Manual IBMS External Projects 2nd Year 2009-2010 091109 Vs2

8/3/2019 Manual IBMS External Projects 2nd Year 2009-2010 091109 Vs2

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Manual ´External Projects´ IBMSCourses IBMPM308R2 / IBMPM408R2 / IBMPM508R2

Short Manual - Block 2, 3 & 4 – External Projects

Nov. 2009 – July 20102nd year, semester 3 (block 2) & 4

Study Programme: International Business andManagement Studies (IBMS)

Coaches:

Heinz Steinmann (Project Coordinator)

Kees Leunis, Astrid Nielsen, Laurens Bulters,

Patricia Vijvermans, Oliver Molthan, Heleen

Westerman

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Table of Contents

Table of Contents ............................................................................................................................................ ........ ..2

1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................................... ........3

2. Brief outline of an External Project .......................................................................................................................3

2.1 Structured approach to Project Management - PRINCE2 ..........................................................................5

3. GLOBAL Week Schedule IBMS - External Project ............................................................................................7

APPENDIX SECTION ............................................................................................................................... ......... ...13

Appendix 1 Deliverables of the Project ..................................................................................................... ........ .13Appendix 2 PRINCE2 Project Organization ......................................................................................................14

Appendix 3 Monitoring and Assessment ....................................................................................................... .....16

I. Personal activity log .....................................................................................................................................16

II. Peer assessment ............................................................................................................................ ........ ......16

Appendix 4 Configuration Management folders ................................................................................................19

Appendix 5 General Consultancy research model: .......................................................................................... ..20

Business Analysis Tools list ...........................................................................................................................21

Appendix 6 PRINCE 2 Processes and Components ................................................................................ ........ ..22

Appendix 7 PRINCE2 Processes and Management Products for a Small Consultancy Project ......................24

Appendix 8 IBMS Competencies and Learning Objectives .................................................................. ......... ..26

Appendix 10 PRINCE2 Templates – Project Brief (PB) ...................................................................................27

Appendix 11 PRINCE2 Templates - PID ............................................................................................... ......... ...28

Appendix 12 PRINCE2 Templates - Format Lessons Learned Report .............................................. ......... .......31............................................................................................................................................................................32

Appendix 13 How to organise feedback? ............................................................................................... ......... ...32

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1. Introduction

During block 2 of semester 3 and the entire semester 4, students from IBMS 21-29 will do a

project where they either start up a company, a Junior Enterprise, (an internal project) or do

an EXTERNAL PROJECT (EP).

The lecturers will divide the classes into groups for Junior Enterprises (approx. 2/3 of the

students) and external projects (1/3), based on study results criteria.

An EP is a project where students are involved in the solution of a business problem offered

to us by or in close cooperation with an external party: a company or an organization from

outside the Hogeschool Rotterdam.

This business problem may be in the field of Marketing, Finance, Logistics, M&O, HRM or a

combination.

The business problem will be presented in the form of a project mandate to 4 to 6 students at

the beginning of block 2 and has to be solved during block 3 and 4. In block 2 the ground

work will be laid in the form of a research proposal for the project research activities and a

Project Initiation Document (PID) to manage the project activities.

In the following text we will give an outline for the project assignments and the objectives,

procedures and requirements for successfully carrying out an External Project.

To help you on your way and to provide some guidance we have written a project manual,

also to provide you with ideas, guidelines, requirements, (template) report formats and other

materials.

The project reporting formats will be based on the PRINCE2 Project Management method

and are included in the Appendix. Also contained in this manual is a detailed week-by-week

schedule for the Start Up and Initiation period of the project and a more general overview for

the operational and concluding stages of the project in blocks 3 and 4.

2. Brief outline of an External Project

During block 1 we have contacted a number of companies and organizations and in the

process we acquired a number of project mandates to start a project on their behalf. These

mandates represent an actual business issue or problem for these companies. (presented to you

through the powerpoint presentation on the Kick off day). In most cases these business

problems relate to sustainability issues, strategic marketing or the opening of new market

segments and distribution channels. Moreover, in many cases the business problems offered

to us are strongly internationally oriented with a growing number of them dealing with the

question: how to compete as a business with and in China or other emerging markets. Overall

this year our projects will deal with different continents (Europe, Asia and Africa).

In most cases the acquired project mandates will require and involve a comprehensive desk

and field research in order for the project groups to be able to produce a thorough report with

genuine and valuable conclusions, recommendations or other tangible results for our client

companies. In this sense most of the projects are research and consultancy projects by nature.

In some cases, besides research and analytical work, also organizational skills may be

required.

Most likely in the beginning the project groups will have to undertake a careful effort to

elaborate and develop their project mandate into (a) real and workable problem definition(s)

on the basis of which a research/development project may be defined and planned. This

process of elaborating the project mandate into realistic and workable objectives is called a

preliminary study and will have to be done in close coordination and communication with

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your Principal (company). You will have to make one or more appointments with your

company in the first couple of weeks of your project to clarify the nature and scope of your

problem definition as to leave no room for misunderstanding as well as to develop your

understanding of the companies business and it’s specific needs. This process must be

conducted in a very careful manner because we don’t want to waist the companies time nor

your own. Great emphasis must be placed on good preparation (reading relevant literature,

prior made reports, Internet, deciding who your informants are, preparation of and conducting

and elaborating interviews with key-informants) in order to get a thorough understanding of

the problem(s) you will be dealing with.If relevant you will use specific tools and models (see Appendix 1) which will help you in the

analysis of the companies internal and external environments, needed to develop a better

understanding of the companies true business requirements.

This first stage of your activities should be conducted within the first 3 to 4 weeks of the

project and should be carefully organized and scheduled by the freshly assigned Project

manager of your group. This means, among other things, that appointments will have to be

made with one or more company officials and/or staff within 2 weeks after the Kick off.,

Before Christmas the project objectives (objectives of research/main deliverables or products)

should be clarified and a clear general estimate must have been made concerning desired

products/results, constraints, limitations, expectations, resources, risks and the overallBusiness case of the project. These statements will be elaborated in detail in the Project Brief.

To avoid one possible and still quite common misunderstanding: the outcome of this project

is not per definition a (research) report. The results or product of the project may be a research

report (market study, competitive analysis etc.), but it may also be a seminar, conference, a

list of prospects or even (potential) customers for a company, or it may be a combination of

all of the elements mentioned. So the products you aim at may be much more concrete and

practice oriented than the usual stack of paper which seems to be associated normally with a

student project.

To put it short:

What exactly(and what not) does this project want to achieve for the customer and which

benefits can he expect from the results of the project against which efforts, resources and cost?

After the Project brief has been agreed upon by the Project Board (in particular the Executive

– the companies’ representative) the project starts in its Initiation phase. A general project

plan will be designed to guide the ‘real’ work of acquiring and analysing information and

creating and presenting the results or products. Technically spoken the project plan be a plan

in which time and resources (people, information, time, research capability) will have to be

allocated and scheduled for the purpose of creating the products (which includes researchresults and reports, if appropriate) as described in the Project Brief.

