PMP People — Leading Projects Practice Question
You are managing a global project with team members in three time zones. A key team member from the India office has been consistently missing deadlines, impacting the project's critical path. In a one-on-one meeting, you discover she is struggling with the work-from-home setup and lack of collaboration tools. What should you do FIRST?
⚠ Common exam trap
The trap here is that candidates often jump to punitive or escalatory actions (like a performance improvement plan or reassignment) without first attempting to remove the impediment, confusing a resource constraint with a performance issue.
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
✓
Work with the team member and IT to provide necessary tools and support
The correct first step is to address the root cause of the performance issue by providing the necessary tools and support. As a project manager, your primary responsibility is to remove impediments and enable the team member to succeed, especially when the issue is environmental (lack of collaboration tools) rather than a lack of skill or will. This aligns with the PMI's focus on servant leadership and proactive problem-solving.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
Work with the team member and IT to provide necessary tools and support
Why this is correct
As a project manager, a primary responsibility is to remove impediments and ensure team members have the necessary resources and environment to perform their tasks effectively. Collaborating with the team member directly to understand their specific needs and engaging IT support demonstrates proactive problem-solving and a commitment to team enablement, which is crucial for maintaining productivity and morale, especially in a global, remote setting.
- ✗
Initiate a formal performance improvement plan
Why it's wrong here
Initiating a formal performance improvement plan (PIP) is a premature and potentially demotivating action at this initial stage. A PIP is typically reserved for documented, persistent performance deficiencies after coaching, support, and resource provision have failed to yield improvement. Assuming a performance issue without first investigating and addressing potential environmental or resource-related obstacles is an inappropriate and unsupportive project management approach.
- ✗
Reassign her tasks to other team members
Why it's wrong here
Reassigning tasks to other team members is a reactive measure that fails to address the root cause of the issue and can lead to several negative consequences. This approach risks overloading other team members, potentially causing burnout, decreased morale, and delays in their own deliverables. Furthermore, it avoids resolving the original team member's impediment, leaving the underlying problem unaddressed for future tasks or projects.
- ✗
Escalate to the functional manager to reassign the team member
Why it's wrong here
Escalating to the functional manager for reassignment is an extreme and premature action that bypasses the project manager's primary responsibility to support their team. This step should only be considered as a last resort, after all attempts to provide necessary tools, support, and coaching have been exhausted and documented. Premature escalation can damage team trust, undermine the project manager's authority, and create unnecessary conflict with functional management.
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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.