Course

Managing Project Stakeholder Engagement, Teams, and Communication

Faculty
Commerce and Business Administration
Department
Business
Course code
BUSN 3610
Credits
3.00
Semester length
15 weeks
Max class size
35
Method(s) of instruction
Lecture
Seminar
Course designation
None
Industry designation
None
Typically offered
To be determined

Overview

Course description
This course focuses on managing engagement with stakeholders and rights-holders. Stakeholders may be either internal or external to the project, and include the project team. Because communication is vital to stakeholder engagement, the course addresses methods for communicating effectively with diverse stakeholders and rights-holders.

Various planning and communication tools and techniques related to human resource management will also be examined. Using a combination of theoretical principles and applied cases and exercises, students will learn to integrate managing engagement with stakeholders and rights-holders, teams, and communication into the overall project management framework.
Course content
  1. Approaches to engaging project stakeholders and rights-holders
  2. Strategies for negotiating with project stakeholders and rights-holders
  3. Approaches to creating, leading, motivating and managing diverse and inclusive project teams
  4. Leadership, followership, and decision-making on high-performance project teams
  5. Effective communication in project environments
  6. Methods for resolving conflicts and providing constructive feedback to project stakeholders and rights-holders
  7. Power and politics in projects
Learning activities

Methods of instructions may include the following:

  • Lectures,
  • Case studies analysis,
  • Discussions, and 
  • Guest lectures on industry-specific subjects
Means of assessment

Assessment will be in accordance with the Douglas College Evaluation Policy. This is a letter-graded course. 

Tests*   20% - 40%   
Assignments (Individual)  (min. 2)  10% - 30%
Term Project(s) (Group)  10% - 30%
Participation    5% - 10%
Final Examination  20% - 30%
   100%

* A combination of quizzes and/or midterms, with no single assessment in this group worth more than 25% of the final grade.

Notes: 

  1. At least 50% of assessments must be for individual work.
  2. Students must achieve a grade of at least 50% on the combined examination components to pass the course.
  3. Instructors may use a student’s record of attendance and/or level of active participation in the course as part of the student’s graded performance. Where this occurs, expectations and grade calculations regarding class attendance and participation will be clearly defined in the Instructor Course Outline.
  4. To pass the course, students must achieve a cumulative grade of at least 50% in all non-group assessments as well as an overall grade in the course of 50% or more. In other words, students must have achieved at least 50% on their cumulative individual assessments in order to be eligible to earn marks from group work.
  5. Students may conduct research as part of their coursework in this class. Instructors for the course are responsible for ensuring that student research projects comply with College policies on ethical conduct for research involving humans, which can require obtaining Informed Consent from participants and getting the approval of the Douglas College Research Ethics Board prior to conducting the research.
Learning outcomes

Students who successfully complete the course will be able to:

  • Identify and analyze project stakeholders and rights-holders;
  • Compare the various approaches to project stakeholder engagement and coordination;
  • Determine appropriate negotiation strategies for engaging project stakeholders and rights-holders;
  • Understand the various approaches to building, leading, empowering and managing diverse and inclusive project teams;
  • Apply the principles of project team-building and conflict management to case studies and/or class-based projects;
  • Utilize ground rules in analyzing case studies and/or conducting class-based projects;
  • Identify approaches, tools and techniques that can be used to enhance project-based communication, including digital approaches; and
  • Integrate the knowledge learned in managing engagement with stakeholders and rights-holders, communication, and human resources into the overall management of a complex project.

 

Textbook materials

Textbooks and materials are to be purchased by students.  A list of required textbooks and materials will be provided for students at the beginning of the term. Textbooks will be chosen from the following list:

  • Coursepack or information package prepared by the Instructor(s) within the Business Mangement Department.

  • Project Management Institute, A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, Latest Edition.

And/or any alternative textbook approved by the Business Management Department

Requisites

Course Guidelines

Course Guidelines for previous years are viewable by selecting the version desired. If you took this course and do not see a listing for the starting semester / year of the course, consider the previous version as the applicable version.

(Current)

Course Transfers to Other Institutions

Below are current transfer agreements from Douglas College to other institutions for the current course guidelines only. For a full list of transfer details and archived courses, please see the BC Transfer Guide.

Institution Transfer details for BUSN 3610
Athabasca University (AU) AU ADMN 3XX (3)
Coast Mountain College (CMTN) CMTN BADM 2XX (3)
College of the Rockies (COTR) COTR MGMT 3XX (3)
Coquitlam College (COQU) No credit
Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU) KPU SOBU 2XXX (3)
Simon Fraser University (SFU) SFU BUS 2XX (3)
Thompson Rivers University (TRU) TRU MNGT 3XXX (3)
University of Northern BC (UNBC) DOUG BUSN 3610 (3) & DOUG BUSN 3620 (3) & DOUG BUSN 3630 (3) & DOUG BUSN 4640 (3) = UNBC COMM 451 (3)
University of Victoria (UVIC) UVIC COM 2XX (1.5)

Course Offerings

Fall 2026

CRN Days Instructor Status
Maximum seats
35
Currently enrolled
0
Remaining seats:
35
On waitlist
0
Building
Anvil Office Tower
Room
626
Times:
Start Time
12:30
-
End Time
15:20