Practical Business Project Design BPPD and BA Degree Paper Writing

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Practical Business Project Design (BPPD) and BA
Degree Paper Writing

• Presented by
• Li Ming

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Welcome to Practical Business Project Design
(BPPD) and BA Degree Paper Writing!

• My name is Li Ming and I am the chair tutor for
  BPPD and BA degree paper writing. I will be
  working together with you in supervising the BPPD
  and BA degree paper writing for students who
  select the Business Orientation.
• In this presentation, I will introduce to you
  some issues on how to supervise our students in
  BPPD and BA degree paper writing. I will focus
  mainly on issues that are of special interest to
  tutors who are involved in supervising students
  in the business orientation.

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Outline

• 1. Major Issues
• 2. BPPD Course
• 3. BA Degree Paper Writing

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1. Major Issues
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Who may select the business orientation?

• Business -- defined as the occupation, work, or
  trade in which a person is engaged.
• As long as one is engaged in something for a
  living, he/she is qualified to select the
  business orientation, since all jobs could be
  regarded as areas of business.
• Students from government organizations,
  educational facilities, research institutes,
  hospitals, news networks, and commercial
  organizations all may select the business
  orientation.
• Students with no working experience may also
  select the business orientation.

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Whats the relationship between BPPD and BA
degree paper?

• BA degree paper is project based research paper.
• BPPD is the design of the project the BA degree
  paper is going to write about.
• BA degree paper is going to implement the project
  designed in the BPPD and present findings and
  discussion of it.
• A good design of the project can lay a good
  foundation for the BA degree paper writing.

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Whats the difference between a business project
and a research project?

• There is a distinction between a business project
  and a research project.
• A business project simply relates facts of the
  project in neutral fashion, and a research
  project definitely seeks to draw conclusions and
  assert evaluation of the project.
• So the purpose or objectives of the research
  project should be clarified at the beginning of
  the writing.

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Why special attention should be paid to the time
limit for BPPD and BA degree paper writing?

• The implementation of the project should occur
  within the range of the study period.
• The time schedule planned in the BPPD should take
  into consideration of the above criterion for the
  BA degree paper writing.
• The range of study period refers to the time from
  the end of the BPPD course to the submission date
  of their BA degree paper, which is about 4
  months.
• Since students need 2 months to edit and finalize
  their BA degree papers, they are recommended to
  set their project within the time-scale of 2
  months.

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What is raw data?

• Students will collect some raw data while doing
  needs and wants analysis in BPPD. They will also
  collect raw data when writing the BA degree
  paper. We need to remind them to keep all the raw
  data intact.
• The purpose of keeping a portfolio of all data
  being collected is to prove that the research
  paper is written based on real experience, and is
  not based on imaginary story or works of others.
• Original information collected using scientific
  research methods. Data like questionnaire forms,
  interview plans, project progressive checklists,
  diary forms, feedback forms, etc. which students
  designed to use to collect data all the used
  forms with data being collected, not just some
  samples transcripts of focus groups, interviews,
  phone calls, etc. which noted down the
  participants, the process of each activity, and
  the major exchanges of each dialogue and other
  original documents to show the results of your
  project, such as diaries, emails, memos,
  agreement or contracts, etc.
• To pass the oral defense for their BA degree
  papers, students must provide raw data to support
  their findings and discussion.

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Plagiarism

• We need to remind our students that plagiarism or
  cheating in writing is strictly prohibited.
  Copying sample articles, or copying things from
  books will be penalized if found.
• Copying other authors original text into the
  research paper, without giving quotation marks,
  will be severely punished.
• Copying one complete sentence from other authors
  without quotation marks is not acceptable, even
  if one has indicated reference taken at the end
  of the sentence.
• Rewriting other authors ideas without giving
  credit is also unacceptable, and will be
  penalized.

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2. BPPD Course
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What kind of course is BPPD?

• BPPD is project based research.
• Students are required to conduct job-related
  projects based on areas discussed in Business
  English I II. 
• BPPD emphasizes more on solving practical issues
  related to students own working experience
  rather than theoretical study of business itself.
• BPPD is also a preparation course for students
  who plan to get their BA degrees. The BA degree
  paper will be based on the BPPD course.

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What are our objectives?

• Our job is to help students to
• understand the whole process of selecting and
  designing a practical business project
• learn to identify and explore a business issue
  using scientific research methods
• become actively engaged in the process of
  designing a practical business project and
• learn to compile a practical business project
  proposal independently.

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What resources do we have?

• The handbook provides basic information about the
  course.
• Two textbooks
• Practical Business Project and Proposal Design
  (Hilton)
• Practical Project Design (Gu)
• The e-learning platform has provided some
  reference books and websites articles to help the
  students with research paper writing skills.
• There is also a course-based forum on which
  students can pose questions, get answers and
  follow discussions between students and tutors.

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What are the steps in BPPD?

• Problem identification and problem analysis of
  the practical project design (Part II of Hilton,
  Unit 1 and 2 of Gu). Will require the students to
  do some real practical research.
• Project design and activities planning (Part III
  and IV of Hilton, Unit 3 of Gu). Will require
  serious thought and significant investment of
  time.
• Writing the practical business project proposal
  (Part V of Hilton). Will be based on the work
  done in the previous two steps.

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What business areas to work on?

