CPSM CSPM Communication, Stakeholder & Team Management 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A stakeholder requests a significant scope change late in the project. The PM should:
- Implement the change immediately to keep the stakeholder happy
- Refuse the change to protect the schedule
- Log the request and evaluate it through the formal change control process (Correct answer)
- Delegate the decision to the development team
Correct answer: Log the request and evaluate it through the formal change control process
All scope changes must go through formal change control to assess impacts on schedule, cost, and quality before approval.
Question 2: Which leadership style is MOST effective when team members are highly skilled but new to the organization?
- Autocratic
- Laissez-faire
- Coaching (Correct answer)
- Delegating
Correct answer: Coaching
Coaching provides direction on organizational context while leveraging the team's existing technical expertise.
Question 3: What is the PRIMARY purpose of a stakeholder engagement assessment matrix?
- To assign tasks to stakeholders based on skill sets
- To compare current versus desired stakeholder engagement levels (Correct answer)
- To track stakeholder attendance at project meetings
- To document stakeholder contact information
Correct answer: To compare current versus desired stakeholder engagement levels
The stakeholder engagement assessment matrix shows gaps between current and desired engagement to guide the PM's outreach strategy.
Question 4: A project team member is underperforming. After coaching fails, what is the NEXT appropriate step?
- Immediately remove them from the project
- Escalate to their functional manager with documented evidence (Correct answer)
- Assign their work to other team members without notification
- Reduce their responsibilities without communication
Correct answer: Escalate to their functional manager with documented evidence
When coaching is ineffective, the PM should escalate to the functional manager with factual documentation to seek resolution.
Question 5: Which communication model element refers to anything that distorts or interferes with the message being received as intended?
- Encoding
- Medium
- Noise (Correct answer)
- Feedback
Correct answer: Noise
Noise includes physical, semantic, or psychological interference that prevents the receiver from accurately interpreting the message.
Question 6: When managing a cross-functional software team, the PM should PRIMARILY focus on:
- Micromanaging each technical decision
- Aligning team goals with project objectives and facilitating collaboration (Correct answer)
- Ensuring each functional department retains full control
- Limiting team communication to formal status reports
Correct answer: Aligning team goals with project objectives and facilitating collaboration
Cross-functional teams thrive when the PM aligns diverse expertise toward shared goals and removes collaboration barriers.
Question 7: Which technique helps a project manager identify informal leaders and communication networks within a team?
- Critical path method
- Social network analysis (Correct answer)
- Earned value management
- Monte Carlo simulation
Correct answer: Social network analysis
Social network analysis maps relationships and information flows, revealing informal influencers and communication patterns.
CPSM CSPM Communication, Stakeholder & Team Management 3
A stakeholder requests a significant scope change late in the project.
The PM should: