For this Assessment, you are to conduct your own research on the topic described (below) and review current literature and subsequently provide a report on your research with cited references. Include a minimum of six (6) references; some from scholarly journals, and from relevant texts that contribute to your report. Articles need to be peer reviewed.
You should support your arguments with evidence from your research. Use examples to illustrate your understanding of the issues and provide a conclusion to summarise your findings.
There is a Marking Guide (rubric) explaining how marks are distributed for this Assessment. Marks will be given to the approach you take to your Assessment – including the layout, (report style/structure, syntax/grammar) use of Chicago referencing, compliance to stated requirements and presentation of arguments.
Topic
When planning a project and estimating the expected duration of the component tasks, an important factor is the productivity of the labour assigned to a task.
For any labour intensive, effort-driven project tasks for example:
- building a wall;
- interviewing clients for their requirements;
- developing a software module;
or any other such activity, the degree to which the project manager accounts for labour productivity will influence the planned duration of the task.
Select a significant task from a project (social or workplace) with which you have some experience. You are required to describe and analyse the productivity of work on that task and to answer the Assessment, as follows:
| Step | Task | Word Count | Mark |
| 1 | Briefly describe your selected project and an appropriate, effort-driven task selected from that project. Explain the resources (human) that are required for the selected task. | 100 – 150 words | 5 |
| Step | Task | Word Count | Mark |
| 2 | Define productivity (in the context of project work) and define worker productivity and state how these can be measured. Explain how the productivity of your selected project task could be effectively measured. | 200 – 250 words | 15 |
| Step | Task | Word Count | Mark |
| 3 | Describe three factors that may significantly affect the productivity of the workers for your selected project task and explain in what way and by how much these factors could influence the estimate of the work duration of that task. | 650 – 750 words | 35 |
| Step | Task | Word Count | Mark |
| 4 | Describe one management technique, appropriate to your nominated project and task, which addresses one or more of the factors described above (in Step 3); and which could be implemented on your chosen task to improve the worker productivity. Explain how you would expect the productivity of the work (and hence the task duration) to be impacted by this technique. | 450 – 550 words | 35 |
Instructions – Word Count and Formatting Requirements:
- This is an individual Assessment that requires you to present your own work.
- Present your work in a format that follows the structure, mentioned below.
- Work is to be referenced to Curtin University guidelines (Chicago referencing).
- Provide your Assessment using the provided Assessment Cover Sheet and the Marking Guide (available on Blackboard).
- Your Assessment is to be submitted as single soft copy (pdf file) via Turnitin on Blackboard. Ensure that you comply with the Guidelines for Submitting Soft Copy Assessments – available on Blackboard under Assessments.
- All Curtin policies apply to this work and you should particularly note those relating to plagiarism and late submission.
- Marks will be deducted for non-compliance with the Assessment instructions.
- Refer to the additional information on Report Style writing (on Blackboard).
Word count: 1400 – 1700
- The word count shall be declared clearly on the cover page by the student and on each of the 4 sections.
- The following parts will not be considered in the word count.
- Cover page
- Table of contents
- Tables and Figures (diagrams)
- Appendices; and
- Reference List
- No text can be submitted as an image. Inserting text as images is not acceptable and could be seen as an attempt to hide plagiarism. If you are experiencing issues with formatting in MS Word, please submit your MS Word file in TurnitIn and email the PDF version to the lecturer.
Formatting Requirements
- Page size: A4
- Line spacing: 5
- Font size: 11
- Font style: Calibri
- Margins: standard
- File format: Please provide the MS Word file (not PDF)
Your report must be presented in a professional manner to receive maximum possible 10 marks allocated to professional presentation.
Deadline
This Assessment is due before midnight (WST) on Sunday 02nd September 2018 (week 5 of semester). Note you must make allowances for any transmission and reception issues that could occur to ensure that your Assessment is received prior to that time.
Submission
Submissions having over 20% (above) the word limit will not be marked. The paper will be returned to the student to reduce the word count and resubmit within 24 hours. Failing to comply with this requirement will result in the submission to be disqualified.
For the pdf version to be sent to the lecturer – The subject line should read “PRJM 6002 Assessment 1 Student ID.” No text is required in the body of the email.
Otherwise the submissions in MS word must be submitted via Turnitin Blackboard refer previous instructions.