• a problem in customer service (BE Modules 2 8)
• a problem in finance planning and assessment (BE
  Module 3)
• a problem in product promotion (BE Module 4)
• a problem in technology utilization in business
  (BE Module 5)
• a problem in staff management (BE Module 6)
• a problem in advertising planning or market
  research (BE Module 7)

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What support can we provide?

• Face-to-face tutorials allow tutors to meet the
  students for discussion and feedback.
• VOD and VOB sessions allow students to attend
  discussions and get feedback from the comfort of
  their own computers. Questions can be posed at
  the end of each session.
• At other times, students can contact tutors by
  phone or email for personal assistance

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Two Stages of BPPD

• Stage 1 -- Problem Identification and Problem
  Analysis
• Stage 2 -- Project Design and Project Proposal

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Stage 1 Problem Identification and Problem
Analysis
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Problem Identification

• Ask the students to decide a researchable
  business problem.
• An issue on how to achieve their objectives for a
  practical business project.
• A workable problem suitable for practical
  business research
• Guide the students in their topic selection
  process and help them to narrow down to a more
  specific and practical issue.

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Why pay special attention to students topic
selection process?

• BPPD and BA degree paper writing are closely
  related, and most probably students will select
  their topics for the BPPD as topics for their BA
  degree paper.
• With a bad topic students may find its hard to
  go on with their project later on.
• We need to make clear that our students topics
  are practical and researchable.

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What to be watched for in topic selection?

• Originality means that the student does his or
  her own work and that the work does not copy what
  someone else is doing. The research problem
  should be something unique that the students come
  up with on their own.
• Honesty means that the students acknowledge and
  give credit for any text or procedure that they
  did not come up with on their own. We should
  remind them that plagiarism is absolutely
  prohibited and students will be deprived of the
  rights to get a BA degree if found.
• Good data means that the topic they choose is
  something that they can actually collect data on.
  If gathering data on a particular research
  problem seems to be too difficult, then opt for
  another one.
• Standardization means that when students select
  and define their problem, they stay within the
  guidelines set for the project. That is students
  need to choose a topic within the 6 areas of
  business as listed in the handbook.
• Objectivity refers to selection of a project
  problem that is not too dependent on the
  researchers own opinions, but one that an
  independent assessor would likely view in the
  same way.
• Ask students to consult Part II of Gu Yue Guos
  Practical Project Design for reference.

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How to identify the problem?

• To identify a problem is actually to make a
  choice of subject, more specifically, of topic or
  title. Ask our students the following questions
• Is it a problem from your own working experience?
• Is it a problem that has been troubling you for a
  long time and now you are determined to find a
  solution?
• Is it a problem that hinders your business or
  work in a serious way?
• Is it a problem that requires a lot of
  theoretical reading, which you have no means of
  getting access to?
• Is it a problem concerning the utilization of
  some technical aids, such as computer, video
  recorder, projector, etc. which are not available
  in your working place?
• Is it an intrinsic problem of the system you are
  working in, which you can do little to solve by
  yourself?
• Is it a problem which cannot be solved without
  enough financial aid?
• Is it a problem which will involve a long-term
  project to evaluate the solution?
• If the students answers for the first three
  questions are Yes and for the remaining
  questions are No, then go for it. Or else, try
  to find another workable problem.

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An example of Problem Identification

• A Practical Project Designed to Tackle the
  Problems of Customer Loyalty in a Fitness Center 
• XXX Fitness Center is an internationally
  qualified fitness center located in ChaoYang
  District in Beijing. With enough professional
  staff, plenty of first-rate facilities, easy
  vehicle access and spacious parking lots, the
  center is a great appeal to customers. Whether
  weight loss, bodybuilding or other fitness
  needs,customers can easily achieve their goals
  here. (Background is given)
• With the rapid growth of fitness market in
  Beijing, more and more fitness centers come forth
  and the competition becomes fierce. When all
  fitness centers increase their investment on the
  hardware and the advantage of the hardware come
  to fade away, and to improve customer service
  seems to play a critical role in how to prevent
  the loss of customers and develop new customers.
  (General problem are of customer service is
  identified)
• As the manager of the customer service
  department, I feel a strong sense of crisis and
  threat. How to take steps to maintain and raise
  the customers loyalty to our center becomes a
  real challenge for me. After some serious
  consideration, I decided to found a team to
  tackle this problem. (Own experience related to
  the project)
• We hold a questionnaire and unexpectedly find
  that 30 customers complain they have trouble in
  operating some equipment and can't get help in
  time. The rate seems even higher in newcomers.
  This phenomenon brings up two obvious negative
  effects. On the first place, this complaint leads
  to the customers' suspicion on our service
  quality and commercial morality, and to the
  reduction of loyalty to our center. On the second
  place, the customers often spend so much time on
  studying the usage of the equipment which will
  decrease the full utilization of them and result
  in a long waiting line in peak-time. (Problems
  narrowed down to specific issues)
• After some investigation and discussion, we
  worked out three measures to settle this matter.
  Firstly, simple and pellucid schematic directions
  of equipment both in English and Chinese are
  posted in accessible places. Secondly, the
  quantity of free instructors is to be improved
  and special trainings on how to serve the
  customers professionally and actively is to be
  provided. Finally, free introductory manual for
  the fitness equipment is to be delivered to the
  newcomers. Regular seminar on fitness knowledge
  is to be held as well. (Approach and methods of
  the project are discussed in brief)

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Problem Analysis

• Current business analysis
• Business background
• Financial, physical, and human resources
• Social, economic, and political environment (Part
  II of Hilton)
• Customer needs and wants analysis
• Customer profile
• Research methods
• focus group questionnaires the analytic
  method
• observation cause analysis Socratic
  dialogue
• brainstorming interviews (Part II of
  Hilton Unit 2 of Gu)
• Research results
• SWOT analysis (Internal factors) Strengths,
  Weaknesses, (External factors) Opportunities,
  Threats (Part II of Hilton)
• Remind the students that the above three aspects
  are closely related and should be written in a
  coherent way.

