Int. J. Information and Operations Management Education, Vol. 5, No. 2, 2013
Project outsource: providing students with project management experience using contractors Herbert Remidez* and Sri Beldona College of Business, University of Dallas, 1845 East Northgate Drive, Irving, TX 75062, USA E-mail:
[email protected] E-mail:
[email protected] *Corresponding author Abstract: This article describes a service-learning assignment that incorporates independent contractors into the classroom. The assignment is designed to facilitate students learning technical and interpersonal aspects of project management through practice managing a project, and it involves students managing a distributed team member. Service-learning projects address the motivational shortcomings of traditional instructional approaches by having students develop solutions for outside stakeholders. However, traditional service-learning projects are limited by the skills of the students in the course. The project outsource assignment is novel in at least three ways. First, unlike many service-learning assignments, it is effective in online and traditional settings. Second, it provides students with practice managing a distributed team member. Third, incorporating skilled contract workers enables students to undertake a wider range of service-learning projects. The article describes the assignment, objectives, process, results, and transferability aspects of the assignment. Keywords: project management; cooperative learning; instructional design; service learning. Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Remidez, H. and Beldona, S. (2013) ‘Project outsource: providing students with project management experience using contractors’, Int. J. Information and Operations Management Education, Vol. 5, No. 2, pp.105–114. Biographical notes: Herbert Remidez is Assistant Professor of Operations Management and Director of the Project Management Concentration at the University of Dallas in Irving, TX. His research interests include project risk management, trust development, instructional innovations, and improving project duration and cost estimates. He has published journal articles in Communications of the ACM, International Journal of Knowledge and Learning, International Journal of e-Collaboration, and others. Sri Beldona is an Associate Professor of Management and Director of Global Business concentration at the University of Dallas in Irving, TX. His research interests include store brands, brand management and global management controls. He has published articles in Marketing Letters, Journal of Retailing, Journal of Product and Brand Management, and others.
Copyright © 2013 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.
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Introduction
Historically, project management courses have been structured so students acquire knowledge of tools and techniques by reading cases, solving textbook problems, and playing simulations (Smith-Daniels and Smith-Daniels, 2008). In place of disjointed problems, some instructors have employed integrated cases such as planning a jewellery store robbery (Walker, 2004) or buying and selling houses (Heineke et al., 2010). To develop group process skills, students work with classmates to complete assignments that focus on developing plans for projects defined by the instructor (Lobato et al., 2010; O’Connor and Yballe, 2007). These techniques lack authenticity because students’ decisions do not have consequences beyond the classroom, which affects motivation and learning (Merrill, 2002). In addition, because the teams are composed of other students, it limits their ability to develop the communication skills necessary to succeed in a diverse work environment and they do not gain the skills associated with executing projects. One method for improving on traditional methods is to increase the relevance of the content by requiring students to undertake projects that serve their community (Lester et al., 2005). Service learning projects usually have goals of increasing motivation and promoting group process skills while increasing students’ involvement in their community (Kenworthy-U’ren and Peterson, 2005). These types of assignments are used in a variety of settings with many cases documenting positive results. Although service-learning projects are an improvement on traditional methods, they are not without drawbacks. Some of these shortcomings are discussed below. At least four constraints limit traditional service-learning projects. First, because students are the primary resource pool, the range of projects they can support is limited. Complicating the matter further is that the skills available in the resource pool of students change each term. A second limitation of traditional service-learning projects is that they assume students are in the same geographic location. These assignments do not address the needs of students in online courses. A third limitation of traditional service-learning projects is they require instructors to dedicate much of the instructional time and course preparation time to the project (Alhourani, 2009; Gabriel, 2011; Larson and Drexler, 2010). For instance, because instructional activities in service-learning courses build on the assumption that students are working on service projects, instructors must arrange for backup projects in case students fail to find suitable projects. Dedicating much of the instructional time to a project might be the most effective approach, but it is a constraint that prevents these assignments from being suitable for some courses. The fourth shortcoming of traditional service learning projects is less obvious, but still important. Traditional service-learning projects neglect the need for students to acquire the organisational and communication skills necessary to work with team members separated by time zones and from several cultures. This purpose of this article is to share a service-learning assignment, project outsource, which allows students to learn project management concepts and tools while addressing an outside stakeholder’s need and gaining skills necessary to excel in a distributed team environment. In addition, it exposes other instructors to a framework for expanding the types of projects their students can undertake by incorporating independent contractors. These contractors are a potentially valuable resource to projects in many disciplines. The next sections describe the assignment’s objectives, process, results, and concludes with a discussion of the transferability of the assignment.
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Project management and soft skills
Surveys have consistently identified project management skills as highly valued by employers (Hawk et al., 2012; McMurtrey et al., 2008). Increasingly, studies report that the soft skills necessary to manage projects are more important to employers than the technical skills. In other words, stakeholder management, written and oral communication skills, and other team-related skills are more important than technical skills such as the ability to create and execute scheduling simulations. The need to work effectively in teams, distributed teams in particular, is no longer an option, but a necessity. Because of technology advances, a company no longer needs to be ‘big’ to use distributed teams. Often, small companies (fewer than ten employees) use teams where one or more members are not in the same physical location as the project manager. As a result, companies of all sizes seek workers who can have the skills to manage projects with distributed team members. Instructors know students need to develop skills using the network-based tools associated with distributed teams. They attempt to address this need by requiring student teams to use tools provided by their learning management systems. This practice allows students to gain skills using networked tools, but it does not provide students with opportunities to develop the soft skills necessary to excel in a distributed team setting. Because most universities attract students from a narrow geographic region with similar backgrounds, student do not have opportunities to practise solving people-related problems associated with truly distributed teams such as language barriers, time zones, and cultural differences. Instructors are left knowing employers want students with the soft skills necessary to succeed in a globally distributed work environment, but unable to provide students with opportunities to practise the skills necessary to succeed in those settings. The project outsource assignment provides students with opportunities to develop skills necessary to excel in a distributed team environment while learning project management concepts and tools. The assignment includes the benefits associated with service-learning projects and it is designed to addresses the shortcomings of a typical service learning project. Like other service learning projects, it provides students with opportunities to learn concepts and skills by working with external stakeholders to develop a solution to a problem that originates outside the classroom. This assignment addresses the lack of opportunity to practise skills necessary to excel in distributed work settings. It overcomes this limitation by requiring students to hire an outside contractor to work on their team. The addition of a contractor eliminates the need to limit projects to ones that can be addressed with the skills of the student team members. In addition, this assignment differs from most service learning assignments because it is designed to complement other instructional activities such as case analysis, software skill building exercises, and classroom discussions. It does not require a large time commitment by the instructor or much class time.
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The project management module
Project outsource has been used as part of a module on project management in a required graduate-level course discussing information systems management that has no prerequisite course requirements. Project management is one of three main topics
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discussed in the course. Typically one section of the course is offered each term, including summers, with class sizes from 25 to 45 students. Most students in the course are enrolled part-time and do not have project management experience or experience developing or managing information systems. The assignment has been used in traditional on-campus classes, a hybrid format with students distributed between a central campus classroom and video connected locations, abbreviated term on-campus courses, and online courses. Because the assignment requires students to take a project from conception to closing, it provides many opportunities to illustrate topics discussed in lectures or cases related to project management. Below are some topics in which the assignment has enhanced student learning by providing illustrations of concepts discussed in cases and articles. Project outsource connected topics: 1
project selection – why should the organisation undertake this project?
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the role of the project sponsor – who is paying for the work? how do you interact with the sponsor?
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stakeholder management – actively managing the expectations of all stakeholders
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scope management–importance of a clear scope definition and change control
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risk management – identify and manage events that could delay the project
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communications management – plan how and what you need to communicate with stakeholders
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quality management – establish a process and standards for checking the work product
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procurement planning – the importance of managing the procurement process
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working in a diverse distributed teams – manage cultural, temporal and geographic distances.
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Process
As discussed in the sections above, the assignment incorporates the benefits of a service learning project, namely, experiential learning and community involvement. It accomplishes this without the requirement that it become the dominant course activity, which happens with many service learning projects. Students are introduced to the assignment on the first day of class and advised to begin thinking about possible projects. The course is divided into three modules and project management is one of the modules. Although it is possible to begin the assignment later in the term, it has been our experience that it is most effective when it is introduced earlier in a course because student projects can help illustrate concepts discussed in cases, exercises, simulations, and discussions in the project management module. The assignment is structured so it can be changed to fit different learning objectives. It is possible for teams to complete the assignment in as little as two weeks (for example, creating a brochure) or it can be expanded to run throughout a term.
