PMGT5872: ace the project, not just read the notes
Your complete guide to University of Sydney's people and communications unit. See where the marks are, work real practice questions, and study with an AI tutor that knows PMGT5872.
Sia generates PMGT5872 practice questions, walks through communication models and intercultural communication step by step, and quizzes you on the material the project that weights most heavily.
Sharpen your argument
Your group's marks for the 35% project depend on working well together, so you study Tuckman's stages of team development (forming, storming, norming, performing) to plan for the weeks ahead. A teammate argues: 'If we just stay friendly and avoid any disagreement, our performance will keep rising smoothly from forming straight through to performing.' Based on the unit's team-development model, which response is the strongest?
Recall Tuckman's sequence: forming, storming, norming, performing. The stages are a normal developmental path, not optional.
In norming, a team charter sets rules and norms and performance starts to rise again; in performing, the team is task-focused and performance keeps climbing.
So the dip in storming is expected, and resolving (not suppressing) disagreement through norms is what unlocks the performing stage. That is option B.
Eliminate the others: A wrongly treats all conflict as purely destructive, C invents a 'skip storming' rule the model does not contain, and D denies the staged structure the model is built on.
The weaker choice: Assuming team performance rises monotonically and that a 'conflict-free' group is automatically high-performing. The unit's model is explicit that performance usually dips during storming, and that working through that conflict to set norms is the path to the performing stage. Avoiding all disagreement does not skip storming; it just leaves problems unresolved. watch this!
One project decides 35% of your grade. Peer-evaluated: group or team marks may be adjusted for individual members based on peer evaluation. This whole page is built around that.
Overview
What PMGT5872 is, and where it sits
PMGT5872 People and Communications is a 6-credit-point postgraduate (Master's coursework) unit in the University of Sydney's School of Project Management, in the Faculty of Engineering. It is a core program unit that builds the communication and people-management capability project managers depend on: the unit's framing is that project managers spend up to 90% of their time communicating with their team and stakeholders, so the soft skills are the job, not an add-on. The syllabus moves through three blocks: communication skills for project managers (communication models, the DISC styles, intercultural communication and Hofstede, interpersonal communication), self and people awareness (multiple intelligences, emotional intelligence, the Johari window, conflict and negotiation, organisational and generational communication, leadership and motivation), and teams (groups versus teams, Tuckman's stages, Belbin's roles, and building high-performing and virtual teams).
Delivery shapes how you study. There are no traditional lectures. The unit runs on flipped and blended learning: each week you complete pre-workshop mini-lectures (video and PDF), readings and activities BEFORE a participative 1.5-to-2-hour workshop, then revise and reflect afterwards. The University's effort guideline is about 9 to 12 hours per week (roughly 120 to 150 hours over the semester). Attendance is not optional: students are expected to attend at least 85% of timetabled workshops, rolls are taken, and falling below that can result in a fail grade. There is no required textbook; the examinable and assessable material is the weekly Canvas modules, mini-lectures and set readings.
The harder part is not technical difficulty (there is no exam and essentially no maths). It is that the grade is continuous and people-facing: 50% of it sits in two peer-evaluated group tasks (a weekly in-class group presentation and facilitation, plus a 35% group report-and-presentation), and the highest-skill individual task is a reflective summary graded on how well you apply a reflective-practice framework (Kolb, Takeuchi and Nonaka, Argyris and Schon, or the 5Rs) to your own experience. Keeping a weekly reflective journal from Week 1, contributing reliably to your group, and engaging every workshop is what separates the grades.
Official outline: sydney.edu.au · PMGT5872 outline. Always treat the official outline and the exam timetable as authoritative.
Difficulty & time commitment
Is PMGT5872 hard, and how much time does it take?
PMGT5872 is manageable if you keep a weekly rhythm and treat the back half as the main event. Across student reviews the pattern is consistent: it starts gently and steepens, and the heaviest assessment is the part that separates grades.
The difficulty curve and the assessment weighting point the same way: the back half is harder and worth more. Front-loading effort there is the highest-return decision in the unit.
Is this unit for you
Who tends to do well, and who tends to struggle
You will likely do well if
- You keep up with the pre-workshop materials every week. The unit is flipped with no lecture to fall back on, so preparation before each workshop is where the learning happens.