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Current business analysis

• Business background
• Financial, physical, and human resources
• Social, economic, and political environment

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An example of Problem Analysis (1)

• Companys current situation
• Financial Resource My department has kept a
  profit growth for the whole year in 2003. But in
  the first quarter of 2004, the profit growth was
  not as good as we had expected. The 1,300,000
  yuan revenue was only a 30 increase over the
  last quarter. But as predicted early this year,
  the revenue should arrive 1,600,000 yuan, a rise
  by 60, because the spring festival holiday was
  in the first quarter and it is the peak season
  for tourists. In April and May, the revenue
  almost kept the same, even when the May 1st
  holiday was arriving. In this case, I thought it
  is high time for us to take effective action to
  tackle the problem. With the support of our head
  office, I decided to carry out a two-week
  training course for our twelve new staff in July.
  My training cost is as follows training
  operating coast will be RMB 27,000 trainer cost
  will be RMB 10,000 finance cost RMB 8,000
  contingency allowance RMB 4,500 and the TOTAL
  COST will be RMB 49,000. The budget for the
  training project has been approved soon by the
  head office at the early of June.
• Human Resource There are 22 staff in my
  department totally. and 12 of them are newcomers
  who are just out of the tourism school last year,
  lack of work skills and need to be trained
  urgently. Among others, there are 6 experienced
  staff who are responsible for the daily affairs,
  2 accountants, 1 HR staff and the department
  manager. I could arrange the experienced staff to
  deliver lectures to the trainees during the
  training course.
• Physical Resource My department is located on
  the 3rd floor of GongTi Sport Inn Hotel of
  Beijing Workers Stadium where the city center is
  and known by most people in Beijing for its
  famous football playground. The office occupies
  an area of 200 square meters, which divided into
  five working blocks the reception area, the
  meeting room, the operation area, the finance
  room and the managers room. Our main business
  involved domestic tour groups organizing, ticket
  booking and hotel reservation as well. With the
  good reputation, competitive price and convenient
  location, our company has attracted a large
  number of loyalty customers.
• Social and Political Environment With the
  improvement of Peoples living standard and the
  opening of tourism policy, the quantities of
  tourists from both domestic and abroad are
  increasing dramatically in recent years which
  provide us opportunities to expand our business
  scale. Especially in the early of 2004, European
  countries, followed by Japan and Australia has
  opened their tourism market to China, that lead
  to more and more Chinese joining tour groups
  enthusiastically to travel to their dreamed
  countries. More important, the holding of Olympic
  Games in 2008 will bring China huge business
  opportunities, and tourism industry will
  definitely benefit for the first-run. All this
  situation require us to have a good preparation
  to face and welcome any competition.

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Customer needs and wants analysis

• Customer profile
• Research methods
• brainstorming
• observation
• the analytic method
• cause analysis
• questionnaires
• interviews
• focus group
• Research results

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An example of Problem Analysis (2)

• Needs and wants analysis
• Customer and Trainee Profile
• In order to get a clearer idea of the views and
  opinions of our customers and trainees, we
  categorized them into four groups 1) Five
  clients/customers from IT companies to which we
  provide the service as ticket booking, hotel
  reservation, conference organizing, etc 2) Five
  clients/customers from state-owner enterprises to
  which we provide the group travel organizing 3)
  Individual customers who kept a long business
  relation with my company and 4) 12 trainees who
  are newcomers of our company who are just out of
  school and who are lack of working experience and
  skills.
• Focus Groups
• We organized three focus group discussions for
  our customers. The questions are as follows
• How often do you do business with us?
• How do you feel each time you call or visit our
  office?
• Do you usually find our work helpful?
• What do you do when you cant get sufficient
  help or service from us.
• What do you think the service we offer?
• What additional services would you like us to
  offer?
• What most often disappoints you when you attend
  to us?
• How do you expect our service to be improve?
• What is your opinion towards our present
  service?
• Results
• Through the focus group discussions, we
  concluded the complains and suggestions as
  follows Want to be served by the experienced
  staff with professional knowledge who may provide
  the accurate and reasonable quotation or give
  help in ticket and hotel arrangement. Require the
  staff make a quick hotel confirmation and ticket
  delivery. Strongly recommend to arrange
  professional group guide who should be capable of
  coordinate with different supplier and fulfill
  every promised service. The lose of
  responsibility is considered as a big problem of
  new staff. Prefer the staff for answering the
  call be more patient and friendly.

