Analysing Project Management for Online Teaching at Cambridge

This report analyzes the project management strategies employed by the University of Cambridge for its online teaching program. It examines project selection and portfolio management techniques, emphasizing the importance of aligning projects with organizational goals. The report evaluates the organizational context using the TOWS framework, highlighting strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. It also discusses project governance, leadership styles, advanced planning and scheduling, and change management strategies necessary for successful project implementation during the Covid-19 pandemic. The analysis includes a self-evaluation of the tasks contributing to the project's success, providing a comprehensive overview of the strategies and considerations involved in delivering an effective online teaching program.

Management with
Project Management

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
TASK ..............................................................................................................................................3
Project Selection and Portfolio Management..............................................................................3
The Organisational Context........................................................................................................5
Project Governance ...................................................................................................................8
Leadership...................................................................................................................................9
Advanced Planning and Scheduling..........................................................................................11
Managing and Leading Change................................................................................................14
Assessment Self-Evaluation......................................................................................................16
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................16
REFERNCES:................................................................................................................................18
Books and Journals:..................................................................................................................18

INTRODUCTION
The report aims to carry out a project scenario and its importance in the current business
world. A project is required to carry out the aims and objectives of the company across the
market. It is required to analyse best product portfolio management techniques which helps in
utilising goals and objectives in an effective manner. Many business fails to demonstrate a good
idea for achieving growth and facing uncertainties into market. There are a lot of option and
terotechnological opportunities which will be beneficial to choose an effective project for the
business. Mainly, it will last long for some period of time (Davis, Gough, and Taylor, 2019) (Ní
Shé, and et.al, 2019). Projects are effective and required for business as it will constantly focus
on achieving goals by using minimum resources.
This report is going to work upon the University of Cambridge, the university was
established since 813 three back in 1209. It shows a well name in the public research University.
It includes a lot of universities together which runs programmes and projects. They provides
facilities for undergraduates and graduate individuals across the city. The college Is known for
the English literature which gives many facilities into overall departments. This report is going to
examine the strategies and goals of the University of Cambridge to give direction for pursuing
their online teaching project. It will be done through advising the company about screening
modules, organisational culture, leadership, planning and scheduling. All these are going to
invest in delivering the online teaching programme for all the students. A perfect plan and
project techniques will help the university to manage the leading change of Covid-19 pandemic.
At last, the re;port will present evaluation of all the tasks that has contributed to make the project
successful.
MAIN BODY
TASK
Project Selection and Portfolio Management
The University of Cambridge is one of the leading college of London. It provides many
facilities for enabling best quality courses and academic literature for undergraduate and post
graduates. The Campus has facilities for the the department like sports, museums, businesses and
research and technology. The college serve great amenities to the students to make their career
look bright. Therefore, in the time of Covid-19, the University required to take growth and

development by providing effective education. So that, they plan to provide online teaching and
to not let pandemic suffer the future of students. This programme is necessary to pursue for the
present and future scenario in the field of education. As, it has affected drastically on the youth
which is going backward from it's actual potential. So, online programmes are necessary to
prepare and manage students and the educational institution.
The research behind delivering the online project is to take better decisions for the
educational field in the time of Covid-19. The uncertainties may arrive at any time and the fear
of Covid-19 is still not faded away (Ifijeh, and Yusuf, 2020). Therefore, the University is
required to set an appropriate standards to bear with the changes and set a convenient way to
teach and learn through online platforms. The University of Cambridge has their strategic goal to
deal with the pandemic crises and do not let it impact on the student and their career. The online
projects are essential for the market in order to make them aware about the technologies. The
purpose of carrying out this project in the University of Cambridge is to bring relevant changes
in their teaching services, reskilling the lectures and students. They must be aware about
utilising software and tools of digital technology in order to make a convenient and attractive
environment for learning and teaching. It is one of the biggest project of the university which
needs to create a positive impact on the student and other teaching institution.
Project screening and selection:
This model is helpful in undertaking the growth and opportunities for the project
development. It gives insight about choosing the right project by analysing company's position,
market trends and future of the project which they are going to choose. This is a project selection
technique which makes a business aware about various alternatives. This model will help to
analyse various elements of the online teaching project through focusing on selection criteria. It
is described below:
Checklist model: As per this technique, it includes all the key criteria which is main
aspect of the project. It is necessary to checklist all the essential elements which will contribute
into the success of the company. In the university of Cambridge, to carry out the online teaching
programme, the university requires cost and future using online technology in the field of
education (Albrahim, , 2020). They will look for the rate of investment and its future impact on
the students to bring necessary changes into the organisation. It also includes governmental
influence, risk of market and future interferences.