After the creation and approval of the Project Brief this document will be extended with a

more elaborated (product) description of the desired end products (eg. the description of the

consultancy report, the venue you will build on a trade fair, the specification of a prospect list,

the organizational requirements for a conference and of any other desired and agreed project

results and products)

Also a product breakdown structure (PBS) and a product flow diagram (PFD) are required as

they are the basis for the scheduling of the project (activity list and Gantt chart)

It remains to be seen if the project requires several technical (production) stages. This will

probably be the case if during the project comprehensive partial products will (have to) be

delivered An example is a research of which the results (a report) will be presented to an

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interested audience in a symposium, whereby report and symposium are two different

products. Another example maybe a research with different and distinct research objectives.

The overall project plan will be summarized and detailed in an activity list and a Gantt chart which will show the ‘time-line’ and critical path of the project up and until its conclusion1.

Special attention will have to be paid to the quality of the products/results Not only should

they be delivered in time and within the agreed upon tolerances (time, manpower, cost), but

also the quality of the products should be such that they can be accepted by our clientcompany. Already in the project brief the acceptance criteria have been formulated.

During the Initiation phase a project quality plan has to be produced which will show how the

quality of the deliverables can be checked and reviewed in an organized manner. Quality

checks and reviews will be an important task of the quality assurance roles in the project. For

each (partial) product group members will be assigned who will serve as ‘quality reviewers’ .

The result (management product) of the Initiation Phase will be the project initiation

document (PID), the most important management document of the project.

The PID will be presented to the project board in Week 8 of Block 2 (see week schedule) who

will give a GO/NO GO! to the first stage of the actual research/production activities. In caseof a NO GO the PID will have to be revised in order to continue with the project.

After the GO! the project will enter the production stage in which the actual products/results

will be produced. Real research work and production is underway now in a coordinated and

planned manner. The PM monitors closely how the work progresses, if it stays within the

framework of the project plan and whether the desired results and quality are achieved. Partial

outcomes and results will be reviewed through project quality reviews and checks.

If things threaten to go wrong the PM may invoke an exception procedure, aimed at involving

the project board .

At the end of the project and within the time tolerances set in the PID the project productsmust be delivered and handed over to the coach and the end of project report needs to be

written.

2.1 Structured approach to Project Management - PRINCE2

As has been discussed already we will use the Prince2 method to manage our projects which

includes the Prince2 project management language, report structure and such ‘typical’

features like product/result orientation, management by exception, escalation of issues, project

board, quality control etc.

Some of the main PRINCE2 features that will applied:− The project will unfold in a controlled manner applying all essential Prince2 processes

and project control mechanisms to save guard that the production of the required end

product(s) will take place within the required tolerances for quality, time and costs as set

out in the PID and approved by the project board.

− The project will follow the PRINCE2 guidelines for project organization: we will have a

project board , a (student) project manager and different roles for project assurance and –

support . The roles will be performed by project group members (a.o. in the quality checks

and -reviews).

− The project board will be chaired by the Executive who, under normal circumstances, is a

representative of the external company. The Executive is owner of the Business case. The

role of senior supplier is performed by the IBMS coach (who ‘supplies’ the projectworkforce). The role of senior user may be performed by a representative of the client

1 These scheduling tools are described in the official PRINCE2 manual and examples are available in the

Materials folder in your project environment in N@tschool.

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company, in some cases the same person as the Executive, in other cases he may be

somebody from the client organization of the Executive, for instance if the Executive

himself is a consultant for the client company (eg.HS Trading, Twistlock) The exact

fulfilment of these roles will have to be established during the Start up of the project.

− The appointment of persons to the project board roles will be done by the IBMS coach-

team in agreement with the companies for whom we will undertake the projects.

The roles of project manager and specific project assurance and support roles (eg. project

secretary) will be assigned during the first meeting(s) of the project group together with

the senior supplier (IBMS coach).− The IBMS coach will act in a double role of senior supplier and he will perform in a

project assurance role especially to keep an eye on the interests of the external company.

If you want to know more about the PRINCE2 organizational principles, study Appendix 3

and Colin Bentley2

Besides PRINCE2 we will also apply other methods, techniques and tools like Business

Analysis tools, Planning techniques (Gantt chart), Communication and

Change/conflict management techniques (Brainstorm and Feedback) and IT applications like

Excel, Word and Powerpoint.

2 About Project and Project Board roles, see PRINCE2 revealed, Colin Bentley, p 110-126

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3. GLOBAL Week Schedule IBMS - External Project

(Calendar)

Week

Dates Project group meetings / Activities Project

Phase

Block 6

Tasks of each week are described in general terms. Per week the group (or specific teams) meet at

least twice. One weekly meeting is always scheduled in consultation with the group coach. Allactivities/tasks of the project group are scheduled and organized by or in agreement with the

(student) project manager.

Project team roles:

- PM project manager - For the PM-role the emphasis is on management, organization,

planning (scheduling) and on the in- and external communication of the project (also

PRINCE2 management reports). The PM therefore performs a lesser operational role in the

project (eg. Research and report writing, organizational work and other operational tasks .

- Project support (secretary, Configuration librarian, assistant to PM) – 1 team

member

- Project assurance (in particular Quality Assurance) – 2 team members

- Work team members – They do the ‘dirty work’. They do the research and produce

the (business) reports. Basically all members of the project group are potential Work teammembers, although this applies for the PM in a lesser degree.

Other roles:

- Executive – representative of the client company. He/she owns the project. The

Executive decides over continuation or discontinuation of the project. In most cases the

Executive is also the Senior User of the project results.

- Senior Supplier (IBMS-coach). Not a formal group member, but attends PT-meetings

at least once a week and can be asked for consultation and sometimes approval. He should

always be informed about important decisions and meetings. In case of internal problems or

conflict the coach should be consultant and he may give a binding advice.

Week 1 (47) 16-20 Nov.

Kick Off External Projects- Presentation of acquired Project mandates to students of 2nd Year

- Establishment of Project board for all projects (SU1 and SU2)

- Formation of project groups (student registration for projects and selection)

- Appointment is made for first meeting with Senior supplier (IBMS-coach)

General task: All group members study the Manual External Projects and think

about the Project mandate to which they are assigned.

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(Calendar)

Week


PhaseWeek 2 (48) 23.-27 Nov. GET ORGANIZED

Start Up (continued)

- First meeting of project groups.

-The team appoints an interim group secretary who takes the minutes and fills

in the attendance lists

-Introduction of project and the assigning company by Senior Supplier

(Project coach)

-Appointment of Project Manager and Project Assurance and – Project Support roles (SU3)

- Project support will perform the roles of Secretary and Configuration

Librarian. As off next meeting he/she will take the notes of all relevantmeetings.