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An example of Problem Analysis (2) (Continued)

• Testing
• To know the needs and wants of our trainees, we
  carried out a test among the 12 new comers to
  assess their mastery of essential job functions.
  The questions are
• Do you know how to perform the essential job
  functions listed on the current job description?
• Explain how you know and what you think you
  know.
• How could you recognize appropriate occasions
  to perform each essential job function?
• For each essential function, tell me what tools
  you must possess to carry out the function?
• In you opinion, what are your greatest
  strengths and weaknesses as related to the
  functions listed on the job description?
• How could you learn in the best way?
• Results
• Through the testing, I got trainees feedback
  towards their job. Firstly, they prefer have more
  chances to communicate with customer face to face
  in order to get direct information and
  suggestion. Secondly, Staff need urgently to have
  opportunity to learn morn professional knowledge
  and work skills. Thirdly, rewards and punishment
  system should be built up to restrict those
  staffs who are carelessness to their work.
• Questionnaire
• I used the Employee performance Appraisal which
  was sent to all of our staff to find out their
  views by means of questionnaire. The purpose of
  this customer survey is to confirm the
  information that I had collected from my focus
  group discussions. In other words, the questions
  I asked in my questionnaire were come from what I
  had learned in those discussions.
• Brainstorming
• I discuss the problem with my colleagues and the
  trainer in order to discover a better solution
  for the performance problems. .
• Through above problem analysis, I came to know
  that our new staffs failure to meet customers
  needs is mainly due to the lack of professional
  knowledge and working skills. Therefore, I have
  made up my mind to solve the problem.

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An example of Problem Analysis (3)

• The SWOT analysis
• Based on the previous discussion of both
  internal and external situations of our business
  as well as the needs and wants analysis of our
  business, A SWOT analysis is carried out to focus
  the projects activities into areas where out
  business are strong and where the greatest
  opportunities lie. The results are summarized as
  the following
• Strengths
• We are able to respond very quickly as we have no
  red tape, no need for higher management approval,
  etc.
• We has strong reputation within the market.
• We have little overhead, so can offer good value
  to customers.
• We kept a long-term relation with most customers
  and uneasily to be broken.
• Our 6 qualified staffs could provide a strong
  support to the project and take on all the works
  during the training period.
• The trainees are young people who are energetic,
  interested in tourism and willing to learn more
  as much as they could.
• Weakness
• We have 12 new staff with a shallow skills base
  in many areas.
• We are vulnerable to vital staff being sick,
  leaving, etc.
• Trainees are so young, without any work
  experience that may result in the lowest
  receptivity of the work skill.
• We can not arrange a long training due to tight
  business development, so it may be hard to learn
  much in two weeks.
• The budget is limited which may became an
  obstacle in the choice of good trainer.
• Opportunities
• Our business sector is expanding, with many
  future opportunities for success.
• Our competitors may be slow to take effective
  measures for improving staff abilities.
• The peak season of tourism has just past, and
  next one hasnt arrived. So it is possible for us
  to carry out the project.

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Are the writings logical and coherent?

• Students should try to follow a process from
  expressing the problem, working through it in
  steps and then proving that the problem is
  practical and reaching some preliminary
  conclusions about the direction of the project.
• Problem analysis requires that the students be
  explicit, logical and analytical. Problem
  analysis should be composed in at least three
  major sections, i.e. Current Business Situation,
  Needs and Wants Analysis of the Situation, and
  SWOT Analysis.
• We should tell the students to make the three
  sections coherent, i.e. the three sections should
  be logically developed and linked together.
  Students can achieve this by adding some
  introductory or linkage sentences at the
  beginning of or between sections. They may also
  try to avoid using incomplete sentences.

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Submit Assignment 1.

• First, students need to write down a specific
  research problem related to one of the areas in
  the project list that they are going to tackle in
  the project. (About 200 words)
• Second, students need to provide a detailed
  problem analysis using suitable methods. The
  analysis should include the following
  information
• 1. a discussion of the current business
  situation financial status, human resources,
  customer profiles, etc.
• 2. a discussion on needs and wants analysis
• 3. a SWOT analysis of the situation

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Stage 2 Project Design and Project Proposal
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Project Design

• Students need to present a detailed project plan
  to solve the problem raised in Assignment 1.
• At this point we should remind the students to
  read books and articles related to their topics,
  gather ideas and prepare citations to be included
  in the bibliography (Unit 6 of Gu).
• The project design should include (Part III - IV
  of Hilton)
• project objectives (P1819 of Hilton and P59 of
  Gu)
• project rationale (P75 of Gu)
• project hypothesis (P5961 of Gu)
• activities planned to take place (P21 of Hilton)
  (in words and in flow chart)
• a critical path analysis of these activities
  (P2122 of Hilton) (in words and in flow chart)
• people involved in the activities and their
  responsibilities (P21 of Hilton)
• time-scale of the activities (P2124 of Hilton)
  (in words and in flow chart)
• cost consideration (P2628 of Hilton) (in words
  and in table)
• risk analysis concerning people, time and product
  and your proposed protective measures (P2931 of
  Hilton)
• plan for the monitoring and evaluation of the
  project (P3435 of Hilton)
• a project framework (P32 of Hilton)

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How to write the objectives?