- You engage in person: rolls are taken, the 85% attendance minimum is enforceable, and much of the assessment (participation and the in-class presentation) rewards showing up and contributing.
- You are a reliable, communicative group member, since 50% of the mark sits in two peer-evaluated group tasks.
- You can reflect honestly and connect experience to theory. The highest-skill task is a reflective summary graded on how well you apply a reflective-practice framework to your own team experience.
You may struggle if
- You prefer to learn from recorded lectures and a textbook and cram for an exam. There are none here; the source is fragmented Canvas modules and live workshops, and there is no exam to rescue a quiet semester.
- You skip workshops. Beyond losing participation marks, dropping below 85% attendance can fail you outright.
- You leave the reflective journal until the end. Without weekly entries, the Week 11 reflective summary becomes generic and cannot apply a framework convincingly.
- You disengage in group work, because the 35% group report and the 15% presentation are peer-evaluated and non-contributors can be scaled down.
- Run a genuine weekly reflective journal from Week 1 using a structured model (Kolb's learning cycle or the 5Rs), capturing observations, feelings, the theory it connects to, and what you would change.
- In the reflective summary, explicitly name and apply ONE framework and compare the literature with your real, dated team experiences, then offer concrete guidance for a future project or program manager, as the brief asks.
- In group tasks, take a visible, named role and set communication norms early (a shared channel, regular check-ins, a Gantt-style timeline) so the peer evaluation reflects real contribution.
- Use the unit's frameworks precisely in your written and spoken work: adapt with DISC, read culture with Hofstede, build awareness with the Johari window, manage conflict deliberately, and diagnose your team with Tuckman and Belbin.
Syllabus
The 12 topics, week by week
The exam-weight marker on each topic shows where the marks concentrate. The amber topics carry the highest exam weight.
T1 · Importance of communication in projects
Canvas Week 1Why communication is the project manager's core work (up to 90% of their time), communication as a key knowledge area, stakeholders, and an introduction to reflective practice and journaling for the individual reflection.
T2 · Communication models and the DISC styles
Canvas Week 2Communication as an interactive process, effective team communication, barriers to communication, and the DISC model (Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, Conscientiousness) for adapting your style to others and to project type (waterfall versus agile).
T3 · Intercultural communication and diversity
Canvas Week 3Culture in organisations and Hofstede's cultural dimensions (power distance, individualism, uncertainty avoidance and more), leading and facilitating for diversity and inclusion, and comparing real organisational D and I policies.
T4 · Interpersonal communication
Canvas Week 4 + Mini-Lecture Wk04Building rapport, gaining trust and effective relationships, giving and receiving feedback, establishing project links and channels, and the interpersonal behaviours behind first meetings and difficult performance conversations.
T5 · Multiple intelligences and awareness
Canvas Week 5 + Mini-Lecture Wk05Multiple intelligences, neuro-plasticity and leadership capability, emotional intelligence (EQ), and self, social and relational awareness via the Johari window (open, blind, hidden and unknown areas).
T6 · Negotiation and conflict management
Canvas Week 6 + Mini-Lecture Wk06What conflict is and how stress relates to it (hot buttons and conflict hooks), what leaders can do about stress, interpersonal conflict, and negotiation approaches for resolving project disputes constructively.
T7 · Organisational communication
Canvas Week 7 + Mini-Lecture Wk07Organisational communication and project organisational structures (functional, matrix and projectised), and how structure shapes communication flow, authority and reporting lines on a project.
T8 · Generational communication and diversity
Canvas Week 8 + Mini-Lecture Wk08Communicating across generations (Millennials and Gen Z), generational diversity and team innovation, the roles of conflict and shared leadership, and engaging a multi-generational project team.
T9 · Leadership communication, delegation and motivation
Canvas Week 9 + Mini-Lecture Wk09Project leadership and communication, the pillars of effective leadership, delegation, and motivating a project team, with attention to what makes leaders effective in meetings and at developing others.
T10 · Groups versus teams, team roles and Tuckman
Canvas Week 10 + Mini-Lecture Wk10The difference between a group and a team, why organisations use project teams, Tuckman's team-development stages (forming, storming, norming, performing), how performance changes across the phases, Belbin's nine team roles, and team communication networks.
