Our Services

Get 15% Discount on your First Order

[rank_math_breadcrumb]

Saudi Electronic University Homework Help

MGT530-M13C4-Critical Thinking

Description

I need help completing a discussion board post for my Management course (Operation Management). Below are the exact requirements provided by my instructor:

Description:

In this module, you will learn about the behavioral aspects of project management as well as components of the work breakdown structure. Projects are unique undertakings that must support the organization’s strategic plan. Pay attention to the connection between the strategic goals of an organization and its projects. Focus on how project management allows for projects, whether for-profit, non-profit, governmental, or even community organizations, to deliver sustainable innovation and customer requirements.

Learning Outcomes:

Appraise the behavioral aspects of project management.
Examine the importance of following the project life cycle phases.
Evaluate the role of management on risk mitigation.
Compare project management models in relation to effectiveness.

——————————————Instructions——————————————

Project Management

Critically analyze the role of project management in the successful delivery of a complex, high-stakes project. In your analysis, be sure to address the following key points:

How do leadership styles, team dynamics, and stakeholder management impact project outcomes? Provide examples of how emotional intelligence and conflict resolution skills are critical for project managers.
Discuss the risks and challenges of deviating from established project management methodologies. Analyze a case study where a project failed due to skipping or rushing through key project phases.
Evaluate the project manager’s responsibility for identifying, assessing, and mitigating risks. Provide an example of how proactive risk management enabled a project to overcome major obstacles.
Compare the strengths and weaknesses of traditional waterfall models vs agile/iterative approaches. Analyze which model is most appropriate for different types of projects and organizational contexts.

Assignment Requirements:

Your well-written paper should meet the following requirements:

Length: The paper should be Six Pages in length (6), excluding the title and reference pages.
Formatting: Follow academic writing standards and APA style guidelines.
Sources & Citations: Support your submission with course material concepts, principles, and theories from the textbook and at least Three (3) scholarly, peer-reviewed journal articles. Proper APA citation is required.
Originality Check: You are strongly encouraged to check all assignments for originality using Turnitin before submission.
Plagiarism Policy: Plagiarism is NOT tolerated. Plagiarism is strictly prohibited. Assignments with more than 15% similarity to existing work will receive a zero. Repeated offenses may lead to termination.
Grading Rubric: Review the grading rubric to understand how your assignment will be evaluated.
Course Alignment: Ensure your discussion incorporates textbook concepts, principles, and theories, aligning with class lectures and avoiding the use of advanced material not yet covered in the course.
Discuss the concepts, principles, and theories from your textbook. Be sure to cite the textbook and use the lectures provided so that the analysis aligns with the material we’ve covered so far in the course.

Required Readings:

Chapter 17 in Operations Management
Chapter 17 PowerPoint Presentation
Adam, M., Soliman, A. M., & Mahtab, N. (2023). Measuring enterprise risk management implementation: A multifaceted approach for the banking sector. Quarterly Review of Economics & Finance, 87, 244–256.

Recommended Readings:

Chan, J., & Li, Y. (2025). Enhancing team diversity with generative AI: A novel project management framework. arXiv.
Alghuried, A. (2025). Assessing the critical success factors for the sustainable construction project management of Saudi Arabia. Journal of Asian Architecture and Building Engineering, 1–19.

Note: I’ve attached the slides for the relevant chapter, grading rubric, and the book below (https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/10efj01b5l2avuyn4n8…).

Instructor Expectations:

Please ensure you dedicate your utmost effort and attention to detail when completing this task. The instructor places a strong emphasis on proper citation and substantive analysis that extends beyond simply answering the questions. Your work should demonstrate depth, originality, and critical thinking by introducing new insights and supporting arguments with thorough research.

The instructor maintains high academic standards and expects students to consistently strive for excellence. Your assignment should reflect the following:

Comprehensive Use of Sources:
- Incorporate textbook theories, concepts, and at least three (3) peer-reviewed journal articles to support your analysis.
- Proper APA citation is essential to demonstrate deep engagement with the material.
Substantial Analysis:
- Move beyond surface-level responses by providing insightful, well-developed arguments.
- Offer unique perspectives and link theories to practical examples to enhance your discussion.
Attention to Detail:
- Ensure your writing is clear, polished, and well-organized.
- Adhere to the required page count and APA formatting guidelines.
Avoid vague terms:
Refrain from using words like “many,” “most,” or “some” unless they are absolutely true and backed by evidence. Ensure specificity in your statements.
Incorporate diverse sources:
Enhance your paper by including citations from various sources such as videos, movies, interviews, or other multimedia resources to enrich your arguments.
Strong introduction and thesis:
- Craft a compelling “zinger” (introductory sentence) and a clear thesis.
- These are crucial for quickly capturing your audience’s interest.
Integration of course learnings:
- Apply what you’ve learned throughout the course effectively.
- Define the problem, conduct thorough research, present your perspective clearly, and maintain focus in your paper.
Enhance your conclusion:
- Summarize key concepts effectively.
- Include a strong quotation or statistic to reinforce your message and create a lasting impression on your reader.

