KA7064 - People in Project Management

This module will adopt an integrated approach to learning and teaching, including a formal scheduled teaching programme and a constructively aligned learning path of tutor-directed learning and independent study. During in-class instruction, tutors will introduce you to selected concepts and theories about how groups operate in organisations. You will also study specific chapters of the essential reading textbook, complete applied small-group tasks during seminars, explore case studies, and watch online video presentations. Your learning will also be facilitated using digital learning materials presented on the university’s technologically enhanced learning (TEL) platforms, including Panopto video recordings of the lectures for you to watch afterwards. Off-campus students will complete tutor-directed tasks with a small group of their off-campus peers in place of the seminars, making use of the collaborative tools in the university’s TEL platforms.

Tutors will provide guidance and 1-2-1 support (where possible) or use interactive asynchronous online peer support forums on the university’s virtual learning environment (VLE) to support you in your studies. Tutors will use directed learning activities, e.g., required reading from selected chapters of the essential reading textbook. You will supplement this tutor-directed support with independent study.

All modules at Northumbria include a range of reading materials that students are expected to engage with. The reading list for this module can be found at: http://readinglists.northumbria.ac.uk
(Reading List service online guide for academic staff this containing contact details for the Reading List team – http://library.northumbria.ac.uk/readinglists)

Knowledge & Understanding:
1. Define and evaluate selected theories and concepts associated with the main characteristics and processes of teams, the issues facing teams, and the organisational context of teams.
2. Critically appraise selected theories and techniques associated with the groups and teams in an organisation, organisational structures, and management processes.

Intellectual / Professional Skills & Abilities:
3. Empowered with the knowledge, skills, and abilities to structure, participate in, and effectively lead real, virtual, and hybrid project-orientated teams.
4. Critically review the extant literature on team dynamics, management, and organisational behaviour, and engage with what others have written through evaluative discourse.

Personal Values Attributes (Global / Cultural awareness, Ethics, Curiosity) (PVA):
5. Develop and exhibit a Northumbria University postgraduate student’s professional ethics characteristics. You will have the opportunity to reflect on how these relate to your values and thus review your professional development plan.

Formative Assessment
Tutors will assess you in a formative manner to help build your confidence and highlight any misunderstandings you may have about the theoretical and professional concepts presented in the module. Tutors will verbally give you constructive feedback during formally scheduled teaching sessions or digitally using the university’s virtual learning environment (VLE). Your formative feedback aims to help you learn and prepare for the submission of your summative assessments.

Summative Assessment
Tutors will assess you in a summative manner with two pieces of inter-related coursework: Coursework 001 and Coursework 002. Tutors will use Coursework 002 to evaluate your ability to satisfy all the module’s learning outcomes. You will use the university’s VLE to submit Coursework 002. Tutors will use digital feedback tools embedded within the VLE to issue your mark and feedback for Coursework 002. Coursework 001 involves the peer assessment of draft Coursework 002. Instead of the tutors, two of your peers will use digital feedback tools embedded within the VLE to provide you with formative feedback for Coursework 001. You will also provide constructive feedback on two of your peers’ drafts of Coursework 001. Tutors will summatively assess your participation in the peer assessment process to issue your mark for Coursework 001 using the VLE’s embedded digital feedback tools.

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Of all the variables that contribute to the success or failure of projects, the project team is the most neglected one and, therefore, needs the most attention. This module aims to provide a clear and concise overview of the key concepts and theories of project, social, and organisation psychology about effective project team dynamics. Of equal importance, the module will also explore the essential concepts and theories associated with management and organisational behaviour, which influence people and project-orientated teamwork. Grounded in the social, management, and organisation sciences but with an underlying practice-based focus on effective teamwork, the module will enable you to understand, participate in, and lead real, virtual, and hybrid project-orientated teams.