Resources Flashcards
1
Q
- You are in the Plan Resource Management process of identifying and documenting
project roles, responsibilities, required skills, competencies, reporting structure, and
other items. The structure that you are using is arranged according to an organization’s
existing departments, units, or teams with their respective work packages. Which of the
following are you using?
A. Resource Breakdown Structure (RBS)
B. Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM)
C. Position descriptions
D. Organizational Breakdown Structure (OBS)
A
- D: An OBS is similar to a company’s standard organizational chart that looks like a WBS
but only includes the positions and relationships in a top-down, graphic format. It is
arranged according to an organization’s existing departments, units, or teams with their
respective work packages. Any operations department such as manufacturing or engineering,
can identify all of its project responsibilities by looking at its portion of the OBS.
An RBS also looks like a typical organizational chart, but this one is organized by types
of resources. An RBS can help track project cost as it ties to the organization’s accounting
system. A RAM cross-references team members with the activities or work packages
they are to accomplish. One example of a RAM is a Responsible, Accountable, Consult,
and Inform (RACI) chart, which can be used to ensure clear divisions of roles and responsibilities.
A text-oriented position description, or role-responsibility-authority form, is
particularly important in recruiting. It is used to describe a team member’s position, title,
responsibilities, authority, competencies, and qualifications in detail.
2
Q
- Project success is heavily dependent on the leadership and management style of the
project manager. Even though we do not usually distinguish between leading and
managing, it is generally believed that there is a difference between these two. Which of
the following is typically considered to be a responsibility associated with managing?
A. Consistently producing key results expected by stakeholders
B. Establishing direction, mission, and vision
C. Aligning team members to the established direction
D. Motivating and inspiring
A
- A: Project management is heavily dependent on managing people, which has been
defined as being able to produce key results. On the other hand, leadership is all about
establishing mission and vision, aligning team members to the established direction,
and motivating and inspiring individuals.
3
Q
- You made sure that one of the junior team members in your team received the required
training to perform his activities. While assessing the team member, you were concerned
to find out that the team member was still lacking the competency and required further
improvement. What will be the BEST course of action?
A. Replace the team member with an experienced resource.
B. Have an urgent discussion with the team member and inform him that he will be out
of the project if there is no immediate improvement.
C. Have a discussion with the functional manager about the lack of competency of the
team member.
D. Identify the team member’s current lacking and provide more focused training.
A
- D: The role of the project manager is to make sure that team members, especially the
junior members with limited experience, get the required training and assistance to
perform their activities.
4
Q
- A project manager is overseeing a complex custom CSM solution that has rigorous
quality standards and tight schedule constraints. The project manager just found out
that one of the key deliverables in the project was not completed because the team
member responsible for it was assigned to another higher-priority project by her
functional manager. Who will be the person for the project manager to address the issue
with in this kind of situation?
A. The sponsor
B. The president of the company
C. The customers
D. The team
A
- A: It is one of the key roles of the sponsor to prevent unnecessary changes in the project
in addition to providing funding for the project.
5
Q
- A project manager recently got her PMP certification and joined a professional project
management group. The group members meet on a regular basis to discuss new
opportunities, trends, and issues in project management. The satisfaction that the
project manager gains from the association with this group is MOST closely aligned with:
A. Expectancy theory
B. The third level of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
C. Herzberg’s Hygiene theory
D. Theory X
A
- B: The third level of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is the need for social connections or
belonging, such as love, affection, approval, friends, and association. The Expectancy
theory, first proposed by Victor Vroom, demonstrates that employees who believe their
efforts will lead to effective performance and who expect to be rewarded for their accomplishments
remain productive as rewards meet their expectations. Herzberg’s Motivator-
Hygiene theory suggests that hygiene factors can destroy motivation, but improving
them under most circumstances will not improve motivation. Motivating people is
best done by rewarding people and letting them grow. Theory X managers believe that
average workers are incapable, avoid responsibility, have an inherent dislike of work, and
are only interested in their own selfish goals. The workers must be forced to do productive
work as they dislike their work and are not devoted and motivated.
6
Q
- You are currently managing the team through observing, using issue logs, keeping in
touch, providing feedback, completing performance appraisals, resolving issues and
conflicts, and through other methods. You are in which of the following human resource
management processes?
