Course Descriptions

MSPM 6100 Foundations for Graduate Study in Project Management (1 cr.)
This course introduces students to Walden University and to the requirements for successful participation in an online curriculum. It provides a foundation for academic and professional success as a scholar-practitioner and as a social change agent. Topics include the relation of mission and vision to professional goals; development of the program of study; strategies for online success; introduction to the online library; and introduction to critical thinking, professional writing, and academic integrity. Course assignments focus on practical application of writing and critical-thinking skills and promote professional and academic excellence as they relate to project management.

MSPM 6105 Principles of Project Management (3 cr.)
This course introduces students to the knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques needed to successfully manage projects throughout a project lifecycle. Students are exposed to project management knowledge areas and process groups as well as the distinguishing characteristics of each. Students study the ways these two dimensions of project management interact in initiating, planning, executing, monitoring and controlling, and closing a project.

MSPM 6110 Leadership for the Contemporary Organization (3 cr.)
This course focuses on the human dimension of business, including individual and group behaviors and organizational culture. Students explore some of the basic dimensions of human resource management such as those affecting the organization, the project, and the employee. Students also explore contemporary thinking about leadership and its importance in today’s business world.

MSPM 6120 Integrated Project Process Management (3 cr.)
This course focuses on the iterative nature of the project management processes, demonstrating how an integrated approach to project management increases the likelihood of project success. The course illustrates how the project management processes and process groups intersect. Students develop a comprehensive project plan that comprises the project management knowledge areas with specific emphasis on scope, time, cost, and quality management. The course also highlights the importance of project communications management as a tool for managing stakeholder expectations.

MSPM 6130 Budgeting and Management of Operations (3 cr.)
In this course, students explore the role of budgeting and management of operations in an organizational environment. Emphasis is placed on developing budget and operational plans based on an organization’s financial data, project plans, and goals. The interdisciplinary knowledge and skills associated with achieving project goal attainment, positive operating cash flow, risk mitigation strategy, and operational alignment are developed in this course. Students are also introduced to planning considerations associated with global operations.

MSPM 6140 Enterprise and Project Risk Management (3 cr.)
This course explains how to plan, analyze, respond, and control qualitative and quantitative risk in projects. Students examine the internal risks associated with managing projects and the external risks associated with customer behavior, the supply chain, transportation and distribution channels, and acts of nature within the framework of the organization’s overall risk strategy. Students can learn about strategies for working with project stakeholders to identify and respond to risk within defined ethical and legal standards.

MSPM 6150 Planning and Administering Project Contracts (3 cr.)
This course prepares students to be able to plan and administer project contracts for the purchase or acquisition of project resources from external sources. Topics include planning for purchases and acquisitions, requests for proposal, vendor selection, contract administration, and contract closure. Consideration is given to the role of the project manager in the procurement process as it relates to project requirements for purchases or acquisitions, managing the relationship between buyer and seller, assessing vendor performance, contract change control, and conflict resolution.

MSPM 6160 Stakeholder Management and Organizational Behavior (3 cr.)
This course concentrates on the role of the project manager in leading project teams in complex and diverse organizational settings, including the important role of communicating with all stakeholder groups. Students examine how individual and group behavior impact organizational effectiveness. They can discover how using influence, rather than organizational power, leads to more successful project management. Students study ways to design projects to support organizational goals and how to build and engage organizational capital (intellectual, human, physical, financial, and structural). The course emphasizes communications management as a tool to manage internal and external relationships with stakeholders, partners, vendors, and customers.

MSPM 6170 Sustainability in Project, Portfolio, and Program Management (3 cr.)
This course provides students with an opportunity to develop their understanding of managing projects at the portfolio and program levels. Students can learn about the nature of sustainability in project management in terms of how the project management processes align with the three fundamentals of sustainable development: social equity, economic efficiency, and environmental performance. Students examine current research illustrating sustainability in project management as well as the product produced by a project.

MSPM 6180 Business Process Management and Systems (3 cr.)
In this course students can learn strategies for managing the flow of business information within and across organizational boundaries. This course introduces the concept of enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. Students can learn how ERP systems can lead to novel ways of efficiently managing project execution and business innovation. Through this course students can learn technologies for business process integration, automation, and optimization. In addition, practical tools used in enterprise are demonstrated.

MSPM 6205 PMP^®/CAPM^® Exam Preparation Course (1 sem. cr.)
The Project Management Professional (PMP)^® and Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM)^® exams are comprehensive, testing the full range of practices found in A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK^® Guide). Through material review, drills, and detailed explanations, this course helps prepare students to sit confidently for both exams. It also provides students with the guidance needed to organize project management knowledge acquired through experience and coursework, fills gaps students may have in their repertoire of project management knowledge, and provides additional context for students to enhance their existing project management knowledge base.

Note: Eligibility for the PMP^® credential requires individuals to first attain specific educational and project management experience, including 35 contact hours of project management education and a minimum of 3 years, or 36 months, of project management experience, during which at least 4,500 hours were spent leading and directing project tasks. The final step in earning the PMP^® credential is passing the PMP^® exam.

Eligibility for the CAPM^® credential requires individuals to have a secondary diploma (high school or the global equivalent) and at least 1,500 hours experience or 23 hours of project management education. The final step in earning the CAPM^® credential is passing the CAPM^® exam.

PMP^® and CAPM^® are registered certification marks of the Project Management Institute, Inc. PMBOK is a registered trademark of the Project Management Institute, Inc.

For more information, visit the Project Management Institute (PMI) website at www.pmi.org.
(Prerequisite(s): MSPM 6140 or MSPM 6170. Prerequisite may be taken concurrently with this course.)

MSPM 6900 Capstone: Social Impact in Project Management (3 cr.)
This course is designed to bring together the knowledge gained through the program and permits the student to demonstrate mastery of the various course competencies. The major deliverable in this capstone course is a project that illustrates how ethics, internal culture, and external forces shape project managers’ behaviors when executing projects within an organization. Students articulate how project managers within an organization can drive social change and sustainability through the example they set in their everyday work.