Simplified scoring model: As per this model, the criteria which have analysed for the
project which will ranked as per its significance. In simple words, it is about giving priority to
the most important criteria that should not be missed during project implementation. By giving
scores to the criteria, the company will easily focus on the highest score ones. It will be
beneficial to eliminate chances of risks and uncertainties from the project and it will move
further smoothly.
The analytical hierarchy process: As per this model, the organisation will take the
decisions effectively. It provide assistance in analysing managerial problems which is associated
in managing people with the help of scoring models. It is popular method in order to select the
project alternative. The university of Cambridge needs to maintain hierarchy while providing
online teaching programme. It require cost, management, stakeholders, technology which are key
criteria that must be run in logical flow into the university. when the company finds any difficult
with these key criteria, they could move on to the others which will be more beneficial rather
than the previous one. It also involve giving values to the Dimensions which will creates a sense
of urgency for the other alternative to not suffer with the change in the project.
Profile model: As per this model, the managers of business could optimise the risks and
uncertainties into the project. The business will only choose the project which will give a
maximum return and less of risk (Veteska, and et.al, 2022). Each project alternatives must be
associated with the risk so that, every key obstacles gets identified. The university of Cambridge
needs to involve risk measurement techniques before providing online teaching services.
In order to enable an effective project portfolio. This project management tools are vital
for the university. These models are helpful to analyse the key risks and requirements involved
into the project. It is recommended to the University of Cambridge to utilise the checklist and
profile model. As risks, cost and technology are the three key considerations of the institution on
which the whole project will get depended. These matrix provide each risk relevance and its
impact while delivering online teaching to the student. Also, the employees of university will
take the corrective measures to cope up with the new changes.
The Organisational Context
The organisation structures plays crucial role in the company. It defines how the activities
will be carry out, coordination will be maintain and setting roles and responsibilities. The
structure will showcase how the employees need to work and what rules and obligation they

need to face while working. Therefore, as per the strategic goals of University of Cambridge,
they could attain success in delivering online teaching programme. This would be analysed
through applying TOWS model.
TOWS Framework
As per this model, the organisation could analyse both external and internal environment
of business in order to help in resolving management issues (Coman, and et.al, 202). This will
helps in looking carefully on the market factors which may impact on the organisational
decisions and planning strategies. The University of Cambridge will look for the controlling
proves to overcome with the threats and regulate their online teaching effectively.
External:
Threats: The University of Cambridge has high threat of the Covid-19 pandemic into the
market. Due to this, they are unable to provide teaching and education to the students which
impact on their profitability. Therefore, the institution facing threat of low market growth which
could be develop through employees engagement and good management practices to serve
online education.
Opportunities: In the field of education, there are a lot of opportunities into the market
which could help the university to re gain their position. The technology is one of the key
opportunity that may bring new ways to teach students in an attractive manner. The teachers
could up skill their work and make students learn through a convenient platform.
Internal:
Weakness: The weak factors for the University of Cambridge is lack of proper
management within the organisation. Due to this, the institution lacks in digital legitimacy and
waste of resources. This impact on their working environment as they need to bring change in
the online teaching programmes.
Strength: The strength of University of Cambridge is that, they have high reputation and
good financial stability in the market. This strength of the university will be helpful for the
institution to grow digitally. It will increase their growth and profitability (Carrillo, and Flores,
2020). The University could utilise their financial position and expertise staff in order to teach
students and make them adjust with the technology.
Organisational structure:

There are a lot of organisation structure which can be adopt by the organisation for smooth
operation and guidance. These structures will help in the demonstration of rules, authorities and
responsibilities to enable success and manage working environment. These are described below:
Hierarchical organisational structure: as per this, the managers makes sure that
employees are aware about maintaining a hierarchy into the company. It defines clear roles and
responsibilities which maintain a chain of command. This shows that who needs to report whom.
The university of Cambridge could enable this structure in order to provide guidance and create a
for working environment. So that, the change for the technology could be adopt by putting
orders.
Functional structure: as per this structure, the employees get assigned with the riles and
duties as per their specification areas(Ng, and et.al, 2020). This structure is most needful for
business growth. When employees get their specialist area of working, they will easily adopt
working culture and contribute positive efforts towards organisation success.
Flat organisational structure: this defines as one of the least important one. The
managers gives freedom and responsibilities to the employees. The decisions could be taken by
the company employees that creates an independent workplace culture. This structure is used by
small business or start-ups which do not have high control and supervisory activities.
Divisional strategies: As per this, the organisation have different department to carry out
tasks and activities. The purpose of this is to divide the work within each department to run the
operations effectively.
It has critically evaluated that, the University of Cambridge required to use functional and
divisional structure. This shows that, the online teaching programme will be easily operate and
regulate for the students as well as teachers also. Functional structure will help them to set the
organisation skills and talent as per their specialisation. This will enhance teaching quality and
make students future bright. With the help of divisional structure, the organisation needs to
divide all the departments like IT teams (Joshi, Vinay, and Bhaskar, 2020). The experts will
help the teachers to easily get connect with the software and does not lead to take any obstacles
while teaching.

Project Governance
Project governance frameworks are necessary for the organisation in order to take proper
control in the project activities. There re many key aspects of project government which includes
stakeholders, government, employees, roles and responsibilities and accountability. This will be
done through using team and structure, decision making models and controlling the project
essentials.
Controlling the project has many advantages for the university of Cambridge. This will
easily influence the project gaols and objectives in order to enhance delivery of the online
teaching programme (Martin, and et.al, 2019). Setting objectives and setting roles and
responsibility also have much advantages for the company. It will showcase that, the University
has set vision and mission to attract stakeholder and increase their financial stability.
By discussing project government key elements, the University of Cambridge needs to
set roles and responsibility of each teacher towards online teaching platforms they must get
proper training in order to be perfect on the technology. The students needs to be suffer with loss
if academic and no delays must be accepted. So that, the university must operate with good
organisational practices and keep control over the online platforms. This will be helpful for both
students and teachers to not face any disturbance while communicating with online channels.

Leadership
Leadership can be defined as the process of providing direction to all the members so that
they are able to carry on the work effectively. There is key role of leader in success of a project.
The leader helps to motivate the team members so that they are able to carry on the assigned
work properly. There is need of effective leadership as it supports the members and assist them
at each and every stage (Qian, and et.al, 2018). There are different situations and complexities
that may arise at the time of carrying a new project. The role of leader in the project are
mentioned below:
Plan and Develop the Project Idea: It is the duty and responsibility of the project
manager to develop the idea. By knowing about the best idea and then converting them into plan
the project can be successful. There is need of analysing the external environment and then
finding the best available opportunity. The time of Covid-19 was difficult for universities as the
health of students was in danger. The project leader analysed the situation and come up with the
idea of online classes. The project leader plays a critical role in analysing the information so that
the organisation is able to achieve success.
Leading the team: There is need of leading the team so that the project objectives can be
attained. There is need of proper communication and leadership skills that help to attain the
project objectives so that work can be attained properly. By setting the objectives and assigning
the responsibilities to all the lecturer and students so that they are able to work in the same path.
This is necessary to manage the work assigned to the team members so that they are able to
achieve organisational goals.
Monitor Project Progress and Set Deadlines: It is another role of project management.
There is need of monitoring the progress of the team and the actions taken by them. By providing
them proper deadlines, the work is completed within right time. The project leader of University
of Cambridge analysed the situation of Covid-19 and planned to shift to online mode of teaching
till summer 2021 (Martin, and et.al, 2019). By setting deadline, the project team is able to work
properly and attain success of the company. By monitoring the performance of the lecturer, it
becomes easier to guide them further.
Solve Issues That Arise: At the time of working in team, there are various conflicts and
issues that might arise. The leader of the project must have ability to deal with all the issues and
resolve them. In case of project related online classes, there were technical issues faced by both

