ISYS90050 – IT Project and Change Management
Semester 2, 2023
A/Prof Antonette Mendoza
School of Computing and Information Systems
Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology P a g e | 1
School of Computing and Information Systems
ISYS90050 IT Project and Change Management
ASSIGNMENT 2, SEMESTER 2, 2023
MANAGING CONFLICT & ETHICAL CHALLENGES
This assignment is aimed at:
• gaining a practical understanding of the issues involved in project management, including the handling of conflict
situations, and managing people in teams; and
• developing the ability to resolve project management issues under pressure and within a short time frame, as
project conditions change.
This assignment is worth 20% towards your final assessment for this subject.
Release date: The assignment will be made available on Canvas on Thursday 21st Sept 2023, 17:30 AEST. All queries
can be sent to the discussion forum on canvas and one of us will answer them.
Due date for submission: Tuesday, 10th Oct 2023, 10:30am AEST via canvas.
Late submissions: A 10% penalty will be applied for each ‘late’ day, and no late submissions will be accepted after 5 days
from the deadline.
Requirement: You are required to address each question separately. The entire assignment should be not more than 2000
words (around 3 to 4 pages).
Assessment (learning outcomes): Assessment is based on the quality of your:
• analysis of the information provided.
• depth of understanding of the scenarios involved.
• ability to assess a situation and suggest different strategies.
• reasoning as to how and why you will use one or more strategies to resolve the situation and manage people in teams.
This is an individual project. While you may discuss the problems with your classmates, you must not show written
solutions to another student or use written solutions from another student. Failure to reference sources or using the work
of another student are examples of plagiarism, and may result in zero marks for this assignment, and you will be reported
to the Faculty of Engineering and IT misconduct disciplinary committee.
You are reminded that your submission for this project is to be your own individual work (University of Melbourne library
guide to referencing: http://library.unimelb.edu.au/recite). For most people, collaboration will form a natural part of the
undertaking of this project. However, it is still an individual task, and so re-use of others’ information will be considered
misconduct. We will check submissions for originality and will invoke the University’s Academic Misconduct policy
(http://academichonesty.unimelb.edu.au/policy.html) where inappropriate levels of collusion or plagiarism appear to
have taken place.
If you use AI generated material such as ChatGPT or QuillBot in the preparation of your assessment submission, this
must be appropriately acknowledged and cited in accordance with the Assessment and Results Policy (MPF1326)
(https://academicintegrity.unimelb.edu.au/plagiarism-and-collusion/artificial-intelligence-tools-and-technologies).
A cover sheet is provided. You are required to sign and submit the cover sheet as part of the assignment.
ISYS90050 – IT Project and Change Management
Semester 2, 2023
A/Prof Antonette Mendoza
School of Computing and Information Systems
Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology P a g e | 2
Case study (20 marks)
HaloSolutions is a software development firm that designs and develops web applications for companies in Australia. As
part of a new project acquisition drive, HaloSolutions has recently won and signed a contract with a major health insurance
company. Jennifer Grady is assigned as the senior lead to coordinate this large IT project that is worth AUS$550,000. The
project involves implementing an end-to-end platform for the insurance company, specifically focusing on insurance for
elderly citizens in Australia. They call this project CAREX. You are appointed as the project manager for CAREX and
you will directly report to Jennifer, your line manager. Jennifer introduces you to the new team. The project team members
for CAREX are a mix from different locations where HelloSolutions is based. The design team is in Melbourne, Australia,
the coding team is in Bangladesh and all other phases are run from the Sydney head office.
The project starts successfully, so you think. As part of gathering requirements for the project, you are introduced to Sarah
Lee, a senior employee from the health insurance company. You are informed that Sarah will help with the requirements
gathering. Sarah provides you with a list of features and ideas on what she thinks is required for the application – a list
she believes is accurate. The list is vague and does not clearly identify the functional and non-functional requirements.
Some of the functionality ideas provided by Sarah involve the use of algorithms that capture the private information of
potential elderly clients, including bank and credit card details, financial status, cultural background, dependencies, etc.
You ask Sarah why the private information is required and how the data will be used later. Sarah simply tells you, “That is
not your concern. We need the private information of the elderly as we are testing another platform that is AI-driven, for capturing peoples’
emotions and understanding their vulnerabilities; the clients and the user cohort are not required to be informed. It is only for our purposes”.