Project outsource: providing students with project management experience 109 Regardless of when students are asked to begin work on the assignment, the first step is for student to visit some contractor marketplaces (e.g., http://www.guru.com, http://www.elance.com, http://www.freelancer.com/, and http://www.mturk.com). Individually, students review active and completed projects and the support each company provides. An important point for students to note is the minimum budget for a project, because it varies among sites. Visiting the marketplaces allows student to gain an understanding of what to expect to pay for various work products and what types of talent they can expect to find in each marketplace. The average charge for a contractor to deliver an electronic document suitable for printing has been $30.00 (USD). Please refer to Table 1 for information on a sample of projects managed by student teams for this assignment. Table 1
Dimension of sample projects
Product
Client
Worker location
Cost
Brochure
Local fresh fruits wholesaler
Bulgaria
$33.00
Brochure – translation
Restaurant in Czech Republic
Egypt
$28.00
Brochure
Non-profit homeless care provider
India
$50.00
State Agency
Mexico
$30.00
Non-profit foundation
Iran
$300.00
Small business
India
$30.00
Marketing database populated
Museum
India
$250.00
Patient and order tracking application
Optometrist
Pakistan
$50.00
Service request tracking application
Regional cleaning company
Hungary
$50.00
Document translation Grants application tracking application Warehouse inventory tracking application
The second step is for students to form teams and develop ideas for potential projects and partner organisations. After developing ideas for at least two projects, the team submits their ideas to the instructor for approval. These initial descriptions can be as short as one paragraph long. In a traditional classroom setting, team formation and project idea approval can occur in the same class session. Instructors can encourage projects that align with major course learning objectives by excluding certain types of projects, like simple brochures. The opposite is also true. In time constrained settings, instructors can encourage small projects like brochures. Adjustments such as these do not change the assignment structure, the overall process, or the learning opportunities associated with managing a project. After the instructor approves a team’s idea, each team selects a leader responsible for communicating with and gauging the prospective sponsor’s level of interest in the project. The requirement to identify and contact a sponsor at the beginning of the assignment provides the instructor opportunities to discuss the role of a project sponsor and the project selection process. Usually, the team leader has a relationship with the potential sponsor, but an established relationship is not a requirement.
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If the prospective sponsor is interested in the project, the next step is for the team leader to arrange a time when the sponsor can discuss the project with the entire team. This discussion can occur over a conference call or in a face-to-face meeting. The goal of the meeting is to gather the information necessary to draft a project charter. We provide students with a template for a project charter (see Appendix B). The charter includes sections for the project objective, background and business case, team members, deliverables, milestones, technical requirements, limits and exclusions, high-level risks, team leader’s name, and project sponsor’s name. The technical requirements section can address topics such as the file format for the project’s deliverable. The limits and exclusions section can address how the team will be repaid, if at all, and restrictions such as the requirement that contactors use of freely available software or images. After the meeting, the team drafts a project charter and sends it to the instructor for review. They are responsible for making any changes suggested by the instructor before sending it to the sponsor for final approval. The instructor’s review of the initial idea and proposed charter are important steps and should not be eliminated. These reviews can minimise the likelihood that students repeat common mistakes such as taking on projects that have a high risk of failure, have a poorly defined scope, or are likely to exceed their budget. After the instructor and sponsor approves the project charter, teams follow the project management processes discussed in the course to develop project management plans that will guide their work. Besides a project charter, the project plan includes a work breakdown structure, risk management plan, quality management plan, procurement plan, schedule with milestones, and a communications management plan. The course learning objectives and time constrains guide the requirements for the project planning documents. The procurement plan should include the request for proposals for contractors and describe the process for evaluating the proposals. Typically, teams receive between 15 and 20 responses to a request for proposals and need to manage the contractor selection process. Table 2 is a template provided to help students select a contractor. In addition to facilitating the contractor selection process, this template has helped mitigate the impact of a contractor failing to deliver or backing out of a project by allowing teams to find a replacement contractor quickly. After selecting a contractor, teams must communicate with the contractor and ensure the work is delivered on time and meets the quality and technical requirements specified by the sponsor. After accepting the contractor’s work product, the team prepares the student deliverables. Table 2 Bidder name
Contractor selection table Past experience/credentials
Narratives of previous clients
Ratings
Quoted price
Estimated completions date
1 to 5
1 to 5
1 to 5
1 to 5
1 to 5
Note: 1 is low and 5 is high
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Student deliverables
Each team will submit their project management planning documents, the product produced by the contractor, and a written report describing their experience. The report should include sections describing the sponsoring organisation, the business need the
Project outsource: providing students with project management experience 111 project addressed, problems they encountered and how they were addressed, estimated savings, and lessons learned. Students can estimate the savings by conducting market research with local companies supplying similar services (e.g., Office Depot). The table used in selecting a contractor is included in the Appendix section of the report. In addition to the team report, each student completes a peer evaluation form documenting the contributions of each team member and submits it to the instructor. The peer evaluation results are combined with the team’s project grade to determine each student’s grade.
