What to Do First When Senior Engineers Disagree on Technical Approach
During the execution phase of a construction project, two senior engineers have a heated disagreement over the technical approach for a critical structural component. The conflict is causing delays and affecting team morale. As the project manager, what should you do FIRST?
Quick Answer
The answer is to meet with each engineer separately to understand their perspectives. This is correct because the Project Management Professional PMP conflict resolution process emphasizes gathering facts privately before any collaborative or directive action, ensuring the project manager understands the root cause of the technical disagreement without escalating emotions or damaging trust. On the PMP exam, this scenario tests your ability to apply the "first step" of conflict management—data collection—especially when senior engineers conflict over a technical approach; a common trap is jumping to a facilitated meeting or imposing a solution, which skips critical fact-finding. Remember the mnemonic "SIP" for conflict first steps: Separate, Investigate, then Proceed—always start by separating the parties to hear each side in private.
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates often choose Option C (making a decision yourself) because they confuse the PM's authority with the need for technical expertise, but the PM's role is to facilitate resolution, not impose a technical solution.
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
✓
Meet with each engineer separately to understand their perspectives
The PM should first gather facts privately from each engineer to understand the root cause of the technical disagreement without escalating emotions. This aligns with the PMP's conflict resolution process, which starts with data collection before any collaborative or directive action. Addressing the conflict openly or unilaterally could damage trust and miss critical technical nuances.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Meet with each engineer separately to understand their perspectives
Why this is correct
This allows the PM to gather facts and understand underlying issues before facilitating a resolution.
- ✗
Call a team meeting to resolve the conflict openly
Why it's wrong here
A public team meeting escalates the conflict into a forum for positional debate, which risks entrenching the engineers’ stances and damaging team cohesion further, rather than de-escalating the disagreement. This approach is tempting because facilitated open discussion can resolve misunderstandings when both parties are willing to collaborate; it would be correct if the engineers had already expressed a desire to find common ground and the conflict was not causing active delays.
- ✗
Make a decision yourself based on your technical expertise
Why it's wrong here
As a PM, you should facilitate resolution, not impose a solution, unless necessary.
- ✗
Ask the sponsor to mediate the conflict
Why it's wrong here
The PM should handle the conflict; escalating to sponsor prematurely is not recommended.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Introduction to the PMP Exam and Project Management Basics
Key term
Organizational Change Management
Organizational Change Management (OCM) is the structured approach to preparing, supporting, and guiding people through changes in an organization to ensure lasting success.
Key term
Project Team Management
Project Team Management is the process of leading, coordinating, and supporting a group of people to complete project tasks and achieve project objectives.
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Same concept, more angles
1 more way this is tested on PMP
These questions test the same concept from different angles. Work through them to make sure you can recognise it however the exam phrases it.
Variation 1. A project manager notices that two senior developers are in constant disagreement about the technical approach for a critical feature. The conflict is causing delays and lowering team morale. What should the project manager do first?
easy- A.Decide on the technical approach yourself and instruct the team.
- B.Escalate the issue to the project sponsor for a decision.
- C.Reassign the developers to different tasks to avoid further conflict.
- ✓ D.Facilitate a meeting with both developers to discuss their perspectives and find a compromise.
Why D: The project manager's first responsibility in a conflict between team members is to facilitate a collaborative resolution. By bringing both developers together to discuss their perspectives, the PM demonstrates servant leadership and leverages the team's expertise to find a compromise, which aligns with the PMP's focus on leading people and managing conflict constructively. This approach directly addresses the root cause—disagreement on technical approach—without imposing a top-down decision or avoiding the issue.
JA
Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This PMP practice question is part of Courseiva's free PMI certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the PMP exam.