Project Management Exam II Flashcards (Practice)

Organizational Theory

A set of interrelated concepts that explain the behavior of individuals or groups interacting to accomplish a common goal.

Responsibility Assignment Matrix (RAM)

A matrix that describes the participation of various organizations, people, and their roles in completing tasks or deliverables for a project.

Authority

The right of an individual to make the necessary decisions required to achieve their objectives or responsibilities.

Responsibility

The assignment of completion for a specific task or activity.

Accountability

The acceptance of success or failure.

RACI Chart

A specific type of responsibility assignment matrix that charts roles as Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, or Informed.

Team Building

The process of making a group of people work together effectively as a team to increase motivation, cooperation, and outcomes.

Five Stages of Team Development (Tuckman & Jensen)

Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing, and Adjourning

Forming Stage

The first stage where members meet for the first time, discuss goals, individual roles, strategy, and ground rules.

Storming Stage

The stage experiencing conflict as individual personalities and work styles clash, often causing a drop in team performance.

Norming Stage

The stage where team members figure out how to work together, conflict subsides, and a sense of bonding and role consensus develops.

Performing Stage

The stage where the team is most cohesive, functions efficiently, displays high trust, and hits high levels of task productivity.

Adjourning Stage

The final stage (also known as termination or mourning) where the project wraps up, documentation is finalized, and the team disbands.

Issue Logs

A document used to record issues requiring solutions, assigning one owner to each issue to monitor resolution by a specific date.

Conflict Styles

Withdrawing/Avoiding

Forcing/Directing

Smoothing/Accommodating

Compromising/Reconciling

Collaborating/Problem Solving

Withdrawing/Avoiding (Conflict Style)

Retreating from conflict, avoiding, or postponing resolution (low effectiveness).

Forcing/Directing (Conflict Style)

Exerting one opinion over another, which destroys team morale and rarely provides a long-term solution (low effectiveness).

Smoothing/Accommodating (Conflict Style)

Emphasizing areas of agreement and downplaying differences to maintain harmony.

Compromising/Reconciling (Conflict Style)

Bargaining to some level of mutual satisfaction where both parties give up something to gain something.

Job Performance Formula

Performance is a function of the interaction between Motivation, Ability, and Environment

(Performance = Motivation x Ability x Environment)

McGregor’s Theory X

An authoritarian style assuming average workers are incapable, avoid responsibility, dislike work, and require constant supervision/micro-management.

McGregor’s Theory Y

A participative style assuming workers are willing to work without supervision, need little external motivation, and want to achieve.

Project Schedule

A timetable showing what needs to be done, start/end dates for activities, assigned resources, and the project due date.

Project Schedule Baseline

An approved project schedule that can only be modified through the formal change control process.

Activity

A distinct, scheduled portion or manageable chunk of work performed during a project, typically starting with an actionable verb.

Duration

The total number of work periods required to complete a schedule activity, excluding holidays and non-work periods.

Predecessor Activity

An activity that logically comes before a dependent activity in a schedule.

Successor Activity

A dependent activity that logically comes after another activity in a schedule.

Finish-to-Start (FS)

The most common dependency relationship where the predecessor activity must be completed before the successor can start.

Finish-to-Finish (FF)

A dependency where the predecessor activity must be completed before the successor activity can be completed.

Start-to-Start (SS)

A dependency where the predecessor activity must be started before the successor activity can be started.

Start-to-Finish (SF)

The rarest dependency where the predecessor activity must be started before the successor activity can be finished.

Lead Time

The amount of time a successor activity can be advanced or overlapped with respect to a predecessor activity.

Lag Time

The amount of time a successor activity can be advanced or overlapped with respect to a predecessor activity.

Analogous Estimating

Estimating duration or cost using historical data and expert judgment from similar past projects (fast and cheap, but less accurate).

Parametric Estimating

Estimating duration or cost using an algorithm or statistical multiplier based on project parameters (e.g., cost per unit or hours per kilometer).

One-Point / Bottom-Up Estimating

Estimating by breaking the WBS down to the lowest work packages, estimating each individually, and aggregating them up (most accurate, most time-consuming).

3-Point / PERT Estimating

A probabilistic estimating technique using a weighted average of Optimistic (O), Most Likely (M), and Pessimistic (P) time estimates.

PERT Expected Duration Formula

E = (O+4M+P)/6

PERT Standard Deviation Formula

SD = (P-O)/6

PERT Variance Formula

Variance = (SD)² = ((P-O)/(6))²

Critical Path

The longest sequence of activities through a network diagram that determines the shortest possible project duration; has zero slack.

Forward Pass

A CPM technique moving forward through the network from start to finish to calculate Early Start (ES) and Early Finish (EF) dates.

Backward Pass

A CPM technique moving backward through the network from project end to start to calculate Late Start (LS) and Late Finish (LF) dates.

Slack / Float

The amount of time a non-critical activity can be delayed without delaying the early start of the next activity or the overall project (Slack = LS-ES or LF-EF)

Critical Path Method (CPM)

A method used to estimate total project duration and plan large projects by using single, deterministic time estimates for each activity.

Key Focus of CPM

It focuses on identifying the longest sequence of activities in the network (the critical path) to determine the earliest possible completion date for the project.

Project Risk

An uncertain event or condition that, if it occurs, has a positive (opportunity) or negative (threat) impact on one or more project objectives.

Internal Risks

Risks faced from within the company or organization (e.g., inaccurate cost estimates, schedule overruns, poor morale).

External Risks

Risks completely outside the control of the project team that are difficult to predict (e.g., market shifts, new regulations, natural disasters).

Root Cause Analysis

An analytical technique used to determine the basic, underlying reason that causes a variance, defect, or risk.

Risk Trigger

An event or situation that indicates a specific risk is about to occur or has already occurred.

Risk Register

A living document tracking identified risks, their root causes, categories, probability, impact, potential responses, and assigned owners.

Risk Response Strategy

Acceptance

Mitigation

Transfer

Avoidance

Acceptance (Risk Responsive Strategy)

Adopting a wait-and-see attitude, doing nothing, or taking action only when triggers are met because the cure is more expensive than the consequences.

Mitigation (Risk Responsive Strategy)

Proactively taking active measures to reduce the probability or impact of a threat (e.g., training, buy vs. build).

Transfer (Risk Responsive Strategy)

Reducing probability or impact by shifting ownership to a third party (e.g., outsourcing or buying insurance).

Avoidance (Risk Responsive Strategy)

Eliminating the risk entirely by adopting an alternative approach or opting out of the risky scope component.

Qualitative Risk Analysis

Numerically estimating the effects of risks on project objectives, often using Expected Monetary Value (EMV).

Expected Monetary Value (EMV)

A quantitative tool calculating risk cost by multiplying the probability of occurrence.(P) by the impact/cost (I).

EMV = P x I