Courses
Note: class weeks are provided to give you an estimate of your program schedule. Your program may follow a different schedule from that listed here.
Your first course is Project Management (weeks 1-6), a step-by-step explanation of the project management process. You review the differences between theory and practice, leading to the development of a solid project plan. Through lecture, case studies, problem sets, and class projects, you explore the functional, project, and matrix environments in which project managers work. Practical tools and techniques such as work breakdown structure, network diagrams, and critical path method provide you with the building blocks necessary to create your own project plan. By the end of this course, you will be able to:
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recognize the reasons for project failure and provide remedies that work
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understand the Project Management Institute's Project Management Body of Knowledge
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prepare a detailed project plan
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Human Factors and Team Dynamics (weeks 1-8) provides you with the interpersonal and managerial skills necessary to promote and support project management. You explore interpersonal styles that affect leadership, motivation, employee empowerment, team membership and dynamics, conflict resolution, power and politics, and problem solving. Using self-assessments and team exercises, you have the chance to assess the impact of different leadership styles as they affect the human factors implicit in project management. In this course you will:
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develop the knowledge and skills necessary to manage human factors in project
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become familiar with team models used in project management
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use project management simulations to discover what leads to successful and unsuccessful projects
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The Quality Management
(weeks 4-8) course allows you to gain an overview of quality management and an understanding of the philosophies and strategies of prominent quality authorities such as Juran, Deming, and Crosby, and the concept of Kaizen. In a workshop environment that includes lecture, class discussion, and individual and team projects, you explore ways to effectively implement a quality improvement program, and you learn about cost of quality, process capability, statistical process control, and benchmarking. Upon completing the course, you will:
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understand the concept of service strategy and know how to implement it |
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use a framework for process improvement
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have the skills to assess and measure quality
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Project Management Tools (weeks 5-10) is a hands-on course, allowing you to gain experience using important project management tools. You learn to use Microsoft Project and spreadsheet, presentation, and survey software to enhance project management effectiveness, and you explore industry best practices for the development, maintenance, and control of both large and small projects. Upon completing this course, you will be able to:
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develop complete project plans using Microsoft Project
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structure Excel spreadsheets to meet project communications and data gathering needs
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deliver effective project kickoff and reporting presentations
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Project Risk Management (weeks 7-14) is intended to provide you with an understanding of the elements of risk in projects and how to manage them. Compared with project work done in the past, all projects today are risky: they are more time constrained, pose greater technical challenges, and rarely have adequate resources. However, there are techniques for dealing with project risk that can help you recognize and manage potential problems. This course focuses on practical methods for completing difficult projects. Upon successful completion of this course, you will be able to:
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identify the risk elements in projects |
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analyze, evaluate, and categorize the various types of risks
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mitigate risks by using project management principles and practices
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Contract Management (weeks 9-13) is an essential component of project management. Contracts define the agreement between owners and contractors and/or contractors and subcontractors. Contracts are also the basic documents for describing and defining the project. In this course, you learn the elements of project contracts, the purpose of each, and how they should be managed. Your own work experience and examples will feature heavily in class discussions to ensure relevance. By the end of this course, you will be able to:
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understand and apply different fee structures, including lump sum, reimbursable, and incentive options |
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identify and understand the various components of contract management, including liability and indemnification, insurance and bonds, progress reports, dispute resolution, governing law, and assignment
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prepare a complete contract, including its provisions, as part of a team project
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International Business Negotiating (weeks 11-15) uses lectures, videos, and group exercises to explain the techniques, procedural steps, tactics, and strategies of negotiations. In role-playing exercises, you explore the persuasive elements necessary in successful negotiations. You also examine the role of culture in international business transactions, and how this can impact your role as a negotiator. By the end of this course, you will be able to:
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strategically plan negotiations
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effectively manage conflict, and resolve interpersonal and group conflicts
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successfully manage international and multicultural negotiations
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Project Planning and Control (weeks 9-13) serves as a capstone for the Project Management
Diploma Program. Using a project control model, this course shows that effective project management depends on the appropriate execution of activities such as estimating, planning, resourcing, communicating, engineering, measuring, tracking, reporting, and documenting. With additional control tools and techniques in hand, you revisit the plans from the Project Management course to identify if and where upgrades should be made to enhance the likelihood that the planned projects will be controlled. In this course, you will:
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learn the project control model
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apply tools and techniques required to implement the control model
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discover the art of project planning and management using these tools
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The Project Management Diploma Program teaches you to build and lead projects in a cross-cultural environment, and offers you proven techniques for successful teamwork. These tools can then be applied in such diverse fields as research and design, software development, product development, engineering, biotechnology, and construction, giving you an invaluable edge in the global economy. |
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