- The first task of Project support is to make a membership booklet , a booklet

with the names, pictures, telephone numbers, e-mail addresses and (briefly)motivation and personal goals regarding the project of all the members. This

booklet is stored in N@tschool and send around to all stakeholders of the project

- Establishment of meeting schedules (minimum of twice a week)

- PM designs a code of conduct which will be discussed by all members and

signed in week 3).- First brainstorm/discussion of Project mandate under chairmanship of Project

manager. What needs to be clarified about the mandate/ business problem?

- Group members will use this week to collect more information about the

company (internet) and to acquire a more detailed understanding about the

topic of the business problem as well as formulate questions and problemswith regard to the business problem.

-PM proposes a delegation (PM + other members) who will discuss withProject Board/client company representatives to clarify the Project

mandate/problem definition. Who will do the interview/questioning, who willtake extended minutes, take care of voice recording and make theinterview/meeting transcripts???

- PM writes and sends around his first Highlight report in which he informs theProject board about the state of affairs and the relevant decisions made.

- PM makes an appointment for a meeting between the Company

representative(s) and a project team delegation to explore the companies’

business problem

S t ar t u p an d P r o j e c t M an d a t e

8

http://natschool.hro.nl/






(Calendar)

Week


PhaseWeek 3 (49)

//

Week 4 (50)

30 Nov–4 Dec..

7 – 11 Dec

Start Up (continued) (SU4)

- All members discuss the code of conduct proposed by the PM. After the

meeting it is rewritten and sent to the members by mail.

Next meeting it will be signed by all members as their mutually agreedcommon project contract

- Project secretary explain purpose and procedures with regard to the Personal

Activity log (PAL).

- Establish internal communication procedures (email/ N@tschool)

- Prepare a Communication plan which includes Internal communication procedures (email / N@tschool) and External communication with allstakeholders (eg Highlight report)

- PM 3 creates Daily/Issue Log* and Risk Log ** – both are ‘running documents’

in N@tschool. You may use and simplify templates of these documents which

can be found in the Materials folder in your project environment in N@tschool.

PREPARATION OF PROJECT BRIEF

- (Week 3) Meeting/interview(s) with client-company to clarify project mandate

issues (first and for all aimed at clarifying the problem definition) .Purpose is twofold:

- make arrangements about cooperation with and availability of company

resources (persons, information sources, workspace arrangements etc. for the project(group).

- gather all information and clarify what is needed for the Project Brief 4

(which includes the objectives of and requirements for the research): e.g.

- Problem definition and research questions (What and How?)

- Project definition, objectives, scope, detailed description of deliverables and project products. ***

- Customer Quality Expectations and Acceptance criteria.

- Outline Business case The note taking during interviews and meeting

should be carefully planned and executed The notes/minutes should beelaborated, stored (in N@tschool) and discussed in the group.

- Does the company want the Project team to sign a Confidentiality

agreement in order for more information to be disclosed?

- If necessary other meetings with the company should be scheduled if one

or two are not enough.

- After enough information has been acquired :

- formulate Problem definition and define what the project aims to achieve:

determine the research and project objectives, scope, main deliverables to theclient company, exclusions and constraints. Furthermore:

- describe the Customer quality expectations and Acceptance criteria.

Formulate the criteria which make the results/products of this project

‘acceptable’ and usable or in other words ‘worth while’ in the eyes of theassigning company.the Risks (regarding time, access to info, costs etc.) have to be determined

and described in the Risklog

- create the Outline Business Case (the Why? Benefits (and costs) for the

company. In particular describe the benefits of the project results relative tothe costs and investment in time and manpower which the assigning

company/organization has to make).

-PM (assisted by secretary or other member(s)) compiles the Project Brief

(PB) and sends it to all members and the project coach.

* Daily log and Issue log are combined ** Both the Daily Log and the Risk log are ‘running documents’. They are stored in

N@tschool, are accessible by all group members and will run and grow throughoutthe project. PM will make a proposal as to the use of both logs

*** as your project has most likely a strong research component determine thenature, the extend and the possible sources of (internal and external) information

which you will need. This is also a possible risk factor (if you cannot obtain the

information).

S t ar t u p ,P r o j e c t M an d

a t e an d P r o j e c t Br i e f

3 PM may often be read as PM and/or assistant/project support . or even delegated team members. Main responsible though

will always be the PM.4 see PRINCE2 revealed, Colin Bentley, p 129 o.w.

9















(Calendar)

Week


PhaseWeek 5 (51) 14–18 Dec APPROVAL OF PROJECT BRIEF

- The Project Brief will be critically reviewed * by Project assurance

- A meeting is held by the entire project team in attendance of the Senior Supplier (Coach) in which the PB is discussed. Project assurance will

organize/lead this discussion. If necessary PM corrects/rewrites the PB.- The PB will then be send to the Project board members.

- PM plans the Initiation stage and creates a brief Initiation stage plan. (SU6)

- Both documents are sent to the Project Board as part of the Request for Initiation and also stored in N@tschool

- PM makes an appointment for a meeting with the Project Board (if possible

represented by the senior user/IBMS-coach) to discuss and approve theProject Brief.

If necessary the senior user (IBMS coach) will contact the Executive(company) to check whether the project brief reflects the wishes and

expectations of the assigning company or organization.

- PM writes the second (or Christmas) Highlight report and sends it to the

project members and to all stake holders of the project including the IBMScoach.

*Minimal criteria: The Project Brief should read as one integrated entity in content,

style and form. Prevent any contradictions and avoid duplicate text. The project brief should show your deep involvement and interest in the problem at hand.

P r o j e c t B

r i e f

19 Dec.-3 Jan.

2010Christmas Holiday

-

10






(Calendar)

Week


PhaseWeek 6 (2)

//Week 7 (3)

4– 8 Jan..

11 – 15 Jan..

EXTENDING THE PROJECT BRIEF TO THE PID

- The PM reports back to the project group. Corrective work on

PB starts if necessary. In other cases the work on the PID starts.See below.

Production of Project Initiation Document (PID). 5

The foundation of the PID is the Project Brief .

In the Initiation stage two important plans are added: the- Project Quality Plan. This plan describes the procedures that

will be followed to assure the quality standards so that the

Customer Quality expectations and Acceptance criteria are met.Who will be responsible for the Quality reviews and checks?

The PQP is elaborated by the Project Assurance under guidanceof the PM

- Project Plan.

This is the general plan for the execution of the main (groupsof) activities that will be performed in order to deliver the end

result/products of the project. The basic information to constructthe Project plan are the product descriptions (of the mostimportant deliverables) and the analysis of the consecutive steps

through which they are produced (techniques to be used are: theProduct Breakdown Structure (PBS) and the Product Flow

Diagram (PFD) who provide an insight in these productionsteps). The Project plan may show that the Project will go

through one or more ‘technical’ stages. The Project plan willalso show the resources needed to produce the end

results/products step by step and the timeframe within whichthis takes place.

