HI Length: 2500 – 3000 words (excluding references and appendix)Case study: SINTEF’s lean implementation initiative.Formatting. The report should be presented in 1.5 line spacing, 12 point Times N

demonstrate their knowledge and skills to achieve the required standard. To do this, assessment responses need to be both clear and easy to understand. If not, the University cannot determine that students have demonstrated their knowledge and skills. Assessments will, therefore, be marked according to the marking criteria (accompanied by the marking rubric). Failing to meet the requirements may result in 0 (zero) marks where relevant.

Do not reproduce statements from PMBOK or PRINCE2 or any other references without proper context.

Example 1:

Leadership is knowledge, skills, and behavior required to guide, motivate and direct a team to achieve its business goals (copied from page 56 of PMBOK), as this is considered plagiarism, instead you must show how you would apply that statement to your case.

Example 2:

PMBOK version 6 constitutes 10 knowledge areas, 5 process groups and 49 process activities or

PRINCE2 consists of 7 Principles, 7 Themes and 7 Processes.

Produce your answers for the case in question. DO NOT write about the theory or explain what PMBOK, PRINCE2, DMAIC methodology, etc covers. That will not attract any marks. You should demonstrate the application of the best practices not the theory.

Discuss with your lecturer / tutor if you need help.

Word count limit (excluding references and appendix). Your submission should be made using Microsoft WORD document of 2,500 - 3,000 words. Text length less than 2500 words will be penalised by 5% of the total available marks while text beyond the 3000 word limit shall attract a penalty as follows:

• 3001 - 3300 words: 5 marks

• 3301 - 3600 words: 10 marks

• more than 3601 words: 15 marks

Late penalty. Late submissions will attract penalties at 5% for each calendar day or part thereof that it is late of the total available mark for the individual assessment item. This means that, for an assessment worth 40 marks, the mark that you earn is reduced by 2 marks each calendar day that the assessment is late (including part-days and weekends). See s4.58 in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).

Check with marking criteria. Before submitting your assignment you should check it against the assessment criteria and the marking rubric included in this specification to ensure that you have satisfactorily addressed all the criteria that will be used to mark your assignment.

Academic language. All submissions should be thoroughly proof-read for spelling, typographical or grammatical errors before being submitted. Do not reply on the ‘spell-check’ function in your word processing program. If, for example, ‘affect’ is substituted for ‘effect’, your program may not detect the error.

Academic Integrity

All assignments will be checked for plagiarism (material copied from other students and/or material copied from other sources) using TurnItIn (TII). If you are found to have plagiarised material or if you have used someone else’s words without appropriate referencing, you will be penalised for plagiarism which could result in 0 (zero) marks for the whole assignment. In some circumstances a more severe penalty may be imposed. The link to the University’s Academic Misconduct Procedures is available in the unit profile.

Introduction

SINTEF Ltd, a functional organisation with various departments such as finance, information technology, engineering (which includes R&D and new product development teams), production, sales and marketing, human capital management, procurement and warehousing, is embarking on an initiative to implement lean principles for its business operations. Agile best practices have been identified as a mechanism to implement lean principles. Though the application of agile best practices is predominantly centered within the IT domain, the management team is exploring the possibility of extending to other business functions where applicable. The senior management team realises that there are various leadership styles that may be suitable to guide this initiative.

The senior management team has decided that they will manage this initiative as a project. To that effect, a team will be formed. This team will be called “THE A TEAM”. It will be led by a project manager and initially will have 3 to 4 project members.

Your tasks

This assessment item requires you to work in a group (no more than 3 students).

You have been engaged as a consultant to assist the senior management team identify a project team that comprises a project manager and several key project team members who will spear head the implementation of lean principles in SINTEF. The senior management team has asked you to provide a REPORT that covers the following:

Questions:

1. Compare and distinguish various leadership styles that could potentially be adopted by the selected project manager.

1. Select one (1) leadership style and explain in detail why you think it will be the best option given SINTEF’s organisational structure and context.

1. Determine characteristics that will be required to become a valuable team member of “THE A TEAM”.

1. Propose tools / techniques that could be implemented in various departments of SINTEF that will improve their efficiency. Provide specific examples on how the tools will be implemented. (You should include assumptions to facilitate your choice of tools and techniques)

Important Information

Formatting. The report should be presented in 1.5 line spacing, 12 point Times New Roman font. Report section headings and numbering 1.0, 1.1.2 etc. is expected.

Supporting diagrams / figures may be presented in other formats - Excel, PowerPoint slides, PDF documents, as part of the appendix and will not count towards the essay’s word limit. The reference list will also not be included in the word count.

Tables should be placed in the report. It should be labelled correctly (Table 1, Table 2 etc) and shall be included in the word count.

The submission should contain a coherent, but necessarily restricted review of the academic literature on the project management topics in question. The literature review should be integrated into the essay, not a separate section. Do not include an executive summary or an abstract.

This assessment item involves researching your assigned topic to enhance your understanding of lean project management concepts and utilisation of academic literature. Whilst you use the recommended textbooks and lecture materials, you may also refer to relevant peer reviewed, academic journal articles. A reference list (comprising between 5 – 10 references) formatted in the prescribed APA style is compulsory.