Course - Project organisations - IØ6207
Project organisations
New from the academic year 2026/2027
About
About the course
Course content
There is increasing recognition that a significant proportion of government, business, and social activities take place in the form of projects. Projects are temporary organisational forms assembled to achieve distinct goals, such as a new infrastructure system, organisational transformation, or the development of a new product or service. Important policy initiatives, such as achieving sustainability targets and the development and maintenance of national and international research, resilience, and defence infrastructures, are all implemented through projects. Consequently, there is a growing demand for project professionals with the competencies to address challenges in a changing world, including the ability to work beyond and across traditional disciplines in increasingly diverse and typically international contexts.
Projects are particularly prominent in engineering industries, and for most engineers, becoming a project manager is the first step towards organisational management. This course aims to familiarise students with the theories and practices that project professionals need to excel in various sectors and industries. It does so by laying the groundwork for (a) a theoretical understanding of projects as organisational forms and (b) the application of this theoretical understanding to challenges in projects and the organisations involved in them.
The course comprises three key segments to encompass the organisational aspects of projects and their management: (1) projects and their contexts; (2) programmes of projects; and (3) project portfolios. Emphasis will be placed on developing an interdisciplinary and research-informed understanding of projects, programmes and portfolios as organisational settings with their challenges and opportunities.
Learning outcome
- Understanding of the different contexts and challenges faced by project organisations operating through projects, programmes, and portfolios.
- Application of key ideas and concepts from the literature to various real-life settings of project organisations.
- Students will develop an appreciation of the need to move beyond the traditional project management ‘toolkit approach’ based on predictable and standardised execution processes to a more strategic direction-setting, prioritisation and coordination approach.
- Using the frameworks, theories and ideas discussed in the course, students will be able to assess the unique challenges associated with projects their organisation is involved in and design the appropriate approach to manage them successfully.
- The course also aims to facilitate the development of skills necessary to operate in internationally diverse working environments, using English as the primary working language.
Sessions will be based on teaching cases and examples from international practice developed by course instructors and active engagement of the course participants contributing their experiences to the class discussions. The course is focusing on projects from a variety of fields and sectors, for example, urban infrastructure, technology development, and organisational change.
Learning methods and activities
The course will be carried out in four full-day sessions, with individual and group work taking place concurrently. The dates of the sessions are outlined in the course timetable and are expected to take place at NTNU facilities in Oslo and Trondheim. The learning material will comprise a selection of teaching cases and literature that students will be asked to engage with before the sessions. Classroom sessions will include case-based work, group work, and discussions of examples to maximise the group's learning experience. Between the two full-day session blocks, students will engage with the material through self-study and develop their assignments. To meet the learning objective 5, the teaching cases and class discussions will have an international scope, and the primary working language of the course will be English. However, some sessions, small-group work discussions, and student assignments will be in Norwegian.
Compulsory activities: Engagement with allocated pre-reading, Class attendance and participation, Self-study and development of individual assignments
Further on evaluation
Assessment will be based on the brief to develop an approach for programme and/or portfolio management in an organisation. To maximise the learning value of the course for students, the final paper will involve students choosing the organisational setting that they will address in their report (in the initial submission) and then applying insights, concepts and ideas from the course on the challenges identified in their organisational (or project) setting in the final submission.
Two assignments prepared in advance of the submission deadlines consist of
• Initial submission that defines the brief that the student will address later in the course final assignment. This will be a description of the setting (organisation, project, programme or portfolio) and the issues that will be the focus of the final course report. The initial submission is 500-600 words not including figures, tables and references and represents 10% of the final mark.
• Final report, which is based on the initial submission brief. The final report should demonstrate understanding of the concepts and examples discussed in class, applied to the chosen setting (as defined in the initial submission). The final submission should be 1800-2000 words, excluding figures, tables, and references. The final report comprises 90% of the final mark.
Information about submission deadlines will be announced at the start of the course.
All parts must be re-taken if the student wishes to improve the grade in the subject.
Recommended previous knowledge
SOS6502 Organisation and Change or equivalent. Participants are expected to have experience working on projects.
Required previous knowledge
Admission to a programme of study is required:
Organisasjon og ledelse (MORG)
Continuing courses in Management (MORGEMNER)
Course materials
Will be stated at the start of the course.
Subject areas
- Organization and Leadership
- Project Quality Management
- Industrial Economics and Technology Management
- Technological subjects
Contact information
Course coordinator
Department with academic responsibility
Department of Industrial Economics and Technology Management