TCM 359 Final Exam
___________ are the agreements between groups partnering on large endeavors.
Charters
__________ is the skill required to resolve most conflicts.
Negotiation
In this type of project selection, a proposed project would be judged on the degree to which it fits the firm's existing product line, fills a gap, strengthens a weak link, or extends the line in a new, desirable direction.
Product line extension
To begin managing conflict, what should happen first?
Stakeholders should be identified.
What are the three primary objectives of projects?
Stay within budget, within time constraints, within scope
Common problems in managing projects include which of the following?
Staying within budget, within time constraints, and within scope
__________ decreases as the project moves toward completion.
Uncertainty
No matter how carefully a project is planned, it is almost certain to be:
changed before completion.
A universal characteristic of all projects is that projects are:
unique.
The use of a cooperating or accommodating strategy (where you do not assert your position) is appropriate when _________________________.
you are wrong
As of 2017, PMI has approximately ____________ members.
450,000
As of 2017, there are ___________ PMI certifications.
6
Finding a solution to a conflict in which no party can be made better off without making another party worse off by the same amount or more is called what?
A Pareto Optimal Solution
What is a "quasi-project"?
A situation in which all of the three primary project objectives are ill-defined
As compared to the functional manager, the project manager should more often use what approach to solving problems?
A systems approach
Which stages of the project management life cycle are most likely to experience conflict with time, cost, and scope?
All stages
What should a PM do to ensure adequate resources are available for project success?
Be ready to negotiate resource tradeoffs, such as subcontracting, if necessary
___________ fall into one the following three categories: different goals, uncertainty about locus of authority, and between personalities.
Conflicts
What is the most effective method for solving conflicts?
Confrontation and problem-solving
Common problems in the first stage, Project Formation, are due to:
Confusion in general
What is a common goal for partnering among organizations?
Diversification of technical risk, avoidance of capital investment, reducing political risk, and pooling of complementary knowledge
In general, what is the most ineffective method for solving conflicts?
Forcing (using brute force)
Which categories of conflicts are most common throughout the project life cycle?
Goals, expectations, authority, and interpersonal conflicts
Attributes of successful project managers generally include which of the following?
Good technical skills, tough management approach, good terms with senior management, broad background including mostly success & few failures, working well under pressure/stress, positive attitude & consensus building
Which of the following choices represent the best mix of skills and attributes for Project Team Members (PTMs)?
High technical skills, problem-solving ability, political sensitivity, goal orientation, high self-esteem
The Weighted Factor Scoring Model has the advantage of:
Increased attention to relative importance of each selection criterion.
Effective, longtime Project Managers expect which of the following regarding their Project Teams (PTs)?
Initial PT conflict, then cohesiveness and teamwork, and finally disbanding when project is complete
The "Triple Constraint" is also referred to as "________________."
Iron Triangle
What is a major advantage of the Functional Organization for a project?
It offers maximum flexibility in use of personnel
_________ is a process of social influence, which maximizes the efforts of others, towards the achievement of a goal.
Leadership
The two primary tasks of the Project Manager are what
Managing tradeoffs and anticipating and addressing risks to the project
Most firms eventually adopt which organizational form for running their projects?
Matrix
Typically when PMs are asked how many people report to them, the reply is what?
None
A recommended stakeholder analysis tool is the:
Power-Interest Grid.
_____ are broken down into _______, which can be further broken down into _______.
Programs, projects, tasks
It is recommended for an organization to have a ______ that is charged with improving the "maturity" or overall effectiveness of the organization's project management processes.
Project Management Office
The acronym PMO stands for _________________________________.
Project Management Office
In the past decade a new type of organizational structure has become increasingly popular; it is called the:
Project Organization.
Most of the conflicts between organizations and outsiders have to do with what?
Property rights and contractual obligations
The Project Manager's job includes which of the following?
Reducing conflict and stress between different types of Project Team members by promoting understanding and appreciation
Successful Project Managers (PMs) must have which of the following skills?
Staying within budget, within time constraints, and within scope
Which of the following project selection models focuses strongly on the long-term success of the firm?
Sustainability model
Real options seek to reduce which of the following risks in projects?
Technological
Which of the following is the most important for success of the project?
The Project Manager has support of top management
A major requirement for conflict resolution is what?
The conflict should be settled without irreparable harm to the project's objectives.
Which member of the project team is generally in personal control of the project schedule?
The project manager
Project manager's responsibilities are broad and fall into three separate areas. Which of the following lists the correct areas?
To the parent organization, to the project and the client, to the members of the project team
What is the Sacred Cow model?
Upper management's favorite model
__________ are those in which the work on the project team crosses time, space, and organizational and cultural boundaries.
Virtual projects
How can effective, lasting business relationships be built across different cultures?
When disagreements occur, by meeting together in an atmosphere of trust and negotiation to resolve problems
Where is the location of a project in the "functional structure"?
Within one of the major divisions or departments of the organization
Project management today is:
a flexible method for managing large or small endeavors.
Actual experience with project management indicates that _________ organizations using it claim to experience better customer relations and increase in their ROI.
a majority of
Firms usually have two or more projects, and this collection of projects is referred to as _____.
a portfolio
Methods to resolve conflicts should:
allow and foster honesty among all parties.
Composite Organizational designs exist when:
both functional and projectized divisions coexist in one firm.
Project success depends upon:
both the technical skills of the team and the political and negotiating skills of the PM.
A project begins with a _______ being presented to a funding entity. This document typically includes monetary cost and benefit elements as well as nonmonetary factors such as the strategic justification for the project, expected behavioral impacts, increases in efficiency, service improvements, competitiveness effects, and so on.
business case
National culture:
can affect projects in many ways.
Typical problems in a Matrixed Organization happen because:
confusion exists due to project members reporting to multiple managers.
Project management has resulted in an overall ____.
decline in the use of traditional hierarchical management.
Project management is __________.
difficult even when everything goes well
Effective Project Portfolio Management attempts to link the organization's projects________________________.
directly to the goals and strategy of the organization
With the ______ approach model, enough funds are allocated to the project to determine if the initial assumptions concerning costs, benefits, etc. were accurate. When the funds are gone, the assumptions are reevaluated to determine what to do next.
discovery-driven planning
In a "Projectized" organization:
each project includes a full set of the functions needed for its operation.
In a "Projectized" organization:
each project manager has full line authority so there is unity of command.
Typical responsibilities of the PMO include:
establishing pm procedures, offering training, mentoring project managers, and keeping reports of projects activities.
Common methods to select project forms are:
generally intuitive.
One of the major factors in determining the success of a project is having a clear set of _____.
goals
A common negative aspect of implementing PM is:
greater organizational complexity.
It is important that PMs understand or have experience with all of the following except:
international labor laws.
When a project requires input from several functional areas and uses a sophisticated technology, the recommended organizational structure is:
matrix.
The organization's project management competency is also referred to in the textbook as__________.
maturity
Contracts are legal documents that:
may provide legal protection after problems arise.
Under normal business conditions, when the functional manager takes over control of important details of the project, this is _________________________.
micromanagement, and usually not beneficial
A recommended, effective method of conflict resolution is:
negotiation involving all concerned parties, and collaborating.
Senior managers must be informed of potential problems and the PM must:
never allow senior management to be surprised.
There are two basic types of project selection models, ____________________.
numeric and nonnumeric
Through a financial ______, an organization or individual acquires the right to do something but is not required to exercise that right.
option
Indeed, effectively executing the PM's primary role of managing trade-offs requires that the PM make trade-offs in a way that best supports the _______.
organization's overall strategy
The largest amount of effort applied to a project is during the ________ phase.
planning, scheduling, monitoring, and control
Numeric project selection models generally focus on:
profits and profitability.
The main purpose of the ________ is to establish and articulate a strategic direction for those projects spanning internal or external boundaries of the organization, such as cross-departmental or joint venture.
project council
One well-known effort to improve project management is the creation of a formal ______ in many organizations, which is responsible for the evaluation and improvement of an organization's project management "maturity," or skill and experience in managing projects.
project management office
Common benefits of the Matrixed Organization include:
rapid response to client needs and less anxiety over the next job after a project ends.
Even though the project is complete and delivered to the user/customer, it is still important to ___.
realize the full benefits from the project's outputs and tasks involved with this effort.
Most of the PM's time is _______________.
spent communicating
The "_______________" pattern of slow-rapid-slow progress toward the project goal is common.
stretched-S
A ________ project is similar in many ways to a standalone project.
strong matrix
In a recent study on PMOs, it was found that increasing the PMO's _____________ improved project performance, business performance, and project management maturity, but increasing its _____________ had no effect on project performance.
supportive role; controlling role
Acquiring and focusing personnel for work on the Project Team (PT) is generally difficult because of:
team members' dual responsibility to the project and their functional departments.
The project manager needs ________ credibility.
technical and administrative
Culture includes:
technology, institutions, language, and arts.
A common problem in conflict resolution for new product or facility development is that:
the employees have not all been hired.
Conflicts are satisfied when:
the level of frustration is lowered to the point where no action is contemplated, by either party, against the other party.
Most of the credit for developing project management techniques belongs to:
the military.
It is recommended that when a PM is directing two or more projects at the same time, care should be taken to ensure that:
the stages of the project life cycles are occurring at the different times.
Today outsourcing is growing rapidly, but:
the use of partnerships and charters is growing slowly.
The primary source of conflict in the main program and project phase-out phases is:
time.
Risk is generally believed to focus on profits, but:
uncertainty plagues all aspects of the work and is present in all stages of PM.
