This week's set of questions will pull together many of the concepts covered throughout the course. As with your previous case study assignments, you are expected to exercise good observation and thorough critical thinking skills. You are also expected to use good writing skills, with good grammar and spelling. You should prepare your answers in Microsoft Word.

Be sure to submit your completed assignment.

Questions:

Will project management work in all companies? Why or why not? Provide examples of companies or industries to support your answer.

Consider a project in which all project planning is performed by a group. After all planning is completed, including the program plan and schedule, a project manager is selected. Is there anything wrong with this arrangement?

The director of project management calls you into his office and informs you that one of your fellow project managers had a severe heart attack midway through a project. You will be taking over his project, which is well behind schedule and overrunning costs. The director of project management then "orders" you to complete the project within time and cost. How do you propose to do it? Where do you start? Should you shut down the project to re-plan it?

Do cost overruns just happen, or are they caused?

Once the functional manager and project manager agree on a project schedule, who is responsible for getting the work performed? Who is accountable for getting the work performed? Why the difference, if any?