MN601 Network Project Management: Leadership, Ethics & Risk

This case study examines the ethical and practical challenges within a network project management scenario, focusing on leadership, risk analysis, and ethical decision-making. The case revolves around a construction project where ethical dilemmas arise due to resource mismanagement and potential conflicts of interest. It assesses the leadership qualities of the project manager, the ethical implications of decisions made by team members, and the importance of risk analysis in project execution. The analysis uses the PMI code of ethics as a framework to evaluate the situation, proposing alternative actions and emphasizing the need for transparency and adherence to ethical principles to avoid misuse of resources and maintain project integrity. The document concludes by highlighting the significance of proactive planning, ethical reporting, and responsible resource management in ensuring project success and upholding ethical standards.

SITE (School of Information Technology and Engineering)
Unit Code: MN601
Unit Title: Network Project Management
Term: T1 & Year: 2018
Assessment 1
Name of Student:
ID of Student:
Date of Submission:

Network Project Management 2
Table of Contents
PM Leadership..................................................................................................................................................3
PM Execution....................................................................................................................................................3
PM Risk Analysis...............................................................................................................................................3
Ethics Assessment............................................................................................................................................4
Ethics Alternatives............................................................................................................................................4
Ethics Analysis..................................................................................................................................................5
Ethics Application.............................................................................................................................................5
Ethics Action.....................................................................................................................................................5
References........................................................................................................................................................6
ID & Name of Student

Network Project Management 3
PM Leadership
Leadership is a characteristic which is required to be present in every project management professional to
manage the project properly and ethically [1]. The leadership skill does not depend on the employee who is
associated with a company for a longer period or has joined very shortly. Mr. Bob Moore is associated with
the company for more than 25 years and efficient manager whom all clients want for their site for the
construction of a building. This shows that Mr. Bob Moore is a good manager because we can balance the
job very well but not a leader because a leader should first thing for a longer period and don't worry about
doing right things rightly [2] [3].
PM Execution
For the proper execution of a project, the project manager did the communication very well with the team
members so that the job does not hamper due to their absenteeism. There are several types of
communication which a project manager need to conduct like 'Core Communication' which involves the
planning of inside the site work, then, the emotional factor or the cultural factor also need to be included
to make it a 'Managerial Communication' [4]. Like in the case study, where Jim is an engineer who has
joined very shortly in the Organisation in the Southern United States for the construction of a building
project which consists of the construction of a $ 34 million classroom of a University. Being such a junior
engineer, Jim could understand the ethical issue which is going on in execution site, after the first world in
which Jim gave to Bob, he should have directly reported it to the project manager rather than trying to
solve the issue at the site itself.
PM Risk Analysis
In every project, the risk management analyses are very much important to avoid any uncertainties to
impact the project negatively [5]. Similarly, for this case study project also the risk analysis should have
been done including qualitative and quantitative analysis [6] [7].
The major risk which should have been identified in this project are:
The impact of heavy rainfall in construction duration
The impact of heavy rainfall on absenteeism of the labour
The impact of heavy rainfall on the cash flow requirement for the construction site
The threat of managing the cost of per day labour man-hour
The Mitigation plan for all the risk identified above should have been identified before the start of
construction and accordingly, during the heavy rainfall season, the resource mobilization should
have been planned to avoid unnecessary resources present at the site.
ID & Name of Student

Network Project Management 4
Ethics Assessment
Now coming to the other prospect of a leadership characteristics in which the ethical aspect must be
maintained during the job. It is very clearly visible with the case study that it had various ethical issues
which were conducted by both engineers at the site, Jim, and Bob. The ethical dilemma raised in this case
are:
Bob should have first assessed the situation by developing the various alternatives as per the PMI
code of ethics, before taking any decision. Moreover, he has miss used the position he has been
assigned to the company by utilizing the manpower for his personal job head and paying from the
company's account which is angst the law [8].
Even Jim also neglected the PMI code of ethics, he should have been analysed the seriousness of
the issue and find out some alternatives to it [9], as per which he should have kept the company's
image first and informed regarding misuse of the resource by Bob and without any afraid of his
position he should have reported that case to the project manager immediately.
Ethics Alternatives
To maintain the ethical behaviour at the construction site, both Jim and Bob have another alternative than
what they have selected, like:
Bob is a senior manager; I should have performed the resource utilization at mobilization plan
before the start of the construction work to assess the exact requirement of workers during this
heavy rainfall period
Bob should have sent the workers back to their home rather than using them for their personal
work and take from the company's account
Jim should have directly reported to the project manager, rather than getting afraid of his own
position
The pros and cons can be:
In case the heavy rainfall would not have happened, then the work could have been hampered
unnecessarily because of the non-availability of Manpower
Sending the workers at their home could have demotivated them and they may not ever have
returned
Bob could have used his power and removed Jim from the company
ID & Name of Student

