important Please Note: Retakes of missed terminal examinations are
prohi-bited under the CIIT Statutes, Regulations and Rules.
Students who miss their terminal examination must register again
(with full payment!) for the course in the following semester and
attend all classes. Retakes of MPSM midterm examina-tions are also
prohibited. An attendance rate of 80% or above is mandatory for
students in each core and elective MPM/MPSM course module. Students
with a course attendance level less than 80% by the end of the
semester will automatically be barred by the CIIT examinations
office from participating in the terminal examination for that
course. They must register for the course again, attend all classes
and attend all exami-nations. Student Assessment: The Project
Assignment (A) General Information & Objectives While 75% of
the total course marks are allocated for the examinations, the
re-maining 25% are discretionary marks, i.e. they are allocated for
work chosen at the instructors discretion. Some MPM/MSPM
instructors prefer to split the 25% marks among several quizzes and
mini-assignments distributed over the semes-ter. For this module,
students are required to submit only one assignment, the topics of
which will be selected and communicated by the instructor to the
stu-dents within four to six weeks of course commencement. Students
are NOT per-mitted to choose their own assignment topics. If the
number of students exceeds fifteen, group assignments may, at the
instruc-tors discretion, be submitted in place of individual
assignments. In this case, the instructors expectations and
evaluation standard will be higher. If the number of students
enrolled in the course is less than fifteen, individual assignments
may be required to be submitted. Depending on the availability of
time, students may be required to present and defend their work in
class at the end of the semester.
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Students are expected to read and closely follow the guidelines
given below (see sections B1-B3) before attempting their
assignments. From experience, students are advised to commence work
on their assignments as early as possible. Pro-crastination can
lead to serious complications later on if students encounter
diffi-culties in gathering information or writing their
assignments. The project assignments principal objective is to
determine the students ability to independently (individual
assignment) or collectively (group assignment) scien-tifically
research, report and present their work on a given subject-related
topic to a standard which is normally expected from students with
high academic stand-ing and professional experience. Another
principal objective of the assignment is to ascertain how and to
what extent concepts, ideas and tools presented and discussed in
class can be applied effectively to situations in the field. The
stronger the link between theory and practice, the higher is the
assignments value. Great emphasis is placed on originality. Do not
recycle parts of assignments from your other MPM/MPSM course
modules. This should be an original work. The ease of comprehension
will be considered when evaluating your assign-ment. Time to read
them is limited and if the assignments gist can be understood
immediately from its Executive Summary then that may be a good
guide as to its readability. Some assignments reveal little about
what the project is about even halfway through reading them. Put
yourself in the place of an ignorant reader and make it easy for
him or her to understand what you are trying to communi-cate.
Students often opt for assignments that are thematically simple and
leave few issues to discuss. Students working on more complex
assignments will be given credit for the additional degree of
difficulty. All assignments must be submitted in writing and
electronically by the submis-sion deadline which is one week before
the departmental deadline for entry of all course instructors marks
into the student on-line database system COMSIS. This date will be
communicated to students well in advance. The assignment
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must be bound (soft cover) with the title, course module,
instructor, group members and the semester imprinted on it.
Submission of one copy is sufficient. (B1) Assignment Guidelines:
The Form Assignments must be submitted in printed and electronic
form. The printed
version should be spiral or tape bound. No loose sheets will be
accepted.
The assignment should ideally be between 12-15 pages (for an
individual assignment) or 20-30 pages (for a group assignment) in
length. This page count does not include the assignment appendix
which can be significantly larger.
Assignments must by computer-typed and printed on A4 sized
sheets using Arial font size 12 with a spacing gap of 1.2 lines in
the body of text. Para-graphs must be separated from each other and
from section headings by gaps of reasonable size. Adequate space
(1.2 - 1.5 inches) should be left for the four margins on each page
(left, right, top and bottom).
Every section must have an emboldened heading. Tables, figures
and dia-grams etc. must have emboldened captions.
All pages from the introduction onwards must be numbered. Start
each major
section on a fresh page. Assignments must be free as much as
possible from misspellings and poor
grammar and improper formatting. It is not the instructors
responsibility to correct such errors.
Students should refrain as much as possible from using I, my,
you, we, us, our etc. in the assignment text.
Proper referencing is extremely important! Use an
internationally accepted referencing system such as for e.g. the
Harvard AGPS Referencing Guide. Any quotations from written
documents, for example, must be placed in
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quotations marks and the source (author(s) or editor(s),
document title, journal name/volume number/publication month (if
applicable), year of public-ation, publisher, page number(s) etc.)
clearly indicated in the assignment.
(B2) Assignment Guidelines: The Structure The assignment must be
structured as follows:
Cover Sheet Executive Summary Table of Contents Lists of Tables,
Illustrations, Abbreviations and Acronyms Introduction Analysis
Conclusion Recommendations (if any) Bibliography (if any)
Webliography (if any) Appendix (if any)
(B3) Assignment Guidelines: The Content The Cover Sheet contains
the title of the assignment and the course module,
the semester, date of submission, and the names of the student
or students who have worked on it and the instructor Dr. Aurangzeb
Z. Khan. The words: Master of Project Management (MPM), Department
of Management Scien-ces, COMSATS Institute of Information
Technology (CIIT), Islamabad or Master of Science in Project
Management (MSPM), < > must also be mentioned on it.
The Executive Summary is a maximum one-page document that
clearly
indicates at a glance the purpose of the assignment, its scope,
and a sum-mary of its conclusions and recommendations.
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The Table of Contents is a requirement for every document
(including very short ones). It lists the numbered headings and
subheadings of all assign-ment sections along with their
corresponding page numbers for easy look-up.
The Lists of Tables, Figures or Illustrations, Abbreviations and
Acron-
yms are necessary if the assignment contains one or more of such
elements. Each must be listed on a separate page. Tables and
Figures/Illustrations must be sequentially numbered according to a
standardized system, for e.g.: Table 1, Table 2 Table N, or Table
1.1, Table 1.2, Table 1.N, Table 2.1, Table 2.2, Table 2.N etc..
The List of Abbreviations and Acronyms must be in alphabetical
order.
The Introduction comes before the assignment analysis,
conclusions and
recommendations. Its purpose is to introduce the assignment in
context, explain the intent behind it, the fundamental questions it
addresses and why it does so, how the assignment is structured,
what methodology it follows and what limitations it has, and how it
can contribute to a better understanding of the subject theme. It
is comparatively short, usually not exceeding three pages.
The Analysis constitutes the core of the assignment. It combines
the ele-
ments of description and analysis whereby students are expected
to accord as much emphasis on the analytical component as possible.
In particular, they must relate the concepts and ideas, processes
and tools they learned in class to their assigned topic.
Reproduction of material from other sources is inadequate students
must attempt to come up with context-sensitive in-sights and inputs
of their own and, where and when appropriate, make value judgments
about situations, events and approaches relevant to their
assign-ment. Care must be taken to operationalise definitions used
as many defini-tions for the same concept usually exist in
management and social sciences and it is important that students
and the instructor work with the same definitions. Students should
also refrain from making sweeping statements and generalizations
and try to be objective and dispassionate when under-taking their
work.