- Based on the PFD and a careful analysis of available resources

(time/people/budget) an activity list and a GANT chart are

produced for the first production stage of the project.For the remaining (later) stages a general schedule (GANNT

chart) should be produced to provide a clear idea which(partial/end) products will be produced and delivered in which

stage of the project.- The Project plan will be designed by the PM in cooperation with

other members of the project group. Everyone of the groupshould be involved.

- Continue working on and assembling the PID (as an integrated,unified and professional looking document).

- All aspects of the PID will be critically reviewed by thosemembers who are involved in project assurance and quality

reviews. Points of attention are: content, professional lay out, professional English language)

- Finally the PID is sent to all members of the project Board

for the GO/NO GO decision. The PID will be handed over to

the Executive and the senior supplier (coach) in hard copy

format. The PID will also be uploaded to N@tschool.

- The secretary will organize the peer assessment according to the

guidlines set out in Annex XX.

P r o d u c t i on of P I D ( P r o j e c t I ni t i a t i onD o c um e n t )

Week 8 (4) 18 – 22 Jan.. - Presentation of the PID to the Project Board.

- Go, No-go decision.

Week 9 (5) 25 - 29 Jan. - Repair week

Exams Block 2

Block 3 / Under construction

5 The PID (and for that all other example documents) is presented in the Appendices of this document and can

also be studied in an animated video which is available on the Internet http://www.iplazza.eu/ 11

http://www.iplazza.eu/





(Calendar)

Week


PhaseWeek 1 (7) and

2 (8)

O p e r a t i on al / T e c h ni c al S t a g e

s

Week 3 (10) till10 (17)

Block 4 / Under construction

Week 1 (19)

Week 2 (20) till7 (25)

Week 8 (26) till10 (28) P

R O

J E CT C O N CL U S I O N

Start Summer Holiday

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APPENDIX SECTION

Appendix 1 Deliverables of the Project

Business Products: Deliverables for the client company: the so called

Project results report. The format and layout of this report may vary depending on the

addressed business problem. Key is that it has a logical well-ordered arrangement to a

large extend based on the scheme presented at the beginning of this chapter.

This report can have different formats: it may be a marketing report or any other kind of

research report or it may be the description of the process leading to the end products

produced or delivered for the principal company.

(Powerpoint) Presentation of the results to the company

Management Products: PRINCE2

Highlight reports -PM

Project Brief - PM/+Additional embers from PG Project Initiation Document (see appendix 5) – PM/+Additional embers from PG

which a.o. includes

• The Business Case (see appendix 1)

• The scope, limitations and interfaces of the project

• Product descriptions, PBS and PFD

• The Project Plan (incl. an Activity list and Gantt chart)

• An outline of the desired products to be delivered

• A description of the project Organization Structure

• Project tolerances

• A section with remarks about Quality Assurance of the project, Quality Review for thedeliverable(s) and potential Risks to the project and how to prevent them.

Work packages -PM

A Daily/Issue Log, containing all Issues regarding the progress of the project as well as

remarks and observations and requests for changes and quality of the (sub-)products.

(running document in N@tschool) – PG/PM

Risk Log in which all potential risks to the positive outcome of the project (running

document in N@tschool) - PM

Quality Log in which the results of quality checks and reviews are included (running

document in N@tschool) – PA (Project assurance)

A complete Archive of all (versions of) business- and management products in

N@tschool (in PRINCE2 called: Configuration Management (instructions by your coach) – Project secretary

Lessons Learned Log ((running document in N@tschool)) – PM/PG

and Lessons Learned Report - PM

N@tschool will have a standardised folder structure. Templates will be included for the

forms that need to be used for monitoring and tracking activities.

Organizational Products

Project Membership booklet (incl. contact info)

Agenda/minutes -Project support

Attendance list/ matrix -Project support

Personal Activity log –PS/PG

13

mailto:N@tschool

mailto:N@tschool



Appendix 2 PRINCE2 Project Organization

The organisation of your project will be based on the PRINCE2 principles for organising

projects.

The basic organisation structure in Prince2 projects is:

In this structure the Project Boar d performs the overall control of the project and has handed

over the control over the daily work to a Project manager. The Project manager plans

/manages/controls the work done by his Team managers/members who produce the products

the projects aims at delivering.

The Executive in the project Board represents the interests of the company/organisation in the

project. Basically he is responsible for the resources allocated to the project and for its end

result. As such he is ‘owner of the Business case (description of what the project aims to

achieve for the company/organisation) and he should take care that project stays within the

boundaries of the Business Case (in terms of cost/benefits).

In our case the Executive role will be performed by the functionary who represents the

company/organisation in our project. Hence he will have the main voice in the GO/NO GO at

the end of block 2 and in the final assessment of the Consultancy Report at the end of the

project.

The Senior user represents the future users of the product(s) a project aims to deliver (the

company management). In our case this will therefore also be the representative of the

company.

The Senior supplier represents the interests of the suppliers of the envisioned product(s). In

an in-house project this may be a line-manager whose staff is heavily involved in the project

or a purchase manager who purchases products from other companies necessary to reach the

goals of the project or he may even be an outside representative of a supplying company.

In our case the coach responsible for the contact with the assigning company will perform this

role. From our point of view we (the IBMS-coaches) are the suppliers of a Project team who

produces (supplies) the desired result.

The role of Project manager will be performed by one member of the Project team. This is a

key role, he/she is primarily responsible for the project. However, this role may not befulfilled by the same student throughout the project..

The tasks of the Project manager are manifold, but aim mainly at organising, planning,

controlling and administering the work and making sure that the project delivers by producing

14

Project Board

Company and coach RBS(Senior User – Executive – Senior Supplier)

Project Manager

Team Manager(s)+Team Members



good quality products within the standards (for time, costs and quality) set out in the Project

Initiation Document (PID).

The PM will also try to breakdown the overall work of the project into clearly defined

(technical) Stages. Of course, most of the work of the PM will be discussed in the project

teams because we want everyone to be involved in the thinking and decision making process,

although the PM will be primary responsible for the overall project result. If a problem (an

‘Issue’) arises which influences the outcome of the project (e.g. (partial) results which are not

up to the expected Quality standards or which are ‘over due’, it is the responsibility of thePM to discuss this in his team and – if necessary- report this to the Project board (in first

instance the Senior Supplier – your coach).

About every 2 weeks the PM writes and sends a so called Highlight report (1 A4 max) to the

Project board in which the progress of the project and any smaller problems at hand are

discussed briefly. Smaller issues should be solved by the PM and the Project team themselves.

In case a serious Issue arises, which threatens the progress, outcome (in terms of quality and

timeliness of the products to be created) or the tolerances (mainly deviations from time and

costs) set for the project ór for the current Stage the project is in, the PM writes an Exception

report to the Project board and asks for advice. This procedure is called Management by Exception. The Project board steps in only when a serious problem arises.

In these ways the PM plays a major role in controlling the day to day progress of the project.

All Issues big and small and of whatever nature (quality, timekeeping, tolerance, remarks,

questions etc.) encountered by the Project team members will be sent to the PM and recorded

by him/her in the Daily/Issue Logfil e.