Network Project Management 5
Ethics Analysis
The ethical decision-making structure of PMI suggests that in case of any ethical dilemma the condition
should be assessed properly with many alternatives. All the alternatives should be analysed properly and
then according to the ethical principles, the application should be taken as a decision and applied for
execution [10].
Assessment: Jim should have assessed the ethical dilemma properly [11]
Alternative: Jim should have developed very alternative like we discussed above section
Analysis: Jim should have analysed all the alternatives
Application: Jim needed to take the decision
Action: Jim needed to act
Ethics Application
The ethical application by using the principles of PMI framework this ethical dilemma could have been
solved by keeping in mind the choice should be a good one and it should be benefited for all rather than a
person. As per ethical principle the proper resource mobilization plan today, been developed and resources
should have been mobilized accordingly to avoid any sort of conflict which is caused by the current case
study. Moreover, Jim should have taken bold decision and reported to project manager about Bob's
activity.
Ethics Action
To solve the ethical dilemma, some strong decision could have been saved the misuse of workers at the
construction site. The decisions are:
Proper planning of worker mobilization
Proper reporting to the project manager and demobilized the workers during the heavy rainfall
season
By taking these decisions, all could have been benefited and the ethical dilemma could have been avoided.
To maintain ethical standard in the workplace we need to be transparent. Instead of having the good
intention of Bob his decision was not good from the ethical point of view if Bod would a bit more
transparent to the project manager that this ethical dilemma could have been avoided.
ID & Name of Student

Network Project Management 6
References
[1] P. Nixon, M. Harrington and D. Parker, “Leadership performance is significant to project success or
failure: a critical analysis,” International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, vol. 61,
no. 2, pp. 204-216, 2012.
[2] A. Riaz, M. M. Tahir and A. Noor, “Leadership is Vital for Project Managers to Achieve Project Efficacy,”
Research Journal of Recent Sciences, vol. 2, no. 6, pp. 99-102, June 2013.
[3] V. S. Kumar, “Essential leadership skills for project managers,” in PMI® Global Congress, North
America, Orlando, 2009.
[4] B. Zulch, “Leadership communication in project management,” in 27th IPMA World Congress, South
Africa, 2014.
[5] L. H. Rodrigues-da-Silva and J. A. Crispim, “The project risk management process, a preliminary study,”
Procedia Technology, vol. 16, pp. 943-949, 2014.
[6] A. Purnus and C.-N. Bodea, “Considerations on Project Quantitative Risk Analysis,” in 26th IPMA World
Congress, Greece, 2012.
[7] L. Galway, “Quantitative Risk Analysis for Project Management,” Rand Corporation, USA, 2004.
[8] M. P. Ludlum and W. T. Mawer, “Ethical and Legal considerations for Project Manager,” Mustang
Journal of Business & Ethics, vol. 3, pp. 10-23, 2012.
[9] Project Management Institute, “Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct,” 2018. [Online]. Available:
https://www.pmi.org/-/media/pmi/documents/public/pdf/ethics/pmi-code-of-ethics.pdf. [Accessed
21 April 2018].
[10] Project Management Institute, “PMI Ethical Decision-Making Framework,” PMI Legal Department,
USA, 2012.
[11] M. O'Brochta, G. Meloni, S. Raghupathy, P. Pfeiffer and M. Taylor, “The leader's choice--five steps to
ethical decision making,” in PMI® Global Congress, North America, Vancouver, 2012.
ID & Name of Student