PMI SH - Support Organizational Change

A project manager participates in a focus group that implements project management changes across the organization. The goal is to improve project effectiveness and success.

Which process should the project manager suggest for lasting and successful change within projects?

• Conduct individualized skills assessments and provide targeted training for each team member.

• Monitor external regulations and adapt project management practices accordingly.

• Faciliate open communication and build buy-in from all project stakeholders.

• Implement a project management change management plan aligned with industry best practices.

Answer explanation

Solution: D. Implement a project management change management plan aligned with industry best practices.

By implementing a project management change management plan aligned with industry best practices, changes, timelines, and implementation processes can be better defined, communication strategies can be developed, and potential issues can be mitigated.

The other answer choices are incorrect. Individualized training is valuable, but training alone doesn't guarantee adoption without broader organizational shifts and support. Regulatory monitoring is important, but it is not the primary focus for internal project management improvement. Open communication is crucial, but it's most effective within a structured change management framework and defined plan.

A company is going through an organizational change. Most of the senior management has changed, including the project manager's direct supervisor. The supervisor has an aggressive working style, and has made critical comments to the project manager regarding the ongoing project, without really understanding the situation. The project manager feels uncomfortable working with the new supervisor.

What should the project manager do next?

• Hold a project review meeting to explain the key points of the project to the new supervisor.

• Apply the new supervisor's recommendations to the project.

• Evaluate the impact of the organizational change to the project.

• Communicate to the project team that they need to be ready to embrace change.

Answer explanation

Solution: C. Evaluate the impact of the organizational change to the project.

The project manager needs to deal with the change objectively, and first should understand the impact of organizations changes to the project. With that knowledge, the PM and team can engage the supervisor. The project manager should not blindly execute changes dictated by the supervisor. Changes will always affect the project, so simply communicating to the team that they should be ready for change does not accomplish much.

An agile team is working on a new product development project. The product owner has requested a new change to accommodate recent technology requirements as a result of changes in the market environment.

Which of the following should the project manager do next?

• Go ahead and implement the change immediately

• Log a change request document and set up a change control board

• Ensure the change request has been added to the product backlog

• Reject the change as it may cost more money and delay the project

Answer explanation

Solution: C. Ensure the change request has been added to the product backlog

An agile project will required the product owner or project manager to add the new story or task (change request) to the product backlog so it can be prioritized and then sized without adding the item in to backlog and without prioritization, implementing / rejecting the change request is not possible

A project team member assigned to a new project will be required to report on all project tasks progress to the project manager while his current line manager will be responsible for his career growth and development.

Which of the following describes the project organization structure?

• Matrix

• Projectised

• Functional

• Cross-functional

Answer explanation

Solution: A. Matrix

The two bosses or more scenario is a characteristic of matrix organizational structures.

Projectized organization performs based on the assigned projects. one project manager reporting will be there

Functional organization performs based on the function wise.

A project manager is leading a remote home office implementation. The project manager is surprised with early signs of resistance from key stakeholders in the organization. The key stakeholders strongly disagree with the change and will require more persuasion than the project manager originally expected.

Which two tools and techniques should be used to identify the organizational and project influence of the stakeholders? (Choose two)

• Stakeholder matrix

• RACI chart

• Stakeholder analysis

• Stakeholder map

• Engagement map

Answer explanation

Solution: A and D. Stakeholder matrix and Stakeholder map.

Stakeholders map involves different techniques to identify stakeholders by power and influence. The stakeholder matrix is one of the techniques that allows you to to identify such power relations in stakeholders.

The other answer choices are incorrect. They are used to create the stakeholder matrix and map, which are the best tools for determining organizational and project influence. The RACI chart includes all project roles, not just the key stakeholders.

After several interviews with key stakeholders and checking the project charter, a project manager found that the current project organizational structure is no longer appropriate for the project's strategic goals. What should the project manager do next?

• Assess the lessons learned documents and validate which organizational structure was used in the past for similar projects.

• Ask the team to document the risk in the project risk register and develop a risk response plan accordingly.

• Evaluate the gaps between the current organizational structure and the expected project benefits to determine required actions.

• Ask the team to review the project charter and evaluate the project objectives for relevance.

Answer explanation

Solution: C. Evaluate the gaps between the current organizational structure and the expected project benefits to determine required actions.