The PM makes sure that (as much as possible) the PRINCE2 method and standards are being

followed in the project. All together the role of PM is therefore truly a challenge.

The coach will of course assist the PM (and his/her) assistant in performing this role.

The PM assistant will play a specific role in what is called Project Support and

Configuration Management.

The Project assurance role will be performed by at least 2 members of the project team in

different configurations. In most cases Project assurance will play a role in checking and

reviewing the Quality of partial products .

A Team manager (TM) is appointed for every Work package (set of tasks) that will involve a

team (a sub-unit of more than 1 member). The Team manager reports to the PM about the

progress or of any issues (problems/suggestions) concerning the execution of the Work

package or task at hand.

The Team members perform the tasks involved in the Work packages. Of course during the

project almost all products and the activities necessary to produce them will be discussed by

the entire Project team so everyone will be able to have a say in all aspects of the project.

15



Appendix 3 Monitoring and Assessment

I. Personal activity log

During the project all project members are required to fill in the Personal activity log (PAL)every week. The PAL serves as evidence for your contributions to the project, so you should

feel it in regularly (weekly) and as complete as possible. Not (or insufficiently filling in your

PAL willlead to subtraction on your mark.

The secretary will check regularly whether all members fullfil this requirement.

The template for the PAL is available in the Materials folder in your groups project

environment.

In the third week, the project secretary explains the PAL to the members and sets out the

procedure with regard to it.

II. Peer assessment

Part of the assessment of the course Applied Project Management (IBMPM308/408/508R2 –

Project management) is the so called Peer assessment , the mutual assessment of student

members of the project/work groups. This assessment is meant to reward participants of

projects for their contribution and to prevent ‘free riding’.

The procedure we have chosen is to introduce positive and negative bonuses on top of a

collective mark which the project group earns for their project results. Each member of a

project group receives a mark for the group plus or minus a ‘bonus’ reflecting his

individual contribution. This ‘bonus’ has been determined by the other group members, his

or her peers therefore. The procedure which will be followed is as follows:

All members reward all other members on a set of performance measurements. From the

marks thus obtained a personal average is calculated. This is done by all other members of the

project group as well. From the averages of the group members for this member a total

personal average for this group member is calculated. This will be done for all group

members. After this all personal averages are averaged to an overall average. This overall

average will than be subtracted from the personal average resulting in a positive or negative

‘peer bonus’. The maximum addition- or subtraction bonus is +2 or -2. The maximum result

that can be achieved including the bonus is a 9.

A calculation example: (project/work group of 2 members)

Projectmember 1 Projectmember 2

Performance item 1 7 Performance item 1 5




Average 29/4=7,25 22/4=5,50

Overall average = (7,25+5,50)/2=6,375

Peer bonus: project member 1: 7,25-6,375= 0,875

project member 2: 5,50-6,375= -0,875

16



The project(group) result = 7 (The project/work group result has been determined by the

IBMS coach)

Individual end results are:

project member 1: 7 + 0,875 = 7,875 (7,9)

project member 2: 7 + (-0,875) = 6,125 (6,1)

The total difference in mark between team member 1 and 2 is therefore 1,8 points.

(Template) Individual Performance form:

Filled in by:

Studentnr: 0767824 Name: Fred Flintstone Group IBMS03-A1

Individual assessment of :

Studentnr: 0765432 Name: Barney Rubble Group: IBMS03-A1

Individual peer assessment form (each item between 0 and 10)

Item

nr

Item description Mark

1 The team member had a good overall attendance at the project group meetings

2 The team member had an active and productive contribution in meetings

(suggestions/proposals)

3 The team member has been open and communicable in his contact with fellow team members

4 The team member played an important role in solving/preventing (potential) problems and

conflicts in the group

5 The team member has always been in the frontline when work had to be done

6 The team member played an important role in organizing the work group/team

7 The team member improved the work group results with ideas and proposals with regard to

the overall research topic, research questions and research strategy

8 The team member played an important role in the communication with the team

coach/teacher

Average mark:

All group members will fill in this form for all other project group members and calculate

an average mark for each member. The personnel manager will collect the individual

forms and calculate from these an average peer mark per group member. The

project/workgroup secretary will be personally responsible and accountable for the correct

execution of this procedure and will discuss the implementation of the peer assessment

procedure before hand with the teacher/team coach.

17



After the Individual peer assessment forms (see above) have been filled in (including the

average mark), the project/workgroup secretary will calculate an overall average mark for

each project group member out of the average marks on the Individual peer assessment forms.

The personnel manager will compile a Peer Assessment Summary Sheet from the individual

average peer marks and sends this to the teacher/team coach by mail. On this sheet the overall

average peer mark is mentioned for each project group member.

Example:

Peer assessment summary sheet for group IBMS22-GroupA:studentnr Name Average peer mark

0767824 Fred Flintstone 6,5

0765432 Barney Rubble 7,2

0765478 Peter Pan 8,0

0767564 Annie Wang 7,0

(don’t forget to mention: class+group and Studentnr+name for each group member)

Finally, the final peer bonuses and individual end marks will be calculated by the

teacher/teamcoach according to the procedure described above.

18



Appendix 4 Configuration Management folders

In fig. 1. the standardised structure in N@tschool is shown:

In several work folders you will find templates for the reports or documents that you will

have to fill in and store in these work folders. These templates will also be included in this

manual.

The Lessons Learned report (in which: suggestions for future improvements to (a

similar) project?), the Feedback, a Peer Assessment and an Activities log for each

member). See appendix 5 and 6.

19

mailto:N@tschool

mailto:N@tschool



Appendix 5 General Consultancy research model:

Client company, Business

Problem?

Define the Problem definition &

Research Objectives

External analysis: Internal analysis:

Relevant data collection of e.g.: Relevant data collection of e.g.:

• Branche(s)

• Main competitors

• DEPEST-factors

•

Opportunities, threats• Market (by means of primary and/or

secondary market research)

• etc.

Sources are: Internet, Interviews with

company officials/employees,

Customers, Competitors, Annual

reports, (semi-)Government

institutions (Chamber of Commerce,

Branche organizations, CBS, etc.),Books, Articles

• History of the company

• Structure of the company

• Culture

•

Management• Financials

• Strengths, weaknesses

• etc.

Sources are: Internet, Interviews

with company employees, Annual

Reports etc.