• Students should cover two aspects in stating
  their objective
• 1) a general goal or aim or their project, i.e.
  the overall aim to which the project will make a
  contribution
• 2) some specific or detailed objectives for the
  project that derive from the goal, i.e. the
  changed situations as a result of the
  implementation of the project.
• To make the discussion of the objectives
  relevant, students also need to restate the
  problem.
• Virtually every project has three overriding
  goals to accomplish work for a customer in
  accordance with budget, schedule, and performance
  requirements.
• The goal and each of the objectives should be
  started with the word to. For example, if your
  problem is that the patients of our hospital are
  not satisfied with the environment of the waiting
  area for our department of medicine, then your
  goal of the project will be to satisfy our
  patients' demand for a clean, bright and
  comfortable waiting area, and your objectives
  will be to renovate the facilities, to create
  some positions to look after the issue, and to
  offer more services at the waiting area in two
  months with a budget of xxx.

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How to write rationale?

• Rationale is the discussion of the reasons behind
  why students chose to design the project in such
  a way, or what forms the basis of the project.
• The rationale should explain the background
  knowledge or thinking on which the approach to
  research is based.
• Our students should be able to present their
  reasoning in a few clear and concise paragraphs.
  If they claim that they cant think of a
  rationale, then encourage them to read portions
  of books on Business Management as well as
  articles that relate to their problem and scan
  for reasons that support their particular
  approach.

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How to write hypothesis?

• A project hypothesis is a complete statement that
  tells the audience what sort of thing you want to
  prove to be correct or incorrect.
• To formulate a hypothesis, students may consider
  the following two points
• First, the content of a hypothesis often has a
  hidden cause-effect relation. For example, in the
  hypothesis Sales staff can provide better
  services to their customers through systematical
  on-the-job training, the cause is systematical
  on-the-job training, and the effect is sales
  staff provide better services to their customers.
  
• Second, you can make this hidden cause-effect
  relation explicit by using the structure if
  then
• So an explicitly expressed hypothesis goes like
  this It is hypothesized that if sales staff are
  trained systematically through on-the-job
  training, then they can provide better services
  to their customers.

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Planned activities

• We should try to remind our students to start and
  conclude the discussion with complete sentences
  and in paragraphs rather than some bulleted
  points.
• Activities should be categorized in a logical and
  rational way.
• Should be discussed both in words and in flow
  chart.

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Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)

• Level Elements
• 1 Project
• 2 Category
• 3 Subcategory
• 4 Tasks

An illustration of WBS
Level 1 House Building Project 2 Walls and
ceilings Interior systems Roof 3 Drywall
Plaster Plumbing Electricity 4 White walls
Blue ceilings
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Critical Path Analysis of the Activities

• Critical path analysis is a network model for
  finding the shortest possible schedule for a
  series of activities. The computed longest time
  path through a network is the critical path.
• The objectives of critical path analysis is to
  determine the following quantities for each
  activity
• ES Earliest activity start time. All predecessor
  activities must be able to be completed before an
  activity can be started. The ending time of the
  predecessor activities is the earliest time an
  activity can be started.
• LS Latest activity start time. All following
  activities must be completed without delaying the
  entire project. This is the latest time an
  activity can be started without delaying the
  entire project.
• EF Earliest activity finish time.
• LF Latest activity finish time.
• S Activity slack time, which is equal to (LS
  ES) or (LF EF).
• Critical path analysis is to find those critical
  activities and to help students to have an
  overall plan of what they are going to do so that
  the essential things are done in the right
  sequence.
• Finding the critical path is a major part of
  controlling a project. The activities on the
  critical path represent tasks that will delay the
  entire project unless they are completed on time.

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An illustration of critical path analysis

• Activity time ES EF LS LF S
• 1-2 2 0 2 1 3 1
• 1-3 7 0 7 0 7 0
• 2-3 4 2 6 3 7 1
• 2-4 3 2 5 6 9 4
• 3-4 2 7 9 7 9 0
• The critical path consists of those activities
  with zero slack. These are activities 1-3 and 3-4

2
1
4
3
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People involved in the activities and their
responsibilities

• Students will also have to consider who will be
  responsible for doing each of the activities.
• There may be activities which could be done at
  the same time in theory, but if the same person
  has to do them both, he or she will obviously
  have to do one first and the other second.
• Dont forget to include things such as getting
  official permissions or certificates if they are
  necessary for your project.

44
Time-scale of the Activities

• Students also should consider how long each bit
  of activities will take and then arrange the
  chart to fit along a time-scale.
• This will show when each of the activities will
  happen and how long each should take from the
  beginning to the end of the project.
• Students are required to explain both in words
  and in flow chart.
• The flow chart will serve as a monitoring tool
  while implementing the project.

45
An example of activities with time-scale
46
Cost Consideration

• Costs can be divided into four kinds
• Cost of materials and equipment, such as office
  facilities, rented equipment, even costs of
  things like postage and telephone charges.
• Costs of time and labor, such as the payment for
  people, time to be taken for doing the job if
  people were paid by the hour, and other services
  you have to pay for the project.
• Costs of finance, such as the interest you will
  pay the bank if you have to borrow money to carry
  out the project, value of any earnings that you
  may lose in order to carry out the project.
• Contingency allowance, i.e. the sum of money you
  set aside to pay for anything that you might not
  have thought of, or have estimated wrongly.
• Students are required to explain both in words
  and in table.

