Teaching Project Management: A Student Perspective

R. Clark Centre for Learning Innovation and Professional Practice Aston University, Aston Triangle, Birmingham, B4 7ET, UK r.p.clark@aston.ac.uk

Abstract Employability is a key concern of most students as they embark on a course of university study. For engineering students today a more diverse course of learning that brings together technical, managerial and life skills is becoming increasingly common. Previous work has explored the inclusion of project management in the engineering curriculum and identified innovative yet practical approaches to the teaching of the subject [1]. This study builds on this earlier work by exploring the student view of project management and its study. An on-line survey has been administered to two groups of students to ascertain their understanding of project management, its alignment with their future careers and their perceptions of the learning and teaching environment required for effective study. With projects such a fundamental component of business today and with anecdotally around 25% of Engineering Management masters students becoming project managers on graduation, a deeper understanding of the role project management can play in the development of tomorrows engineers is of significant value. This study will be presented against the backdrop of a move towards a more project management focused engineering teaching group structure and the establishment of a Centre for Project Management Practice to promote business engagement and research. Keywords: project management, student perspective, employability

1. INTRODUCTION
Against a backdrop of global economic crisis, the need for qualified engineers is still apparent. The challenges faced by our world related to sustainability demand talent that can demonstrate skills not simply in technical disciplines but in the context of the wider business and social environment. The term multi-skilled engineer is starting to be voiced more openly, as governments and businesses search for the workforce of the future. This paper explores a part of this issue. Project management is often identified as a discipline that multi-skilled engineers should be conversant with. The question posed here and investigated by way of a small exploratory study is whether or not current university students view project management as an important part of their education and future career.

2. PROJECT MANAGEMENT A VIEW FROM THE LITERATURE

Previous work has identified the importance of, what are generally termed, transferable skills in the education of engineers [2]. This point was echoed at a recent meeting of the Parliamentary and Scientific Committee in the House of Commons that explored the question Do we need more multiskilled scientists and engineers to manage economic recovery and change? [3] The consensus of the meeting was yes, and the multi-skilled element received much support, although the concern of time in the curriculum was highlighted.

In terms of project management, the literature is limited when it comes to exploring perceptions of project management, whether by students or other potential stakeholders. A common view of project management across an organisation is often not reality, neither is the notion that working to standards ensures good project performance [4]. This variability suggests that a broader view of project management education is an important step to take. Focusing on project success, influence has been identified as an important characteristic of the project manager / team member relationship [5]. By effectively employing influence, project success becomes more likely. This argument is typical of many in the literature that suggest it is the so-called softer skills that need emphasis in developing the project management skill base. Relying on the tried and tested Iron Triangle of cost, quality and time, with the underlying techniques for planning and control is no longer acceptable [6]. A survey of practice in project management reported in 2002 demonstrates the breadth of skills required to deliver successful projects [7]. It is the development of these characteristics in tertiary level engineering students that is the aim of project management teaching. It is one thing to recognise this need [8], what is not clear is how effective this work is, consequently study in this area would appear worthwhile. The teaching of transferable skills is discussed widely in the literature. Although acknowledged as important for an adaptable workforce, there is often an incoherent approach to the development and assessment of the skills [9]. They are often perceived by students as add-ons or gap fillers and consequently dont receive the required level of student attention. On graduation though, research suggests that students value transferable skills more highly, yet believe their ability is below that needed [10]. This can be viewed as a missed opportunity. The context of the transferable skills needs to be clearly explained for student mastery to be achieved. An approach to achieving this is through group work [11]. A critical feature of the group work, along with a robust and aligned design, is the need to provide feedback opportunities throughout the work such that the participants can capitalise on them and improve their transferable skills. As engineering faculty work towards more project and problem based curricula, the scope for developing transferable skills, especially in areas such as project management [12], is greatly increased. The problem provides the context and the justification, the faculty and the learning environment the support. With these in place, there is a sound foundation on which to build.

3. EXPLORATORY STUDY METHODOLOGY

In order to explore engineering student perceptions of project management as a subject and their experiences of studying it, a short survey was administered to two cohorts of students. Each cohort had taken a project management class in the academic year studied. One cohort was in their 2nd year of study and the other was studying at Masters level. The 2nd year students are embarking on their first course in the area of project management, as such the material covered is introductory and will form a foundation for further study in the subsequent year. Many of the Masters level students have studied project management before, consequently the course has two objectives consolidate the prior learning and develop a deeper understanding of the subject and importantly its application in industry. In both cases, the courses are worth 10 credits and constitute one twelth of the years work. The survey was made available on-line and was designed to take no more than 15 minutes to complete. No incentives were offered in order not to distort the response rate in any way. The students were invited to participate by e-mail and one follow up e-mail was sent 10 days after the initial invitation. The survey was conducted 10 weeks after the students had completed their study of project management. The total population numbered 150 students 80 Second Year students and 70 Masters students.