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Students usually collect data and information for their work
from primary and secondary sources. In collecting data and
information students must keep in mind that these may be colored by
the mission, objectives, interests and ideological or political
leanings of their respective sources. For instance, a corporation
undertaking a high-profile project would tend to highlight the
benefits accruing from that project while a critical NGO may tend
to highlight the projects more negative aspects. Taking both
sources into consideration gives a more balanced picture which
would be closer to the projects true position. Also (important!)
remember to separate fact from opinion. Qualitative and/or
quantitative techniques may be applied to analyze data collected
through surveys etc. However, such techniques (especially
quanti-tative ones) must be used prudently to prevent the
assignment from degene-rating into a pool of statistical tables,
equations and coefficients. Explanations and interpretations of
numerical material must be included and the method-ology used must
be outlined. Remember to start each new main section on a new page.
Also feel free to use diagrams, illustrations and tables if they
can communicate information more effectively. For example, a
stakeholder analysis may be much more clearly understood if
presented in a tabular or diagrammatic format. Tables and figures
must be numbered sequentially and using a standardized format, for
example: Table X.1: , X.2 , etc., where X represents the
assignments chapter or section number. Note that tables should not
start at the bottom of a page. Start them on a new page. If there
are multi-page tables consider placing them in the appendix.
The Conclusion sums up the major findings of the assignment. It
should be succinct, not exceeding two pages in length. Try to
restrict it to one page.
The Recommendations are the students own input and suggest one
or
more courses of action which may lead to a situational, process
or methodo-logical improvement or effectiveness and/or efficiency
enhancement over the short, medium and/or long-term. Like the
conclusion, the recommendations should not exceed two pages in
length. Recommendations must be as specific, realistic and
practical as possible.
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The Bibliography is an alphabetical listing of all the secondary
information sources used in making the assignment. These could be,
for instance, books, chapters or sections in books, articles in
research journals or newspapers and magazines, official reports and
corporate documents etc.. Websites which were consulted should also
be listed separately in a Webliography along with the URL-addresses
of the specific webpages and the dates they were consulted. If
interviews and/or surveys were conducted to gather information,
these should be indicated on a separate sheet with indication of
the date, time and place of the interview/ survey, and the name,
designation and organiza-tion of the interview partner(s)/persons
surveyed and interviewer(s)/sur-veyors.
The Appendix contains material which normally would not be
included in the assignments major text sections (introduction,
analysis, conclusion and re-commendations). This could include, for
instance, relevant official documents and important correspondence,
contracts and legal documents, technical illustrations, survey
questionnaires, templates, checklists and so forth. Only material
relevant for the assignment must be included. The appendices must
not become a document dumping ground or be filled in the mistaken
belief that including more material necessarily means getting
higher marks or impresses the instructor.
Student Grading System For the MPM program the following grading
system applies: Letter Grade Grade Points A (Superior / Excellent)
4.0 = 90% or above A- 3.7 = 85-89% B+ 3.3 = 80-84% B (Good/ Better
than Average) 3.0 = 75-79% B- 2.7 = 70-74% C+ 2.3 = 65-69% C
(Competent / Average) 2.0 = 60-64%
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C- 1.7 = 55-59% D (Fair/Passing) 1.3 = 50-54% F (Fail) 0 = Below
50% For the MSPM program the following grading system applies:
Letter Grade Grade Points A (Superior / Excellent) 4.0 = 90% or
above A- 3.7 = 85-89% B+ 3.3 = 80-84% B (Good/ Better than Average)
3.0 = 75-79% B- 2.7 = 70-74% C+ 2.3 = 65-69% C (Competent /
Average) 2.0 = 60-64% F (Fail) 0 = Below 60% Course Quality
Improvement CIITs Department of Management Sciences accords
tremendous importance to ensuring that all its courses offered are
of a high quality comparable to interna-tional standard. This
applies especially to all its MPM/MPSM modules. Student feedback in
the form of suggestions and constructive criticism constitutes an
effective tool which can help the instructor improve this course
module in terms of content and content delivery style. At the end
of the semester, an anonymous written survey will be conducted by
the Department of Management Sciences where students will have the
oppor-tunity, by accessing CIITs COMSIS, to assess the course and
instructor on the basis of several pre-defined evaluation
criteria.
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Library and Information Services All students are entitled to
full access of CIIT Islamabads library. CIIT has a well-stocked
newly-constructed library comprising tens of thousands of books,
inclu-ding a dedicated section on project management with many
current contributions. CIIT provides all its students with access
to the Higher Education Commission of Pakistans highly-acclaimed
digital library system through which articles from around 25,000
research journals, including project management journals, and
approximately 60,000 eBooks can be accessed free of cost. The
library has set up special cubicles for researchers where they can
peacefully undertake their work. The whole library is covered by a
wireless broadband system. MPM/MSPM students are encouraged to
visit the library. In case of queries, assistance can be provided
by the library staff and the Head Librarian Raja Ibrahim. Student
Discipline Students are expected to come to class on time, i.e.,
they should all be quietly seated and prepared to take notes latest
by the time the class commences at 6 P.M. Students are also
expected to behave in a manner which facilitates the instructor and
other students and is conducive to an overall productive and
comfortable learning environment. During the classes, all attention
must be focused on watching, carefully listening to and trying to
understand the instructors presentation, taking notes when
necessary, and asking questions or making comments. All mobile
phones must be switched off prior to entering the classroom. No
calls may be taken or made at any time when classes are in session
and no SMS messages written, sent or received. No misbehavior will
be tolerated in class! The instructor will promptly bring such
occurrences to the attention of the MPM/MSPM Program Incharge,
and/or the Head of Department of Management Sciences who may, in
certain circum-
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stances, refer the cases to the CIIT Campus Disciplinary
Committee for decision which in more serious ones may lead to the
suspension or termination of the student or students from the
program. Ethics and Honesty For group assignments all members are
required to contribute equitably towards planning, researching,
writing, editing and formatting, and (if required) presenting the
assignment. Past experience shows that free-riding tends to be a
common problem in groups and such behavior, besides being
unethical, prevents the group from realizing its full work and
creative potential. All students are warned that there are ways to
detect free-riding and those engaging in it will be penalized by
having marks deducted. CIIT takes very serious note of any cases of
cheating or use of fraudulent and unfair means during the
examinations. In the event that any student is caught indulging in
such acts, he/she faces punitive action which can range from a
written reprimand or the imposition of a fine or deduction of a
percentage of the examination marks to expulsion from the program
or university. CIIT has a zero tolerance approach to the menace of
plagiarism, i.e., passing off someone elses writings and ideas as
your own. Whether unintentional or on purpose, all incidents of
plagiarism will be dealt with severely. Project assign-ments
submitted electronically will be subjected by him to a plagiarism
check using the anti-plagiarism software Turnitin provided to CIIT
by the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan. Any individual or
group assignment which is discovered to have been willfully
plagiarized will be graded with zero marks! Students are advised to
read the Higher Education Commission of Pakistans 13-page
publication The Little Book of Plagiarism: What It Is And How To
Avoid It which can be downloaded free of cost from the Commissions
website at www.hec.gov.pk.
