Project Management Stakeholder Engagement and Communication 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A project is experiencing scope creep largely driven by one influential stakeholder continuously adding requirements. The BEST response is to:
- Accept all changes to maintain the relationship
- Implement a formal change control process and communicate it to all stakeholders (Correct answer)
- Ignore the requests until project closure
- Escalate the stakeholder to HR
Correct answer: Implement a formal change control process and communicate it to all stakeholders
A formal change control process ensures all additions are evaluated for impact and approved through proper channels.
Question 2: Which communication model component accounts for anything that distorts the message between sender and receiver?
- Encoding
- Medium
- Noise (Correct answer)
- Feedback
Correct answer: Noise
Noise refers to any interference—physical, semantic, or psychological—that degrades message clarity.
Question 3: A virtual project team is spread across five time zones. Which communication approach is MOST effective for routine status updates?
- Daily video calls at a fixed time
- Asynchronous written updates via a shared project tool (Correct answer)
- In-person monthly meetings
- Phone calls to each member individually
Correct answer: Asynchronous written updates via a shared project tool
Asynchronous written updates accommodate different time zones without requiring simultaneous availability.
Question 4: What is the primary purpose of a stakeholder engagement plan?
- To list all stakeholders by seniority
- To define strategies for effectively involving stakeholders throughout the project (Correct answer)
- To document stakeholder salaries
- To replace the communication management plan
Correct answer: To define strategies for effectively involving stakeholders throughout the project
The stakeholder engagement plan outlines approaches to increase stakeholder support and minimize resistance.
Question 5: A PM sends a project update email but later learns the recipient misunderstood the key decision. According to communication theory, the failure most likely occurred during:
- Encoding by the sender
- Decoding by the receiver (Correct answer)
- Transmission over the medium
- All of the above equally
Correct answer: Decoding by the receiver
Misunderstanding typically occurs during decoding when the receiver interprets the message differently than intended.
Question 6: Which of the following is an example of informal verbal communication?
- A signed project charter
- A hallway conversation with a team member (Correct answer)
- A formal status report
- A written change request
Correct answer: A hallway conversation with a team member
Informal verbal communication includes unplanned, conversational exchanges that are not officially documented.
Question 7: A PM has 8 team members. Using the communication channels formula n(n-1)/2, how many potential communication channels exist?
- 28 (Correct answer)
- 36
- 56
- 64
Correct answer: 28
With 9 total participants (PM + 8 members): 9×8/2 = 36; with just the 8 members: 8×7/2 = 28 channels among the team alone.
Project Management Stakeholder Engagement and Communication 3
A project is experiencing scope creep largely driven by one influential stakeholder continuously adding requirements.
The BEST response is to: