Deck 10: The Project Manager

Question 1

The project manager involves the project team in the functions of planning, organising, and controlling the project to gain their commitment to successful completion of the project.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

The effective manager does not tell people how to do their jobs.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

The project manager must be careful to create situations that cause individuals to become discouraged.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

The project manager sets the tone for the project team by establishing an environment of trust, high expectations, and enjoyment.

Question 5

Effective project managers have strong leadership ability, ability to develop people, excellent communication skills, good interpersonal skills, ability to handle stress, problem-solving skills, negotiating skills, and time management skills.

Question 6

Effective project management requires a participative and consultative leadership style, in which the project manager provides guidance and coaching to the project team.

Question 7

Leadership is getting things done through others; the project manager achieves results by not trusting the project team.

Question 8

The project manager plays the leadership role in planning, organising, and controlling the project, and tries to do it alone.

Question 9

Project leadership involves criticising the people assigned to the project to work as a team.

Question 10

The project manager establishes the parameters and guidelines for what needs to be done, and then tells the project team members how to get it done.

Question 11

The capable project manager understands what motivates team members and creates a competitive environment in which individuals compete as part of a high-performing team and are required to excel.

Question 12

Project leadership requires involvement and empowerment of the project team.

Question 13

Finally, and most important, the task of organising involves creating an environment in which the individuals may be motivated to work together as a project team.

Question 14

The project manager maintains authority and assigns responsibility to specific individuals or subcontractors for the various tasks.

Question 15

The project manager should involve individuals in decisions affecting them and should empower them to make decisions within their assigned areas of responsibility.

Question 16

Capable project managers have high expectations of themselves and of each person on the project team.They believe that people tend to live up to what is expected of them.

Question 17

The project manager must create for the team a vision of the result and benefits of the project.

Question 18

To control the project, the project manager must track actual progress and compare it with planned progress.

Question 19

The project manager must foster motivation through criticism of the project team as a whole and of individual members.Criticism should be carried out as soon as possible after the action that is being criticised.

Question 20

The project manager is a key ingredient in the success of a project.

Question 21

The project manager uses the project as an opportunity to add value to each person's experience base so that all members of the project team are more knowledgeable and competent at the end of the project than when they started it.

Question 22

Project managers should encourage a negative attitude on the part of the project team members and manipulate the team building process.

Question 23

A good project manager stresses the value of self-indulgence by encouraging individuals to take the initiative.

Question 24

The project manager can try to provide 'stretch' assignments that require individual team members to extend their
knowledge and achieve more than they may think they can.

Question 25

Project managers tend to be pessimistic and negative.

Question 26

Leadership requires that the project manager be highly motivated and set a positive example for the project team.

Question 27

A good project manager believes that all individuals are valuable to the organisation and that they can make greater contributions through continuous learning.

Question 28

Rather than create a fear of failure, the manager acknowledges that mistakes are part of the learning and growth experience.

Question 29

The project manager leads by making things happen.

Question 30

Another way of encouraging project team development is to meet with project team members individually at the start of their project assignments and encourage them to take advantage of their assignments to expand their knowledge and skills.

Question 31

The project manager should never provide coaching.

Question 32

The effective project manager has a commitment to limiting the training and development of people working on the project.

Question 33

During individual meetings with the project team members, assess opportunities for growth by having the members identify what they learnt by working on the project.

Question 34

Project managers must be good communicators.

Question 35

A capable project manager provides opportunities for learning and development by encouraging individuals to assume the initiative, take risks, and make decisions.

Question 36

One way of encouraging project team development is to talk about the importance of self-development at project team meetings.

Question 37

A final way in which the project manager can develop people is by having them attend formal training sessions.

Question 38

Project managers need to communicate regularly with the project team, as well as with any subcontractors, the
customer, and their own company's upper management.

Question 39

The project manager has self-confidence and exhibits distrust in the project team members.

Question 40

Another thing the project manager can do is identify situations in which less experienced people can learn from more experienced people.