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All material used ad verbatim in assignments must be wrapped in
quotation marks along with indication of the source used. Proper
referencing is required even if students are using material which
they themselves have written and published previously. When using
information obtained through interviews, discussions or other forms
of interaction with respondents sure that your sources know why you
are asking them for information and how you intend to use the
information they provide. Do not deceive them into thinking
otherwise and do not include material in your report or
examinations for which permission to disclose has been explicitly
refused or which is highly confidential in nature. Such disclosures
can, at best, cause considerable embarrassment for the persons
concerned and at worst may create serious complications for them,
possibly even dismissal from service. Student Support Students are
welcome, individually, in groups, or collectively, to approach
their instructor for any subject-related queries, problems or
issues they encounter over the course of the semester. Class breaks
and visits to the instructors office provide good opportunities for
this form of interaction. Visiting and consultation hours are
Fridays from 10 A.M to 4.30 P.M at the instructors office on the
ground floor of Academic Block II. Visits during Mondays to
Thursdays are possible but by appointment only. Support can also be
provided by e-Mail at [email protected] and
telephonically at 0300 5546815. For administrative enquiries and
issues MPM/MPSM Program Assistant Mr. Zahid Malik
([email protected]; cell phone 0322 8524592) should be
approached first for guidance. Guidance and support can, if
desired, also be sought from the MPM/MSPM Program Incharge Mrs.
Ghazala Amin (ghazala_ [email protected]; cell phone 0322
5065421) or the Head of the Department of Management Sciences
Professor Dr. Khalid Riaz ([email protected]).
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Course Literature
Recommended Reading (Books):
Dow, William & Taylor, Bruce (2008), Project Management
Communications Bible, Indianapolis, IN: Wiley Publishing, Inc.
Chinyio, Ezekiel & Olomolaiye, Paul (eds.) (2010),
Construction Stakeholder Management, Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
Friedman, Andrew L. & Miles, Samantha (2006), Stakeholders:
Theory and Practice, New York: Oxford University Press, 1.
Edition.
McManus, John, (2005), Managing Stakeholders in Software
Development Projects, Oxford: Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann, 1.
Edition.
Recommended Reading (Chapters & Sections in Books):
Brown, James T. (2008), The Handbook of Program Management. How
to Facilitate Project Success with Optimal Program Management,
McGraw-Hill, pp. 53-74 (Chapter 3: Stakeholder Management).
Calvert, Stuart, Managing Stakeholders, in: J.R. Turner (ed.)
(1995), The Com-mercial Project Manager, London: McGraw-Hill, pp.
214-222.
Cleland, David I. & Ireland, Lewis R. (2002), Project
Management: Strategic Design and Implementation, McGraw-Hill, 4.
Edition, pp. 161-190 (Chapter 6: Project Stakeholder
Management).
Cleland, David, Stakeholder Management, in: Jeffrey K. Pinto
(ed.) (1998), Project Management Handbook, San Francisco:
Jossey-Bass, pp. 55-72.
Gardiner, Paul (2005), Project Management. A Strategic Planning
Approach, Palgrave MacMillan, pp. 106-125 (Chapter 5: The Project
Manager, Sponsor and Other Stakeholders).
Tuman Jr., John, Studies in Communication Management: Achieving
Project Success Through Team-Building and Stakeholder Management,
in: Paul. C.
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Dinsmore & Jeannette Cabanis-Brewin (eds.) (2006), The AMA
Handbook of Project Management, 2. Edition, pp. 174 183.
Wideman, R. Max, How to Motivate all Stakeholders to Work
Together, in: D.I. Cleland (ed.) (2004), Field Guide to Project
Management, John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 2. Edition, pp. 288 304.
Winch, Graham M., & Bonke, Sten, Project Stakeholder Mapping
Analyzing the Interests of Project Stakeholders, in: Pinto, Jeffrey
K. / Cleland, David I. / Slevin, Dennis P. (eds.) (2003), The
Frontiers of Project Management Research, Project Management
Institute, (Chapter 23).
Miscellaneous Material:
Over the semester several articles from research journals, case
studies, reports and other printed and electronic documents from
diverse sources will be e-Mailed through the MPM/MPSM program
administration to the students in Adobe pdf and MS Word/ Excel
formats for the purpose of reference and study for each of the
module sections covered.
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Course Syllabus
Section 1 Introduction to Project Stakeholder Management
Weeks 1 & 2 Relevance of Stakeholders for Projects
Personal Introductions by the Course Instructor and the Students
Class Rules for Students (Dos & Donts) Course Objectives and
Literature, and Assessment Methodology Tips on Attempting
Sessional/Midterm and Terminal Examinations Definitions: Project
Stakeholders, Project Stakeholder Manage-
ment/Engagement Project Stakeholders Categorizations Project
Stakeholder Management as a Specialized Field of Project
Management Fundamental Principles of Project Stakeholder
Management and
Engagement Project Stakeholders in Relation to the PMBOKs
Knowledge
Areas Cost of Project Stakeholder Management and Engagement
Project Stakeholders in Cross-Disciplinary Subject Perspective
(i.e. their connection to Ethics, Law, Public Administration and
Policy, Sociology and Psychology etc.)
Course Instructors Ten Best Practice Suggestions for Project
Stakeholder Management
Section 2 Project Stakeholders: Interests/Stakes, Roles, Major
Responsibilities or Relationship to Projects Weeks 3 & 4
Internal and External Project Stakeholders
Internal Project Stakeholders:
- Senior Management - The Project / Program Management Office -
Project Steering Committees - The Project Sponsor - The Project
Client - The Project Manager and Team - Project Consultants -
Project Contractors & Subcontractors
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- Project Suppliers - Project Financers - Government Agencies -
etc.
External Project Stakeholders:
- Business Competitors - Families - Local Communities -
Non-Governmental Organizations - The Media - Academics and
Researchers - Professional and Civic Organizations - Government
Agencies - etc.
Stakeholders on Projects with Transboundary Relevance (e.g.
energy, water, transportation) Several examples will be presented
and discussed for internal, external and transboundary project
stakeholders.
