CAPM Practice Question: Project Management Fundamentals and Core Concepts
You are a project manager in a functional organization managing a software upgrade project. The functional managers control resources and priorities. Your project requires a senior developer from the IT department for two weeks starting next Monday. The IT functional manager informs you that the developer is assigned to an urgent operational issue and cannot be released until further notice. The project has a fixed deadline in four weeks, and any delay will impact the next phase. You have already used your influence and escalated to senior management, but the functional manager insists on keeping the developer. What should you do next?
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Negotiate with the functional manager for partial release of the developer or a qualified replacement
In a functional organization, the project manager has limited authority over resources. Since the functional manager controls the developer's assignments, negotiating for a partial release (e.g., part-time work) or a qualified replacement is the most realistic next step to minimize project delay. Updating the schedule (A) would be premature without exhausting negotiation. Escalating to the CEO (B) may bypass the functional manager and damage relationships, and ordering the developer to work (D) is beyond the PM's authority in this structure.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Update the project schedule to reflect the delay and inform stakeholders
Why it's wrong here
Updating the schedule accepts the delay without first resolving the resource conflict through the functional manager's chain, so the fixed deadline is abandoned prematurely. It would be right once all negotiation and escalation routes are genuinely exhausted.
- ✗
Escalate the issue to the CEO to override the functional manager
Why it's wrong here
Escalating to the CEO repeats an escalation already made to senior management and ignores the functional manager's legitimate authority over resources. It would suit a projectised organisation where the project manager owns resource decisions, not this functional structure.
- ✓
Negotiate with the functional manager for partial release of the developer or a qualified replacement
Why this is correct
In a functional organisation the functional manager controls resource allocation, and escalation has already failed. Negotiating partial release or a qualified replacement secures some capacity without further confrontation, protecting the fixed four-week deadline while respecting that manager's authority over operational priorities.
- ✗
Direct the developer to work on the project despite the functional manager's order
Why it's wrong here
Directing the developer defies the functional manager's resource authority, which the project manager does not hold in a functional organisation. It would apply in a projectised structure where the project manager controls team assignments directly.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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