A. Plan Resource Management
B. Acquire Resources
C. Develop Team
D. Manage Team
A
- D: Manage Team is the process of managing the team through observing, using issue
logs, keeping in touch, providing feedback, completing performance appraisals, resolving
issues and conflicts, and other factors.
7
Q
- You are the project manager overseeing a project to build a navigation system for an
auto company. You are in the Develop Team process, and your key focus is to enhance
the project performance by building a sense of team and improving the competencies,
team interaction, and overall team environment. You will be using all of the following
tools & techniques in the process EXCEPT:
A. Acquisition
B. Ground rules
C. Training
D. Recognition and rewards
A
- A: Acquisition is used as a tool & technique in the Acquire Resources process, where the
main goal is to secure the best possible resources to build the project team so that they
can carry on the project activities efficiently.
8
Q
- You are overseeing the implementation of a library management system for a local
library. While in the execution phase, the functional manager informs you that his
team needs to work on a higher-priority project and he will be pulling out two critical
resources from your project. What should you do FIRST as a project manager?
A. Evaluate the impact by referring to the resource histogram.
B. Reassign activities of these two members to the other team members.
C. Immediately inform higher management.
D. Request the functional manager to assign two new resources first before pulling out
the existing members.
A
- A: In this sort of situation, a project manager should always evaluate the impact of the
changes and gather as much information as possible prior to taking any further steps.
9
Q
- You are a member of a management team overseeing a critical construction project
of constructing the tallest building in town. Your team, which is a subset of the project
team, is responsible for project leadership and management activities. Which of the
following statements is FALSE about your team?
A. Your team is responsible for managing people, which has been defined as being able
to produce key results.
B. Your team is responsible for establishing mission and vision, aligning team members
to the established direction, motivating individuals, and inspiring them.
C. Your team is responsible for project funding.
D. The management team should be aware of professional and ethical behaviors and
ensure that team members are following them.
A
- C: The project sponsor usually assists with funding, not the project management team.
The project management team is the subset of the project team responsible for project
leadership and management activities. Project management is heavily dependent on
managing people, which has been defined as being able to produce key results. On the
other hand, leadership is all about establishing mission and vision, aligning team members
to the established direction, motivating individuals, and inspiring them. The management
team should be aware of professional and ethical behaviors and should ensure
that team members are following them.
10
Q
- A project manager is in the Develop Team process focusing on enhancing project
performance by building a sense of team and improving competencies, team
interaction, and overall team environment. While referring to Tuckman’s model, she
notices that the greatest level of conflict in the five different stages of team building is
most likely to appear in which of the following stages:
A. Forming
B. Adjourning
C. Storming
D. Exploring
A
- C: Storming follows the Forming stage, and it is where the team begins to address
project work, technical decisions, areas of disagreement, and project management
approaches. The team typically goes through some conflicts and difficulties in this stage
more than any other.
11
Q
- You just completed working on your resource management plan and identified how
human resources should be defined, staffed, managed, and eventually released from
your project. Which portion of the plan will help you the most to determine when to
release resources from your project?
A. Training needs and certification requirements
B. Recognition and rewards
C. Compliance considerations
D. Resource histogram
A
- D: A resource histogram is a graphical display that shows the amount of time that a
resource is scheduled to work over a series of time periods.
12
Q
- Which motivational theory below is concerned with increasing employee loyalty and
support for the organization by emphasizing the well-being of employees both at work
and outside of work and encouraging steady employment?
A. Expectancy theory
B. Theory Z
C. Theory Y
D. Theory X
A
- B: Theory Z was introduced by Dr. Willam Ouchi. This theory is concerned with increasing
employee loyalty to his/her organization. This theory emphasizes the well-being of
the employees both at work and outside of work, it encourages steady employment,
it leads to high employee satisfaction and morale, and overall it results in increased
productivity and support for the organization. Theory X managers believe that average
workers are incapable, avoid responsibility, have an inherent dislike of work, and are only
interested in their own selfish goals. The workers must be forced to do productive work
as they dislike their work and are not devoted and motivated. Theory Y managers believe
that workers are creative and committed to project objectives and goals. They are willing
to work without supervision, need very little external motivation, can direct their own
efforts, and want to achieve. The Expectancy theory demonstrates that employees who
believe their efforts will lead to effective performance and who expect to be rewarded
for their accomplishments remain productive as rewards meet their expectations.