Section 3 The Drivers of Project Stakeholder Management and
Engagement
Week 5 A Brief Overview of the Nine Principal Drivers behind the
Emergent Global Interest in Project Stakeholder Manage-ment and
Engagement
Awareness and Knowledge Increasing Complexity of the Project
Environment Stakeholder Theory Corporations, Society and the
Environment Transformation of Legal, Policy and Governance
Frameworks Development Financing and Implementing Organizations
Non-Governmental Organizations The Media Information and
Communication Technology
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Section 4 Professional Project Stakeholder Management: The
5-Step Project Stakeholder Governance Model Week 5 Introduction to
the Governance Model; Stakeholder Processes and Understanding the
Project Context
Introduction to the 5 Steps of the Project Stakeholder
Governance Model
Step 3: The Project Stakeholder Management Process Framework
Strengths and Limitations of the Framework The Role of Processes in
Project Stakeholder Management The Context of Projects Overview of
Project Categorization and Classification Systems Russel Archibalds
Project Categorization System Varying Complexity of Project
Categories and Implications for Pro-
ject Stakeholder Management Week 6 Project Stakeholder
Identification Processes and Tools
Identifying Project Stakeholders Examination of Powerful Project
Stakeholder Identification Tools Strengths and Limitations of the
Identification Tools The Project Stakeholder Register / Directory
Project Stakeholder Identification Examples / Case Studies
Week 7 Project Stakeholder Analysis
Criticality of Analyzing Project Stakeholders Overview of the
Stakeholder Analysis Process Strengths and Limitations of Project
Stakeholder Analysis Key Attributes of Project Stakeholders: Power,
Interest, Concerns,
Attitude and Behaviour Social Network Analysis, Social Capital,
Stakeholder Coalitions
and Implications for Stakeholder Management Week 8 Information
in the Stakeholder Analysis Process
Information as the Key Input in Project Stakeholder Analysis The
Concept of Quality Information Sources of Information on Project
Stakeholders Strengths and Limitations of Stakeholder Information
Sources Tools for Collecting Information on Project Stakeholders
Strengths and Limitations of the Tools Mediums of Storing
Information on Project Stakeholders: Human
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Memory, Paper Files and Computerized Information Systems and
their Respective Strengths and Limitations
Week 9 Complex Processes for Analyzing Internal & External
Project Stakeholders
Specific Project Stakeholder Analyses: (1) Strengths,
Weaknesses, Opportunities & Threats Analysis (2) Causes,
Complications and Impact Assessments Analysis (3) Scenario
Analysis.
Case Study: SWOT-Analysis and (Qualitative, Quantitative)
Assessment for Suppliers for an Airport Construction Project
Modeling Tools (e.g. AHP)
Week 10 Supportive and Adversarial External Project
Stakeholders
Motives of Supportive Project Stakeholders (e.g. Employment
Cre-ation, Business and Investment Opportunities, Tourism, Support
for Change and Recognition of Project Need)
Motives of Adversarial Stakeholders (e.g. Property
Expropriation, Loss of Property Value and Rents, Pollution, Lack of
Consultation, Use of Strong-Arm Tactics)
Presentation of three Videos Depicting Supportive and
Adversarial External Stakeholder Positions on the Chad-Cameroon
Pipeline Project: (1) the International Finance Corporation, (2)
EssoChad, (3) Friends of the Earth International
Week 11 Options of External Project Stakeholders
Influencing Projects: External Stakeholder Options Options Used
by Supportive External Stakeholders (e.g. Provision
of Inputs and Services, Declaration of Support) Options Used by
Adversarial External Stakeholders (e.g. Boycotts,
Petitions, Networking, Rallies, Litigation, Terrorism) Case
Studies Organization Profile: Movement for the Emancipation of the
Niger
Delta (MEND) Week 12 Project Stakeholder Analysis Tools,
Templates & Software
Spectrum of Project Stakeholder Analysis Tools Including: Visual
Mapping Tools
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Responsibility Assignment Matrices Quadrant Diagrams
(Two-Dimensional, Three-Dimensional) Force-Field Diagrams,
Influence Diagrams and Bubble Charts Complex Diagrammatic Models
For Tracking Changes in the Di-
verse Attributes of Multiple Stakeholders Over Time Software
Programs Used in Project Stakeholder Management
(e.g.: Stakeholder Circle, sMAP) Week 13 Project Stakeholder
Engagement
Purpose and Benefits of Project Stakeholder Engagement Goals and
Principles, and Indicators/Criteria of Effectiveness of
Project Stakeholder Engagement Ethics in Project Stakeholder
Engagement Video Documentary: Lyari Highway Project in Karachi,
Pakistan
(shows lack of stakeholder engagement) Overview of Stakeholder
Engagement Strategies Stakeholder Engagement Strategies and Plans
on Projects Project Stakeholder Engagement Examples & Case
Studies Video: Project Stakeholder Engagement at PetroCanada
Corp.
(shows good stakeholder engagement)
Section 5 Project Communication Management
Week 14 Project Communication: Relevance, Challenges, Tools
Communication between Stakeholders: Central Role in Projects
Forms of Communication in Projects (Speaking, Reading, Writing,
Listening, Non-Verbal) The Basic Communication Model Process and
Intent of Communication in Projects Challenges to Communication
Between Stakeholders in Projects
(e.g. Miscommunication, Lack of Communication) Cultural Issues
and Constraints in Project Communication Communication in the
Context of the PMBOK The Project Stakeholder Communication Net
Sample Project Stakeholder Communication Strategies, Guide-
lines and Plans Complexity of Stakeholder Communication in
International
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Projects Week 15 Project Communication: Advanced Topics and Role
of ICT
Verbal and Non-Verbal Mediums of Communication and their
Strengths and Limitations
Analog and Digital Technology in Project Communication The
Project Management Information System (PMIS) PMIS: Benefits and
Limitations Video: PMIS System Case Study (Nokia-Siemens) Web
Collaboration and Documentation Software Project Teams (e.g.
Cross-Functional and Virtual) and Communi-
cation Project Meetings Case Studies: Managing Communication
Challenges and Issues
in Project Teams
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APPENDIX I
Project Stakeholder Management Final, Midterm & Sessional
Examinations (2008-2012)
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COMSATS University (Fall Semester 2011)
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COMSATS INSTITUTE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY Park Road, Chak
Shehzad, Islamabad, Pakistan
Department of Management Sciences
MIDTERM EXAMINATION Course: Project Stakeholder Management
Instructor: Dr. Aurangzeb Z. Khan Class: MSPM II Date: 15 November
2011 Duration: 2 Hours Marks: 25% of Total Course Marks Both
questions are mandatory. Try to be specific in answering and focus
more on delivering quality answers. Both questions consist of
sub-questions which must be answered. Question 1 (15 Marks):
Reflect on your past and/or present professional work experience
with programs or projects. Identify and rank in order of perceived
im-portance (a) the ten biggest issues or problems you faced/are
facing in dealing with internal project or program stakeholders and
(b) the ten biggest issues you faced/are facing in dealing with
external project or program stakeholders. Give examples if
possible. How would you mitigate or eliminate such issues or
problems? Note: If you dont have any professional experience - in
which case you shouldnt have been admitted to the MSPM program! -
then state what you think could be the biggest issues for (a) &
(b) and justify your answers. Question 2 (10 Marks): You were
acquainted in class with several methods for identifying project
stakeholders. State five identification methods and discuss the
limitations of each method. Can you suggest two methods for
identifying project stakeholders which were not discussed in class?
Also state their potential limitations.
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TTEERRMMIINNAALL EEXXAAMMIINNAATTIIOONN -- FFAALLLL 22001111
Course: PROJECT STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT
Program: MSPM Total Marks: 50 Semester: II Time Allowed: 3 Hours
Date: 11-01-2012 Instructor: Dr. Aurangzeb Z. Khan
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Note to Students: All four questions must be attempted! Do not rush
into answering them. Read them and their embedded sub-questions
very carefully first and think hard before you start to write.
