This assignment is aimed at:
• gaining a practical understanding of the issues involved in project management and handling of conflict
situations; and
• developing the ability to resolve project management issues under pressure and within a short time frame,
as project conditions change.
This assignment is worth 25% towards your final assessment for this subject.
In the interests of fairness, due to the short duration of the assignment, and in order to maximize the realism of
the assignment, no communication is allowed with your senior tutor or other tutors involved in the subject until
the due date. However, if absolutely necessary, send me an email with a clearly worded question about a specific
issue to which I will answer. The assignment will be made available on the LMS on Thursday 10th October 2019
at 5pm.
Due date for submission by: 11.30pm on Tuesday 15th October 2019 via the LMS.
Late submissions: A 10% penalty will be applied for each ‘late’ day and no late submissions will be accepted
after 5 days from the deadline.
Requirement: There is a scenario in this assignment. You are required to address all the questions for this scenario
in around 1500 to 2500 words. The scenario will have a few questions to address. It is required that your document
addresses each question separately.
Assessment (learning outcomes): Assessment is based on the quality of the:
• analysis and the information provided;
• depth of understanding of the scenarios involved;
• ability to assess a situation and suggest different strategies and;
• then to provide reasoning as to how and why you will use one or more strategies to resolve the situation
/ deal with the dilemma.
This is an individual project. While you may discuss the problems with your classmates, you must not show
written solutions to another student or use written solutions from another student. Failure to reference sources or
using the work of another student are examples of plagiarism, and may result in zero marks for this assignment,
and you will be reported to the Course Coordinator, with possible further referral to the Discipline Committee.
You are reminded that your submission for this project is to be your own individual work. For most people,
collaboration will form a natural part of the undertaking of this project. However, it is still an individual task, and
so re-use of others’ information will be considered misconduct.
We will check submissions for originality and will invoke the University’s Academic Misconduct policy
(http://academichonesty.unimelb.edu.au/policy.html) where inappropriate levels of collusion or plagiarism appear
to have taken place.
A cover sheet is provided. You are required to sign and submit the cover sheet with the assignment.

Assignment 2: ISYS90050 IT Project and Change Management
Context
Daniel and this team win $100,000 from the Victorian Government on a Low carbon footprint project. As part of
project, they collaborate with two associations namely: Master-Tradesmen and real estate association, to design
and develop a mobile application to educate and engage both tradespersons and real estate agents on: what is low
carbon living; how to use low carbon material; how to advice clients on using low carbon material and; how to
assess / calculate the carbon footprint in a home for sale or purchase.
Daniel has been appointed as the Project Manager (PM) to lead the design and development team to completion
of the project. The system is required to go live in Oct 2020. All contracts are signed and the project is ready to
kick-off. A steering committee is formed with the following members as stakeholders: Linda from Real estate
Association, a Master Builder’s Association of Victoria representative, a Master-Tradesmen Association
representative, a Victorian government representative, Daniel the PM and the project owner Jacintha who is
Daniel’s boss.
Daniel and his team start work knowing that the project is on a tight budget and schedule. Daniel is introduced to
Linda, one of the real estate association stakeholders. He is informed that Linda will help him with requirements
gathering. Linda simply provides Daniel with a list of 20 concepts on low carbon footprint – a list she believes is
accurate. The list is vague and does not clearly identify the functional and non-functional requirements. Further,
Linda resides in Perth. Meeting her on a regular basis is a problem. Every time he emails Linda to set a time to
call or Skype, she postpones the meeting or does not respond to his emails. Daniel is unhappy about the fact that
he is unable to capture a holistic view of the project and its intended requirements. When they actually email or
Skype, she provides Daniel with a new list of requirements every time. They are 5 months into the project.
Daniel is concerned that the stakeholders’ changing requirements for the new application is leading to ‘scope
creep’, schedule and budget blow out. He tries to dismiss some of the new requirements by saying “Linda, we are
not sure we can provide this functionality”. Linda says, “I understand Daniel. Do what you can”. But it does not
seem to stop Linda from adding new and vague requirements every time they talk.
In the meantime, these vague new requirements and changes to the design of the system is putting pressure on the
timelines for task completions among Daniel’s team members. The team is confused and annoyed at the
continuous and vague changes to the requirements of the application. So they complain about it to Daniel. But
Daniel dismisses their complains and says, “Not to worry, we should be fine”. One of the team members, Claire,
has had enough. She starts to vocally express her resentment to the other team members during tea breaks, “I’m
beginning to wonder if Daniel is a capable PM. What do you guys think? I think I would have done a better job”.