Question 41

Effective and frequent communication is crucial for keeping the project moving, identifying potential problems, soliciting suggestions to improve project performance, keeping abreast of customer satisfaction, and avoiding surprises.

Question 42

A high level of communication is especially important early in the project to build a competitive working relationship with the project team and to establish low expectations with the customer.

Question 43

Good interpersonal skills are essential for a project manager.

Question 44

Good project managers spend more time talking than listening.

Question 45

Good interpersonal skills enable a project manager to empathise with individuals when special circumstances arise.

Question 46

Only the good news should be shared promptly.The bad news should be kept secret by the project manager.

Question 47

Effective project managers communicate and share information in one way.

Question 48

Communication by project managers needs to be timely, honest, and ambiguous.

Question 49

The project manager should try to learn about the personal interests of each individual by being intrusive.

Question 50

Project managers must be able to handle the stress that can arise from work situations.

Question 51

Effective communication establishes credibility and builds trust.

Question 52

The project manager must create an atmosphere that fosters timely and open communication with a fear of reprisal.

Question 53

A project manager also needs good interpersonal skills to deal with disagreement or divisiveness among team
members.Such situations can require delicate handling on the project manager's part.

Question 54

An effective project manager develops and maintains the interpersonal relationships throughout the duration of the project.

Question 55

In informal conversations, the project manager should use open-ended questions and do a lot of listening.

Question 56

It's important that the project manager develop a relationship with each person on the project team.It requires making the time to have an informal conversation with each person on the project team and with each key individual in the customer's organisation.

Question 57

It's important for the project manager to provide timely feedback to the team and customer.

Question 58

A project manager needs good interpersonal skills to try to influence the thinking and actions of others.

Question 59

Communications require that the project manager have good verbal and written communication skills.

Question 60

The project manager establishes ongoing communication with the customer to keep the customer at a distance and to determine whether there are any changes in expectations.

Question 61

Good negotiating skills are essential for project managers.

Question 62

Effective negotiations strengthen relationships, not erode them.

Question 63

A project manager needs to be a good problem solver.

Question 64

The project manager needs to have a good sense of humour.

Question 65

The project manager must ignore cultural differences when negotiating.

Question 66

During the project life cycle, project managers encounter many occasions to employ their negotiating skills in interactions with the sponsor or customer, the project organisation's management, subcontractors, vendors, and end users of the project's end product.

Question 67

Stress is likely to be high when a project is in jeopardy of not meeting its objective.

Question 68

The project manager needs to use effective listening and to be able to make a persuasive case and clearly articulate her position on issues.

Question 69

Project managers must have self-discipline, be able to prioritise, and show a willingness to delegate.

Question 70

Good problem solving starts with the late identification of a problem or potential problem.

Question 71

The project manager should encourage project team members to identify problems early and solve them on their own or seek help if they need to.

Question 72

Good project managers manage their time well.

Question 73

The effective project manager is able to cope with constantly changing conditions.

Question 74

The project manager should panic; she or he has to look ruffled.

Question 75

Negotiating with customers or subcontractors involved in global projects can be particularly challenging.

Question 76

The project manager can improve her or his ability to handle stress by keeping physically fit through regular exercise and good nutrition.

Question 77

It is helpful if the project manager has developed a mistrusting relationship with the other person because this can provide a strong foundation for positive and robust negotiations.

Question 78

Used appropriately, humour can help a project manager handle the stress and break the tension.

Question 79

During the project life cycle, project managers encounter many occasions to employ their negotiating skills in interactions with the sponsor or customer, the project organisation's management, subcontractors, vendors, and end users of the project's end product.The subject of negotiations can be contract terms and conditions, obtaining specific resources to staff the project, subcontractor prices, vendor delivery schedules, payment for damages, the cost or schedule impact of changes, customer approval of designs, the need for rework if quality standards were not met, the best approach to resolve a technical performance issue, interpretation of acceptance criteria or test results, approaches to get the project back on track if it is behind schedule and/or over budget, and so on.

Question 80

In certain situations, the project manager needs to act as a buffer between the project team and either the customer or upper management.