COURSE NUMBER: MBA290P.1B

 

COURSE TITLE: Project Management: Case Studies

 

UNITS OF CREDIT: 1

 

INSTRUCTOR: Omar Romero-Hernandez

 

E-MAIL ADDRESS: oromero@haas.berkeley.edu

 

CLASS WEB PAGE LOCATION: http://bcourses.berkeley.edu

 

MEETING DATES: Fall B, 10/17-11/28

 

PREREQUISITE(S): None.

 

BASIS FOR FINAL GRADE: The course puts weighting on (i) business cases and course activities, (ii) class participation, and (iii) final project. The project is meant to be a project planning document, which you get to prepare along the course. The best way to quickly apply what you learn.

 

ABSTRACT OF COURSE'S CONTENT AND OBJECTIVES

 

We are revamping this course. Business leaders constantly compete for executives’ attention, resources, and to deliver projects on time, within budget and with a degree of quality that matches their reputation. Only one of every three projects lands to successful completion. You will be taught what it takes to plan and lead successful projects. 

 

The primary objective of this course is to develop critical skills and the knowledge needed to successfully define, plan, implement and lead projects. Emphasis on this course is positioned on Project Planning. The course may be particularly useful to students who haven’t had previous formal training on Project management and who may attend experiential learning courses at Haas (Haas@Work, Clean Tech to Market, IBD), where students teams may need to define and plan for a course projects along their semester.  Course content includes lecture notes on Project Management theory and tools, Business Cases, Project Management software and a Simulation on Project Execution.

 

This one unit course is particularly useful to those MBA students who have participated in projects at their previous job, yet haven’t had any formal knowledge on frameworks and tools required to plan and execute a project according to international standards. The course delves into planning and scheduling techniques including: project definition, project selection, Work Breakdown Structure (WBS), Resource Estimation, Critical Path Method (CPM), Pert, Gantt Charts, Resource Constrained Scheduling, Project Monitoring and Project Closing.

 

The course represents a strong foundation for those interested in pursuing certification in the future by the Project Management Institute (PMI). There are 90% chances that students will be working in projects after graduating. This class will help you develop strong foundations, tools and practical skills to help them navigate in this path.

 

 

REQUIRED READINGS:

The course will use a packet of readings and case materials available at study.net

Briefs with class material and take-away points will be available.

Textbook: Meredith, J., Mantel, S. J. Project Management, A Managerial Approach, 8th Edition, Wiley and Sons.

 

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH:

Prof. Romero-Hernandez was the recipient of the 2010 Franz Edelman Award, the world’s most prestigious award on Operations Research and Management Science.

 

Omar has been an academic and project practitioner for more than 15 years. Omar has worked for a diverse range of public and private organizations. He is a Chemical Engineer with graduate studies in Economic Policy and Government and a PhD in Process Economics and Environmental Impact from Imperial College, London, UK. Currently, he is a National Researcher, leading practitioner, and author of various books including: Renewable Energy Technologies and Policies, and Industry and the Environment and several international publications on project management, business and sustainable development.

 

He has led various internationally awarded projects in the field of sustainable business strategies and implementation –– sponsors include the United Nations, Ministry of the Environment, Industry consortiums, S&P 500 companies, the Stock Exchange and NGOs.