Questions and Answers of Project Management Processes Methodologies And Economics

What are the characteristics of a good project manager?
Find an article describing a national project in detail. On the basis of the article and of your understanding of the project, answer the questions below. State any assumptions that you believe are
Find an article that discusses workflow management systems (e.g., Stohr and Zhao 2001) and explain the following: a. What are the advantages of workflow systems? b. Under what conditions is a
On the basis of the material in this chapter and any outside sources you can find, answer the following. a. Define what is meant by a “learning organization.” b. What are the building blocks of
Estimate the LCC for a passenger car. In so doing, select an appropriate CBS and explain your cost estimates.
Explain how the design of a car affects its LCC.
Compare the cost of ownership of a new car with that of a used car of similar type.
Explain the design factors that affect the LCC of an elevator in a New York City office building.
What are the sources of uncertainty in Question 4? Question 4Explain the design factors that affect the LCC of an elevator in a New York City office building.
What do you think are the principal cost drivers in designing a permanently manned lunar base? What non-cost factors would you want to consider?
Identify a potential consumer product that is not yet on the market, such as video telephones, and list the major costs in each phase of its life cycle. How might these costs be estimated?
Pick an R&D project of national scope, such as mapping all of the genes on a human chromosome (the human genome project). First, sketch a potential OBS for the project and identify the tasks that
Develop an LCC model to assist you in selecting the best heating system for your house. Discuss the alternatives and explain the cost structure that you have selected.
Discuss the effect of taxes on the LCC of passenger cars. Compare domestic and imported cars.
Discuss the effect of LCC on the decision to locate a new warehouse.
Discuss a project in which the first phase of the life cycle accounts for more than 50% of the LCC.
Discuss a project in which the detailed design phase accounts for more than 50% of the LCC.
The cost of a used car is highly correlated with the following variables: Using regression analysis, the following relationship between the cost of a car and the four independent variables was
A construction project consists of 10 identical units. The cost of the first unit is $25,000, and a learning curve of 90% applies to the cost and the duration of consecutive units. Assume that the
Develop three cost classifications for the LCC of an office building.
Develop a CBS for the cost of an office building. Estimate the cost of each component.
Show a cash flow analysis for the LCC of an office building.
Perform a Pareto (ABC) analysis on the data of the LCC of an office building.
Develop an estimate for the cost of a 3-week vacation in Europe.
Develop an LCC model to support the decision to buy or rent a car.
Natasha Gurdin is debating which of two possible models of a car to buy (A or B), being indifferent with regard to their technical performance. She has been told that the average monthly cost of
Your company has just taken over an old apartment building and is renovating it. You have been appointed manager and must decide which brand of refrigerator to install in each apartment unit. Your
You have been told that even warehouse location decisions should be based, at least in part, on the results of an LCC analysis. Discuss this issue.
Maurice Micklewhite has decided to replant his garden. Show him what the cost is of making an erroneous decision at various stages of the project, starting with conceptual design and ending with the
The relative cost of each stage in the project life cycle is a function of the nature of the project or product. Generate a list of possible projects and group them by the similarities in their
Different organizations and customers look at different aspects of the LCC data. Select five projects and identify the relevant LCC aspects for each organization and customer involved.
Develop a list of cost components for two projects and estimate their values. Identify the components that represent approximately 80% of the projects’ costs, and discuss possible alternatives to
Where would ideas for new projects and products probably originate in a manufacturing company? What would be the most likely source in an R&D organization such as AT&T Laboratories or IBM’s Watson
Assume that you work in the design department of an aerospace firm and you are given the responsibility of selecting a workstation that will be used by each group in the department How would you find
Identify a project that you are planning to pursue either at home or at work. List all of the components, decision points, and chance events. What is the measure of success for the project? Assuming
If you were evaluating a proposal to upgrade the computer-aided design system used by your organization, what type of information would you be looking for in detail? How would your answer change if
Which factors in an organization do you think would affect the decision to go ahead with a project, such as automating a production line, other than the B/C ratio?
For years before beginning the project to build a tunnel under the English Channel, Great Britain and France debated the pros and cons. Speculate on the critical issues that were raised.
The project to construct a subway in Washington, D.C., began in the early 1970s with the expectation that it would be fully operational by 1980. A portion of the system opened in 1977, but as of
Where does quality fit into the B/C equation? Identify some companies or products that compete primarily on the basis of quality rather than price.
A software company is undecided on whether it should expand its capacity by using parttime programmers or by hiring more full-time employees. Future demand is the critical factor, which is not known
How could B/C analysis be used to help determine the level of subsidy to be paid to the operator of public transportation services in a congested urban area?
Why has the U.S. Department of Defense been the major exponent of C-E analysis? Give your interpretation of what is meant by “diminishing returns,” and indicate how it might affect a decision on
In which type of projects does risk play a predominant role? What can be done to mitigate the attendant risks? Pick a specific project and discuss.
Consider an important decision with which you will be faced in the near future. Construct a scoring model detailing your major criteria, and assign weights to each. Indicate which data are known for
Use a checklist and a scoring model to select the best car for a married graduate student with one child. State your assumptions clearly.
