PMBOK Leading High-Performance Teams 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A project manager notices that two senior developers frequently clash during sprint reviews, causing tension for the entire team. According to PMBOK, what is the BEST first step?
- Escalate the conflict to the project sponsor immediately
- Address the conflict privately with each developer to understand their perspectives (Correct answer)
- Reassign one developer to a different project to eliminate friction
- Allow the conflict to resolve itself through natural team dynamics
Correct answer: Address the conflict privately with each developer to understand their perspectives
PMBOK recommends addressing conflict promptly and privately by first understanding each party's perspective before determining resolution strategy.
Question 2: Which leadership style is MOST appropriate when team members are highly skilled but lack motivation on a familiar task?
- Directing style, providing detailed instructions
- Coaching style, focusing on skill development
- Supporting style, encouraging and praising contributions (Correct answer)
- Delegating style, assigning full autonomy with minimal guidance
Correct answer: Supporting style, encouraging and praising contributions
Supporting style is best for competent but unmotivated team members because it focuses on encouragement and recognition rather than task instruction.
Question 3: During a critical project phase, a high-performing team member requests two weeks of unplanned leave for a family emergency. What should the project manager do FIRST?
- Deny the request to protect the project schedule
- Approve the leave and immediately hire a contractor as replacement
- Discuss the situation with the team member and assess schedule impact before deciding (Correct answer)
- Escalate to HR and let them make the decision
Correct answer: Discuss the situation with the team member and assess schedule impact before deciding
The project manager should first assess the full situation and impact before deciding, balancing team welfare with project constraints.
Question 4: A project manager wants to build psychological safety within the team. Which action BEST supports this goal?
- Rewarding only top performers publicly each sprint
- Ensuring all mistakes are documented in the risk register
- Encouraging team members to voice concerns without fear of ridicule or retaliation (Correct answer)
- Assigning individual accountability for all deliverables to increase ownership
Correct answer: Encouraging team members to voice concerns without fear of ridicule or retaliation
Psychological safety is built when team members feel safe to speak up, experiment, and admit mistakes without negative consequences.
Question 5: According to PMBOK, what is the PRIMARY purpose of team ground rules?
- To document disciplinary procedures for underperforming team members
- To establish acceptable behavior and reduce misunderstandings among team members (Correct answer)
- To define the project manager's authority over the team
- To satisfy organizational compliance and audit requirements
Correct answer: To establish acceptable behavior and reduce misunderstandings among team members
Ground rules define expected behavior and norms, reducing interpersonal misunderstandings and creating a more productive team environment.
Question 6: A team has reached the 'Norming' stage of Tuckman's model. What characteristic BEST describes this stage?
- Team members challenge roles and resist leadership
- Team members begin working together effectively with established norms (Correct answer)
- Team morale peaks and productivity is at its highest
- Team members disengage as the project nears completion
Correct answer: Team members begin working together effectively with established norms
In the Norming stage, team members resolve earlier conflicts, establish working norms, and begin collaborating more effectively.
Question 7: A project manager is working with a virtual team spread across five time zones. Which approach BEST maintains team cohesion?
- Require all team members to work during the project manager's local business hours
- Establish overlapping core hours for collaboration and use asynchronous tools for other work (Correct answer)
- Limit communication to weekly status emails to avoid overwhelming team members
- Assign a local team lead in each time zone with no cross-team collaboration
Correct answer: Establish overlapping core hours for collaboration and use asynchronous tools for other work
Overlapping core hours combined with asynchronous tools balances real-time collaboration needs with the realities of distributed time zones.
PMBOK Leading High-Performance Teams 2
A project manager notices that two senior developers frequently clash during sprint reviews, causing tension for the entire team.
According to PMBOK, what is the BEST first step?