47
Risk Analysis

• People related
• Will people do what they are supposed to do?
• Is there anyone who might cause real problems for
  the project?
• Will people be able to do things in the time
  allowed?
• Time related
• Are there any parts of the project where a delay
  will cause serious problems for the project?
• Product or service related
• Will things supplied to the project be exactly
  what you wanted?
• Is there a danger that there might be faults in
  the equipment needed for the project?
• Will everything you want be available?
• After analyzing the risks, students should
  propose some protective measures to look into
  these risks. They may try to avoid the risks by
  taking necessary measures. They may prepare some
  alternative beforehand in case the dangers
  actually happen. They may set aside a certain
  percentage of the total budget as contingency
  allowance to take account of the unexpected
  risks.

48
Plan for the Monitoring and Evaluation of the
Project

• Students need to have a plan to manage and
  control the project. They will need to know at
  all times whether the project is proceeding as
  planned.
• Are things happening at the times they are
  supposed to happen?
• Is everyone involved doing what he or she should
  be doing?
• Are things being done to the quality standards
  that you or your client expects?
• Has the project been successfully carried out?
• They need to provide practical tools that can be
  used in the process of monitoring and evaluating
  the project implementation.

49
An example of plan for the monitoring of the
project implementation

• The project will be monitored in several aspects
• First is the use of the Project Framework, which
  summarizes the project content and sets out all
  the essential details of the project.
  Furthermore, it includes the list of activities
  and outputs with the dates and times by which
  they should be carried out. The Framework is
  advantageous for the reasons that it ensures a
  logical project sequence. The framework will be
  referred to regularly to check if things are
  happening in the way that they were planned. (See
  Appendix 1 for The Project Framework)
• Secondly, the flow chart of activities with
  time-scale will also help in the monitoring of
  the project. It helps to see, not just whether
  things are happening on time, but also what the
  effects of a delay might be, and what will now
  have to change as a result. (See appendix 2 for
  the Activity Flow chart with time-scale)
• Besides that, a Project Master File will be kept
  which contain copies of all the documents for
  planning the project and records of all meetings
  and decisions that are taken as the project
  proceeds, such as The Project Progressive
  Checklist (See Appendix 3) which allows all the
  activities to be compared, scheduled, verified,
  or identified. It can be developed to guide all
  the tasks in each period and it covers all the
  necessary information to affect the set of
  events.
• The Master file includes the Project Managers
  Diary ( See Appendix 4) as well, which may keep
  all the activitys records that the project
  manager may get involved. In that way, it is
  easily to track the process at any time.
• Furthermore, the project members who are
  responsible for facilities and other logistic job
  related to the training course are required to
  keep a portfolio in detail of the activities they
  were taken. (See Appendix 5 for the Project
  Members Daily Feedback Form) This project
  portfolio was also considered as a useful way for
  monitoring.

50
An example of plan for the evaluation of the
project implementation

• The evaluation consists of two parts 1)
  evaluation for the OJT training course, and 2)
  evaluation for the whole project.
• In part one, the paper identity three levels of
  evaluation and arrange them hierarchically from
  least to most difficult. The lowest and easiest
  level is evaluation in terms of learner reaction
  Did the learners like the training?
• Learners feedback and their reactions to the
  course may be obtained from such sources as
  conversations or questionnaires during the
  course. (See Appendix 7 for OJT Reaction
  Worksheet)
• The second level of evaluation is learning What
  was learned from training? Written exams will be
  used as well as the oral or performance-based
  exams.
• The third level and the most challenging to
  assess is behavior change How much did the
  learners change their behavior as a result of the
  training? How much organizational improvement
  resulted from learners behavioral changes? In
  other words, how much and how well training led
  to improved customer satisfaction?
• Results could be obtained through performance
  appraisal. (See Appendix 6 for Employee
  Performance Appraisal Form) In additional, A
  follow-up survey among companys customers will
  show the results as well as the revenue
  comparison before and after training.
• In part two, the thesis set out a process to
  evaluate the project when the project is
  finished. The criteria the thesis used are
  adapted from the discussion on project evaluation
  (Gu,2002). The adapted criteria for the project
  are as following
• The problem Is the problem a researchable one?
• The methods used in problem analysis Are the
  methods used to analyze the problem acceptable,
  suitable to it and properly applied?
• The project objective Is the project objective
  realistic?
• The project rationale Does the project have a
  sound basis?
• The project design Has the investigator work out
  the details for project implementing? Has the
  investigator planned the stages and time table
  for the project implementation?
• The stages and details of project implementation
  Are the stages necessary and complete? Are the
  implementation details properly maintained?
• The methods used in project implementation In
  what way has the project been implemented?
• The methods used to obtain the results In what
  way has the investigator obtained the project
  results? Is it acceptable, suitable and properly
  used?
• The results obtained from the project
  implementation Has the project hypothesis been
  proved or disproved or partially proved or
  suspended?
• These criteria are used to find out whether the
  project is successful or not, did it achieve what
  it should be to achieve, etc.

51
A Project Framework

• The project framework is a way of setting out all
  the essential details of a project in an orderly
  and logical way in the format of a table.
• It is commonly used in planning and carrying out
  a project as the key document on which all other
  elements of planning are based.
• The project framework is basically a simple table
  with 5 columns and six rows. The top row and
  left-hand column contain the labels, while the
  rest of the boxes contain the essential
  information about the project.
• Please refer to Unit 1 Page 4 and Unit 8 Page
  3233 of Hiltons Practical Business Project and
  Proposal Design for a sample project framework.

