Unit information: Project Management in 2026/27

Unit name	Project Management
Unit code	MGRCM0046
Credit points	20
Level of study	M/7
Teaching block(s)	Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24)
Unit director	Dr. Ola
Open unit status	Not open
Units you must take before you take this one (pre-requisite units)	None
Units you must take alongside this one (co-requisite units)	None
Units you may not take alongside this one	None
School/department	School of Management - Business School
Faculty	Faculty of Social Sciences and Law

Unit Information

Why is this unit important?

You will be involved in project implementation either as project delivery professionals or project review activities at one point in your career.

As accountants or finance-related professionals, you may find yourself

1. Managing an audit engagement activities as a project manager
2. You may be involved as a project team member, such as a business analyst, project analyst, planner, cost controller or risk analyst.
3. You may take the role of an internal or external project reviewer, comparing the progress of the project with the planned outcome
4. You may take on the role of a client, customer, or other stakeholder with a major interest in the outcomes of a major project.

Whatever your involvement in projects and project management in the future, the project management tools and techniques reviewed during the unit will benefit you. By understanding what it takes to manage projects effectively, you can help ensure they deliver their intended benefits. You will understand why projects fail and what we project management professionals can do to reduce the causes of project failures.

How does this unit fit into your programme of study?

Project management has been adopted by a wide range of organisations in industry, commerce, and the public sector. It is therefore a highly relevant area of study for anyone taking a degree in business, management, accounting and finance disciplines.

• The purpose of projects is to deliver some new and relatively unique benefit to an organization or society.
• This could entail anything from designing and delivering an improved service or system, to planning and building a major infrastructure programme.
• Projects are hugely diverse in type and scope, but examples include everything from computer software, through new consumer products, to buildings, bridges, company mergers, an Olympic games, or a mission to Mars.
• Projects can also be implementing an audit engagement activity or installing ERP systems in Banks and financial institutions.

So a good understanding of projects and their management will benefit anyone whose degree course positions them for careers in product development, consultancy, marketing, innovation, operations management, public management, or strategy.

Your learning on this unit

An overview of content

This unit introduces you to the topic of project management. We provide a theoretical grounding in basic concepts, techniques, models, and analytical frameworks. You will learn to apply these to realistic cases and the management of your own projects in a rigorous, systematic, and critical way.

How will students, personally, be different as a result of the unit?

• By learning basic project management theory and applying it to practice, you will develop a critical, integrated, and holistic understanding of what projects are, and how they can be managed in organisations.
• This will equip you with analytical tools with which to explore and explain organisational situations more generally.
• You will develop an appreciation for theoretical debates around complexity, uncertainty, risk, and the social aspects of project working.
• As part of a team that plans and delivers a simple project, you will enhance your collaboration, coordination, and communication skills.
• You will gain confidence and techniques for dealing with complexity and change by using processes for critical reflection, systematic learning, and agility.

Learning Outcomes

At the end of the course, a successful student will be able to:

1. Explain and critique project management concepts and methods to demonstrate an integrated, holistic, and critical understanding of theory and practice
2. Recognise how projects interact with the wider managerial, strategic, political, and social environment.
3. Critically analyse how project management techniques are applied to manage project outcomes and the challenges and practicalities of group work as a form of project organising, fostering critical thinking skills.
4. Apply project management concepts and theories to analyse, interpret, and diagnose project situations and confidently propose improvements to project management.

How you will learn

We teach you to become conversant with the conceptual ‘language’ of project management to underpin the development of practical skills in analysing and managing projects. In addition to a focused, traditional lecture approach, we put weekly seminars for active learning at the heart of this unit. These focus on applying theory, problem-solving exercises, and case analysis to your group project work. Our student-centred, active, problem-based, experiential, and reflective learning is designed to promote your optimal performance in both group and individual assessments.

• Group coursework assignments are designed to provide a realistic experience of project working and the development of practical project management and team working skills. Possible group assignments include (but are not limited to):

• an in-depth study of a project case
• design and delivery of a tangible ‘product’, such as a video
• participation in and critical reflection on a project management simulation or game
• development of a project charter, plan, or business case.

• Group coursework assessment: we assess both your coursework results and your performance as a project management team. Tutors act as your guide and coach to support your project work throughout the term, engaging with you both in and out of class.