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Effectiveness
The products, assignment structure, and student comments provide evidence of the assignment’s effectiveness. The archive of work products is one source of evidence of the assignment’s effectiveness. The assignment has proved robust across several terms and delivery formats. Students with no experience managing projects have used the assignment to gain and demonstrate the ability to apply project management concepts and tools by managing products that produced useful products. Partner organisations have included non-profit organisations, large and small companies, state agencies, university academic departments and university athletic teams. Another source of evidence for the effectiveness of the assignment is the structure of the assignment. The assignment is structured so students gain experience confronting problems associated with working with a team member from a different time zone and culture. Assuming they participate, students will gain knowledge of the people-related problems distributed teams must solve. As noted earlier, the soft skills associated with project management are the most sought after by employers. Students can read cases about the soft skills necessary to work in globally distributed teams, but this assignment provides them with experience developing those skills. Students’ comments provide additional evidence of the assignment’s effectiveness. Their comments document the acquisition of small skills and overall understanding. Below are excerpts from course evaluations: •
“We learned that just because it is a school project does not necessitate that the project only has meaning inside the classroom.”
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“We learned a great deal about the changing role of IT and the new responsibilities of IT project managers.”
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“We learned that outsourcing requires a large amount of coordination between the outsourcing firm and the outsourced firm.”
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“Overall this has been an extremely positive experience from inception to completion.”
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“We also learned that when selecting a service provider to outsource a project to, that service provider needs to be evaluated on several dimensions, including: price, time needed to complete the project, previous work experience, and even small things such as use of grammar and style when writing an email message.”
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Transferability
The project outsource assignment has been used in a variety of settings and there are few, if any, barriers that might inhibit the adoption of this assignment. The assignment has produced positive results in a variety of settings, including 16-week terms, eight-week terms, courses delivered online, traditional on-campus courses, and hybrid courses. Students from many disciplines have completed this project, because it is not restrained by the skills of the students enrolled in the course. Because instructors can choose to allow small projects like brochures, students in the smallest of towns can find clients. Sponsors for small projects can come from a range of organisations including small businesses, academic units, religious organisations, athletic programs, charities, and notfor-profits. Even small organisations can afford the average cost of $30.00 USD for a contractor to produce a document suitable for marketing purposes. The project can be adapted from the way it is described in this article by making small changes that would not affect the integrity of the assignment. For example, instructors can choose to delay when students begin working on the assignment until the latter part of a course without concern. Most topics discussed in project management courses today can be incorporated into this assignment. For example, instructors can expand the project management skills students practise by requiring additional planning documents such as detailed schedule analysis reports and risk analysis reports.
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Conclusions
In the past, project management instruction has focused on technical skills and has used small problems, cases, simulations, and simple projects. This approach prevented students from developing the soft skills important to the success of project and that employers are seeking. Some innovative instructors have incorporated service-learning projects to address this discrepancy. However, traditional service-learning projects are limited because they assume a co-located group, are limited by the skills of the students, and require a course redesign to accommodate the large time commitment by the students and instructor. This article describes project outsource, an assignment that addresses shortcomings of traditional approaches to project management instruction and traditional service-learning projects. The assignment combines a service-learning project completed primarily outside normal class time with contract workers to expand the types of project teams can undertake. Most students report the assignment provided them with a memorable learning experience. More important, students seem to have gained a better understanding of how to use project management tools and techniques and how to work in a distributed team.
References Alhourani, F. (2009) ‘An effective methodology for teaching service operations management’, Int. J. Information and Operations Management Education, Vol. 3, No. 2, pp.164–177. Gabriel, T.J. (2011) ‘Evaluating the service quality of local businesses as an experiential learning project’, Int. J. Information and Operations Management Education, Vol. 4, No. 1, pp.60–68.