52
An example of project framework
53
Project Proposal

• Students will also need to write up a project
  proposal. The project proposal will need to
  include
• a title page
• a table of contents
• an introduction (current situation, project
  objectives hypothesis, outputs, total estimated
  cost, benefits)
• a main body (detailed activity plan and approach,
  timetable or schedule, cost breakdown)
• a conclusion (summary of the project, reemphasis
  of the benefits)
• a bibliography (a list of references)

54
Introduction of the Proposal

• In the introduction students should state the
  problems that give rise to the project and the
  solution to them.
• Students need to introduce to the problems
  briefly, state their objectives and hypothesis
  for the project, and the approach they are going
  to use to solve the problems.
• They may also include the outputs and benefits
  that the project can bring about and the total
  estimated costs.

55
The main body of the proposal

• In the body, students should explain in detail
  how the project will be implemented, what methods
  and materials are going to be used, and when the
  project will start and end.
• Students should present the cost breakdown for
  the entire job in this section.
• They need to present the kind of information that
  can help the readers to think about the proposal
  and may stimulate them to approve it.

56
The conclusion of the proposal

• In the conclusion, students need to summarize the
  major points of the project.
• They should reemphasize the benefits that the
  project can create.
• They should also urge the readers to approve it
  or take action.

57
Submit Assignment 2.

• A detailed project plan that includes aspects
  like objectives, rationale, hypothesis,
  activities planned to take place, a critical path
  analysis of these activities, people involved in
  the activities and their responsibilities,
  time-scaled activity plan, cost consideration,
  risk analysis, monitoring and evaluation, a
  framework, etc.
• A professional project proposal that includes a
  title page, an introduction, a main body, a
  conclusion, and a bibliography.
• The plan and proposal need to be described in
  clear, accurate and unambiguous English
  illustrated with flow charts and tables.
• Students need to demonstrate that the project is
  relevant, practical, and workable.

58
How to assess students assignments

• Students are assessed based on the results of the
  2 assignments.
• Students who fail after submitting the
  assignments will be given only one additional
  chance to pass the course!
• Students need to pass the previous stage before
  they can proceed to the next stage.
• We need to mark the students assignment based on
  the specifications.
• We need to comment on the students assignment
  paragraph by paragraph.
• We also need to provide a general comment on what
  they have achieved as well as what they need to
  improve.
• We need to use a different font color to keep
  track the changes.

59
Distribution of points
60
3. BA Degree Paper Writing
61
Proposal for the BA degree paper

• The proposal is a requirement set by Beijing
  Foreign Studies University as part of the BA
  Degree Application Form. The purpose of the
  proposal is to provide the readers with a clear
  picture of the motives, hypothesis, objectives,
  and significance of the dissertation writing. The
  proposal should be written in Chinese with no
  more than 400 words. Once again, 400 is the
  maximum. But 200 would be too short for this part
  and the recommended length is just below 400
  words.

62
Outline for the BA degree paper

• In this part, students are required to write down
  a table of contents that is formal and in an
  academic way.
• Students are recommended to follow the template
  provided in the handbook for BA degree paper
  writing.
• In regard of the format, the outline should have
  three levels clearly labeled like the following
• Level one 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, etc.
• Level two 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 3.1,
  4.1, 5.1, etc. (Arabic Numerals)
• Level three 1.1.1, 1.1.2, 1.2.1, 1.2.2, 1.2.3,
  2.1.1, 2.1.2, 2.1.3, 3.1.1, 4.1.1, 5.1.1, etc.
• Some students just provided a simple outline,
  which is not detailed enough, usually in a
  one-leveled structure, some in a two-leveled
  structure.
• Some students provided detailed paragraph
  description under each title, which is not
  necessary, and which may cause the problem of
  exceeding the word-limit. Some even listed all
  the reference books in the bibliography.
• Some students only provided detailed information
  for certain parts of the outline but failed to
  provide details for other significant parts.
• The outline should include a list of titles for
  each section. The sections should cover all the
  major elements of a BA degree paper, like
  introduction, main body, conclusion,
  bibliography, and appendix. Main body is all the
  major sections that should be contained in the
  outline, like problem analysis, rationale,
  hypothesis, objectives, project design,
  implementation and evaluation, findings and
  discussion, etc. The outline should be written in
  English with no more than 400 words. Students
  need to pay attention to the word-limit. 400 is
  the maximum, which means they could write in
  about 200 words or so.

63
General Requirements

• 4000 words (not including abstracts, table of
  contents, bibliography, and appendix)
• Cover page, abstract in Chinese, abstract in
  English, table of contents, bibliography, and
  appendix should use the template provided online.
  Be printed on A4 papers with left binding.
• Font and size Bold Arial 12 for first level
  headings, bold Arial 10 for second level
  headings, bold Times New Roman 12 for third level
  headings, Times New Roman 12 for the body.
• Line spacing should be 1.5.
• Three levels of headings
• First level 1 2 3 4
• Second level 1.1 1.2 2.1 2.2
• Third level 1.1.1 1.1.2 1.2.1 1.2.2
  2.1.1 2.1.2
• Extra numbering system in the body
• a)? i) ? 1)

