Module 5 Assignment Brief

Task: Select as a case study a project with which your organisation (or any other
organisation with which you are familiar) is currently involved. The project does not have
to have been completed. Your written account should broadly follow the following
structure:

1. (Introduction): Provide a brief description of the project (value, contract used,

duration, purpose of project/building etc.). The description should include a diagram
showing the contractual links between the various parties (design team, contractors,
sub contractors client etc.) and a statement of what you believe is the type of
procurement approach being used on the project. This section has a 15% weighting of
relative importance to the assignment as a whole.

2. You are to critically appraise the organisation’s involvement with the project
using the Module 5 programme material. This critique should include consideration of
(but not exclusively) the following points:

 How was the project identified and brought into the organisation?
 If ‘making a profit’ is a given, what other benefits does the organisation want
to gain from its involvement in the project?
 Explain the project’s progress through the various business unit areas within
the organisation e.g. from marketing, to bidding, to project team deployment
and the role of each unit’s part in securing the project. Was there anything
unusual in the role played by the different business units in relation to this
project?
 Is this project the ‘same as’ or ‘different to’ other projects recently undertaken
by the organisation? (e.g. the project could be the first one undertaken in the
retail sector). Explain the differences and the drivers behind them. This
section has a 50% weighting of relative importance to the assignment as a
whole.

3. Suggest and describe one alternative procurement approach that could have
been used for this project. You should also describe what benefits and disbenefits
would accrue to the various parties involved in the project e.g. design team, contractors,
sub contractors, client etc. if this alternative procurement approach had been used. This
section has a 35% weighting of relative importance to the assignment as a whole.

Indications for completing the task

 There is no ‘definitive list’ against which the assignment ‘needs’ to be

mechanistically completed. Rather, your response should be a function of
adequately ‘probing’ the selected organisation and contrasting your thoughts
with the management theory etc. presented in this module. Bibliographic
 references given in the module sections under each of the respective areas of
the question (business units, construction markets, procurement approach)
may be consulted as appropriate.

 The answer should be in essay form and comprise 2,000 words (+20% / –
10%) apportioned appropriately between each of the listed sections. The
essay should be professionally compiled (format, structure, use of English,
grammar, clarity, correctness, completeness etc.) and be suitably referenced
throughout using the Harvard method. A full listing of bibliographic references
should be provided at the end of the essay.

 Your essay should act as an illustration of your understanding and

appreciation of the Module 5 programme material and your ability to apply
and relate this material to a real-world situation. You can see that engaging
with the assignment requires you to contextualise the material studied
through this workfile by making reference to the working practices of a real
construction firm.

Your assignment will be marked according to specific criteria that have been mapped to
the general ICM assignment criteria:

Assessment grade criteria for Module 5 assignment