You observe the lack of transparency of data collection and the future use of it. You share this observation with your
teammates. One of the teammates in the project, George, informs you that he feels very uncomfortable working on tasks
that capture private information of the elderly, especially if consent is not obtained in an open manner.
Another concern you have is that you are never introduced to the stakeholders in the project. Sarah provides you with a
new list of requirements every time she meets you. Two months into the project, you still have not been able to talk to
the other stakeholders. Sarah repeatedly says that she has spoken to all the clients/stakeholders and produces a new list
every time she meets with you. You are not sure how to inform her that she can’t keep adding new requirements each
time she meets you.
Three months into the project. Sarah informs you that you must present the design prototype to a steering committee.
You have never met or heard about this committee before. On the day, as part of your team, John, the design specialist
and you present the design to the steering committee. During the presentation, Sarah and one of her co-workers suggested
another design they discovered on a consulting company’s website. It is essential to highlight that this design is explicitly
labelled as proprietary. The entire presentation and discussion get sidetracked. You say nothing at the meeting. John and
your teammates are confused and upset.
During one of your team meetings the following day, John and George are very vocal about how they feel. John says,
“Where did this new design idea come from? Why were we not informed about this idea? Did you know about this? We have spent three months
on this design based on the requirements you gave us and now we look like fools. This is bad”. George adds, “I’m not clear why we are
collecting private information from the elderly. Have you met the stakeholders and captured their views.?. Other teammates join in, and
the meeting ends up being a very negative environment. The team morale is poor at this stage.
Further, the steering committee chair calls Jennifer and expresses the committee’s disappointment about the lack of clarity
about the design prototype and your incompetence as a project manager. Jennifer is furious and calls for a meeting with
you. Things are not going your way. As the PM, you have five concerns to resolve: (1) you are asked to implement features
that collect data private to elderly citizens and would be used for testing another platform that is AI-driven that works on
elderly people’s emotions, a platform you have very little or no knowledge about; (2) you have never met the stakeholders
ISYS90050 – IT Project and Change Management
Semester 2, 2023
A/Prof Antonette Mendoza
School of Computing and Information Systems
Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology P a g e | 3
and only depended on Sarah’s input for elicitation of requirements; (3) Sarah and her colleague presenting another design
and confusing the steering committee; (4) steering committee members confused about the two designs shown to them,
and your competence to run a project; (5) team members are unhappy with how the project is managed including the
mess in the steering committee meeting.
Now that things are a mess with the project, as the Project Manager, how will you move forward in the project? Review
this scenario, consider the concerns you face, and address the following questions:
1. (5 marks) You are asked to implement features that collect data private to elderly citizens. This data will be
used for testing another AI-driven platform that works on elderly people’s emotions and vulnerabilities to grow
the business. You have very little or no knowledge about this platform.
Keep your responses to around half to one page.
a. As the PM, does this lack of transparency in how and why private data is collected concern you? Why/Why
not? Justify your response with a brief explanation. (2 marks)
b. How will you respond to your teammates’ concerns about working on the specific task/functionality that
captures private information from the elderly without their consent? Provide a structured and clear approach. (3
marks)
2. (6 marks) You have never met the stakeholders and only depended on Sarah’s input for elicitation of
requirements; the requirements list changes with additional new ones.
Keep your responses to around half to one page.
a. What problems do you see in the current situation that might affect the project? Provide a brief response (2
marks)
b. If you had the opportunity to do things differently, how would you have handled Sarah and the
requirements elicitation phase? Provide a structured and clear approach (4 marks)
3. (9 marks) You face three other issues: (1) Sarah and her colleague present another design and confuse the
steering committee; (2) Steering committee members and your line manager, Jennifer, questioning your
competence to run a project; (3) the team morale is low.
Keep your responses to around half to one page.
a. Will you re-design the prototype based on Sarah’s design that she had shown at the steering committee?
Why/Why not? Provide a brief response. (3 marks)
b. Explain how you will convince the steering committee and Jennifer: (1) about the choice of design
prototype and (2) that you are competent and can complete the project on time and within budget. Provide a
structured and clear approach (4 marks)
c. Now that the team is upset, how would you change the morale of the team? Keep your answer to 2-3 sentences.
(2 marks)
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