PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Dr. Arun Kumar Paul

Prof. Dr. Arun Kumar Paul (Bachelor of Technology, Honors from I. I. T. Kharagpur; Fulltime FPM-Fellow in Management from XLRI, Jamshedpur), currently with Xavier Institute of Management (XIMB), Xavier University Bhubaneswar (XUB) as Professor in Operations Management and Decision Sciences (OM & DS) Area.

He has over 26 years of industry experience, starting his career as Design Engineer and then moving on to the level of Project Manager, where he headed capital projects (in Integrated Steel Plant, in Process Consulting and in ETO Job shop with multidisciplinary engineering environment) for Tata group of companies. He has extensively worked with experts from McKinsey & Co.(US based consulting company), through their structured methodology, on improving ‘opex and capex excellence’. He is trained as six-sigma resource (by International General Electric) as well as in TOC/CCPM implementation (by Goldratt Australasia) and has practical experience of deployment of the above in Tata organizations. He was an external assessor in Tata Business Excellence Model (TBEM), a Business Excellence model based on the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award.

He has various publications in national and international journals, has worked with reputed international publishers, and has associations with professional bodies such as PMI, IIMM.

He was awarded the National Education Leadership Award in 2013 as best teacher in Operations Management area.

His teaching and research areas include Operations Management; Operations Strategy; Total Quality Management & Six Sigma; Theory of Constraints; Services Operations Management; Business Statistics; Logistics & Supply Chain Management. Global Sourcing & Lean Materials Management, Project Management, Quantitative Methods for Business Decisions.

He has held various academic administrative roles such as Ex-Area Coordinator of Operations Management and Decision Sciences (OM & DS) Area; Ex-Associate Dean (Admission) of XUB; Ex-Program Committee member for Executive Education; Ex-Coordinator (Continuing Education Centre or Management Development Program) of XIMB, XUB; Currently he is Coordinator (Student Affairs and Disciplinary Committee) of XIMB, XUB and recently he has been appointed as Dean of Xavier-Emlyon Business School (XEBS).

His extracurricular activities and hobbies include eastern music (with eight years of formal training), sports (having represented school, college and departmental teams in badminton, basketball and table tennis) and yoga.

For further details, pls visit my linked in page : https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-arun-kumar-paul-b5801513/

  1. Course Description

The term project management is now used extensively for the management and accomplishment of any plan, scheme or task. Projects are the vital means of development and economic progress. They are the building blocks for generating additional capital and for ensuring flow of goods and services to the nation. In India, large amounts have been and are being spent on various projects for providing infrastructure facilities and for meeting developmental needs. Project management is critical to sustainable economic growth. New jobs and competitive advantage are achieved by constant innovation, developing new products and services, and improving both productivity and quality of work. Project management is thus of vital importance to any undertaking that is being newly setup or to any organization planning expansion/diversification of its activities.

This course provides with an overview of project management and the essential tools needed to deliver successful projects on time and within budget. One will learn the fundamental principles of project management including: project initiation, project definition, creation of work breakdown structures, scheduling using Gantt charts and network diagrams, risk management, budgeting and controlling resources, quality assurance, auditing and project termination.

Perhaps the best indicator of demand for project management can be seen in the rapid expansion of the Project Management Institute (PMI), a professional organization for project managers. PMI membership has grown from 93,000 in 2002 to the world’s leading project management organization with over 600,000 Global Members and over 300 Local Chapters Internationally (www.pmi.org).

2. Student Learning Outcomes

After successful completion of this course, executive students will be able to achieve the following objectives:

  • Will be able to appreciate most of the concepts discussed in project management course.

  • Will be able to appreciate the analytical aspects of project management particularly for project scheduling, monitoring and cost control, and will become proficient in the use of project management software like MS-Project for managing projects.

  • Will learn the key theories and skills that are essential for a great Project Manager.

3. Organization and Delivery of the Course

This course will have 15 live on-line sessions, each session having 75 minutes duration. The sessions are aligned with the suggested textbook chapters and numerical examples / application exercises. Selected case studies and reading articles will also be part of this course. In all sessions, the instructor will deploy a mix of lecture, short case discussion, and class exercises for achieving the learning outcomes of the course. The purpose of class exercises and case study is to have deeper understanding of the concepts being discussed. Microsoft Project will be used in some of the sessions to familiarise students with a project planning and scheduling software.

The total off-line engagements for this course are expected to be about 10 plus hours. The students are expected to come prepared for the live sessions by watching the videos (to be shared well before the select sessions) and by pre-reading the text book chapters, the articles and cases / exercises, as assigned / provided progressively during the course.

4. Course Resources

TEXT BOOK (TB) -

  1. Project Management: The Managerial Process, Clifford F Gray, E W Larson, G V Desai, 6th edition / latest edn., McGraw Hill Education Publication.

REFERENCE BOOKS -

    1. Project Management: a Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling, and Controlling , Harold Kerzner,10th Edition, John Wiley & Sons.

    2. Project Management, Sadhan Choudhury, TMG, New Delhi.

    3. Project Management for Business, Engineering, and Technology: Principles and Practices, John M Nicholas and Herman Steyn, 3rd Edition, Elsevier.

    4. International Project Management, Kathrin Koster, Sage.

  • Selected Reading Materials / Case Studies will be provided during the course.

5. Live Project


6. Evaluation


7. Additional Readings