• Developing your group coursework: in the early stages of your coursework, you will undertake ‘practice’ activities during seminars that you will build on with your team outside class to develop your projects. Many of these in-class activities contribute directly to the planning and delivery of your project. This approach also lets you deepen your understanding of the theories you apply (concepts, models, frameworks, methods).

• Preparing in advance for interactive seminars: we provide a clear ‘pathway’ of learning activities for you to follow before, during, and after each class session. These activities include engaging with short pre-recorded Mini Lectures, readings from textbooks, scholarly papers, or news media, online exercises and resources, and key group coursework tasks.

• The unit uses Mini Lectures (pre-recorded) to enable you to study at your own pace and in your own time, with opportunities for reflection and interaction with other related learning activities built in.

• Developing your critical analysis of projects: as you build your foundational knowledge and confidence, our attention increasingly turns to analysing project cases and critical engagement with project management literature. This is facilitated through active, dynamic, collegial, open discussions, debates, role-plays, and other group activities during seminars.

How you will be assessed

Tasks which help you learn and prepare you for summative tasks (formative):

1. Optional online quizzes enable you to assess your emerging foundational knowledge. These will also prepare you for the summative assessments.
2. During the group activities, you would receive frequent guidance and feedback on your formative task and activities. This would help you reflect on and improve your group project and report writing before you submit for summative assessment.
3. The tutor will also provide opportunities for you to engage and reflect on your learning and receive guidance. There will also be discussion board and Q&A sessions where you can interact with the Unit Director and other students.

Tasks which count towards your unit marks (summative):

Assessment 1 (15% of final mark) This summative test is delivered online as a timed, open-book 'mid-term' exam. It assesses students' understanding of foundational concepts and theories. (ILO 1 and some of ILO 2)

Assessment 2 (40% of final mark) For this summative assessment, each student produces written work of between 1,500 and 2,000 words. (ILO 1, ILO 2, and ILO 4)

Assessment 3 (45% of final mark)

This summative group assignment is enacted as a project that produces a piece of coursework ('deliverable') on a given project management topic, problem, or case situation. The 'deliverable' and the group's project management 'performance' are assessed. (ILOs 1-4)

When assessment does not go to plan

When a student fails the unit and is eligible to resubmit, failed components will be reassessed like-for-like, and each element must have an equivalent reassessment (ILO and % terms).

Reassessment 1 (15%): This reassessment is delivered online as a timed, open-book 'mid-term' exam. It assesses students' understanding of foundational concepts and theories. (ILO 1 and some of ILO 2) and will be a revised version of the original assessment.

Reassessment 2 (40%): This is a reassessment of the Individual coursework component. Each student produces written work of between 1,000 and 1,500 words covering ILO 1, ILO 2, and ILO 4. However, the students must produce a new piece of work in each case. Detailed guidance and a specific brief will be provided during reassessment.

Reassessment 3 (45%): This is a reassessment of the group coursework component. The project brief will be similar to the original group assignment, with the design and delivery of a simple project carried out individually. The student is required to produce their own new work (roughly equivalent to 1,000 and 1,500 words) covering ILO 1-4. Detailed guidance and a specific brief will be provided during reassessment.

Resources

If this unit has a Resource List, you will normally find a link to it in the Blackboard area for the unit. Sometimes there will be a separate link for each weekly topic.

If you are unable to access a list through Blackboard, you can also find it via the Resource Lists homepage. Search for the list by the unit name or code (e.g. MGRCM0046).

How much time the unit requires
Each credit equates to 10 hours of total student input. For example a 20 credit unit will take you 200 hours of study to complete. Your total learning time is made up of contact time, directed learning tasks, independent learning and assessment activity.

See the University Workload statement relating to this unit for more information.

Assessment
The assessment methods listed in this unit specification are designed to enable students to demonstrate the named learning outcomes (LOs). Where a disability prevents a student from undertaking a specific method of assessment, schools will make reasonable adjustments to support a student to demonstrate the LO by an alternative method or with additional resources.

The Board of Examiners will consider all cases where students have failed or not completed the assessments required for credit. The Board considers each student's outcomes across all the units which contribute to each year's programme of study. For appropriate assessments, if you have self-certificated your absence, you will normally be required to complete it the next time it runs (for assessments at the end of TB1 and TB2 this is usually in the next re-assessment period).
The Board of Examiners will take into account any exceptional circumstances and operates within the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes.