A project manager is appointed to head a higly technical project

Submitted by steelproject2012 on Sat, 01/26/2013 - 15:16

A project manager is appointed to head a higly technical project in an area with wich this person has limited familiarity. The Project manager delegates the processes of Develop Schedule, Estimate Cost, Define Activities, and Estimate Activities Resources to various project team members, and basically serves as an occassional referee and coordinator of activities. The result of this approach are likely to be:

A: A team functioning throughout the project at a very high level, demonstrating creativity and commitment

B: A team that initially experiences some amounts of confusion, but that after a period of time becomes a cohesive and effective unit

C: A team that is not highly productive, but that stays together because of the work environment created by the project manager

D: A team that is characterized by poor performance, low morale, high levels of conflict, and high turnover.

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rjbuzzing

Sat, 01/26/2013 - 17:50

Nice Question !

I would go with B, if i have to choose an answer.

 

What is the correct answer ?

 

 

vjjustin

Tue, 01/29/2013 - 18:27

The correct answer is D. This is qn from rita's exam prep.

First, these individual activities are delegated to different team members. In reality, these should have been done as a teamwork, as the outputs are interlinked and changes to one output/doc. have an impact/change in another one (especially schedule and cost). This most probably will result in chaos and issues among the team - High conflict

Second, the team members might not have any idea about how to produce the documents etc., which could result in low morale and high turn over.

Third, as the task is allotted to diff. team members it is safe to assume that the activities are done at the same time, which is again wrong as these should be done sequentially.

The PM should not delegate all his works to team members. He should have an active role in these activities.

papabbat2000

Sat, 01/26/2013 - 22:02

I would go with B. Here is why -

Though Develop Schedule is not under Integration KA, doing Develop Schedule, Estimate Costs, Define Activities, Sequence Activities and Estimate Activity Resources require a good amount of co-ordination. Infact Estimate Costs and Estimate Activity Resources need to be integrated very well. If the PM is not doing these activities (as 'implied'), then you can expect some confusion to prevail initially. Only inittially though, since this is a highly 'technical' team and the PM is still going to be co-ordinating/refereeing, so no reason to expect the initial confusion wont be resolved as time progresses leading to a well functioning team.

 

 

steelproject2012

Sun, 01/27/2013 - 10:53

Hello papabbat,

Thanks for the detailed explanations; however, the question says "HIGHLY TECHNICAL PROJECT" and not "highly technical team". How does this change affect your response on exam day?

Afzal Khan

Sat, 01/26/2013 - 23:56

Option D is correct

sspawar

Sun, 01/27/2013 - 06:42

 Correct one is D.

Because all processes could not be run at a time simultaneously.

They are vitally dependent in sequence one after the other.

And the PM is allowing this blunder.

 

steelproject2012

Sun, 01/27/2013 - 10:43

Hi sspower, but note that the question did not mention in what order the activities will be carried out; it only mentioned that human resources are assigned to the various processes as anticipated.

moresoe, the PM may not be the one carrying out all the activities (hope this is correct?)

What do u think?

rjbuzzing

Mon, 01/28/2013 - 05:45

Does this questions explicitly talks about executing all these processes simultaneously. How can we assume that ?

 

MANOJ RAMRAOJI ...

Sun, 01/27/2013 - 14:24

The Best option is D;

The PM should be the part of team and process and not just the faculator or observer. Kindly refer Appendix G of PMBOK

sspawar

Sun, 01/27/2013 - 16:42

 In q it is given that all processes are to be carried out by different project team groups simultaneously. As per PMBOK you know all processes cant be carried out at a time. PM is occassionally coordinating.

rjbuzzing

Mon, 01/28/2013 - 05:47

Correct answer as per the book or source please ?

 

 

steelproject2012

Mon, 01/28/2013 - 22:11

Answer given: D

@sspawer:

could you pls refer to the implied use of "simultaneous" in the question

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A project manager is appointed to head a higly technical project in an area with wich this person has limited familiarity. The Project manager delegates the processes of Develop Schedule, Estimate Cost, Define Activities, and Estimate Activities Resources to various project team members, and basically serves as an occassional referee and coordinator of activities. The result of this approach are likely to be:

A: A team functioning throughout the project at a very high level, demonstrating creativity and commitment

B: A team that initially experiences some amounts of confusion, but that after a period of time becomes a cohesive and effective unit

C: A team that is not highly productive, but that stays together because of the work environment created by the project manager

D: A team that is characterized by poor performance, low morale, high levels of conflict, and high turnover.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Thanks

rjbuzzing

Tue, 01/29/2013 - 16:45

Correct Answer please ?