T11 · Building high-performing and virtual teams
Canvas Week 11 + Mini-Lecture Wk11Why teams fail and how to build high-performing teams, the role of effective team communication in leading projects, and what virtual teams are, how they communicate, their challenges and the leadership they need.
T12 · Group presentations and bringing it together
Canvas Weeks 12 to 13Final group presentations in Weeks 12 and 13 (6 to 8 groups per week), consolidating the people-and-communication toolkit and finalising the individual reflective summary that compares the literature with your own team experience.
How it's assessed
Assessment structure
| Component | Weight | Format & timing |
|---|---|---|
| In-Class Group Presentation and Facilitation | 15% | Group, live 10-minute in-workshop presentation and facilitation of a discussion on the week's topic. Presentation marks are individual, and all members are expected to present. Across Weeks 3 to 11 (1 to 2 groups per week). Marks are individual within the group; all members must participate in the presentation. |
| Attendance and Active Participation | 10% | Ongoing engagement: at least 85% workshop attendance (rolls taken), weekly discussion-board contributions, and active participation in workshop activities and team tasks. Across the whole term. An 85% attendance minimum applies; failing to meet it may result in a fail grade. |
| One-Minute Video (Individual) | 5% | Individual one-minute video reflecting on your learning and goals for the unit. Due Week 4. Individual submission. |
| Critical Analysis of a Large-Scale Project (Individual) | 20% | Individual written work, about 1,500 words: a critical analysis of communication and people management on a large-scale project, applying the unit's frameworks. Due Week 5. Individual submission; Turnitin originality check applies. |
| Group Report and Presentation | 35% | Group, about a 2,000-word report plus a 10-minute final presentation: a team-based people-and-communication project. The report is due Week 9 and the final presentations run in Weeks 12 and 13. Report due Week 9; final group presentations in Weeks 12 and 13. Peer-evaluated: group or team marks may be adjusted for individual members based on peer evaluation. |
| Individual Reflective Summary and One-Minute Video | 15% | Individual: about a 1,000-word reflective summary plus a one-minute video. The summary applies a reflective-practice framework (Kolb, Takeuchi and Nonaka, Argyris and Schon, or the 5Rs) to compare the literature with your own team and individual experience in the unit. Due Week 11. Individual submission; graded on depth of reflective-framework application. |
- Pass on a weighted average of at least 50%. The unit may include a hurdle task, which you must pass to pass the unit; a failed hurdle caps the unit at a mark of 48 (still counted in your WAM). The 85% attendance requirement is also enforced and can result in a fail. Statistically defensible moderation may be applied across components.
- No final exam. The grade is 100% continuous coursework: 50% group work (15% in-class group presentation plus a 35% group report and presentation) and 50% individual (5% video, 20% critical analysis, 10% participation, 15% reflective summary and video).
- Calculator policy: Not applicable: there is no exam and no numeric assessment. The only tools are the reflective and communication frameworks taught in the unit.
This is a coursework unit. Coursework carries 100% of the grade and the group report and presentation is the single heaviest piece at 35%, so steady work across the semester decides your result more than any one sitting. Peer-evaluated: group or team marks may be adjusted for individual members based on peer evaluation.
Final exam timing: No final exam in this unit; assessment is 100% continuous coursework, with final group presentations held in Weeks 12 and 13 of the teaching session (confirm against the official timetable). Confirm the exact date and venue on the official exam timetable.
How to actually pass it
A weekly rhythm, two checklists, and the traps to avoid
The unit rewards consistency over cramming, and practice over re-reading. Here is the loop that works, then what to have nailed before each exam.
The weekly loop
Before the mid-semester checklist
- Keep at least 85% workshop attendance from Week 1; the roll counts and the minimum is enforceable as a fail.
- Start a weekly reflective journal in Week 1 (notes, photos, diagrams, observations of setbacks and breakthroughs) so the reflective summary writes itself later.
- Submit the one-minute video on time in Week 4 and start the 1,500-word critical analysis (due Week 5) by Week 4.
- Form your group and agree communication norms, roles and a timeline early, because 50% of your grade is peer-evaluated group work.
- Contribute to the weekly discussion board, since it feeds the 10% participation mark.
Before the final heaviest topics
- Deliver your share of the 35% group report (due Week 9) and the final group presentation (Weeks 12 to 13); both are peer-evaluated, so visible contribution matters.