Consider making rough notes before attempting your answers. Keep in
mind that each question carries different marks and you should
allocate your time and effort accordingly. Marks will not be as
easy to get as they were in the midterm examination so you will
really have to exert yourselves this time.
Avoid answering too generally be as specific as you can possibly
be. Refrain from writing irrelevant details. If you have
professional work experience feel free to use examples from your
work on projects, past or present, in your respective
organizations. Also feel free to be creative where and when you
have to but do be realistic and practical also. Keep in mind the
holistic character of project stakeholder management and that in
answering these questions you may have to look to other areas of
project management (and hopefully you are already knowledgeable in
several of these areas now at this stage of your MSPM program) for
assistance should the need arise. If you think you need to make
assumptions in answering some or all questions, you may feel free
to do so but remember to state these assumptions. Use graphical
means (tables, diagrams, illustrations etc.) if you think they can
convey your point better than text only but make sure they are
clear to read and understand. Write legibly and avoid clumping too
much text together this makes it difficult to read and evaluate!
There should be some space between each paragraph. Good luck and
remember the often quoted saying of the great Chinese philoso-pher
Confucius: The Essence of Knowledge is Having It to Apply It!
___________________________________________________________________________________
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Question 1 (10 Marks) You learned this past semester in your
course on project stakeholder manage-ment that every stakeholder
entity has some interest/interests (i.e. stakes) in a project. You
also learned that there are numerous entities which collectively
normally constitute the stakeholder community of a (complex)
project. For simplicitys sake it was assumed that stakeholder
interests are clearly defined and largely self-evident, and that
they drive the attitudes and behaviors of stakeholders towards the
project. Take the case now of a public-sector federal or provincial
agency in Pakistan - or anywhere else for that matter - which
maintains a portfolio comprising several projects in its assigned
field of work. What specific information about the agency would you
need in order to determine the type of projects it considers for
inclusion in its project portfolio? (5 Marks) Are the agencys
institutional interests always necessarily identical to the
pro-fessional and personal interests of the individuals who are
managing or control-ling the agency? Discuss and give examples
where appropriate. What are the possible implications for
stakeholder analysis by project planners? (5 Marks) Question 2 (10
Marks) You are, or should be, aware of the existence of Project
Management Offices. Countless organizations in the private, public
and not-for-profit sectors across the globe, and in Pakistan, have
set up such offices. These may possess varying degrees of authority
and responsibility. In the context of project stakeholder
management and engagement, list five specific services a Project
Management Office could possibly provide for organiz-ations,
irrespective of whether these organizations are based in the
public, private or not for-profit sectors. (5 Marks) List five
possible hurdles or difficulties that the Project Management Office
could encounter in attempting to introduce stakeholder management
and engagement processes in organizations. (5 Marks)
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Question 3 (10 Marks) Refer to the illustration below. (a)
Discuss the possible positive and negative impacts on project
activities which may come about as a result of primary and
secondary stakeholder actions. Be specific and use examples if
necessary. (5 Marks) (b) What actions by primary stakeholders can
have a significant tangible or perceivable negative impact on
project activities? Give specific examples. (5 Marks)
Question 4 (20 Marks) Change. Its the fundamental purpose behind
every project undertaken anywhere and at any time across our globe.
It is also conceived, planned, executed, monitored and evaluated by
stakeholders. Change is not always welcomed by all entities. The
following article discusses ten reasons why people oppose change.
Read the article carefully. Taking any organization undertaking
various types of in-house projects propose for each of the ten
stated reasons one effective measure which can reduce or, if
possible, eliminate the resistance to change. The measures you
propose (which are ten in total) must be practical, realistic and
specific and they must be different from the mitigation or
elimination measures the articles author proposed for each
reason.
Project Primary Stakeholders (Positive & Negative
Impact)
Project Activities X, Y, Z
Project Secondary Stakeholders (Positive & Negative
Impact)
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Overcoming Resistance to Change: Top Ten Reasons for Change
Resis-tance by A. J. Schuler, Psy. D.
Top Ten Reasons People Resist Change:
1. The risk of change is seen as greater than the risk of
standing still.
Making a change requires a kind of leap of faith: you decide to
move in the direction of the unknown on the promise that something
will be better for you. But you have no proof. Taking that leap of
faith is risky, and people will only take active steps toward the
unknown if they genuinely believe and perhaps more importantly,
feel that the risks of standing still are greater than those of
moving forward in a new direction. Making a change is all about
managing risk. If you are making the case for change, be sure to
set out in stark, truthful terms why you believe the risk situation
favors change. Use numbers whenever you can, because we in the West
pay attention to numbers. At the very least, they get our
attention, and then when the rational mind is engaged, the
emotional mind (which is typically most decisive) can begin to
grapple with the prospect of change. But if you only sell your idea
of change based on idealistic, unseen promises of reward, you wont
be nearly as effective in moving people to action. The power of the
human fight-or-flight response can be activated to fight for
change, but that begins with the perception of risk.
2. People feel connected to other people who are identified with
the old way.
We are a social species. We become and like to remains connected
to those we know, those who have taught us, those with whom we are
familiar even at times to our own detriment. Loyalty certainly
helped our ancestors hunt antelope and defend against the
aggressions of hostile tribes, and so we are hard wired, I believe,
to form emotional bonds of loyalty, generally speaking. If you ask
people in an organization to do things in a new way, as rational as
that new way may seem to you, you will be setting yourself up
against all that hard wiring, all those emotional connections to
those who taught your audience the old way - and thats not trivial.
At the very least, as you craft your change message, you should
make statements that honor the work and contributions of those who
brought such success to the organization in the past, because on a
very human but seldom articulated level, your audience will feel
asked to betray their former mentors (whether those people remain
in the organization or not). A little good diplomacy at the outset
can stave off a lot of resistance.
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3. People have no role models for the new activity.
Never underestimate the power of observational learning. If you
see yourself as a change agent, you probably are something of a
dreamer, someone who uses the imagination to create new
possibilities that do not currently exist. Well, most people dont
operate that way. Its great to be a visionary, but communicating a
vision is not enough. Get some people on board with your idea, so
that you or they can demonstrate how the new way can work.
Operationally, this can mean setting up effective pilot programs
that model a change and work out the kinks before taking your
innovation on the road. For most people, seeing is believing. Less
rhetoric and more demonstration can go a long way toward overcoming
resistance, changing peoples objections from the It cant be done!
variety to the How can we get it done? category.
4. People fear they lack the competence to change.
This is a fear people will seldom admit. But sometimes, change
in organizations necessitates changes in skills, and some people
will feel that they wont be able to make the transition very well.
They dont think they, as individuals, can do it. The hard part is
that some of them may be right. But in many cases, their fears will
be unfounded, and thats why part of moving people toward change
requires you to be an effective motivator. Even more, a successful
change campaign includes effective new training programs, typically
staged from the broad to the specific. By this I mean that initial
events should be town-hall type information events, presenting the
rationale and plan for change, specifying the next steps, outlining
future communications channels for questions, etc., and specifying
how people will learn the specifics of what will be required of
them, from whom, and when. Then, training programs must be
implemented and evaluated over time. In this way, you can minimize
the initial fear of a lack of personal competence for change by
showing how people will be brought to competence throughout the
change process. Then you have to deliver.