The results discussed in this paper are the initial findings from the exploratory study. Further work is planned to develop understanding in this area.

4. EXPLORATORY STUDY RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The survey was designed to explore three distinct areas: - the students perceptions of the importance of project management to engineering - the students views on the most important features of project management - the students thoughts on their project management learning experience. The response rate achieved was 20%. The interesting observation was that 70% of the respondents were studying at Masters level, whereas only 30% were undergraduates. This raises the question as to whether or not the subject is adequately contextualised at undergraduate level. Later results and comments will confirm that students see a definite link between skills in project management and employability, yet when this registers is unclear. This survey suggests that it may be towards the latter stages of a course of engineering study. An argument can be made here that this is a lost opportunity as it does not encourage practice to improve the skills in question. This result, although valuable, biases the remainder of the data towards the Masters cohort. This suggests that more study needs to be conducted into the undergraduate perspective in order to get a broader understanding. 4.1 Importance of Project Management to Engineering 87% of the respondents indicated that they felt project management would be important or very important to their future career, 77% believing they would be engaged directly in project management when entering employment. When asked why, two responses, typical of the majority, were: We cannot have development without projects. Most projects consume huge resources, hence proper management methods are required to effectively manage the potential for failure which could be very expensive Every individual will need a knowledge of project management at different stages of their career. The importance of engineers being skilled in project management was seen as very high with 90% considering it as important or very important. On a positive pedagogic note, 80% of the students agreed or strongly agreed that they had a good understanding of project management. The reasons for this, when given, were a well structured course and effective assignments. As a future career consideration, 57% believed this may be a real possibility, seeing it as a path to working with a wide range of people and to reaching great heights. 45% stated that they were considering taking an external qualification in project management after university in order to help them develop their career further. With a significant number of students considering a career in project management, it would be hoped that there be some awareness of key project management organisations / qualifying bodies. Aston University established a Centre for Project Management Practice in 2007 as a way to bring together academics and industry in the study and development of project management skills and knowledge. Only 17% of the respondents had any awareness of the Centre clearly indicating the need to promote the Centre more vigorously to students as a way for them to become more involved. The university is an educational member of the Association for Project Management (APM) yet only 24% of the students claimed to be aware of APM as a professional body. The US based Project Management Institute (PMI) was known to 38% of the students. Part of the reason for this may be that the Masters cohort has a significant proportion of overseas students and PMI has a wider global reach than APM. When UK Government IT projects started to encounter problems, the UK Office of Government Commerce was charged with developing a robust project management methodology to help ensure future project success. This methodology has matured over the years and has now become a standard in many industries both in the UK and across the globe. Called PRINCE2, it was known to almost half of the students (45%) and is often considered by students as the methodology to become qualified in after university.