This assignment is not just about fulfilling a requirement—it is an opportunity to showcase academic excellence.

Additionally, your performance on this assignment will significantly influence my decision to collaborate with you on future coursework throughout my academic journey.

Project
Management

Copyright ©2021 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without
the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.

17-1

You should be able to:
LO 17.1
LO 17.2

Describe the project life cycle
Discuss the behavioral aspects of projects in terms of project
personnel and the project manager
LO 17.3 Name the six key decisions in project management
LO 17.4 Explain the nature and importance of a work breakdown structure
in project management
LO 17.5 Give a general description of PERT/CPM techniques
LO 17.6 Construct simple network diagrams
LO 17.7 Analyze networks with deterministic times
LO 17.8 Analyze networks with probabilistic times
LO 17.9 Describe activity “crashing” and solve typical problems
LO 17.10 Discuss the advantages of using PERT and potential sources
of error
LO 17.11 Discuss the key steps in risk management
Copyright ©2021 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGrawHill Education.

17-2

 Projects
 Unique, one-time operations designed to accomplish a

specific set of objectives in a limited time frame
 Examples:
 The Olympic Games

 Producing a movie
 Software development
 Product development
 ERP implementation

LO 17.1

17-3

 Projects go through a series of stages – a life cycle
 Projects bring together people with a diversity of

knowledge and skills, most of whom remain associated
with the project for less than its full life
 Organizational structure affects how projects are
managed

LO 17.1

17-4

1.
2.
3.
4.

Initiating
Planning
Executing
Monitoring and Controlling
Closing

LO 17.1

17-5

FIGURE 17.1
Project life cycle

LO 17.1

17-6

 Project success depends upon making key

managerial decisions over a sequence of steps:
 Deciding which projects to implement
 Selecting the project manager
 Selecting the project team
 Planning and designing the project
 Managing and controlling project resources
 Deciding if and when a project should be terminated

LO 17.3

17-7

 The project manager is ultimately responsible for the

success or failure of the project
 The project manager must effectively manage:
 The work
 The human resources

 Communications
 Quality
 Time
 Costs

LO 17.2

17-8

The Project Management Institute (PMI) has developed a list
of 10 areas of knowledge:
Managing integration
2. Managing scope
3. Managing time/schedule
4. Managing costs
5. Managing quality
6. Managing human resources
7. Managing communication
8. Managing risk
9. Managing procurement
10. Managing stakeholders
1.

LO 17.3

17-9

Quality

Performance Objectives

LO 17.3

17-10

 Behavioral problems can be created or exacerbated by
 Decentralized decision making
 Stress of achieving project milestones on time and within budget
 Surprises
 The team must be able to function as a unit
 Interpersonal and coping skills are very important
 Conflict resolution and negotiation can be an important part of a
project manager’s job

LO 17.3

17-11

 Many problems can be avoided or mitigated by:
 Effective team selection
 Leadership
 Motivation
 Maintaining an environment of
 Integrity
 Trust
 Professionalism
 Being supportive of team efforts

LO 17.3

17-12

 Project champion
 A person who promotes and supports a project
 Usually resides within the organization
 Facilitate the work of the project by ‘talking up’ the project to
other managers who might be asked to share resources with
the project team as well as employees who might be asked to
work on parts of the project
 The project champion can be critical to the success of a
project

LO 17.3

17-13

 WBS
 A hierarchical listing of what must be done during a

project
 Establishes a logical framework for identifying the required

activities for the project
1.
2.
3.

LO 17.4

Identify the major elements of the project
Identify the major supporting activities for each of the
major elements
Break down each major supporting activity into a list of the
activities that will be needed to accomplish it

17-14

LO 17.4

17-15

FIGURE 17.3
Gantt chart for bank
example
17-16

 PERT (program evaluation and review technique) and

CPM (critical path method) are two techniques used
to manage large-scale projects
 By using PERT or CPM managers can obtain:






LO 17.5

A graphical display of project activities
An estimate of how long the project will take
An indication of which activities are most critical to timely project
completion
An indication of how long any activity can be delayed without
delaying the project

17-17

 Network diagram
 Diagram of project activities that shows sequential relationships by
use of arrows and nodes
 Activity on arrow (AOA)
 Network diagram convention in which arrows designate
activities
 Activity on node (AON)
 Network convention in which nodes designate activities
 Activities
 Project steps that consume resources and/or time
 Events
 The starting and finishing of activities

