PMI SH - Manage Conflict

Question

An agile team consistently delivers features on time but recently identified a significant architecture gap leading to rework.

Which agile practice should the project manager use to address this issue?

• Increment planning

• Team retrospective

• Demonstration to stakeholders

• Daily standup

Answer explanation

In this scenario, the team needs to collectively analyze and address the root cause of the architecture gap to prevent future rework and ensure sustainable delivery. There will be open discussion, reflection on recent practices, and identification of areas for improvement, making it ideal for addressing the identified architecture gap.

The other answer choices are incorrect. The daily standup wouldn't provide enough time and depth for a thorough analysis. Demonstration to stakeholders doesn't directly address the team's internal issues. Increment planning focuses on defining work for the next iteration, not necessarily addressing past problems.

During the execution phase of a project, a new project manager is assigned to replace the previous project manager. As the project manager starts managing the project, they discover that team performance is significantly decreasing, which is impacting the project's key performance indicators (KPIs). This team has delivered good performance on similar projects in the past.

What should the project manager do next to improve this situation?

• Review the resource management plan and organizational assets.

• Implement compression techniques to bring the project back on track.

• Call for a team meeting to identify the root cause for the declining performance.

• Estimate the baseline impacts and submit a change request.

Answer explanation

An inexperience PM will reject that he is the cause of a decreasing performance, investing or wasting time to find the root cause in another factor.

If the team is used to work together with performing level the cause would be the change of the previous PM with the new one, so you as a new team member needs to build trust

Without identifying the root cause, reviewing the resource management or implementing any technique to resolve the issue will not be the right approach

A project manager is working on a complex software project. Two team members must team up and work together on a critical module of the project. Before long, the two team members begin to argue and these arguments are impeding progress. How should the project manager resolve this conflict?

• Ignore the conflict and hope that they can work it out on their own. 

• Assign them to work separately on different tasks to avoid further conflicts. 

• Schedule a team meeting to discuss the issues openly and find a resolution. 

• Reassign one of them to a different project to eliminate the conflict entirely.

Answer explanation

The project manager should work with the team members to address the conflict and find a resolution. This moves the conflict into more of a problem-solving space where people can work together to generate creative alternatives. It can also create more constructive relationships. By facilitating a meeting between the two team members, the project manager can help the team members communicate with one another and empower them to find a resolution to the conflict. 
The other options are incorrect because they are not the best way to address this issue. Addressing conflict inappropriately can lead to dissatisfaction, lack of trust, and reduced morale and motivation. Ignoring the conflict, separating the team members, or reassigning one of them is inappropriate and does not resolve the conflict. 

Question

A project manager is acting as a scrum master in a hybrid project and is dealing with a conflict between team members. What strategy should be used to handle this conflict?

• Place conflicts on a shared conflict list and ensure it is visible.

• Sort conflicts into two groups: positive and negative.

• Review conflicts during the daily standup.

• Organize conflicts into two categories: structural and interpersonal.

Answer explanation

By organizing the conflicts into categories, the scrum master can identify the root cause of the conflict and develop a plan to address it. Structural conflict is caused by factors outside of the team, such as unrealistic deadlines or unclear expectations. Interpersonal conflict is caused by differences between team members, such as personality clashes or different work styles. Once the scrum master has identified the root cause of the conflict, they can develop a plan to address it.

The other answers are incorrect. Working with the team to identify the points of conflict and remove the members responsible for the conflict is not a good approach because it does not address the root cause of the conflict. It is also unfair to remove team members who are simply trying to do their job. Documenting the list of conflicts and have the team vote on how to proceed is not a good approach because it does not involve the scrum master in the conflict resolution process. The scrum master is responsible for facilitating communication and resolving conflict, so they should be involved in the decision-making process. Reviewing conflicts during daily Scrum so they are addressed quickly. This is not a good approach because it does not give the scrum master enough time to address the conflict effectively. The scrum master needs time to gather information, identify the root cause of the conflict, and develop a plan to address it.

A project manager is assigned to an existing project, replacing the previous project manager. Soon after joining the project, the project manager sees that the project’s key performance indicators (KPIs) are decreasing, as is the project team’s overall enthusiasm for the project. The project manager reviews earlier projects completed by the team and sees that they previously performed well together.

What should the project manager do to address the performance issues?

• Meet with the sponsor to express concerns regarding the team performance.

• Work on identifying other resources to replace the current team.

• Meet with the project team to discuss the current level of performance.

• Meet with the functional managers of the team asking them to address the decreasing performance.

Answer explanation

The new project manager should meet directly with the project team to discuss, analyze, and understand the reason for the lower performance. 

The other answer choices are incorrect as they promote deflecting project manager responsibilities to functional managers and the sponsor and avoiding the main issue.

Question

Members of an agile team are struggling. While there is trust among the team members, the majority of team decisions are made by a few of the more experienced team members.