lecturers and students. There are some of them, who are unable to deal with the technology due
to lack of skills. There is need of providing them proper knowledge related to technological
advancement so that they are able to learn new skills. It is necessary to take right actions at the
time so that overall work is managed.
Manage the Money: There is need of managing the money and forming budget so that
the project goals and objectives can be achieved. It is necessary to meet the needs and wants of
the team members with the available resources to carry on the work properly. In regard to, the
project of online teaching there is proper budget being formulated that helps the to carry on the
work properly.
Documentation and Maintenance: There are important documents that are kept safe
with the leader of the project. After the project is being completed all the necessary documents
are kept with the leader. These documents can be used further for any help. It is necessary for
project manager to focus on all the activities so that they are able to know about the performance
of all the members.
Ensure Stakeholder Satisfaction: The stakeholders play major role in the project. It is
necessary to communicate with all the stakeholders and take the feedback. The use of the
feedback is important for the project team. There is need to consider their view and make
necessary changes (Bates, 2018). In regard to, the project undertaken by University of
Cambridge. They communicate regularly with all the related individuals in the project and use
the feedback effectively. There is need of enhancing the performance of the team so that all the
stakeholders are satisfied. It is will help the project leader to attain success by keeping all the
stakeholders satisfied.
The leader of the project plays a vital role in success of the project. The use of right
techniques by the leader make the project successful. By guiding the the teachers and students
they are able to work in proper manner. The recommendations are as follows:
 There is need of analysing the situation properly. The problems must be identified so that
proper solution can be evaluated. Then the idea generation and planning stage must be
enhanced by the team. Proper objectives that are being framed by the project manager
will help them to carry on overall work effectively.
The project leader must have necessary skills such as communication skills, time management
skills, budget handling that will help the project team to attain success. By knowing about

the needs and problems of the lecturers and the students, it will become easier to manage the
work effectively.
The project manager must keep on evaluating the performance of all the team members. Regular
communication with all of them will make them work effectively. It is necessary to take
feedback of all the members so that the corrective measures are taken. There is need of
managing the work properly by taking right measures.
Advanced Planning and Scheduling
The project management methodologies are important and help to carry on the project
effectively. There is need of taking wise decision so that the project is carried on properly. The
two important methodologies is done below:
The agile methodology helps in managing a project by break down into several parts.
This involves regular collaboration with the employees and all the members of the company.
Agile techniques helps in improving at every stage of the project (Almazova, and et.al, 2020).
When the work begins, team cycles follows a process planning, executing and evaluating. Being
in a regular touch is very important both with project stakeholders and team members. This
technique focuses on improving the project.
The waterfall methodology in a project which helps to find out the requirements of the
stakeholders and customer requirements. In the beginning of a project all the requirements are
gathered and after that the plan is made to fulfilling all the requirements. This techniques is
named as waterfall because all steps are inter connected with each other which flows like a
waterfall. No other phase is begin until the prior phase is not completed .
Comparison of advantages and disadvantages
Basis Agile methodology Waterfall methodology
Advantages  This technique is very
beneficial as it
facilitates team and
developers to deliver a
better product to the
customers and in a
faster manner.
 Developers can easily detect the
errors during the analysis period ,
which helps them to make less
mistakes while working for the
project.
 This techniques helps in
calculating the total cost of the

 This technique mainly
focuses on the
customer needs which
helps the company to
achieve more growth.
 It helps in reducing the
waste through the
optimum utilisation of
resources (Liu, et.al,
2018). This enables the
company to minimises
the resources.
 It increases the chances
of more growth and
success in the company
by applying more
focused efforts. Agile
techniques helps in
faster the development
of the company.
 When issues and
defects are detected in
the company while
working for the
products or services,
this technique helps in
faster detection of the
problems that helps to
solve the problems.
project after all the aspects of
project are discussed.
 With this techniques, it is very
easy to measure the performance
and progress according to the
given and defined
milestone(Martín-Cuadrado, and
et.al, 2021).
 Developers can easily join the
project in the progress and can
boost up their work because they
just need some required
documents.
 Customers are very supportive as
they do not add new requirements
to the projects that causes delay in
the work.
Disadvantages  The main drawback of
this technique is that it
 Projects of this technique can take
longer time to deliver to it's