Assume that you have just entered the university and wish to select an area of study. a. Using B/C analysis only, what would your decision be? b. How would your decision change if you used C-E
You have just received a job offer in a city 1,000 miles away and must relocate. List all possible ways of moving your household. Use two different analytic techniques for selecting the best
Three new-product ideas have been suggested. These ideas have been rated as shown in Table 14. TABLE 14 Criteria Development cost Sales prospects Producibility Competitive advantage Technical risk
Epidemiological data indicate that only a handful of patients have contracted the AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome) virus from health care workers. Many, though, have called for the periodic
The daily demand for a particular type of printed circuit board in an assembly shop can assume one of the following values: 100, 120 or 130 with probabilities 0.2, 0.3 and 0.5. The manager of the
Allen Konigsberg is an expert in decision support systems and has been hired by a small software engineering firm to help plan their R&D strategy for the next 6 to 12 months. The company wishes to
The management of Dream Cruises, Ltd., operating in the Caribbean, has established the need for expanding its fleet capacity and is considering what the best plan for the next 8-year planning period
A trucking company has decided to replace its existing truck fleet. Supplier A will provide the needed trucks at a cost of $700,000. Supplier B will charge $500,000, but its vehicles may require more
How might you measure the benefits associated with space exploration or a superconducting supercollider for investigating subatomic particles? Can you put a dollar value on these benefits? What are
Identify an advanced technology project that you believe should be undertaken, such as bio-electronic computing or coal gasification. Who should be responsible for funding the project? The
What type of technical background, if any, do you think is needed to understand MAUT? The AHP?
You have just completed an MAUT evaluation of a number of data communications systems under consideration by your company. How would you present the results to upper management? Assuming that they
What do you think are the strengths and weaknesses of the AHP and MAUT?
How would you go about constructing an objective hierarchy? Who should be consulted? Identify a project from your personal experience or observations, and construct such a hierarchy.
When performing an evaluation using any multiple criteria method, from whose perspective should the analysis be undertaken? Would the answer differ if it were a public rather than a private project?
What experiences have you had with group decision making? What difficulties do you see arising when trying to perform a multiple-criteria analysis with many interested parties involved? How might
Are benefit-cost analysis and multiple-criteria analysis mutually exclusive techniques? In which circumstances is either most appropriate?
You just inherited a large sum of money and would like to develop a strategy to invest it. Use the AHP to fashion such a strategy. Construct an objective hierarchy listing all criteria and
From a practical point of view, how would you verify the independence assumptions associated with MAUT?
Are the axioms underlying the AHP reasonable and unambiguous? In which circumstances do you think one or more of them could be relaxed?
Both the AHP and MAUT are value models that facilitate making tradeoffs between incommensurable criteria. Come up with your own value model or procedure for doing this.
In conducting a group study using a multiple-criteria method, you reach a point at which two of the participants cannot agree on a particular response.What course of action would you take to placate
For which type of projects or problems might MAUT be more amenable than the AHP? Similarly, when is the AHP more appropriate than MAUT?
Assume that you work for a company that designs and fabricates VLSI chips. You have been given the job of selecting a new computer-aided design software package for the engineering group. a. Develop
Develop a flow chart detailing input, output, and processes for a software package that supports a. MAUT applications b. AHP applications
Using MAUT and the AHP, perform an analysis to select a graduate program. Explain your assumptions, and indicate which technique you believe is most appropriate for this application.
The six major objectives listed below are used by the British Columbia Hydro and Power Authority to evaluate new projects. Use this list to construct an objectives hierarchy by providing sub
Describe the organizational structure of your school or company. What difficulties have you encountered working within this structure?
Explain how a matrix organization can perform a project for a functional organization. What are the difficulties, contact points, and communication channels?
In the matrix management structure, the functional expert on a project has two bosses. What considerations in a well-run organization reduce the potential for conflict?
Write a job description for a project manager in a matrix organization. Assume that only the project manager is employed full time by the project.
How does the WBS affect the selection of the OBS of a project?
Under what conditions can a functional manager act as a project manager?
Develop a list of advantages and disadvantages of the following structures: a. Product organization b. Customer organization c. Territorial organization.
Which kind of OBS is used in the company or organization to which you now or used to belong? What are the limitations that you have perceived?
What are the activities and steps involved in developing an LRC?
Describe the “team building” inherent in the development of an LRC. How is team building accomplished on large projects? How does this relate to development of the LRC?
Discuss the applicability of the nominal group technique, the Delphi method, and brainstorming to the process of scheduling and budgeting a project.
Of the types of leadership discussed, which is most appropriate for a high-risk project?
Develop an organizational structure for a project performed in your school (e.g., the de velopment of a new degree program). Explain your assumptions and objectives.
You are in charge of designing and building a new solar heater. Develop the OBS and the WBS. Explain the relationship between the two.
Develop an OBS for an emergency health care unit in a hospital. How should this unit be related to the other departments in the hospital?
Develop a WBS for a construction project.
Consider the development of a new electric car by an auto manufacturer and a manufacturer of high-capacity batteries. a. Develop an appropriate four-level WBS. b. Develop the OBS. c. Define
Suggest three approaches (OBS-WBS combinations) for the development of a new un dergraduate program in electrical engineering.
Develop an LRC for a project done for a client who has a functional organization by a contractor who has a customer-oriented organization. a. Describe the project and its WBS. b. Describe the OBS
You are the president of a startup company that specializes in computer peripherals such as optical backup units, tape drives, signature verifications systems, and data transfer devices. Construct
List two activities that you have recently performed with two or more other people. Ex plain the role of each participant using an OBS, a WBS, and an LRC.
Give an example of an organization with an ineffective or cumbersome structure. Explain the problems with the current structure and how these problems could be solved.
Prepare a Delphi session for selecting the best project manager for a given project.
Develop a set of guidelines for project managers in international projects that deal with legal and ethical issues.
Generate an example of project management–related ethical issue, and discuss possible ways to resolve it.
Generate a WP template, and test it on a selected WP.
What are the design aspects of writing a term paper?

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