| Course | GM593 Project Execution With Monitoring and Control |
|---|---|
| Unit | Unit 1 |
| Paper type | Discussion board post |
| Length | About 390 words, 2 pages double-spaced |
| Format | APA 7 discussion post |
| School | Purdue University Global |
| Program | MS in Management |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for GM593 Unit 1
Nineteen Green Reports and Then Four Months: A Unit 1 Post on Status Nobody Believed
GM593 · Unit 1 Discussion
Posted by [Student Name]
The university, its buildings, the contractor and the classmates are composite; the research cited is real.
Initial Post
Two years ago our department renovated the teaching labs on the second floor of Hollis Hall, a $1.9 million project. The general contractor sent a status report every Thursday. Nineteen reports in a row said the project was on schedule for a January reopening. The twentieth moved it to May, because the new ventilation system had failed its air balance test and needed rework.
The trouble is that most of us in that Thursday meeting knew. The sheet metal crew had left for another job in week eleven and had not come back. The lab casework, built off site, had not started fabrication. And the only progress figure in the reports was the share of the contract billed, which kept rising because the contractor billed for materials on site. Nobody said any of this aloud.
The reports measured money spent, the room measured what it could see, and nobody connected the two out loud.
Sidney Rosen and Abraham Tesser named this the mum effect: people are reluctant to pass on bad news, even when they are not responsible for it (Rosen & Tesser, 1970). H. Jeff Smith and Mark Keil found the same reluctance among staff on troubled software projects, who often kept quiet because they doubted anyone would act, or feared being blamed for the messenger's role (Smith & Keil, 2003). In our meeting, the contractor's project manager owned the report, and the rest of us assumed that if things were really bad, he would say so.
The rule I would propose now is simple. A status report counts only finished work that someone else can check, such as ductwork installed and inspected or casework delivered, never percent billed. If the report cannot show finished work, it must say so.
Classmates, have you sat in a meeting where everyone knew the status was wrong? What finally made someone speak?
Reply to Rafael
Rafael, your hospital's rule that any team member can mark a project item red without a manager's approval is interesting. Did people actually use it, or did it stay on paper?
References
Rosen, S., & Tesser, A. (1970). On reluctance to communicate undesirable information: The MUM effect. Sociometry, 33(3), 253-263. https://doi.org/10.2307/2786156
Smith, H. J., & Keil, M. (2003). The reluctance to report bad news on troubled software projects: A theoretical model. Information Systems Journal, 13(1), 69-95. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2575.2003.00139.x
What the GM593 Unit 1 assignment asks for
The first GM593 board asks you to describe a project whose status reports were wrong and why. Give the facts in order: what the project was, how often status was reported, what the reports said and when they changed. Then list what people already knew that the reports did not show, such as crews leaving or work not started. Ask what the reports actually measured, since a report can be wrong because of what it counts as well as because someone is hiding bad news. Explain the silence with research on reluctance to report bad news, applied to the people in the room. Describe people by role and fairly. Close by proposing a rule for counting progress that would have made the report believable, and ask classmates a question. Close to four hundred words suits the board, supported by two APA 7 sources, with one reply that poses a real question.
How the GM 593 Unit 1 example is put together
The post opens with the Hollis Hall renovation, the Thursday reports and the twentieth report moving the reopening after the air balance failure. The second paragraph lists what the room knew: the sheet metal crew gone since week eleven, casework not yet in fabrication and percent billed rising with materials on site. The highlighted sentence contrasts money measured with work seen. Rosen and Tesser's mum effect explains reluctance to pass on bad news, and Smith and Keil's study of troubled software projects explains silence by doubt that anyone would act or fear of blame, with everyone assuming the contractor's manager would speak if things were bad. The proposed rule counts only finished work someone else can check. The closing question asks classmates what finally made someone speak, and the reply asks Rafael whether a red flag rule was used.
Reading the GM593 Unit 1 grading rubric
GM593 instructors look first for a clear sequence of reports and the moment they changed, and for evidence that the truth was available earlier. A post that names what the reports measured, such as percent billed, earns credit because it separates a bad measure from hidden news. Applying the mum effect or later research to the people in the meeting shows understanding of why silence happens. Fair treatment of the contractor and the team keeps the analysis credible. A proposed counting rule tied to finished, checkable work points toward earned value without borrowing later vocabulary. The closing question should invite classmates' cases. Replies earn credit for asking whether a practice was actually used. Citations in APA 7 come from Rosen and Tesser's mum effect study and Smith and Keil's model of reluctance on software projects.
GM593 Unit 1 help: mistakes that cost points
Many GM593 Unit 1 posts blame a contractor or manager for lying without asking what the reports measured. Others tell the story of a late job but never show what was known before the reports turned. A common gap is the room: the people reading the reports often knew, and asking why they stayed quiet is where the research helps. Some writers end with a call for more honesty, which changes nothing. Lay out the reports in sequence, list what was visible but unreported, identify the measure behind the status, apply research on bad news to the meeting, describe people fairly and propose a counting rule others could adopt.
Get a GM593 Unit 1 example written to your instructions
Somewhere in your own work history there is probably a report that stayed cheerful longer than anyone believed it. A few lines on what it claimed, what people actually knew and when the two parted company will carry this post; add the Unit 1 board prompt and rubric. The first post and a reply are free within 24-48h, everyone named by role. The paper above is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Purdue University Global document.
More GM593 papers and MS in Management samples
- GM593 Unit 2: Status Report
- GM593 Unit 3: Earned Value Calculation
- GM593 Unit 4: Variance Analysis Memo
- GM593 Unit 5: Change Request Evaluation
- GM593 Unit 6: Seminar Reflection
- GM593 Unit 7: Corrective Action Plan
- GM593 Unit 8: Issue Log and Escalation
- GM593 Unit 9: Forecast to Completion
- GM593 Unit 10: Project Control Package
- GM592 Unit 1: Estimate vs Commitment Discussion Post
- GM591 Unit 1: Project Escalation Discussion Post
- GM500 Unit 1: Fuel Stop Rule Discussion Post
- GM586 Unit 1: Transformational Leader Discussion Post
GM593 Unit 1 questions, answered
Can the post use a project I only watched from outside?
Yes, if the post keeps to what was visible: the reports themselves, the dates, what changed and when. Being inside the project usually supplies better evidence about what people knew, which is why many prompts invite it. Either way, describe people by role and keep out anything that would let classmates recognize the organization.
What is the mum effect, and does it explain every false report?
It is the tendency to delay or soften bad news, first described by Rosen and Tesser and later studied on troubled information systems projects. It explains many cases but not all. Some reports are wrong because the measure is wrong, not because anyone is hiding anything, and a strong post says which of the two it sees.
Should an opening post already use earned value?
Not usually. The first unit tends to come before the calculation is taught, so the post needs only the idea underneath it: progress should be credited by a rule agreed before the work starts. Naming such a rule for the project described is enough to show the course's direction without borrowing vocabulary from later units.
Where can I find a free GM593 Unit 1 sample paper?
This page carries a full GM593 Unit 1 discussion post on nineteen on-schedule reports for a university lab renovation, with the mum effect, a counting rule, a reply and APA 7 references.
What did the reports actually measure?
The share of the contract billed, which kept rising because the contractor billed for materials delivered to the site. It said nothing about whether ductwork was installed or casework built, which is why it stayed green.