Quiz 7: Resource Management Questions

Multiple Choice

While managing a project, the project manager needs to be aware of the different types of resources on a project. Equipment, materials, facilities and infrastructure would be considered what type of resources?

• Team Resources

• Physical Resources

• Personnel Resources

• Location Resources

There are two types of resources on a project: team and physical resources.

Team resources are the personnel who will work on the project.

Physical resources are the things they will use to complete the work, such as equipment or materials. All other choices are not valid types of resources.

Multiple Choice

The organization has decided to use agile methods on their next project. How will the organization describe an agile project team?

• Self-organizing

• Project Manager Led

• Organization Led

• PMO Led

In an agile project the team is self-organizing and the project manager will provide a supporting environment and trust that the team will do the job correctly.

Multiple Choice

To save money on a new project, the organization’s senior management has decided to use virtual teams instead of co-locating the entire project’s team. They have acquired the latest technology in audio and video conferencing. What is a potential issue that a virtual team might face?

• Scheduling Meetings

• Having a Diverse Set of Experts

• Accomodating with People with Disabilities

• Feeling of Isolation

One challenge a virtual team will face is the possibility of feeling isolated, since most workers will generally work by themselves in an isolated place in their homes.

Scheduling meetings can be done easily with technology.

One major advantage of virtual teams is that a diverse set of experts can work on a project.

Also, technology allows people with disabilities to easily communicate and work on projects.

Multiple Choice

The project team is using an assignment matrix, particularly a RACI chart. What is an important rule the team should use when using a RACI chart?

• Ensure that every activity has at least one responsible person

• Ensure that every activity has one informed perosn

• Ensure that every activity has one person who is consulted

• Ensure that every activity has one person who is held accountable

When using a RACI chart, one person must be held accountable for each activity listed on the chart.

Multiple Choice

The project manager has completed the resource management plan and has decided to lay out what could be considered acceptable behavior by the project team members. Where will the project manager communicate the ground rules on the project?

• In the Project Charter

• In the Resource Charter

• In the Team charter

• In the Project Resource Charter

The team charter establishes clear expectations regarding acceptable behavior by project team members.

The project charter authorizes the project manager to manage the project.

All other choices are made-up terms.

Multiple Choice

Which stakeholders would be the best to create the team charter?

• Project Manager

• Project Team

• Project Sponsor

• Senior Management

The team charter works best when the team helps develop it or at least has the ability to contribute to its creation, since it will outline acceptable behavior on the project.

Multiple Choice

Senior management and the project sponsor will hold a meeting about the current project in 2 days. They have requested a breakdown of the different resources that the project will use. What document should the project manager show during the meeting to display the resources by type?

• Resource Requirements

• Basis of Estimates

• Resource Breakdown Structure

• WBS

The resource breakdown structure is a hierarchical representation of resources by category and type.

The basis of estimate would show supporting details for why a particular resource was assigned to an activity.

Resource requirements will describe want and how many resources are needed for each activity on the project.

Multiple Choice

Which of the following statements is false about the process of acquire resources?

• Acquire resources is done once on a project to acquire physical and team resources

• Acquire resources is done throughout th project to acquire physical and team resources

• Some team members may be pre-assigned to the project before this process takes place

• The project manager should consider virtual teams while doing this process

The process of acquire resources is done throughout the project at certain intervals, as different resources are released and new resources join the project. All other statements are true.

Multiple Choice

The project management plan has been completed, and the project manager has just executed the project. His next task will be to select the team members to work on the project. What are some criteria  the project manager should be using when selecting team members?

• Availability, Cost, and Age

• Availability, Experience, and Religion

• Age, Attitude, and Skills

• Availability, Cost, and Skills

While they are many different criteria a project manager can use when selecting a team member, age and religion should not be one of them.

Multiple Choice

The project manager has assigned many resources to work on the project. Some team members will work on weekdays and a few on weekends. What should the project manager do next?

• Update the resource calendars

• Update the cost baseline

• Update the schedule baseline

• Update the resource baseline

Once team members have been assigned to the project, the project manager should create a resource calendar to show their availability while working on the project.

Multiple Choice

The project manager has brought the team members together, and they have introduced themselves to each other and learned about the project. After this, the team starts to disagree about how the work on the project should be done. What stage of Tuckman’ s ladder is the team currently at?

• Performing

• Forming

• Storming

• Adjourning

The storming stage comes after the forming stage on the Tuckman’ s ladder. During the storming stage, the team begins to address the project work and may have conflicts with each other.

Multiple Choice

The project manager realizes that a lot of the team members are feeling isolated from each other. So, the project manager rents a meeting room where they can all get together and discuss a few of the project’s issues in a face-to-face setting. What tool is the project manager using?

• Single Location

• Colocation

• Project Location

• Team Location

A colocation is a place where team members meet in the same physical location to enhance their ability to perform as a team.

All other choices are made-up terms.

Multiple Choice

Project manager Mark does not believe that his team can complete the work without him inspecting the work throughout the project. His distrust of the project team has led to conflicts with different team members. What theory is Mark following to manage his team?

• Theory Z

• Theory X

• Theory Y

• Herzberg theory of motivation

Theory X is a theory that involves managers who distrust their workers and believe that people do not like to work and need to be managed consistently. They’re mostly known as micromanagers and can lead to poor morals with the among members.

Multiple Choice

Project manager Mark has been assigned to the software development project. Mark has more than 20 years of experience as a software developer, and all of the team members are very happy that he is currently leading the team. They go to him for technical and management-related issues on the project. What form of power best describes Mark’s power on the project?