Results

Analysis & Discussion

Conclusions & Recommendations

20



Business Analysis Tools list

• Abell matrix

• Organisation and Environment (Weitz & Anderson)

• BCG-matrix

• Checklist export orientation

• Competitive strategy models (Porter and Ansoff)

• DESTEP

• Export strategies (re-active, active exporting, strategic international business)

• 5-Forces model (Porter)

• Financial Indices

• Growth Vector Analysis

• Industry Analysis

• Key Result Objectives

• Marketing P’s

• Mission and objectives

• Organisational cultures (Harrison, Hofstede)

• Organisationstructures (Mintzberg)

• Organizational Life Cycle

• Leadership styles and cooperation (Vroemen, Hersey & Blanchard)

• Strategic process (planning, implementation, control, evaluation)

• SWOT-analysis

• Value Chain (Porter)

• 7S-model (McKinsey)

• Market research related tools (e.g. statistical analysis)

• Value Chain analysis (Porter)

• Fishbone

• Pareto analysis

21



Appendix 6 PRINCE 2 Processes and Components

PRINCE2 is a method for managing projects. It provides a project with a set of processes to

work through and explains what information you should be gathering along the way. It helps

to organize and control a project and describes the roles to be played in it.

Good projects – those delivering quality results in time and within budget – are first of all

dependent on the quality of the people involved, from the responsible functions in the ‘Project

Board’ up to the individual team members doing the work of creating the products the projectaims to deliver. Of course, PRINCE2 doesn’t do the work, nor can it guarantee that projects

will be successful, but it is a considerable help in reducing failure.

Put simply, PRINCE2™ is a written description of how to manage a project in a logical,

organised way following defined steps. It is not a tool or a technique but a structured project

management process. You could also describe it as the application of “structured common

sense” in projects because it is based on best experiences and practices from earlier (Prince2)

projects all over the world. Owned by the UK Office of Government Commerce, and

launched in its current version in 1996. PRINCE2 is not only the UK’s de facto standard

method for all types of projects, but has also become one of the most important international

standard, with organisations around the world using it as their preferred approach to manage

projects.

What is the PRINCE2 project management method?

A project must be started , initiated , planned , directed , managed , controlled and concluded and the specified products must be delivered in time and fulfil their quality expectations.

PRINCE2 describes eight main processes (sets of interrelated activities) aimed at creating a

unique and carefully designed end result or (series of) product(s) within a planned time

framework and with pre-determined resources. Prince2 is used in major and complex projects

but it can easily be scaled down and applied to small projects by combining and ‘simplifying’

processes as well as supporting components (organization structure, reporting requirements,

quality controls etc.).

These processes are related to a range of so called components (procedures / documents / guidelines etc.) which introduce into the project such aspects as organizational roles and

responsibilities, the business case, quality control, risk management and change control to

22



ensure that the project is conducted in the best possible way (that is: stays within the

predefined tolerances for time, costs and quality) and that the end product is ‘fit for purpose’.

PRINCE2 is a scalable method, meaning that not always all elements from the overall method

need to be applied. We will be working on projects that are limited in scope (with regard to

time, complexity, risk-level and number of participants), therefore we may limit our

application of the PRINCE2 method to its essentials.

More importantly, it will help you to structure your project and reduce the risk of failure.

We advise you to take a couple of hours to review the Prince2 book of last year in order to

refresh your understanding of the Prince2 method.Further on in the Appendix section of this document you will find some of the PRINCE2

document-templates which you may use in this project.

For a further description of all the mentioned documents, roles and activities and for a

thorough refreshment of the Prince2 method: see PRINCE2 revealed, Colin Bentley, Elsevier

BH, 2006. We also recommend a set of Prince2 introduction animations which can be found

on the web site http://www.iplazza.eu/

23





Appendix 7 PRINCE2 Processes and Management Productsfor a Small Consultancy Project

In short we will give you an idea of what should be produced and when, in relation to the

Prince 2 processes and Prince2 and Business Deliverables. See also the more detailed Week

schedule for the entire project.

1. Project Mandate: (from company and coaches): November 2009

i. 2. Outline Business Case: Business Case (=justification)

Why project? / Problem definition

Detailed Research problem

How will the result/products be used?

Benefits?

Added value to the organisation?

3. Project Brief + Project Initiation Document

Background

Definition of the Project / Scope & Exclusions

Baselined Business Case

Why project?

How will products be used?

Benefits?

Added value to the organisation?

Product descriptions / PBS / PFD

Company’s quality expectations

Acceptance criteria

Already known risks

Project Approach

Project Quality Plan

Research & Project Plan + 1st Stage Plan

Communication Plan

Project Files Quality Log

Daily/Issue Log

Stage Plan(s) Risk Log

Lessons Learned Log

Highlight reports

4. Delivery of Final Products Hand over Products

6. Lessons Learned Report

Lessons Learned Log

24

Approval PID:Go/ No goEnd of block 6

MPManagingProductDelivery

SUStartingUp and

IPInitiatinga Project

CP

Closing aPro ect

CSControlling

Stages(progress)

DP

Di r e c t i n g aP

r o j e c t

P L

P l anni n g

Outline producedafter introductionmeeting withcompany

Final Report, LessonsLearned Report &Presentation:End of block 8

SBStage

Boundaries



Tips for Improvement / Lessons learned

Peer evaluation and Peer Assessment reports

25



Appendix 8 IBMS Competencies and Learning Objectives

During this project you will gain an insight in the operations and performance of a

professional organisation. You will also learn how decisions are made, both on strategic and

operational levels.

After this project you have:• gained experience in making and maintaining contacts with and obtain cooperation

from managers and employees in an organisation;

• learned how to define and set up a consultancy project for a company;

• learned how to conduct and finish a project with good result using the Prince2 Project

management method for small projects;

• learned how to carry out research according to the needs and the wishes of the client

company;

• gained experience in formulating and providing advice/ recommendations to the client

company;

• learned to select and make use of the appropriate management, commercial and

business tools;• learned how to write a ‘tailor made’ client oriented report;

• learned how to present and defend, in a client oriented manner, the results of your

project;

• become aware of (some) strong and weak points in a professional organisation;

• learned how to evaluate both personal and group performances.

IBMS competencies:

• Knowledge & understanding

students should demonstrate knowledge and understanding in a field of study that builds upon

and supersedes their general secondary education, and is typically at a level that, whilst

supported by advanced textbooks, includes some aspects that will be informed by knowledge

of the forefront of their field of study;

• Application

Students should be able to apply their knowledge and understanding in a manner that

indicates a professional approach to their work or vocation, and have competences typically

demonstrated through devising and sustaining arguments and solving problems within their

field of study

• Judgments

Students should have the ability to gather and interpret relevant data (usually within their field

of study) to inform judgements that include reflection on relevant social, scientific or ethical

issues;• Communication

Students should demonstrate that they are able to communicate information, ideas, problems

and solutions to both specialist and non-specialist audiences;

• Presentation skills

students should demonstrate that they have developed those presentation skills that are

necessary for them to act as an expert, be responsive to the target group, and be appealing

both in terms of contents and process.

• Learning skills

students should demonstrate that they have developed those learning skills that are necessary

for them to continue to undertake further study with a high degree of autonomy.

26



Appendix 10 PRINCE2 Templates – Project Brief (PB)

Under construction

27



Appendix 11 PRINCE2 Templates - PID

[PURPOSE OF THE PROJECT INITIATION DOCUMENT (PID):]

[To define the project, to form the basis for its management and to help with the assessment of the project’s overall success. The two primary uses of the PID are:

• To ensure that the project has a sound basis before asking the Company and RBS to make any

major commitment to the project.