13
Q
- A project team member’s abilities or competencies, communication capabilities,
relevant knowledge, skills, experience, cost (for adding the team member), attitude
or ability to work with others, availability, and other factors such as time zone and
geographical location are some examples of selection criteria that can be used to rate
and score that team member. Which one of the following looks at all of these selection
criteria while acquiring a team member for the project?
A. Multi-criteria decision analysis
B. Monte Carlo analysis
C. Team performance assessment
D. Project performance appraisal
A
- A: Potential team members are often rated and scored by various selection criteria
during the Acquire Resources process. These selection criteria are weighted according
to their relevant importance and are developed using the multi-criteria decision analysis
tool. A project team member’s ability or competencies, communication capabilities, relevant
knowledge, skills, experience, cost (for adding the team member), attitude or ability
to work with others, availability, and other factors such as time zone and geographical
location are some examples of selection criteria that can be used to rate and score team
members.
14
Q
- A project manager overseeing a data center deployment project just completed
negotiation unsuccessfully for three additional resources and extra reserve money for
her project. During the negotiation, two of the functional managers were very skeptical
about the request for additional resources and were reluctant to assign their resources
due to other priorities. In this case, the conflict will require the assistance of which of the
following to reach a solution?
A. Functional manager
B. Contractor
C. Project sponsor
D. Key customer
A
- C: Customers and contractors should not be allowed to be involved in internal resource-
related disputes in most cases. All efforts should be given to resolve the conflicts
at the lowest levels or authority whenever possible. In some cases, conflict requires the
involvement of the project sponsor or senior management, especially when there is a
major concern regarding resource assignments.
15
Q
- You are in the Plan Resource Management process to create an overall staffing
management plan by identifying the availability of resources and those resources’ skill
levels. Which of the following is NOT a tool & technique is this process?
A. Organizational charts and position descriptions
B. Networking
C. Organizational theory
D. Colocation
A
- D: Colocation is a tool & technique used in the Develop Team process, not in the Plan
Resource Management process.
16
Q
- A project manager is in the Develop Team process, focusing on enhancing project
performance by building a sense of team and improving the competencies, team
interaction, and overall team environment. While referring to Tuckman’s model, she
notices that the team members begin to start trusting and working together as they
adjust work habits and behaviors to work as a team. What stage of team development is
the project manager referring to?
A. Forming
B. Adjourning
C. Storming
D. Norming
A
- D: The team members are in the Norming stage as they are adjusting work habits and
behaviors to work as a team. They begin to start trusting and working together.
17
Q
- You are considering the idea of putting all team members in the same physical location
for the first time. All of the following is true about colocation EXCEPT:
A. The goal is to enhance team members’ ability to perform as a team.
B. It is also called a war room.
C. It is meant to identify concerns and issues and to come up with mutually agreedupon
solutions.
D. The goal is to identify the individual(s) or team responsible for project issues and
inform them about it.
A
- D: The objective of collocation, or the war room, is to build a better relationship among
the team members, enhance their ability to perform as a team, identify concerns and
issues in the project, and figure out solutions for those issues. The idea is not to point
fingers at other team members or get involved in any kind of argument.
18
Q
- You are in the Plan Resource Management process of identifying and documenting
project roles, responsibilities, required skills, other items. Which one of the following will
you NOT use as a tool & technique in this process?
A. Hierarchical-type organizational charts
B. Recognition and rewards
C. A responsibility assignment matrix
D. Organizational theory
A
- B: Recognition and rewards are used as a tool & technique in the Develop Team process,
not in the Plan Resource Management process. Hierarchical-type organizational charts,
a responsibility assignment matrix (which is a matrix-type organizational chart), and organizational
theory all are used as tools & techniques in the Plan Resource Management
process.
19
Q
- You were informed by management that an external audit team will be auditing your
project to make sure that the project complies with standard organizational project
management policies and procedures. During the audit, the key auditor wants to review
the training plan for the team members as well as their certification requirements. You
should refer the auditor to which of the following?
A. Resource management plan
B. RACI chart
C. Training and certification management plan
D. Resource breakdown structure
A
- A: The resource management plan identifies the training needs and certification requirements
of the team members. One example of a responsibility assignment matrix is a
RACI (Responsible, Accountable, Consult, and Inform) chart, which can be used to ensure
clear divisions of roles and responsibilities. Training and certification management plan
is a fake term. A resource breakdown structure (RBS) looks like a typical organizational
chart, but this one is organized by types of resources. An RBS can help track project cost
as it ties to the organization’s accounting system.