What should the project manager do in order to enable a high-performing team?

• Discourage the experienced team members from speaking first, allowing others to offer ideas.

• Facilitate meetings to ensure that all team members take part in team decisions.

• Coach the team to ensure all members offer ideas and team consensus is achieved.

• Raise the issue in a retrospective and have the team formalize new team agreements.

Answer explanation

The project manager should act as a servant leader and coach the team to resolve this issue. Coaching the team on how to make decisions fairly and how to reach consensus will promote collaborative and inclusive communication. It empowers team members to contribute their ideas, take ownership, and make decisions collectively.
The other options are incorrect.
Discouraging team members from speaking is dismissive and can lead to low morale, resentment, and suboptimal outcomes. The project manager should value the contributions of all team members, regardless of their experience level.
Facilitating meetings is incorrect because agile teams are meant to be self-organizing and daily standup meetings are typically run by the team. The project manager should support the team's autonomy by passing appropriate decision-making opportunities to project team members.

Over the course of a month, a remote project team has experienced multiple conflicts.

The project manager decides to coach remote team workers on their level of agreeableness in order to minimize the occurrence of conflicts.

What should the project manager expect from team behavior? 

• Team members will take accountability for their work and output quality.

• Team members will exchange ideas freely without judgment.

• Team members will communicate ideas in a non-confrontational way.

• Team members will be outgoing, extroverted, and spontaneous.

Answer explanation

The project manager should expect team members to communicate ideas in a non-confrontational way after coaching them on their level of agreeableness. Agreeable people are more likely to be cooperative and willing to compromise. They are also more likely to be respectful of others' opinions, even if they disagree with them. This can help to reduce conflict and create a more positive team environment.

The other answer choices are not as likely to be affected by the project manager's coaching on agreeableness. Team members taking accountability for their work and output quality is a positive behavior related to conscientiousness; team members exchanging ideas freely without judgment is a positive behavior related to openness; and team members being extroverted is a different personality trait than agreeableness. It is important for the project manager to note that they will not see an immediate change in team behavior after coaching them on agreeableness as it takes time for people to change their behavior. However, the project manager should start to see some improvement in team communication and conflict resolution over time.

An agile project manager is leading a new software system development project that is in the user acceptance testing phase. The project manager has received positive feedback from the majority of business stakeholders, but the IT director is dissatisfied.

What should the agile project manager do first?

• Review previous project meeting attendance to determine the IT director's participation.

• Analyze the requirements that were approved for the project with the IT director.

• Discuss the IT director's concerns with the project team.

• Collect forthright feedback from the IT director.

Answer explanation

The best way for the project manager to address the IT director's dissatisfaction is to collect forthright feedback from them. This will help the project manager to understand the specific concerns that the IT director has and to develop a plan to address them.

The other answer choices are not as relevant or effective. Reviewing previous project meeting minutes to determine prior feedback from the IT director seeks to look for previous discussions and does not offer a way forward. Analyzing the requirements that are approved for the project with the IT director focuses on past agreements and does not seek to uncover the root cause of the discontent and a resolution path. Discussing the IT director's concerns with the project team is a good step to take once the project manager has had a chance to collect forthright feedback from the IT director.

During a meeting with project stakeholders, two stakeholders have a disagreement regarding how a software component is being developed. The disagreement escalates as the stakeholders raise their voices.

What should the project manager do in this situation?

• Adjourn the meeting and meet with the other stakeholders on how to proceed.

• Identify what is causing the conflict, attempt to de-escalate the situation, and focus on finding a common solution.

• Take detailed notes of both stakeholders' positions and ask the remaining stakeholders to vote on the best option.

• Inform the sponsor about the conflict and ask them to find a solution.

Answer explanation

One of the required abilities of a project manager is to identify what is causing the conflict to arise and the reason behind that escalation of their voice. If it happens, the Project Manager should help to facilitate a satisfactory solution, addressing conflict early, in private using a direct and collaborative approach.

Due to the complex nature of a predictive project, an organization decides to use an agile approach for a project phase. A team member does not really understand the agile approach and keeps allocating tasks to the rest of the team members. After a while, the team is not able to adjust by itself and conflicts arise, delaying the deliverables.

What should the project manager do?

• Replace the team member with someone who has agile experience.

• Wait until the team is finally able to solve the conflict by itself and reorganize.

• Reaffirm the principles and roles of agile to create structures that the team can use.

• Take control of the sprint backlog and assign tasks to the team members.

Answer explanation

The project manager should reaffirm the principles and roles of agile to create structures that the team can use. When agile values and ground rules are understood and applied,

The other answer choices are incorrect. The project manager should try to adjust behaviors and align on values, roles and responsibilities before considering replacing a team member. Waiting for the team is wrong because some time already passed and the team is still on the same page and some delays are occurring. The project manager does not own the backlog and most likely does not understands all user stories and tasks.