LO 17.6

17-18

LO 17.6

17-19

 Deterministic
 Time estimates that are fairly certain

 Probabilistic
 Time estimates that allow for variation

LO 17.7

 Finding ES and EF involves a forward pass through

the network diagram
 Early start (ES)
 The earliest time an activity can start
 Assumes all preceding activities start as early as possible
 For nodes with one entering arrow
 ES = EF of the entering arrow
 For activities leaving nodes with multiple entering arrows
 ES = the largest of the largest entering EF

 Early finish (EF)
 The earliest time an activity can finish
 EF = ES + t

LO 17.7

17-21

 Finding LS and LF involves a backward pass through

the network diagram
 Late Start (LS)
 The latest time the activity can start and not delay the project
 The latest starting time for each activity is equal to its latest finishing time
minus its expected duration:
 LS = LF − t

 Late Finish (LF)
 The latest time the activity can finish and not delay the project
 For nodes with one leaving arrow, LF for nodes entering that node equals the
LS of the leaving arrow
 For nodes with multiple leaving arrows, LF for arrows entering node equals
the smallest of the leaving arrows

LO 17.7

17-22

 Slack can be computed one of two ways:
 Slack = LS – ES
 Slack = LF – EF

 Critical path
 The critical path is indicated by the activities with zero

slack

LO 17.7

17-23

 Knowledge of slack times provides managers with

information for planning allocation of scarce
resources
 Control efforts will be directed toward those activities that might be

most susceptible to delaying the project
 Activity slack times are based on the assumption that all of the

activities on the same path will be started as early as possible and
not exceed their expected time
 If two activities are on the same path and have the same slack, this

will be the total slack available to both

LO 17.7

17-24

 The beta distribution is generally used to describe the

inherent variability in time estimates
 The probabilistic approach involves three time
estimates:
 Optimistic time, (to)

 The length of time required under optimal conditions
 Pessimistic time, (tp)
 The length of time required under the worst conditions
 Most likely time, ™
 The most probable length of time required

LO 17.8

17-25

LO 17.8

17-26

 The expected time, te ,for an activity is a weighted

average of the three time estimates:

te =

to + 4t m + t p
6

 The expected duration of a path is equal to the sum of

the expected times of the activities on that path:
Path mean =  of expected times of activities on the path

LO 17.8

17-27

 The standard deviation of each activity’s time is estimated

as one-sixth of the difference between the pessimistic and
optimistic time estimates. The variance is the square of the
standard deviation:

 (t p − to )
 =

6



 Standard deviation of the expected time for the path:

 path =

LO 17.8

 (Variances of activities on path )

17-28

 Knowledge of expected path times and their standard

deviations enables managers to compute probabilistic
estimates about project completion such as:
 The probability that the project will be completed by a

certain time
 The probability that the project will take longer than its
expected completion time

LO 17.8

17-29

 Calculating path probabilities involves the use of the normal

distribution
 Although path activities are represented by the beta distribution, the
path distribution can be represented by a normal distribution

LO 17.8

17-30

z=
LO 17.8

Specified time-Path mean
Path standard deviation

17-31

 A project is not complete until all project activities are complete

 It is risky to only consider the critical path when assessing the

probability of completing a project within a specified time
 To determine the probability of completing the project within a particular

time frame
 Calculate the probability that each path in the project will be completed

within the specified time
 Multiply these probabilities

 The result is the probability that the project will be completed

within the specified time

LO 17.8

17-32

 Independence
 Assumption that path duration times are independent

of each other
 Requires that
1.

Activity times are independent
Each activity is on only one path

 The assumption of independence is usually considered to be

met if only a few activities in a large project are on multiple
paths

LO 17.8

17-33

 When activity times cannot be assumed to be

independent, simulation is often used
 Repeated sampling is used
 Many passes are made through the project network
 In each pass, a random value for each activity time is selected

based on the activity time’s probability distribution
 After each pass, the project’s duration is determined
 After a large number of passes, there are enough data points to
prepare a frequency distribution of the project duration
 Probabilistic estimates of completion times are made based on
this frequency distribution

LO 17.8

17-34

 Activity time estimates are made for some given level

of resources
 It may be possible to reduce the duration of a project
by injecting additional resources
 Motivations:

 To avoid late penalties
 Monetary incentives
 Free resources for use on other projects

LO 17.9

17-35

 Crashing
 Shortening activity durations
 Typically, involves the use of additional funds to support additional

personnel or more efficient equipment, and the relaxing of some work
specifications
 The project duration may be shortened by increasing direct

expenses, thereby realizing savings in indirect project costs

LO 17.9

17-36

 To make decisions concerning crashing requires

information about:
1.

