Staff Management & Training Flashcards
7 cards from real CRA practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Staff Management & Training flashcards as text
A research office is experiencing high turnover among post-award administrators. Which intervention is MOST likely to improve retention?
Answer: Conduct stay interviews and implement targeted career development programs
Stay interviews identify retention drivers and career development programs address professional growth needs, both of which are proven retention strategies.
When delegating effort reporting responsibilities to departmental staff, the research administrator MUST ensure that delegates understand which core principle?
Answer: Certified effort must reasonably reflect actual work and cannot be falsified
Federal regulations require that certified effort reasonably reflect actual work performed; falsification constitutes research misconduct and fraud.
Which type of training is MOST appropriate for teaching staff how to navigate the institution's grants management system?
Answer: Hands-on simulation or sandbox environment training
Hands-on simulation in a sandbox environment allows staff to practice system navigation without risk to live data, accelerating competency.
A research administrator is building a succession plan for a key grants specialist position. What is the FIRST action?
Answer: Identify high-potential internal candidates and assess their development gaps
Succession planning begins with identifying and developing internal talent before a vacancy occurs, not reacting to departures.
Which federal act governs confidentiality requirements that research administrators must train staff on when handling personally identifiable information (PII) in research records?
Answer: Privacy Act of 1974
The Privacy Act of 1974 governs the collection, maintenance, use, and dissemination of PII held by federal agencies and recipients handling federal data.
When evaluating a staff member's performance in managing subrecipient monitoring, which metric is MOST indicative of competency?
Answer: Timeliness and completeness of risk assessments and monitoring reviews
Competent subrecipient monitoring is demonstrated by thorough, timely risk assessments and follow-through on monitoring activities, not volume metrics.
A department administrator completes a cost transfer after the 90-day institutional deadline without proper justification. As the research administrator, your FIRST action is to:
Answer: Reject the transfer and explain that late unjustified transfers are non-compliant
Late cost transfers without adequate justification are a compliance risk; rejecting them and educating the department administrator is the appropriate corrective response.