5. People feel overloaded and overwhelmed.
Fatigue can really kill a change effort, for an individual or
for an organization. If, for example, you believe you should quit
smoking, but youve got ten projects going and four kids to keep up
with, it can be easy to put off your personal health improvement
project (until your first heart attack or cancer scare, when
suddenly the risks of standing still seem greater than the risks of
change!). When youre introducing a change effort, be aware of
fatigue as a factor in keeping people from moving forward, even if
they are telling you they believe in the wisdom of your idea. If an
organization has been through a lot of upheaval, people may resist
change just because they are tired and overwhelmed, perhaps at
precisely the time when more radical change is most needed! Thats
when you need to do two things: re-emphasize the risk
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scenario that forms the rationale for change (as in my cancer
scare example), and also be very generous and continuously
attentive with praise, and with understanding for peoples
complaints, throughout the change process. When you reemphasize the
risk scenario, youre activating peoples fears, the basic
fight-or-flight response we all possess. But thats not enough, and
fear can produce its own fatigue. Youve got to motivate and praise
accomplishments as well, and be patient enough to let people vent
(without getting too caught up in attending to unproductive
negativity).
6. People have a healthy skepticism and want to be sure new
ideas are sound.
Its important to remember that few worthwhile changes are
conceived in their final, best form at the outset. Healthy skeptics
perform an important social function: to vet the change idea or
process so that it can be improved upon along the road to becoming
reality. So listen to your skeptics, and pay attention, because
some percentage of what they have to say will prompt genuine
improvements to your change idea (even if some of the criticism you
will hear will be based more on fear and anger than substance).
7. People fear hidden agendas among would-be reformers.
Lets face it, reformers can be a motley lot. Not all are to be
trusted. Perhaps even more frightening, some of the worst
atrocities modern history has known were begun by earnest people
who really believed they knew what was best for everyone else.
Reformers, as a group, share a blemished past . . . And so, you can
hardly blame those you might seek to move toward change for
mistrusting your motives, or for thinking you have another agenda
to follow shortly. If you seek to promote change in an
organization, not only can you expect to encounter resentment for
upsetting the established order and for thinking you know better
than everyone else, but you may also be suspected of wanted to
increase your own power, or even eliminate potential opposition
through later stages of change.
I saw this in a recent change management project for which I
consulted, when management faced a lingering and inextinguishable
suspicion in some quarters that the whole affair was a prelude to
far-reaching layoffs. It was not the case, but no amount of reason
or reassurance sufficed to quell the fears of some people. Whats
the solution? Well, youd better be interested in change for the
right reasons, and not for personal or factional advantage, if you
want to minimize and overcome resistance. And youd better be as
open with information and communication as you possibly can be,
without reacting unduly to accusations and provocations, in order
to show your good faith, and your genuine interest in the greater
good of the organization. And if your change project will imply
reductions in workforce, then be open about that and create an
orderly process for outplacement and in-house retraining. Avoid the
drip-drip-drip of bad news coming out in stages, or through
indirect
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38
communication or rumor. Get as much information out there as
fast as you can and create a process to allow everyone to move on
and stay focused on the change effort.
8. People feel the proposed change threatens their notions of
themselves.
Sometimes change on the job gets right to a persons sense of
identity. When a factory worker begins to do less with her hands
and more with the monitoring of automated instruments, she may lose
her sense of herself as a craftsperson, and may genuinely feel that
the very things that attracted her to the work in the first place
have been lost. I saw this among many medical people and
psychologists during my graduate training, as the structures of
medical reimbursement in this country changed in favor of the
insurance companies, HMOs and managed care organizations. Medical
professionals felt they had less say in the treatment of their
patients, and felt answerable to less well trained people in the
insurance companies to approve treatments the doctors felt were
necessary. And so, the doctors felt they had lost control of their
profession, and lost the ability to do what they thought best for
patients.
My point is not to take sides in that argument, but to point out
how change can get right to a persons sense of identity, the sense
of self as a professional. As a result, people may feel that the
intrinsic rewards that brought them to a particular line of work
will be lost with the change. And in some cases, they may be
absolutely right. The only answer is to help people see and
understand the new rewards that may come with a new work process,
or to see how their own underlying sense of mission and values can
still be realized under the new way of operating. When resistance
springs from these identity-related roots, it is deep and powerful,
and to minimize its force, change leaders must be able to
understand it and then address it, acknowledging that change does
have costs, but also, (hopefully) larger benefits.
9. People anticipate a loss of status or quality of life.
Real change reshuffles the deck a bit. Reshuffling the deck can
bring winners . . . and losers. Some people, most likely, will gain
in status, job security, quality of life, etc. with the proposed
change, and some will likely lose a bit. Change does not have to be
a zero sum game, and change can (and should) bring more advantage
to more people than disadvantage. But we all live in the real
world, and lets face it if there were no obstacles (read: people
and their interests) aligned against change, then special efforts
to promote change would be unnecessary.
Some people will, in part, be aligned against change because
they will clearly, and in some cases correctly, view the change as
being contrary to their interests. There are various strategies for
minimizing this, and for dealing with
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39
steadfast obstacles to change in the form of people and their
interests, but the short answer for dealing with this problem is to
do what you can to present the inevitability of the change given
the risk landscape, and offer to help people to adjust. Having said
that, Ive never seen a real organizational change effort that did
not result in some people choosing to leave the organization, and
sometimes thats best for all concerned. When the organization
changes, it wont be to everyones liking, and in that case, its best
for everyone to be adult about it and move on.
10. People genuinely believe that the proposed change is a bad
idea.
Ill never forget what a supervisor of mine said to be, during
the year after I had graduated from college, secure as I was in the
knowledge of my well earned, pedigreed wisdom at age twenty-two. We
were in a meeting, and I made the comment, in response to some
piece of information, Oh, I didnt know that! Ricky, my boss, looked
at me sideways, and commented dryly, Things you dont know . . .
fill libraries. The truth is, sometimes someones (even gasp! my)
idea of change is just not a good idea. Sometimes people are not
being recalcitrant, or afraid, or muddle-headed, or nasty, or
foolish when they resist. They just see that were wrong. And even
if were not all wrong, but only half wrong, or even if were right,
its important not to ignore when people have genuine, rational
reservations or objections. Not all resistance is about emotion, in
spite of this list Ive assembled here. To win peoples commitment
for change, you must engage them on both a rational level and an
emotional level. Ive emphasized the emotional side of the equation
for this list because I find, in my experience, that this is the
area would-be change agents understand least well. But Im also
mindful that a failure to listen to and respond to peoples rational
objections and beliefs is ultimately disrespectful to them, and to
assume arrogantly that we innovative, change agent types really do
know best. A word to the wise: were just as fallible as anyone.