Further, during one of the team meetings, Claire, in a fit of rage raises the issue, “We can’t possibly have the new
product ready in time! What do the rest of you think? Especially when we seem to be losing direction on this
project while trying to work on Linda’s add-on (additional) vague requirements every time she meets Daniel,
which is outside the scope of this project. Daniel, what are you doing about this? Why aren’t you managing Linda
and her crazy list of requirements? Are you sure you can handle this project?”. Daniel starts to defend himself,
“This is rubbish Claire. You don’t know what you are talking about”. Daniel and Claire start to argue during the
meeting. The team members start to take sides and it seems the meeting is out of control.
A few days later, Claire meets the project owner Jacintha in the corridor. Jacintha says, “Hi Claire, how are things
with the project?”. Claire seizes the opportunity to complain about Daniel and to show off her PM capabilities,
“Not sure what’s happening with the project. I’m sure we are going to blow our budget on this one. I hope Daniel
knows what he is doing because I would have done things differently”.
At the same time, Linda calls the steering committee for an advisory board meeting. During the meeting, Linda
complains that, “This project is not going forward as I would expect. I have provided a lot of information but I’m
yet to see anything to date that I can provide feedback on. Is this project heading in the right direction?”. Daniel
is surprised at hearing this complaint because, in his opinion, she is to blame. He says nothing at this meeting.
Daniel now realizes he must resolve a few problems to keep his job as a PM. As a PM, he has four problems to
resolve: (1) manage Linda’s expectations from a stakeholder’s point of view (2) resolve the conflict with Claire
(3) stabilize his team and (4) convince the advisory group that he is successfully managing the project to
completion.
3
Address these questions (25 marks):
1. (4 marks) Review the scenario and identify the triggers that may have led to the problems that Daniel now
has to resolve. Justify your answer.
2. (5 marks) If you were Daniel, what would you do as a first step to resolving the ‘scope creep’ as influenced
by Linda? Choose one of the options listed below as your first step and justify your answer. As a part of your
justification, also explain why the other options listed below might not be a good approach in your opinion:
o Send Linda a one-line email asking for a time to meet in person.
o Send Linda an email telling her that you wish to talk directly about the project status, changing
requirements, the schedule delays and request a time to meet in person.
o Avoid meeting Linda face-to-face, but email her with a detailed explanation of why the new
requirements cannot be accommodated.
o Do nothing
3. (5 marks) Claire has complained to Jacintha, the project owner about Daniel’s incompetence. Further, at the
advisory committee meeting with stakeholders, Daniel is made to look incompetent. If you were Daniel, which
one of the following options would you choose to, prove to Jacintha that you are competent and that she can
depend on you to complete this project successfully? Justify your answer. Then, justify why you would not select
any of the other options listed:
o Catch Jacintha immediately after the advisory committee meeting and start explaining to her about the
problems you are experiencing with the project, with Claire and Linda, as you all walk out of the room;
o Email Jacintha immediately after the meeting and request a one-on-one meeting and explain the reasons
for meeting, then ask for a time to talk in person;
o Wait for a few days and then walk into Jacintha’s office and tell her all is well;
o Do nothing and hope all will be well
4. (4 marks) If you were Daniel, describe how you would go about convincing the advisory committee of
stakeholders that the project will be on track and that you are competent to take this project to completion?
Think about: (1) supporting facts/evidence (2) obligations and consequences for actions; (3) options you can work
with (negotiation incentives); (4) style of approach and; (5) finally, any other matters?
5. (5 marks) If you were Daniel, now that matters have gotten out-of-hand due to: (1) Claire’s outrage at the
meeting; (2) your outburst; and (3) the negative influence on the team’s morale and their view about your
competence as a PM, explain how you would regain the team’s confidence in you? Your answer should be an
approach that is systematic and well thought out.
Hint: reflect on ways of managing the team meetings; resolving existing conflicts with people
6. (2 marks) Was it appropriate and professional for Linda to complain about Daniel at the advisory committee
meeting, while telling Daniel that she “understands” and that he should do what he can? Why/Why not? Justify
your answer.
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