64
Critical Elements Required for the BA degree paper

• A standard cover name of the institution, thesis
  title, writers information, submission date,
  etc.
• An abstract (in Chinese) a summary of the whole
  thesis of 500-800 words, through which a reader
  could have a brief but complete understanding of
  the thesis by reading the abstract and not
  reading the rest of the thesis.
• An abstract (in English) a compact version of
  the Chinese abstract, 200 words.
• A table of contents a list of titles for each
  section and their corresponding page numbers.
• A body (See next slide for detailed information)
• A bibliography a list of books, articles that
  have been referred to in the body. (You need to
  refer to at least 5 sources.)
• Appendix

65
Information to be included in the body

• Introduction
• Main Body (This is not a title but a category)
• Problem analysis (current situation, customer
  profile, needs analysis, SWOT analysis)
• Project objectives and hypothesis
• Project rationale (literature review)
• Project design (planned activities, critical path
  of activities, people and responsibilities, cost
  analysis, risk analysis, time-scale, framework,
  plan for monitoring and evaluating the project
  implementation)
• Project implementation (implementation process,
  monitoring of implementation)
• Project findings and discussion (project results,
  data analysis, evaluation and discussion of
  results)
• Conclusion

66
Rationale (Literature Review)

• Rationale for BA degree paper should be extended
  to a literature review.
• The discussion of rationale should be presented
  in an academic way. Students need to provide two
  kinds of analysis 1) this research is needed,
  and 2) the methodology they have chosen is most
  appropriate for the research.
• The literature review is an active process of
  construction. It involves defining and raise
  questions in your field of discussion. It
  involves providing a rationale for your selection
  of literature, drawing points of comparison or
  conflict between texts, and providing critical
  commentary on them. The aim of the literature
  review is to persuade the reader that your
  research is informed, coherent, necessary and
  innovative.
• If your project is based on certain theoretical
  studies, then please tell which books or articles
  you have read, what the major points of these
  theories are, and what is your opinion about
  these concepts, etc.
• The process of writing literature review usually
  starts by compiling a list of references. Then
  starts with an introductory paragraph discusses
  the literature in a logical and coherent way and
  concludes with a paragraph that relates the
  literature to the research project.

67
Findings and Discussion

• This is the most important part of the BA degree
  paper. Students must perform a critical analysis
  of their study's results.
• Students need to present their results of the
  project implementation in an organized way,
  evaluate the project design and implementation,
  and make some detailed analysis based on the data
  they collected throughout the project
  implementation.
• Students should discuss the data or results in
  light of their objectives, hypothesis, and
  rationale to see if they have achieved their
  objectives, proved their hypothesis, or to show
  how their research built upon the research done
  by others.
• They will be using the findings to structure an
  argument. This could take the form of setting out
  and defending a particular position or
  interpretation. They will be drawing on the
  previous sections and presenting the results as
  evidence. The literature reviewed will also have
  a role here. The students need to go back and
  reference their literature review in this section
  and to demonstrate how their own study built upon
  the foundations laid by those of the past.

68
Bibliography

• There are different styles of referencing.
  Harvard, Oxford, APA (American Psychological
  Association) and MLA (Modern Language
  Association) styles are just a few.  We are going
  to use APA.
• Journal article
• Murzynski, J., Degelman, D. (1996). Body
  language of women and judgments of vulnerability
  to sexual assault. Journal of Applied Social
  Psychology, 26,  1617-1626.         
• Book
• Paloutzian, R. F. (1996). Invitation to the
  psychology of religion  (2nd ed.). Boston Allyn
  and Bacon.    
• Article or chapter in an edited book
• Shea, J. D. (1992). Religion and sexual
  adjustment. In J. F. Schumaker (Ed.), Religion
  and mental health (pp. 70-84). New York Oxford
  University Press. 

69

• Web document on university program or department
  Web site
• Degelman, D., Harris, M. L. (2000). APA style
  essentials. Retrieved May 18, 2000, from Vanguard
  University, Department of Psychology Web
  site http//www.vanguard.edu/faculty/ddegelman/in
  dex.cfm?doc_id796
• Stand-alone Web document (no date)
• Nielsen, M. E. (n.d.). Notable people in
  psychology of religion. Retrieved August 3, 2001,
  from  http//www.psywww.com/psyrelig/psyrelpr.htm
• Stand-alone Web document (no author, no date)
• Gender and society. (n.d.). Retrieved December 3,
  2001, from http//www.trinity.edu/mkearl/gender.h
  tml
• Journal article, Internet-only journal
• Bergen, D. (2002, Spring). The role of pretend
  play in children's cognitive development. Early
  Childhood Research Practice, 4(1). Retrieved
  February 1, 2004, from http//ecrp.uiuc.edu/v4n1/b
  ergen.html

70
How to mark students work?

• All students must complete 3 drafts for their BA
  degree paper writing. We have 2 chances to
  correct the students work before marking the
  final draft.
• For the first 2 drafts, we should check a list of
  criteria as being either acceptable or
  requiring revision.
• We should provide specific comments in the text
  of the students paper, showing where changes are
  needed.
• We should also provide a general comment on what
  they have achieved as well as what they need to
  improve.
• The criteria for the final version is different
  from the criteria for the first two drafts. There
  are 10 items, each worth 10 percent, and on which
  our marks will be based.
• We also need to provide a general comment on the
  achievements and limits of the students paper.
• The mark will be used to determine whether the
  student can proceed to the oral defense, in which
  the student must give a brief presentation (5
  minutes) and answer questions about his/her
  research (10 minutes.).

71
Thank you!