• To provide a baseline document against which the Company and RBS and Project Manager canassess progress, change management (Project Issues) and on-going viability.]

PROJECT INITIATION DOCUMENT (PID) (Use

to confirm approval for the project and to obtain formal approval, in principle, to expend the resources for the project plan).

Document Ref & VersionNo:

Programme: Project:

Author: Date:

Purpose:[A statement of the purpose of the Project Initiation Document. The following is a “standard format” that may be used or adapted by the Project Manager:]

This document has been produced to capture and record the basic informationneeded to correctly direct and manage the project. The PID addresses the followingfundamental aspects of the project:

•

What is the project aiming to achieve• Why it is important to achieve the stated aims

• Who will be involved in managing the project and what are their roles and responsibilities

• How and When will the arrangements discussed in this PID be put into effect.

When approved by the Company and RBS this PID will provide the “Baseline” for theproject and will become “frozen”. It will be referred to whenever a major decision istaken about the project and used at the conclusion of the project to measure whether the project was managed successfully and delivered an acceptable outcome for thesponsor/user/customer.

[Much of the following information will be available from the Project Brief. This Management Product should be used extensively to reduce the effort required to produce the PID. However a simple “cut and paste” job is not recommended – all the information must be reviewed and re-considered in thelight of any changes that have occurred since the Project Brief was prepared and approved.]

Background:[Identification of the source of the undertaking and its sponsor. Any previous reports, documentationetc that might impact on the development.]

Objectives:

28



[Specifically what is required to be achieved by the project, expressed wherever possible, inmeasurable terms; it is often helpful to identify separate objectives for the project itself (eg: target dates, expenditure profiles) and the project outcome (what the end-product is required to deliver during its life) ].

Scope, Exclusions & Interfaces:

[The major areas, functions, processes etc to be addressed during the project - essentially what is“in” and what is “out”. A simple "scoping diagram" may be appropriate]

Outline Deliverables (Products):[A list of the expected and required Deliverables/Products/Outcomes) that the proposedproject must create or acquire.]

Constraints:[Restrictions on time, resources, funding, and/or the eventual outcome - a statement of the "no-go" areas for the project.]

Assumptions:[Similar to constraints but more “expectation” than “restriction”.]

Initial Business Benefits/Business Case:

Project Organisation Structure:[It explains who will be on the Project management Team. Roles and Responsibilities should already have beenagreed and signed up to; they need not be included in the PID.]

Project Quality Plan:[Derived from the “Customer’s Quality Expectations” section in the Project Brief, its purpose is to define how thegroup intends to deliver Products which meet the Customer’s Quality Expectations]

Acceptance Criteria:[A definition, in measurable terms, of what must be done for the outcome of the project to beacceptable to the Customer. ]

29



Initial Project Plan:[Providing a statement about how and when the project’s objectives are to be achieved byshowing the Major Products, Activities and Resources required for the project. The ProjectPlan provides the baseline against which the Company and RBS will monitor projectprogress and cost, stage by stage.]

Project Controls:[The frequency of review required by management. Management reviews will be related tosignificant events during the life of the project to commit resources and authorise progress.

Additional Comment:[Add any additional information to be brought to the Project Authority’s/Project Board’s attention. Thismight include statements on the Project Structures to be used, Company and RBS evaluation criteria

and procedures etc]

[Check this document against the following Quality Criteria:

1. Does the PID correctly represent the project? 2. Does the PID show a viable, achievable project which is in line with

corporate strategy, or overall Programme needs? 3. Is the Project Organisation Structure complete, with names and titles?

4. Have all the roles been considered? 5. Does the PID clearly show a control, reporting and direction regimewhich is implementable, and appropriate to the scale, business risk and business importance to the project?

6. Is the project organisation structure backed up by agreed and signed jobdefinitions?

7. Are the relationships and lines of authority clear? 8. Does the project organisation structure indicate to whom the Project

Manager reports? 9. Do the controls satisfy any delegated assurance requirements? 10.Is it clear who will administer each control?]

Sign off for PID

Project Manager’s Signature:

Customer/User’s Signature:

RBS Approval

Date:

30



Appendix 12 PRINCE2 Templates - Format Lessons Learned Report

(Use to summarise any Lessons Learned during the Management. Learned issues are registered and updated by the Project Manager during the Project and notified in this lesson report to RBS at the end of block 8.)

Group and Individual learning experience

Introduction:Each student had to complete his/her ‘Personal Expectations for the External Project’ in order to think about the

skills he/she would like to be called upon during this project and which skills should be developed during this

block. Also the groups process and your positive (negative?) role in it must be evaluated. In order to summarize

these experiences a ‘Groups and individual learning experience report’ has to be produced next to the ‘Final

Report’.

The size of this report should not exceed 5 pages.

The format serves as a guidance not as a fixed template. However, it must be understandable, logical and

objective.

Format report:

Title page

Table of Contents

Introduction

• Aim

• Method of collection of data

Individual processes

Questions to address:

What role did each student have, what was the expectation and how is the learning experience

evaluated.

Which skills are mentioned at the beginning, what were the expectations and what has the student

learned.What are the points for improvement

Groups process

Questions to address:

Which group aspects helped the project and which aspects delayed the project.

How did the project progressed for each workgroup and for the class as a group

What are the points for improvement.

Conclusion

In this part the PA gives concluding remarks on the process of this project as a whole. The best way by

doing this is by starting : “In order to have a better learning experience individually and as a group and

if we had to do it over and again, we would……..”.

31



Appendix 13 How to organise feedback?

Instructions

Read the guidelines on how to provide feedback on the next pages. While reading think of

how you would be able to use these suggestions to improve your own way of providing

feedback.

Feedback on behavior

Before the next (last) meeting all group members write down several points of positive and

negative feedback for every individual member in their group. These points refer to the

behavior of your group members during the Project Management workshop. Feedback can be

a means to resolve a conflict with one of your group members. Make sure that your written

feedback consists of full sentences which are constructed in the way suggested by the

guidelines on the next pages.

Requested result

1. A document indicating positive and negative feedback on the behavior of each of your group members.

2. Type your comments on one side of an A4-sized paper and be sure you put your name,

student number and (project) group on top of it.

3. Every group members gives all other group members a mark (between 0 and 10) for

his overall performance and write it on the last line of your feedback for him/her.

Think about the ‘code of conduct’ for group members you discussed earlier and use

this (among other things) as reference for your assessment of another group member.

4. Send your feedback to the group chairman 2 days before next meeting, so he can copy

it and it use it for the preparation of the meeting. Make sure that your name is in the

document name (e.g. Feedback by John Baldwin 0765432 IBMS04C.doc)

5. The chairman stores all feedback reports in the N@tschool workspace of your project

group.