4.2 Important Features of Project Management With the importance of project management within engineering seen as high by the majority of the respondents, the survey asked students to rank, in order of importance, 10 key features of the project management discipline. The results are presented in Table 1. The results indicate a strong awareness of the importance of the softer skills with 3 of the top 4 rankings featuring people focused attributes rather than the more mechanistic side of project management. Although there is strictly no correct order, it was also encouraging to see the front end features that provide the foundation for successful project execution, namely planning and budget preparation, ranked 2 and 4 respectively. The reflective task of learning from previous projects was considered the least important. In reality, this is perhaps one of the most overlooked features of good project management practice as it can promote a learning culture throughout an organisation, helping to keep the organisation aware and effective. Ranking 1 2 2 3 4 5 6 6 7 8 Feature of Project Management Communication Leadership Planning Teamwork Budget Preparation Project Control Risk Management Developing an Agreed Specification Strategic Alignment Learning from Previous Projects TABLE 1. Ranking of Project Management Features As may be expected in the light of the previous discussion, the key skills the students felt they had developed included leadership, communication and teamwork along with being able to plan, control and assess risk in projects. This blend provides a sound grounding that has the potential to be effective in a job in industry. The skills identified as still being needed were generally related to finance, leadership and getting more practical experience. More understanding about the routes to accreditation reinforced the interest expressed in project management as a potential career. An interesting observation was that several of the comments made were self-reflective indicating that students were thinking about their own personal situations. 4.3 Project Management Learning Experience Addressing the issue of transferable skills, 69% of the respondents agreed that studying project management helped the development of these skills. Communication, group work and leadership skills were all identified under this heading. A problem-based learning assignment was identified by many as one of the most valuable experiences in the project management class. Students liked that it attempted to provide a realistic scenario in which they could use their new found knowledge and develop the appropriate skills to match. Two student comments captured the general feeling: We put the theory and practice together the group work was REAL project management practice There were people in the group where I could help them as well as they could help me. When looking at the least valuable features of the project management teaching and learning, the consensus was generally that the course was hard work and that there were too many assignments. This is a common complaint, yet assignments are necessary to achieve competence. It certainly gives the teaching staff something to think about, although students often reflect that the hard work was worth it when they reach graduation. The group work mentioned so favourably earlier, can also be a source of trouble. Group work was identified as one of the least valuable features as group tensions resulted in what students perceived to be a poorer quality learning experience. This issue is always a challenge, particularly when the students are so culturally diverse. The dysfunctional nature of some groups

suggests that students need some form of induction that will help them relate group work to transferable skill development at an earlier stage. When asked what could have supported the students study more effectively, the primary suggestion was greater use of, and reference to, case studies and real project stories. This is an area that needs to be addressed globally as there is currently no real database of project management case studies that is easily accessible to both staff and students. A resource of this nature could be very valuable. Courses in project management software were also identified, but they should be considered as separate workshops outside the core curriculum.

5. CONCLUSIONS AND FURTHER WORK

This paper describes an exploratory study looking at project management as a subject of study on engineering degree programmes from the student perspective. The results suggest that amongst the students responding, the view of project management is generally positive. It is seen as important to engineering and a way in which to develop transferable skills. The bias in the respondents in favour of Masters level students may be an indication that this realisation tends to occur later in a course of engineering study, when jobs are more imminent. The study needs to be extended to explore other cohorts of students in order to try and identify when project management starts to be seen as useful. If the positive view can be achieved earlier, students may then be encouraged to develop their skills across a wider part of the curriculum whenever group or project work is encountered. The opportunity to develop project management expertise needs to be supported through quality teaching that is innovative and at least partly problem-based. Group work induction needs consideration to ensure students work together effectively and a database of project management case studies would become a helpful resource, building on the desire for real world connections. A student comment that best suggests the reality of the world today is: No industry or business will reach the top without project management. References [1] R.Clark, Project Management: The Key to Engineering Employability, presented at SEFI - 36th Annual Conference, Aalborg, Denmark, 2 - 5 July (2008) [2] Royal Academy of Engineering, Educating Engineers for the 21st Century, Report, June (2007) [3] Parliamentary and Scientific Committee, www.scienceinparliament.org.uk, Meeting, 12 March (2009) [4] L. Crawford, Senior Management Perceptions of Project Management Competence, International Journal of Project Management, 23, 7-16, (2005) [5] D. Sotiriou and D Wittmer, Influence Methods of Project Managers: Perceptions of Team Members and Project Managers, Project Management Journal, 12-20, September (2001) [6] R. Atkinson, Project Management: Cost, Time and Quality, Two Best Guesses and a Phenomenon, Its Time to Accept Other Success Criteria, International Journal of Project Management, 17, 6, 337342, (1999) [7] D. White and J. Fortune, Current Practice in Project Management An Empirical Study, International Journal of Project Management, 20, 1-11, (2002) [8] R.Clark, Engineering Management The Lost Discipline?, presented at EE2008, Loughborough, UK, 14 - 16 July (2008) [9] I. Kemp and L. Seagraves, Transferable Skills Can Higher Education Deliver?, Studies in Higher Education, 20, 3, 315-328, (2005)

[10] G. Nabi and D. Bagley, Graduates Perceptions of Transferable Personal Skills and Future Career Preparation in the UK, Career Development International, 3, 1, 31 (1998) [11] P Humphreys et al, Developing Transferable Groupwork Skills for Engineering Students, International Journal of Engineering Education, 17, 1, 59-66, (2001) [12] K. Abernethy et al, Teaching Project Management: An Experiential Approach, Journal of Computing Sciences in Colleges, 22, 3, 198-205, (2007)