Project outsource: providing students with project management experience 113 Hawk, S., Kaiser, K., Goles, T., Bullen, C., Simon, J., Beath, C., Gallagher, K. and Frampton, K. (2012) ‘The information technology workforce: a comparison of critical skills of clients and service providers’, Information Systems Management, Vol. 29, No. 1, pp.2–12. Heineke, J., Meile, L., Boardmand, L. and Davies, J. (2010) ‘Project flip: a project management case/exercise experience’, Decision Sciences Journal of Innovative Education, Vol. 8, No. 1, pp.113–127. Kenworthy-U’Ren, A. and Peterson, T.O. (2005) ‘Service-learning and management education: introducing the ‘we care’ approach’, Academy of Management Learning and Education, Vol. 4, No. 3, pp.272–278. Larson, E. and Drexler, J. (2010) ‘Project management in real time: a service learning project’, Journal of Management Education, Vol. 34, No. 4, pp.551–573. Lester, S.W., Tomkovick, C., Wells, T., Flunker, L. and Kickul, J. (2005) ‘Does service learning add value? Examining the perspectives of multiple stakeholders’, Academy of Management Learning and Education, Vol. 4, No. 3, pp.278–294. Lobato, C., Apodaca, P.M., Barandiaran, M.C., San José, M.J., Sancho, J. and Zubimendi, J.L. (2010) ‘Development of the competences of teamwork through cooperative learning at the university’, Int. J. Information and Operations Management Education, Vol. 3, No. 3, pp.224–240. McMurtrey, M., Downey, J., Zeltmann, S. and Friedman, W. (2008) ‘Critical skill sets of entry-level IT professionals: an empirical examination of perceptions from field personnel’, Journal of Information Technology Education, Vol. 7, No. 1, pp.101–120. Merrill, M.D. (2002) ‘First principles of instruction’, Educational Technology Research and Development, Vol. 50, No. 3, pp.43–59. O’Connor, D. and Yballe, L. (2007) ‘Team leadership: critical steps to great projects’, Journal of Management Education, Vol. 31, No. 2, pp.292–313. Smith-Daniels, D. and Smith-Daniels, V. (2008) ‘Trade-offs, biases, and uncertainty in project planning and execution: a problem-based simulation exercise’, Decision Sciences Journal of Innovative Education, Vol. 6, No. 2, pp. 313–341. Walker, E. (2004) ‘Introducing project management concepts using a jewelry store robbery’, Decision Sciences Journal of Innovative Education, Vol. 2, No. 1, pp.65–69.
Appendix A Assignment description from syllabus Project outsource The purpose of this project is to provide you an opportunity to learn project management tool and techniques by participating in a service-learning assignment. The first step is to identify a small project that can be completed with the assistance of an outside contractor in the allotted time and within the budget of your team. Projects should be low cost, low-risk endeavours, with a narrow scope. Previous projects have included the development of custom Microsoft Access database applications, website prototypes, populating marketing databases, and tri-fold brochures. Unless your team identifies a sponsor willing to fund your project, each team member is expected to contribute a small amount to provide the budget for the project. Ideally the project will be related to the work of someone on your team, but that is not a requirement. Fertile sources for projects include non-profit organisations, religious organisations, academic programs, fraternal organisations, and athletic programs. Your team will apply the project management tools and techniques discussed in the course to the planning and execution of this project.
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Each team will submit their project management planning documents, the product produced by the contractor and a written report describing their experience. The written report should include sections describing the sponsoring organisation, the business need the project addressed, problems encountered and how they were addressed, estimated savings, and lessons learned. The table used in selecting a contractor should be included in the appendix section of the report. In addition to the team report, each student will complete a peer evaluation form documenting the contributions of each team member and submit it to the instructor. The peer evaluation results will be combined with the team’s project grade to determine each student’s grade.
Appendix B Small project charter – template Project objective (one to two sentences) The objective of this project is to x, by y date for an estimated cost of z. Background and business case (one to two paragraphs) Team members (include the company liaison if is not the sponsor.) •
Project manager – Jane Doe
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Sponsor – John Doe, VP at Acme, Inc.
Deliverables (list both product outputs and process outputs such reports if necessary.) •
A brochure that can serve as marketing collateral at promotional events.
Milestones (major events in the project that are expected to occur by a given date) •
December 08 – contractor hired
Technical requirements (product requirements necessary to ensure success) •
Sponsor agrees to allow team to use graphics and text from the company’s website.
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Final document must be an editable MS Word document.
Limits and exclusions (activities out of scope and limits on time or resources) •
This project will not include printing of brochures
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The project is limited to a budget of $30.
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Because of the course requirements, the project must be completed no later than X.
High level risks (uncertain events that could have a negative effect on project objectives.) •
The project faces the risk that the outside contractor will delay delivery of the product or deliver a product of low quality.
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If team members cannot communicate with sponsor in a timely manner, it could affect the successful completion of the project.
Team leader’s name Sponsor name