• Expert Power

• Subject Matter Expert Power

• Technical Power

• Technical Management Power

Expert powers is when the project manager is considered to be an expert in the field in which the project is taking place.

The other choices are made-up forms of power.

Multiple Choice

While working with the project team, the project manager has been looking into the different strengths and weaknesses of the team as a whole and as individual members. He has found that some members are very strong as leaders and some members are strong in technical roles. What tool is the project manager currently using?

• Training

• Meetings

• Individual and team assessment

• Team performance assessments

Individual and team assessments is used in the process of developing the team. It is done to gain insight into strengths and weaknesses for the team and its members.

Multiple Choice

While working on the product redesign project, the project manager has encountered different issues with the team members. He has been able to solve most of the issues between the team members while still working with other members to find solutions. What process is the project manager using?

• Develop Team

• Manage Team

• Control Resource

• Acquire Resources

The process of manage team is about tracking team members’ performance, providing feedback, and resolving issues.

Develop team is about bringing the team together and ensuring that members work together efficiently.

Acquire resources is done throughout the project to acquire the different teams and physical resources needed to complete the project’s activities. Control resources is done to manage the physical resources for the project.

Multiple Choice

While working on the software development project, project manager Mary has encountered an issue between Mark, the lead programmer, and Peter, the designer. Peter notes that the way that Mark is programming the application means it will not work in a production environment. What should Mary do next?

• Ask Mark to stop programming the application

• Inform Peter that Mark is in charge of programming

• Meet with peter and Mark to get a better understanding of the issue

• Inform the project sponsor of the issue

When a project manager encounters an issue, the first step is to get as much information about the issue as possible before taking any kind of action.

Taking action without first understanding an issue can lead to the wrong actions being taken.

Multiple Choice

While working on the network upgrade project, team members Bill and Mark have an issue regarding how to upgrade the routers and firewalls. Bill says both devices should have a certain configuration, while Mark says both devices need another set of configurations. The project manager has met with both of them, and after analyzing the issue, the only solution they came up with was to have Mark configure the router and bill configure the firewall. What conflict resolution best illustrates this solution? 

• Withdrawal

• Compromise

• Forcing

• Collaborating

Compromise is determining a solution in which both sides generally give up something to temporarily or partially resolve the conflict. This is known as a lose–lose situation.

▶ Confronting/problem solving. Confronting a conflict treats the conflict as a problem to

be solved. This style of conflict resolution is used when the relationship between parties is

important, and when each person has confidence in the other party’s ability to problem-solve.

▶ Collaborating. Collaborating involves incorporating multiple views about the conflict.

The objective is to learn about the various views and see things from multiple perspectives.

This is an effective method when there is trust among the participants and when there is

time to come to consensus. A project manager may facilitate this type of conflict resolution

between project team members.

▶ Compromising. There are some conflicts in which all parties will not be fully satisfied. In

those instances, finding a way to compromise is the best approach. Compromise entails

a willingness to give and take. This allows all parties to get something they want, and it

avoids escalating the conflict. This style is often used when the parties involved have equal

“power.” A project manager may compromise with a technical manager regarding the

availability of a project team member to work on the project.

▶ Smoothing/accommodating. Smoothing and accommodating are useful when reaching

the overarching goal is more important than the disagreement. This approach maintains

harmony in the relationship and can create good will between the parties. This approach

is also used when there is a difference in the relative authority or power of the individuals.

For example, this approach may be appropriate when there is a disagreement with the

sponsor. Since the sponsor outranks the project manager or project team member,

and there is a desire to maintain a good relationship with the sponsor, adopting an

accommodating posture may be appropriate.

▶ Forcing. Forcing is used when there is not enough time to collaborate or problem-solve.

In this scenario, one party forces their will on the other. The party forcing has more power

than the other party. A forcing style may be used if there is a health and safety conflict that

needs to be resolved immediately.

▶ Withdrawal/avoiding. Sometimes a problem will go away on its own, or sometimes

discussions get heated and people need a cooling-off period. In both scenarios,

withdrawing from the situation is appropriate. Withdrawal is also used in a no-win

scenario, such as complying with a requirement imposed by a regulatory agency instead

of challenging the requirement.

Multiple Choice

The project manager has just joined the project, as the previous project manager was not getting along with the project team. The project manager’s first action is to inspire the team to complete the project work. What interpersonal and team skills is the project manager using?   

• Conflict Management

• Decision-making

• Influencing

• Leadership

Leadership is the ability to lead a team and inspire members to do their jobs well.

Conflict management is used to resolve issues between team members.

Decision making is used to make decisions about what should come next on a project.

Influencing is the ability to persuade individuals to take a position on something.

Multiple Choice

While managing a small office renovation project, the project manager is very disappointed that the team is not correctly utilizing the different physical resources in order to complete the renovation. They seem to be over using the resources and its leading to a cost increase on the project, to purchase more resources. What process did the project manager failed to perform since the project was executed?

• Acquire Resources

• Manage Resources

• Develop Resources

• Control Resources

Control resources is the process of ensuring that the physical resources that are assigned to the project are being utilized as planned. In this scenario, it seems that the project manager failed to perform this process after the start of the project, which led to the team incorrectly utilizing physical resources.

Acquire resources is an executing process that is used to acquire the team and physical resources.

Manage and develop resources are not actual PMBOK processes.