6. The chairman calculates an average score for each group member, makes a list and

sends this list to the lecturer. The chairman will deal with the peer assessments in a

confidential manner. The ‘peer assessment’ scores will be a considerable part of the

overall mark for this module.

Feedback

Feedback is a reaction from an individual directly or indirectly communicating how

someone's thinking and/or behavior affects him or her. These reactions are communicated by

means of words, tone, innuendo, and behavior, expressed or withheld. (Culbert, MindsetManagement, 1996)

The purpose of feedback is to understand what the sender and receiver agree upon and to

identify the context in which they understand how the information will be utilized. To utilize

feedback effectively a person must understand that people see every event differently.

Viewing things differently doesn't mean that people can’t understand one another, nor does it

mean that a team cannot come to consensus. It is important to understand that distinct

interests and motives are the driving forces behind people’s participation and these are neither

known to you or under your control.

There are different forms of feedback:Spontaneous vs. Planned

Team vs. individual Feedback

Positive feedback

32



Constructive feedback

Negative feedback (Destructive)

Verbal vs. nonverbal feedback

Knowing how to give feedback is important. To develop this skill there are some simple steps

you can follow:

Write feedback on post-it-notes without naming yourself.

Set up an e-mail system where you can register feedback to the facilitator (team leader) to be

discussed at the next meeting.Send the feedback to your team coordinator and have the coordinator send it to the team

leader.

Start the feedback with the word “I”.

Describe the behavior that is in question.

Tell how you feel the behavior could be changed by being constructive not destructive.

Describe your observations (touch, feel, smell, hear, see and what, how, when, and where).

Explain how the behavior was helpful or not helpful in achieving the task.

Give positive feedback to create trust and team spirit, reinforce common team goals, and

energize the team.

Use Constructive feedback to identify conflicts, productivity impediments, and areas for

personal and group improvement.Use formalized constructive feedback to reduce conflict within an environment of trust.

There is no “one best way” to give feedback.

Summary of Constructive Feedback

Acknowledge the need

Give both positive and negative feedback

Understand the context

Be descriptive and use facts/examples

Don’t use labels (i.e., immature, unprofessional)

Describe behavior

Be exact, don’t exaggerateBe nonjudgmental

Speak for yourself, not the team

Use “I” rather than “the team doesn’t like it when....”

Talk about yourself, not the other person:

Effective:

“I feel annoyed when you are late for meetings.”

“I appreciate your coming to meetings on time.”

Ineffective:

“You are frequently late for meetings.”

“You are very prompt for meetings.”

Effective:

“I feel frustrated when I am interrupted and can not complete my thoughts.”

Ineffective:

“You always interrupt me.”

12. Phrase the issue as a statement, not a question:

Effective:

“I appreciate you coming to the meeting on time.”

Ineffective:“When are you going to start coming to meetings on time?”

13. Restrict feedback to things you know for certain.

33



14. Help people hear and accept your compliments when giving positive feedback.

15. Listen to responses.

16. Be willing to help the other person think through ways to address constructive feedback.

There are times when you should not give feedback:

You don’t know the circumstances of the behavior

You do not care about the person or will not be around long enough to follow up on the

situation

The person has no power to change the behavior or circumstancesThe person has low self-esteem

Your purpose is not really improvement, but to put someone on the spot

Your purpose is to demonstrate how smart or how much better you are

Receiving feedback is also a skill and there are a few easy steps to follow to make receiving

feedback easy:

Relax

Listen actively (don’t try to think of how to respond or develop solutions while the other

person is giving constructive feedback)

Acknowledge the feedback

Clarify the feedback Reflect upon the valid points

Take time to sort out what you have heard.

Source: 1997/1996 Sloan School of Management, Project Team;

Harrington-Mackin, D., 1996. Keeping the Team Going: A Tool Kit to Renew

& Refuel Your Workplace Teams. New York, NY: American Management

Association.

Suggestions on how to provide Feedback

Sequence Explanation

1. "When you..."

Start with a "When you..." statement that describes the

behavior without judgment, exaggeration, labeling, attribution,

or motives. Just state the facts as specifically as possible.

2. "I feel..."

Tell how their behavior affects you. If you need more than a

word or two to describe the feeling, it's probably just some

variation of joy, sorrow, anger, or fear.

3. "Because I..."

Now say the way you are affected that way. Describe the

connection between the facts you observed and the feelings

they provoke in you.

4. Pause for

discussion

Let the other person respond.

5. "I wouldlike..."

Describe the change you want the other person to consider.

34



6. "Because..." ...and why you think the change will alleviate the problem.

7. "What do you

think?"

Listen to the other person's response. Be prepared to discuss

options and compromise on a solution.

Example"When you are late for meetings, I get angry because I think it wastes the time of all

other team members and we are never able to get through our agenda items. I would like

you to find some way of planning your schedule that lets you get to these meetings on

time. That way we can be more productive at the meetings and we can all keep to our

tight schedules."

Guidelines

1. Acknowledge the need for feedback

• Feedback is vital to any organization committed to improving itself.• Feedback skills will help you communicate effectively, improve your team

meetings, and improve interactions with team members and others.

2. Give both positive and negative feedback

• People will more likely pay attention to your complaints if they have also

received your compliments

3. Know when to give feedback

• Consider more than your own need to give feedback.

•

Constructive feedback happens only within a context of listening to and caringabout the person.

• Do not give feedback when:

♦ You do not know much about the circumstances of the behavior.

♦ The feedback is about something the person has no power to change.

♦ The other person seems low in self-esteem.

♦ The time, place, or circumstances are inappropriate.

4. Know how to give feedback

• Be descriptive

♦ Be objective and give specific, recent examples.

• Don't use labels♦ Be clear, specific, and unambiguous.

♦ Describe the behavior and drop the labels.

• Don't exaggerate

♦ Be exact.

♦ The receiver will argue with the exaggeration rather than the real issue.

• Don't be judgmental

♦ Don't use words like "good," "better," "worse."

♦ This invites the receiver to respond as a child since you are using the

words of a controlling parent.

•

Speak for yourself ♦ Don't refer to absent, anonymous people.

♦ Encourage others to speak for themselves.

• Talk first about yourself, not about the other person

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♦ Say, "I appreciate your coming to meetings on time," not "You are very

prompt for meetings."

♦ This creates a peer relationship, not a ranked relationship

• Phrase the issue as a statement, not as a question

♦ Questioning can be controlling and manipulative.

• Restrict your feedback to things you know for certain

♦ Don't present opinions as facts.

• Help people hear and accept your compliments when giving positive feedback

5. Know how to receive feedback

• Listen carefully

• Ask questions for clarity

• Acknowledge the feedback

• Acknowledge valid points

• Take time to sort out what you heard

Source: The Team Handbook, Peter R. Scholtes and others, Joiner Publishing,

1988

Suggested websites:

'How to Give Good Feedback'

source:http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/17/feedback.html

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http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/17/feedback.html

http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/17/feedback.html



Documents

Manual IBMS External Projects 2nd Year 2009-2010 091109 Vs2