PMBA:MT Briefing

Purpose

Topic choice

Process und schedule

Master Thesis concept

Mater Thesis structure

Formal requirements

What makes an excellent Master Thesis?

Questions

Overview

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Important part of your PMBA program

A specific and relevant practical problem

Meaningful research question

Deepen your knowledge in a specific topic

Answering the research question with

knowledge you have acquired in the program

theories from literature

empirical

Purpose

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The topic corresponds to your own interests and is of practical relevance

The sources that are used are easy to locate and access

Access to companies/cases, literature

The methodical requirements of the Master Thesis correspond to your area of experience

Recommendation: Case studies and expert interviews

The subject of the Master Thesis is within the supervisor’s area of expertise

Topic Choice

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Analysis of Project Alliance structure: Reflection on Strategic Railway Alliance in the UK

Design and Implementation of Training and Development Programs: The case of an European Banking Group

Project Management of Government Projects: Analysis based on the Bulgarian case “Operational Programme Environment 2007-2013“

Success Factors of Global Client Projects: The case of a Management Consulting Firm

Examples

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Search for a topic (from now on)

Contact the Academic Director

For a quick idea check

Discuss potential supervisor with Academic Director

Literature search

Prepare a first draft of the MT proposal

Contact Supervisor

Discuss MT proposal and deepen it into a concept

Individual agreement with supervisor on process

Process and schedule I

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Formal submission of application form via Moodle (by end of January 2021)

The application form includesName of the author (and, if applicable, name of the co-author)Working title of the Master Thesis Presentation of the problem and aims of the Master Thesis Preliminary schedule (milestones)

Needs signature of supervisor

Work on the Master Thesis

Contact with supervisor according to individual agreement

Submission of the Master Thesis (by June 30, 2021)

Use required forms, see MT guidelines

Process and schedule II

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Rational, motivation

Main definitions

Objectives

Research question(s)

Research process and methods

Expected results

First draft of a list of content

Literature list

Typical Structure: MT Concept

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Introduction

Rational, motivation

Objectives

Research question, research propositions

Research process and methods

Overview chapters

Literature chapters

Model/research propositions

Critical summary of the literature

Your model/research propositions

Empirical part

For example cases studies, interviews…

Comparison of cases

Discussion of findings (relates your empirical findings back to the literature)

Conclusions

Recommendations for practice

Bibliography

Appendix

Typical Structure: Master Thesis

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Proper literature

o A practical report is not enough (academic paper)

o Apply relevant literature

o Theory provides the basis for the empirical part

o References and literature

o Books and book chapters, but also academic journals (access through library)

o Typical PM Journals:

o International Journal of Project Management, Project Management Journal

Use of templates

o Templates for Cover Page and Affidavit are mandatory

o Templates in electronic form are available on Moodle

Formal Requirements I

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Blocking of the Master Thesis

o In exceptional and well-founded cases for a max. duration of five years

o Use specific form

Language and scope

o In English

o Take care of proofreading and English language check, plan time for it

o About 60 pages

o Exceeding of more than 15% needs approval by the supervisor

Formal Requirements II

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Plagiarism: Conscious improper incorporation of extraneous intellectual property by

o missing or incorrect citation of external ideas

o copying the Master Thesis (or parts of it) from the internet

o incorporating citations or translations from foreign-language texts without naming the sources

o using a “ghost writer”

• Contradiction to academic standards

• Violation of copyright

Formal Requirements III

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What is referencing?

Referencing is a system used in the academic community to indicate where ideas, theories, quotes, facts and any other evidence and information used to undertake an assignment, can be found.

Why do I need to reference my work?

To avoid plagiarism

Referencing your work correctly ensures that you give appropriate credit to the sources and authors that you have used in the Master’s Thesis.

Referencing the sources that you have used demonstrates that you have undertaken wide-ranging research in order to create your work.

Referencing your work enables the reader to consult for themselves the same materials that you used.

What do I need to reference?

All the information that you have used will need to be acknowledged.

Make a note of all the details of the sources that you use.

References: Overview

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Different formats exist

Most important is the consistency! You need to stick to the same style throughout your Master Thesis

In the text:

Direct quote: “Quote“ (Huemann et al. 2010, page 33)

Indirect quote: Huemann (2013) argues….

Further information an examples on the Harvard style

http://libguides.staffs.ac.uk/ld.php?content_id=9572296

References

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Identifying an interesting and timely problem,

Defining it clearly and stating its (practical) relevance

Research question(s)

Be clear and transparent on the research process and methods

Eg number of interviews, how the interview partners were selected, why are these the right ones, how was the interview documented, how was it analyzed?

The author utilizes theory to discuss a practical problem The results are clear and evident and are discussed accurately.

The Master Thesis is completely rounded

Clear structure, including introduction and summaries per chapter

Clear golden string through out the text

No superfluous tangents, but clear and thorough argumentation.

What makes a good MT?

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Covid 19 context

Managing urgent topics: Get things done

Managing crisis in projects

Managing crisis with projects

Creating the future with projects

Possibility to join current research topics (Project Management Group)

Project careers

Incentives in project work

Resilience

Project crisis management

Rethink project success

Stakeholder engagement

Some current hot topics

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Field Trip 2021

Finland

7 –14 August, 2021

Around 675,000 inhabitants

One of the mostlivable citites in theworld

Canada’s main business hub for trade with Asia and the Pacific Rim

Vancouver

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Tentative Schedule

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was founded in 1965, around 24,000 active students

SFU is Canada's most community-engaged research university, with three thriving urban campuses

Simon Fraser Universityhttps://www.sfu.ca/

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