PMP People — Leading Projects Practice Question
You are managing a distributed team across three time zones. A team member from the Asia office reports that they feel excluded from decision-making because key meetings are held during their late evening hours. What should you do first?
⚠ Common exam trap
Many candidates choose a seemingly efficient solution like recording meetings (Option D) or reading minutes (Option B), but these fail to address the human factor of inclusion and real-time engagement, which the PMP exam emphasizes over mere information dissemination.
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
✓
Rotate meeting times so that no single region is always disadvantaged
It directly addresses the root cause of exclusion by implementing a fair rotation of meeting times, ensuring no single time zone is consistently disadvantaged. This aligns with the PMP's emphasis on stakeholder engagement and team cohesion, particularly for distributed teams where time zone equity is critical to maintaining inclusion and collaboration.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Rotate meeting times so that no single region is always disadvantaged
Why this is correct
This directly addresses the challenge of distributed teams across time zones by ensuring equitable participation. It demonstrates a commitment to stakeholder engagement and fosters a sense of fairness, which is crucial for team morale and productivity. By distributing the inconvenience, the project manager actively mitigates the risk of disengagement and ensures all team members have opportunities for synchronous collaboration and input.
- ✗
Tell the team member that they can catch up by reading meeting minutes
Why it's wrong here
Relying solely on meeting minutes for catching up is a passive approach that fails to foster active participation and real-time collaboration. It can lead to feelings of exclusion and marginalization for the disadvantaged team members, as they miss opportunities to contribute directly, ask immediate questions, or engage in spontaneous discussions. This method neglects the importance of synchronous interaction for building team cohesion and ensuring all voices are heard in critical decision-making processes.
- ✗
Schedule all meetings at the same time regardless of time zones
Why it's wrong here
Scheduling all meetings at a fixed time, irrespective of team members' time zones, creates a consistent disadvantage for a specific group, forcing them to attend at inconvenient or unreasonable hours. This approach demonstrates a lack of consideration for team well-being and work-life balance, directly violating principles of inclusive project management. It inevitably leads to burnout, reduced engagement, and potential attrition among the consistently disadvantaged team members, hindering overall project performance.
- ✗
Record meetings and require the team member to watch them
Why it's wrong here
While recording meetings can provide information, simply requiring team members to watch recordings does not equate to active participation or inclusion. This method prevents real-time interaction, immediate clarification, and the ability to influence discussions or decisions as they happen. It treats the team member as a passive recipient of information rather than an active contributor, thereby failing to integrate them fully into the team's collaborative process and potentially diminishing their sense of ownership and belonging.
Go deeper
Related to this question
Learn chapter
Managing Conflicts and Communication
Key term
Project Management Plan
A formal, approved document that defines how a project is executed, monitored, controlled, and closed, serving as the single source of truth for the project team.
Key term
Stakeholder Engagement
Stakeholder engagement is the process of identifying people or groups who have an interest in a project and actively involving them through communication and collaboration to meet their needs and expectations.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
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