20
Q
- While overseeing a data center project, you notice that one of the team members is
extremely dedicated to the project and a consistent overachiever. In order to appreciate
her spectacular work and great contribution, you made her the ‘team member of the
month’ three times in a row. What kind of impact will this have on the project team?
A. This will initiate a healthy competition among the team members.
B. This will drastically improve team cohesiveness.
C. This will negatively impact team morale.
D. Team members hardly care about recognition and rewards; thus, there will be no
impact.
A
- C: A project manager can kill the team morale by consistently rewarding the same individual
repeatedly as it can be perceived that the project manager is playing favorites.
If the team members believe that the rewards are win-lose and that only certain team
members will be rewarded, it may demoralize them. In this kind of situation, the project
manager can consider team awards, which is a win-win as all the team members are
recognized for their contributions.
21
Q
- You are a project manager who believes steady employment leads to high employee
satisfaction and morale, increased loyalty to the organization, and increased
productivity. Which theory do you subscribe to?
A. Theory X and Theory Y
B. Contingency theory
C. Theory Z
D. Expectancy theory
A
- C: Theory Z was introduced by Dr. Willam Ouchi. This theory is concerned with increasing
employee loyalty to his/her organization. This theory emphasizes the well-being of
employees both at work and outside of work, it encourages steady employment, it leads
to high employee satisfaction and morale, and overall it results in increased productivity.
22
Q
- Mary, a project manager, is in the Develop Team process, focusing on enhancing project
performance by building a sense of team and improving the competencies, team
interaction, and overall team environment. While referring to Tuckman’s model, she
notices that the team is in a stage where her role is mostly overseeing and delegating.
The team is in which stage of team development?
A. Forming
B. Adjourning
C. Storming
D. Performing
A
- D: As per Tuckman’s model, in the Performing stage, the team functions as a well-organized
unit. They are interdependent and work through issues smoothly and effectively.
The role of the project manager is mainly overseeing and delegating.
23
Q
- A project manager overseeing a construction project notices that her team members
are having constant conflicts over issues. The situation was causing her a lot of concern,
and she decides to identify the key causes of the conflicts. While exploring the causes,
she finds that the most common causes of conflicts among team members are project
priorities, resources, and:
A. Personality
B. Schedule
C. Technical options
D. Administration procedures
A
- B: There are several sources of conflict, including schedule priorities, scarce resources,
personal work style, cost, and other elements, but it’s important to note that personality
differences are not the root cause of conflict; in fact, it’s rarely the case. The three main
causes of project conflicts are schedule, project priorities, and resources, as approximately
50 percent of all conflicts come from these three sources.
24
Q
- A project manager is overseeing a complex custom CSM solution that has rigorous
quality standards and tight schedule constraints. Since the project manager is working
in a weak matrix environment, none of the resources are reporting to her functionally.
She also does not have either the power or the budget to reward the team members to
encourage and motivate them for their performance and contribution to the project.
What kind of power should the project manager try to use in this type of situation?
A. Formal
B. Punishment
C. Referent
D. Expert
A
- D: Reward and Expert are the most effective forms of power, and Punishment/Penalty/
Coercive should be used as the last resort only after all other forms have been exhausted.
Since the project manager has no power or budget to reward the team members,
she should use her expert power in this situation.
25
Q
- You are overseeing a video conferencing application project and just completed
negotiation for three additional resources from different functional areas and extra
reserve money for your project. During the negotiation, two of the functional managers
were very skeptical about the request for additional resources and were reluctant to
assign their resources to your project. At last, a solution was reached in which you were
allowed to obtain the resources you requested, but you had to agree to give up some
other resources at an earlier date than you had originally planned. What type of conflict
resolution technique was used in this situation?
A. Smoothing
B. Compromising
C. Forcing
D. Collaborating
A
- B: Compromising is bargaining to some level of mutual (dis)satisfaction to both parties.
Parties are asked to lose something to gain something. Smoothing is emphasizing areas
of agreement and downplaying differences of opinion. Forcing is exerting one opinion
over another. Collaborating focuses on working to combine multiple differing perspectives
into one shared perspective and results in a win-win situation for all parties.
