Question 1: By discussing FOUR benefits of virtual teams in project success, explain how a project manager can mitigate risks arising from a crisis (e.g. COVID-19 Pandemic) in scheduling, resourcing, and budgeting a project?

Assessment 2: Individual Essay (1500 words)

1. Purpose and aims

This assignment aims to extend a student's body of knowledge in terms of positioning their argument in an essay format where they will bring and discuss different arguments from the past studies. More importantly, students would discuss how a project manager will deal with challenges and opportunities arising from environmental changes and what strategies must be taken into consideration to mitigate the risks of changes.

2. Greater Reliance on Virtual Teams: A New Trend in Project Management

Project management, like other industries, is no longer strictly bound to the confines of a typical office. Due to a number of factors—including greater connectivity, changing corporate values, and the rise of the gig economy—digital and remote teams are more common today than ever before. The negative global situation related to COVID-19 is not the only reason for this trend. In the last few years, more and more organizations have focused their energy on geographically distributed teams in different areas of the world. Many people believe that organizations use this trend to reduce costs by recruiting staff from lower-paid locations in general. The truth is that many production activities require local management. Many organizations have branches in multiple countries. The presence of the project manager on site was proven a long time ago as an effective approach. Since the surge in remote work is likely to continue even after the global health crisis subsides, project managers must find ways to reduce friction or inefficiencies that might arise.

2. Your Task

You are required to address the following questions by writing 1500 words in an essay format:

Question 1: By discussing FOUR benefits of virtual teams in project success,  explain how a project manager can mitigate risks arising from a crisis (e.g. COVID-19 Pandemic) in scheduling, resourcing, and budgeting a project?  

Question 2: To what extent do you recommend maintaining and empowering virtual teams even after a crisis (e.g. COVID-19 Pandemic)? How?  (TWO Recommendations)

3. Requirements

-       Apply a combination of concepts and theories in scheduling, resourcing, and budgeting a project, as well as project risk planning.

-       Use at least 6 peer-reviewed journal articles to support your arguments. You would be able to use other types of peer-reviewed references (e.g. book and book chapters), but they would be other than the required 6 peer-reviewed journal articles.

-       Figures, appendices (if applicable), and references won’t be included in the word count.

-       Remember to cite all your references, using APA style.

-       Note that Wikipedia and similar sites are not acceptable.

-       You must apply an argumentative approach to your discussions (known as an essay format) by using valid, relevant, and effective examples and references.

-       You must carefully follow the structure and presentation style of an academic essay to address the main questions. For example, your work should not have too many headings. It is better you just divide your work into Introduction, Body  and Conclusion (do not use them as headings).