- Choose ONE reflective framework for the summary (Kolb, Takeuchi and Nonaka, Argyris and Schon, or the 5Rs) and apply it explicitly, comparing the literature with your real team experience.
- Pull your weekly journal entries into the roughly 1,000-word reflective summary and the one-minute video due Week 11.
- Link your reflections to your future project work and offer concrete suggestions for a team leader or project manager, as the assessment brief asks.
- Acknowledge any permitted use of generative AI in your submissions, since unacknowledged use is an academic-integrity breach.
The mistakes that cost marks
Treating attendance as optional. There is no exam to save a poor semester. Rolls are taken and the 85% attendance minimum can produce a fail grade on its own, independent of your assessment marks. Going to every workshop is the cheapest mark you will earn.
Writing the reflection from memory at the end. A strong reflective summary needs real, dated observations. Students who skip the weekly journal end up with a thin, generic reflection that cannot apply a framework convincingly. Start journaling in Week 1.
Describing instead of reflecting. Reporting what happened is only the first R. The marks are in responding, relating, reasoning and reconstructing (the 5Rs) or the equivalent in Kolb or Argyris and Schon: connecting the experience to theory and reshaping your future practice.
Coasting in group work. The group report and presentation is 35% and peer-evaluated, so non-contributors can be scaled down. Agree roles, communication norms and interim deadlines early and keep contributing visibly.
Assuming a conflict-free team is automatically high-performing. Tuckman's model expects a performance dip in storming. Suppressing all disagreement does not skip that stage; setting shared norms to work through it is what reaches the performing stage.
Teaching team
Who teaches PMGT5872
The bios below are factual. The star ratings are not ours: they are impressions from students who have taken the unit, so you can hear from people who sat in the lectures.
Dr Michael Hopmere
An experienced businessperson who coaches and instructs people in project delivery in complex environments, with a PhD in Project Management (ML/AI) and a Master's in Project Management from the University of Sydney, and industry experience across defence, healthcare, software, IT and professional services.
Teaching team as listed in the unit materials reviewed. AskSia does not rate lecturers; star ratings are submitted by students who have taken PMGT5872.
Where it fits
Prerequisites, related units & why it matters
No prerequisites, corequisites or assumed knowledge. PMGT5872 is prohibited with PMGT6872 (you take one, not both for credit). It is a core program unit offered in both Semester 1 and Semester 2.
Your PMGT5872 study toolkit
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FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Is there a final exam in PMGT5872?
No. There is no final exam at all. The unit is assessed entirely through continuous coursework: an in-class group presentation (15%), attendance and participation (10%), a one-minute video (5%), a 1,500-word critical analysis (20%), a 35% group report and presentation, and a 15% individual reflective summary and video.
How much of the mark is group work?
50%. The group report and presentation is worth 35% and the in-class group presentation and facilitation is worth 15%. Both are peer-evaluated, so group marks can be adjusted for individual members based on peer evaluation. The other 50% (video, critical analysis, participation and the reflective summary) is individual.
Is attendance compulsory, and can it fail me?
Yes. Students are expected to attend at least 85% of timetabled workshops, rolls are taken, and falling below the 85% minimum can result in a fail grade. Much of the learning happens live in the participative workshops, so attendance is treated as load-bearing, not optional.
What is the reflective summary and how do I do it well?
It is an individual roughly 1,000-word reflective summary (plus a one-minute video) due Week 11. You apply a reflective-practice framework (Kolb's learning cycle, Takeuchi and Nonaka, Argyris and Schon, or the 5Rs of reporting, responding, relating, reasoning and reconstructing) to compare what the literature says with your own observations and experiences working in your team. The strong move is to keep a weekly reflective journal from Week 1 rather than writing it from memory at the end.
Is there a required textbook?
No. There is no required textbook. The assessable material is the weekly Canvas modules, the pre-workshop mini-lectures (video and PDF) and the set readings. You build your own consolidated notes from those sources.
How is the unit delivered if there are no lectures?
It uses flipped and blended learning. There are no traditional lectures. Each week you complete pre-workshop mini-lectures, readings and activities BEFORE a participative 1.5-to-2-hour workshop, then revise and reflect afterwards. The University guideline is about 9 to 12 hours of effort per week for this 6-credit-point unit.
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