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The University of Maryland (Spring Semester 2011)
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Offered Spring 2011 Only! ENCE 688Z Project Stakeholder &
Communications Management
Stakeholders are central to all projects in all categories and
levels of complexity. Pro-jects are conceived, initiated, planned,
executed, controlled and evaluated by stake-holders for
stakeholders. Numerous project performance surveys consistently
attribute project success or project failure primarily to
stakeholder influences. However, project management education has
largely ignored the subject of stakeholder management, focusing on
hardcore technical themes such as scheduling, cost, risk, scope and
quality management and their myriad processes, tools and
techniques. This innovative course aims to spread awareness of the
importance of stakeholders on projects and provide practical
guidance on how best to manage and engage them in a professional
and ethical manner which helps the project achieve its goal and
objectives more effectively and efficiently, reduces risk caused by
ignoring the concerns and power of project stakeholders, and seeks
to attain a win-win situation for all stakeholders.
Monday 6:00 8:30 EGR 2103 - Dr. Aurangzeb Khan
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ENCE 688Z PROJECT STAKEHOLDER
MANAGEMENT SPRING 2011
MID-TERM EXAMINATION
(On-Line)
March 19, 2011 March 28, 2011
Course Instructor: Dr. Aurangzeb Z. Khan
NOTE TO STUDENTS - PLEASE READ: This essay-style midterm
examination carries 25% of your total course marks and runs for two
hours. It is easily attemptable in this time duration. All four
questions MUST be attempted. Each question carries 6% of your
course marks. An additional 1% will be awarded automatically to all
students. Please do NOT reproduce any of my PowerPoint slides! In
formulating your answers use your insights, (if applicable) your
past experience and apply the knowledge you gained since the
beginning of this semester by studying my PowerPoint slides and the
texts you may have read which I uploaded onto our course
Blackboard. And do keep in mind that quantity is NO substitute for
quality. Feel free to be creative when and where you feel you must
(this is much appreciated on my side). Read each question very
carefully before attempting. You may consider making rough notes
before you formulate your answers. It may be a good idea to print
out the paper first and foremost.
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NO paper written notes, laptops, digital diaries and other
electronic appliances may be used in attempting this midterm
examination. Please do not communicate with each other in any
shape, manner or form while attempting the examination. Question 1:
As you all (hopefully) know at this stage of the course, project
stakeholders are those entities who have by definition some
interest in a project. They also have concerns and apprehensions,
expectations and perceptions etc. which are important
considerations and mustnt be overlooked by project planners and
implementers. Assume that you work for a medium-sized commercial
organization which is seeking to adjust itself to changing external
environmental conditions, i.e., globalization and intensity of
competition, changing consumer preferences, appearance of new
technologies and so forth. The organizations top management is
cognizant of the fact that in order to stay afloat things have to
change in our organization. Specifically, management is thinking of
substantive changes in both the organizations structure as well as
its system of processes. These changes should be completed within a
time period of 18 months. As an employee of this organization for
the past five years and with a background in project management -
and some good insight into stakeholder management and engagement -
the management assigns you the task of advising them with regard to
the stakeholder aspect of its intended organizational restructuring
and transformation project. Specifically, the management wants to
know how receptive or unreceptive the organizations employees (your
colleagues) would be to the project and what methods/tools could be
used to determine their receptiveness, and what approach management
should adopt in order to try and reduce or eliminate resistance by
its employees to the project. Note: You may need to make some
assumptions in order to answer this question. Feel free to make any
(realistic) assumptions you want but remember to state them
clearly. Question 2: Managing and engaging project stakeholders has
a cost attached to it. The cost can be categorized in overheads
(i.e. attributable to all or multiple projects) and specific (i.e.
directly attributable to a single project). Assume you are working
on the team of a civil engineering project which will commence in
the near future. Your project manager has developed an interest in
project stakeholder management and engagement after hearing about
it from you and wants to document all the costs which are
specifically attributable to stakeholder management and engagement
on this project throughout its life-cycle. The projects traditional
accounting system (obviously) cannot provide this information.
After getting this cost information he will try to assess whether
the benefits of stakeholder management/engagement outweigh the
costs or vice versa.
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Design a project stakeholder management and engagement cost
accounting system, listing the headings/sub-headings etc you think
should be included. The system is NOT intended to replace the
traditional project cost accounting system, but serves just as an
informational tool to supplement it. Information contained in the
traditional cost accounting system can be used in the stakeholder
cost accounting system. Note: You may need to make some assumptions
in order to answer this question. Feel free to make any (realistic)
assumptions you want but remember to state them clearly. Question
3: Ethics is a theme which is of crucial importance in project
stakeholder management and engagement. Assume you are an engineer
on the team of a large building construction project which is now
in its execution phase in a fast-growing Middle Eastern country.
Your organization is the projects Lead Contractor and your work
involves interacting frequently with many primary stakeholders
working on the project, providing it with construction labor and
other resources and services. In the course of your inspection
rounds you observe that the projects construction workers are
performing their tasks under conditions which both surprise and
shock you: Long hours with irregular pauses in summer temperatures
sometimes reaching 50 degrees Celsius, cramped living quarters
where beds are used in shifts, lack of hygiene and lack of
sanitation facilities, inadequate observance of safety measures at
the construction site and inadequate training for accidents among
other things. Moreover, the construction workers who are migrants
from developing Asian countries tell you that the pay they get is
low (barely above the wage level they would get for construction
work in their own countries) and that their passports are kept in
the custody of their employing organization. You also find out that
strikes are prohibited by law and complaints are dealt with by
threatening employees with immediate dismissal and prompt expulsion
from the country. What, if anything, would you do in response to
this situation? Note: You may need to make some assumptions in
order to answer this question. Feel free to make any (realistic)
assumptions you want but remember to state them clearly. Question
4: In one of your classes you were acquainted with the project
stakeholder governance model developed by your course instructor.
Enthusiastic about this model, you propose it to your organizations
top management for consideration. You hope that ultimately it will
be adopted and serve as a framework for all your organizations
programs and projects. Your management invites you to give them a
10 minute briefing on the subject in their conference room and
after listening to you patiently and with obvious interest it asks
you to provide a brief proposal (max. 2 pages) outlining the steps
you want the organization to take to introduce the model, the
preconditions which must be met for it to work in the
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organization and the envisaged costs, benefits and risks to the
organization which may result from its application. Write such a
proposal. Try to be specific. Note: You may need to make some
assumptions in order to answer this question. Feel free to make any
(realistic) assumptions you want but remember to state them
clearly.
END OF EXAMINATION
The Essence of Knowledge is Having It to Apply It
(Confucius)
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ENCE 688Z PROJECT STAKEHOLDER
MANAGEMENT
SPRING SEMESTER 2011
FINAL EXAMINATION (On-Line)
May 12, 2011 May 18, 2011
Course Instructor: Dr. Aurangzeb Z. Khan NOTE TO STUDENTS -
PLEASE READ: This essay-style final examination carries 50% of your
total course marks and runs for three hours. It is easily
attemptable in this time. All four questions with sub-questions
MUST be attempted. Two questions each carry 15% of your course
marks while the other two each carry 10%. Keep in mind that
quantity is NO substitute for quality. Feel free to be creative
when and where you think you must. Read each question very
carefully before attempting. Consider making rough notes prior to
formulating your answers. It may be a good idea to print out this
paper first. Note: In case you need to make assumptions in order to
answer any or all questions feel free to do so but be realistic and
remember to state your assumptions clearly.