Organizational structure should be flexible to accommodate the project goal, and may evolve in the project life cycle. If the current structure is not appropriate, the project manager should first evaluate the deficiencies against what the project needs to accomplish to determine a more fitting organizational structure. Assessing lessons learned from prior projects may give some direction, but gaps on the current project should be evaluated first. There is nothing in the question that suggests that project objectives are incorrect, so evaluating the objectives for relevance is not warranted.

This question and rationale were developed in reference to:

PMBOK Guide Sixth Edition (2018) PMI/PMI/9. Project Resource Management/ [Item Projects with high variability benefit from team structures that maximize focus and collaboration, such as self-organizing teams with generalizing specialists.Collaboration is intended to boost productivity and facilitate innovative problem solving. Collaborative teams may facilitate accelerated integration of distinct work activities, improve communication, increase knowledge sharing, and provide flexibility of work assignments in addition to other advantages.Although the benefits of collaboration also apply to other project environments, collaborative teams are often critical to the success of projects with a high degree of variability and rapid changes, because there is less time for centralized tasking and decision making.]

A new customer relations database is being deployed. The schedule calls for migration from the previous system to occur over one weekend. However, some key stakeholders believe it may take more time for the migration. 

What should the project manager do?

• Assess the concerns and risks of not deploying within the scheduled time frame and react accordingly.

• Change the deployment plan such that additional resources are available to perform the weekend deployment.

• Review and revise as necessary the risk management plan.

• Modify the schedule to increase the time frame of the deployment plan.

Answer explanation

Solution: A. Assess the concerns and risks of not deploying within the scheduled time frame and react accordingly.

The project manager should assess the risk in accordance with the risk management plan and react accordingly.

Changing the deployment plan by adding resources may not address the stakeholder requirements.

Revising the risk management plan will not address stakeholder concerns.

It may not be necessary or possible to modify the deployment plan.

A parent company announces an integration project for all of its subsidiary companies. The integration project covers the legal, human resources (HR), and finance departments of the subsidiary companies. Senior management is investing in this as the company's first agile project and a new project manager has been assigned.

What should the project manager do first?

• Meet with the stakeholders to discuss risks.

• Develop a team charter.

• Plan to enhance the team's agile maturity level.

• Develop a transition strategy.

Answer explanation

Solution: D. Develop a transition strategy.

By developing a transition strategy, the project manager can lay the foundation for a successful agile project. The transition strategy will provide the project manager with a roadmap for how to move the organization from its current state to a new desired state, and it will help to ensure that the team is well-prepared to adopt agile practices and deliver the project on time and within budget.

The other answer choices are incorrect. While it is important to identify and discuss risks early in the project, this is not the first thing that the project manager should do. The project manager needs to have a clear understanding of the project scope and objectives before they can effectively discuss risks with the stakeholders. It is not necessary to develop a team charter before developing a transition strategy. The transition strategy will provide the project manager with the information they need to define the team's roles and responsibilities. While it is important to consider the team's agile maturity level when planning the project, this is not the first thing that the project manager should do. The project manager needs to focus on developing a transition strategy that will help the team adopt agile practices in a way that is consistent with the project's scope and objectives.

A project team is faced with deciding on the next steps to take in order to address recently identified tasks schedule delays. The project manager expects team members to make the appropriate decisions for their respectively assigned tasks and proceed to implement them.

Which type of leadership style is the project manager using in this instance?

• Democratic

• Autocratic

• Free rein

• Smoothing

Answer explanation

Solution: C. Free rein

laissez -faire leadership style leaves the decision up to everyone as in this scenario. Free-rein leadership style is also called as laissez -faire leadership style

Democratic - This project manager draws on the team members' knowledge and skills and is able to create a group commitment to common goals.

Smoothing - resource smoothing is defined as a technique that adjusts the activities of a schedule model so that all requirements for the resources do not go beyond the resource limits already pre-defined during the planning

Autocratic management strictly means the manager makes all the decisions, without involving the team members.

A project manager is assigned to a legacy system modernization project. The project management plan is solidified and the requirements have been handed off to the IT department for development. However, the company's CEO announces the company's new strategic direction and upcoming plans for an enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementation.

What should the project manager do?

• Ask the project sponsor for recommendations to keep the project on track.

• Understand and clarify how the existing project aligns with the overall organization vision.

• Conduct a project team meeting to plan and confirm resource assignments for the new project.

• Review the project schedule to ensure the project will be completed on time.

Answer explanation

Solution: B. Understand and clarify how the existing project aligns with the overall organization vision.

Individual projects should support the company's strategic direction.

The other answer choices are incorrect. They promote continuing the project as-is without taking into account the new vision and strategy.