Regular time and crash time estimates for each activity

Regular cost and crash cost estimates for each activity

A list of activities that are on the critical path
 Critical path activities are potential candidates for crashing
 Crashing non-critical path activities would not have an impact

on overall project duration

LO 17.9

 General procedure:
1.

Crash the project one period at a time

Crash the least expensive activity that is on the critical path

When there are multiple critical paths, find the sum of crashing
the least expensive activity on each critical path


LO 17.9

If two or more critical paths share common activities, compare
the least expensive cost of crashing a common activity shared
by critical paths with the sum for the separate critical paths

17-38

LO 17.9

17-39

 Among the most useful features of PERT:
1. It forces the manager to organize and quantify available

information and to identify where additional
information is needed
2. It provides a graphic display of the project and its major
activities
3. It identifies
a. Activities that should be closely watched
b. Activities that have slack time

LO 17.10

17-40

 Potential sources of error:
1.
The project network may be incomplete
2. Precedence relationships may not be correctly expressed
3. Time estimates may be inaccurate
4. There may be a tendency to focus on critical path activities to the
exclusion of other important project activities
5. Major risk events may not be on the critical path

LO 17.10

17-41

 Risks are an inherent part of project management
 Risks relate to occurrence of events that have undesirable
consequences such as
 Delays
 Increased costs
 Inability to meet technical specifications

LO 17.11

17-42

 Good risk management involves

 Identifying as many risks as possible
 Analyzing and assessing those risks
 Working to minimize the probability of their occurrence
 Establishing contingency plans and budgets for dealing

with any that do occur

LO 17.11

17-43

Name

CT_Rubric_100

Description

100 Points

Rubric Detail
Levels of Achievement
Criteria

Exceeds Expectation

Meets Expectation

Some Expectations

Unsatisfactory

Content

33 to 35 points

29 to 32 points

26 to 28 points

0 to 25 points

Demonstrates
substantial and
extensive knowledge of
the materials, with no
errors or major
omissions.

Demonstrates adequate
knowledge of the
materials; may include
some minor errors or
omissions.

Demonstrates fair
knowledge of the materials
and/or includes some
major errors or omissions.

Fails to demonstrate
knowledge of the
materials and/or
includes many major
errors or omissions.

33 to 35 points

29 to 32 points

26 to 28 points

0 to 25 points

Provides strong thought,
insight, and analysis of
concepts and
applications.

Provides adequate
thought, insight, and
analysis of concepts and
applications.

Provides poor though,
insight, and analysis of
concepts and applications.

Provides little or no
thought, insight, and
analysis of concepts and
applications.

15 to 15 points

13 to 14 points

11 to 12 points

0 to 10 points

Sources go above and
beyond required criteria
and are well chosen to
provide effective
substance and
perspectives on the
issue under
examination.

Sources meet required
criteria and are
adequately chosen to
provide substance and
perspectives on the issue
under examination.

Sources meet required
criteria but are poorly
chosen to provide
substance and perspectives
on the issue under
examination.

Source selection and
integration of knowledge
from the course is clearly
deficient.

15 to 15 points

13 to 14 points

11 to 12 points

0 to 10 points

Project is clearly
organized, well written,
and in proper format as
outlined in the
assignment. Strong
sentence and paragraph
structure, contains no
errors in grammar,
spelling, APA style, or
APA citations and
references.

Project is fairly well
organized and written
and is in proper format as
outlined in the
assignment. Reasonably
good sentence and
paragraph structure, may
include a few minor
errors in grammar,
spelling, APA style, or APA
citations and references.

Project is poorly organized
and written and may not
follow proper format as
outlined in the assignment.
Inconsistent to inadequate
sentence and paragraph
development, and/or
includes numerous or
major errors in grammar,
spelling, APA style or APA
citations and references.

Project is not organized
or well written and is not
in proper format as
outlined in the
assignment. Poor quality
work; unacceptable in
terms of grammar,
spelling, APA style, and
APA citations and
references.

Analysis

Sources

Demonstrates
college-level
proficiency in
organization,
grammar and
style.

View Associated Items
Print

Close Window

Purchase answer to see full
attachment

Share This Post

Order a Similar Paper and get 15% Discount on your First Order

Our Services

MGT530-M13C4-Critical Thinking

Description

Share This Post

Related Questions

fin,abo mane

BoP Impacts of Saudi Exchange-Rate Peg and Lessons from Global Currency Depreciations.

Research & Summaries Question

Presentation 487

Strategic Management/ MGT401

Spreadsheet Decision Modelling / MGT425

Strategic Management 401

Management Question

331 pre 1

King Faisal 2

Management Question

Management Question

Management Question

Management Question

Management Question

ppt solve new

Learning Outcomes: / FIN403

Management Question