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Question 1: As you are (hopefully) aware, a large number of
tools have been developed over time which find application in the
project stakeholder analysis phase. Name three such tools. Discuss
the respective strengths and limitations of using your three chosen
tools in analyzing project stakeholders (15 Marks). Question 2:
Does technology (meaning here any technology other than information
& communication technology) have a role to play in helping
project planners address and eliminate or mitigate the concerns of
(external/secondary) project stakeholders? Discuss. Give specific
examples, if possible preferably from your experience working on
projects or programs (10 Marks). Question 3: Good project
stakeholder management and engagement means searching for practical
win-win solutions, i.e., solutions which benefit both the project
in terms of reducing negative stakeholder risk to its goal, cost
and schedule, as well as which result in a net gain for all project
stakeholders, regardless of whether they are internal or external.
Develop a general methodology or process specifically for
determining win-win solu-tions for either internal or external
project stakeholders, briefly outlining each step in your proposed
methodology or process (15 Marks). Question 4: Looking back at your
entire course and the wealth of information which is available on
project stakeholder management and engagement, discuss how in your
professional work environment you intend to apply (or how you
intend to try to apply) the knowledge you gained in this course.
What opportunities and limitations for applying professional
project stakeholder management/engagement do you anticipate in this
connection and how will you address them? (10 Marks)
END OF EXAMINATION
THANK YOU FOR YOUR INTEREST AND PARTICIPATION IN THIS COURSE
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COMSATS University
(Spring Semester 2010)
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COMSATS INSTITUTE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY Park Road, Chak
Shehzad, Islamabad, Pakistan
Department of Management Sciences
FIRST SESSIONAL EXAMINATION
Course Subject: (Project Stakeholder Management) Marks: 10 Date:
15th March 2010 Time: 6 PM 7 PM Course Instructor: Dr. Aurangzeb Z.
Khan i. Please attempt the question / subquestions below. ii. Do
not write unnecessary details, it will be considered as negative
point. iii. Books, notes, mobile phones, laptops, calculators,
digital diaries and other
electronic devices are not permitted in the examination
hall.
* * * *
Question: You are familiar with several project stakeholders in
the two stake-holder categorization categories (primary, secondary)
proposed by David Cleland and Lewis Ireland. Select five
stakeholders from any one - or, if you want, from both - of these
cate-gories and for each of the five stakeholders you have chosen
identify and briefly discuss their five most important expectations
which they normally would have on a project. Note: Do not confuse
the stakeholder roles which we discussed in class with stakeholder
expectations. Roles and expectations are not the same thing.
Good Luck!
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COMSATS INSTITUTE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY Park Road, Chak
Shehzad, Islamabad, Pakistan
Department of Management Sciences
SECOND SESSIONAL EXAMINATION
Course Subject: (Project Stakeholder Management) Marks: 15 Date:
26th April 2010 Time: 8.30 PM 9.30 PM Course Instructor: Dr.
Aurangzeb Z. Khan i. Please attempt the question / subquestions
below. iv. Do not write unnecessary details, it will be considered
as negative point. v. Books, notes, mobile phones, laptops,
calculators, digital diaries and other
electronic devices are not permitted in the examination
hall.
* * * *
Question: In one of your classes earlier this semester your
Course Instructor suggested the creation of a Project Stakeholder
Management Handbook as a useful reference document for assisting
program and project planners and imple-menters working for the
public sector, corporations and non-governmental organizations to
manage their programs and projects more effectively and
efficiently. Assume you have been tasked with compiling this
handbook for your organiza-tion. What information would you include
in it? Outline the documents structure and thematic headings and
subheadings. Suggest two more stakeholder management best practices
which organizations could adopt on all their programs and
projects.
Good Luck!
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COMSATS INSTITUTE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY Park Road, Chak
Shehzad, Islamabad, Pakistan
Department of Management Sciences
FINAL EXAMINATION Course Subject: Project Stakeholder Management
Date: 11th June 2010 Marks: 50 Course Instructor: Dr. Aurangzeb Z.
Khan Time: 6.30 9.30 PM Please attempt all questions / subquestions
below. Do Not write unnecessary details, it will be considered as a
negative point. Books, cell phones, laptops, calculators, digital
diaries and other electronic devices are not permitted in the
examination hall. Note to Students: Do not rush into answering the
three questions! Read all questions and their embedded
sub-questions very carefully first and think hard before you start
to write. Consider making rough notes before attempting your
answers. Keep in mind that each question carries different marks
and you should allocate your time and effort accordingly. Marks
will not be as easy to get as they were in the first and second
sessional examinations and you will really have to exert yourselves
this time. Try to avoid answering too generally be as specific as
you can possibly be. Refrain from writing irrelevant details. If
you have professional work experience feel free to use examples
from your personal experience working on projects, past or present,
in your respective organizations. Also feel free to be creative
where and when you have to but do be realistic also. Keep in mind
the holistic character of project stakeholder management and that
in answering these questions you may have to look to other areas of
project management (and hopefully you are already knowledgeable in
several of these areas now at this stage of your MPM) for
assistance should the need arise. If you think you need to make
assumptions in an-swering some or all questions, you may feel free
to do so but remember to state these assumptions. Use graphical
means (tables, diagrams, illustrations etc.) if you think they can
convey your point better than text only but make sure they are
clear to
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read and understand. Write legibly and avoid clumping too much
text together this makes it difficult to read and evaluate! There
should be some space between each paragraph. Good luck and remember
the often quoted saying of the great Chinese philosopher Confucius:
The Essence of Knowledge is Having It to Apply It! Question 1 (15
Marks): You have learned in your course on project stakeholder
management that one of the biggest challenges on projects is
attaining a win-win solution for its stakeholders, i.e., trying to
ensure that preferably all stakeholders benefit from the project
and that the benefits for each stakeholder exceed their incurred
cost. Sadly this is often ignored in practice by project plan-ners
and implementers who traditionally tend to focus primarily on
attain-ment of the projects cost, schedule and scope and quality
objectives and do not go the extra mile to satisfy their
stakeholders. Can technology and innovative ideas help project
planners and implemen-ters attain win-win solutions for their
projects? Discuss. Give at least five examples in this regard.
(Note: Technology is a broad notion which includes, but is not
confined to, the field of Information & Communication
Technology. Innovation does not mean technological innovation only
but extends to any form of innovation which, when applied in the
context of project stakeholder management, can help in achieving
win-win solutions for stakeholders). Question 2 (15 Marks): Project
management, as it is being taught in degree programs in colleges
and universities, and in training courses throughout the world, is
essentially about best practices documented over years of
observation on projects of all categories undertaken across the
globe. Is there a discernible relationship between the intensity of
application of these project management best practices and the
overall satisfacti