INST335 Exam 2 Review, With Complete Solution

INST335 Exam 2 Review, With Complete Solution What are the four project life-cycle phases? The four phases are as follows: Initiation - This is when the project's brief description and other aspects are laid out and a determination of the solution's viability is made. Planning - This is where the project solution is further developed in as much detail as possible and the steps necessary to meet the project's objective are planned. Implementation - This is where the project plan is laid out and the work on the project begins. Closure - This is where the final deliverable is delivered to stakeholders and an analysis of lessons learned is done. Anissa, a project manager for Realtime Results, Inc., is facing a situation where the client is asking for more features for their database application than initially planned. What situation is Anissa facing? The client's behavior represents the notion of scope creep, where there are new requirements that created during a project. Why is communication important to any organization? Communication is important to organizations because, it helps transmit information, coordinate effort and lastly share emotions and feelings. Effective communication helps employees understand issues, build rapport with co-workers and achieve consensus. What are the forms of decision making according to Bauer et al.? The three forms of decision making are: 1. autocratic decision-making: This is where the leaders make decisions without the involvement of employees. 2. democratic decision-making: This decision making form allows employees to participate in decision making. 3. laissez-faire decision-making: This decision making form allows the employees to make decisions without much aid or assistance from the leader. What is corporate social responsibility? CSR is how companies manage their business processes to positively impact society. Is jargon the same as information overload? No both these terms refer to different problems that arise in communication. Jargon is when people do not understand certain terms because it is used more frequently within people of the same profession, while information overload results from being unable to understand too much information at the same time. How does a project team develop a project schedule? A project schedule is created when the team conducts an analysis of the project's scope, contract and other information that helps define the deliverables needed for the project. How are the two project methodologies Agile and the waterfall approach? The agile methodology is a more adaptive approach where the project's requirements, scope and fundability have uncertainty, there are unexperienced teams which self manage themselves, and the product is delivered incrementally. On the other hand, the waterfall approach is used in situations where project and product requirements can be defined, collected and analyzed at the beginning of a project; The uncertainty is reduced at the beginning stage, as well. Sam is looking for articles on the web that will help him do research. He comes across a Wikipedia article where he finds significant information, but can't seem to verify the author's credibility. What barrier of communication is being demonstrated and why? In this problem, the problem of lack of source credibility is what's causing Sam to not find out if the author is reliable or not. The communication between the audience and the article was not done properly in that the author didn't specify his credentials and that caused the problem. What is the difference between the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) chart and a Gantt chart? The difference between these two charts is that the work breakdown structure chart into manageable and logically ordered tasks and subtasks, and the Gantt chart describes tasks that must be completed in relation to one another. What is the definition of negotiation? A process in which two or more parties exchange goods and agree on an exchange rate for them. What are the steps in the conflict process? The steps of conflict are: 1. Potential opposition or incompatibility - This is where the conditions for a conflict emerge among the group or people. 2. Cognition and personalization - In this stage, the two parties/individuals feel a conflict; they perceive that there is a misunderstanding that must be resolved and have emotional involvement in the conflict. 3. Intentions - This stage is where the intentions of each side are known. 4. Behavior - This stage is where a conflict becomes visible in the form of statements, actions and reactions made by conflicting parties. 5. Outcomes - This is the stage where there is an outcome caused by the conflict; this can be functional or dysfunctional. Sofia is trying to sell a used laptop to Darius; they are haggling over the price. Sofia wants at least $100, but Darius doesn't want to spend more than $110. This type of negotiation is called: This situation is called distributive bargaining, because, over here there is a situation where Sofia wants to sell the laptop for 100$, but Darius does not have that much money. Overall this would be a situation where one party gains something in exchange for a loss for the other side. What are the four steps in organizational control? The four steps are: (1) establish standards, (2) measure performance, (3) compare performance to standards, and then (4) take corrective action as needed What is the definition of Corporate Social Performance? Corporate Social Performance (CSP) is the measure of an organization's commitment to individuals, community and the environment. What is the difference between Management by Exception vs Management by Walking Around? The difference between the two management techniques is that MBE allows employees to complete their tasks by themselves and consult their employers if an unusual situation arises, but on the other hand MBWA is an unstructured form of management where managers informally visit their employers and check-in with them. They listen to complaints and collect qualitative information. How can strong controls control costs and productivity levels? Strong organizational controls can help managers budget costs where they compare actual expenses to forecasted ones, and productivity can be controlled by comparing how much each person can produce in terms of services and products. How can a Balanced Scorecard be useful for organizations? A balanced scorecard translates a business' mission and vision into goals and objectives; it also enables for the performance monitoring towards these goals. What is the difference between the Leader-member exchange theory and the path-goal theory? The difference between the two theories is that the leader-member exchange theory emphasizes the need for leaders to have high levels of trust with members, while path-goal theory places importance on employees getting rewarded for their performance. What are the two leader behaviors discussed in chapter 9? The two leader behaviors discussed are: task-oriented behaviors and people oriented ones. What exactly is conflict? Conflict is defined as a situation where one party perceives that another party has negatively affected or is about to affect something that the first party cares most about. What is the essential purpose of the corporate goals pyramid? The purpose of the pyramid is to explain what the foundation is for a corporate goal. The goal stems from data sources, business processes, and metrics like corporate KPIs and KRIs. What is the Management by Objectives (MBO) approach to setting goals? The Management by Objectives (MBO) approach is where the organization increases its performance by aligning subordinate objectives with overall goals set by management. Why is information overload a problem? Information overload is a problem because, it puts the individual in pressure to understand far more than they can actually understand. The crash of Avianca Flight 052 from Bogata, Columbia to New York had a number of causes. Which communication problem was a cause? The reasons that explain the Avianca flight 52 crash are: failure to manager fuel and the failure to communicate the critical emergency fuel situation. The miscellaneous causes were the weather, inadequate traffic flow management by the FAA and crew fatigue. What are the 5 big personality traits? ● Openness: The degree to which a person is open to new ideas, is curious, original, intellectual, and creative to new ideas. ● Conscientiousness: The degree to which a person is dependable, organized, systematic, punctual and achievement oriented. ● Extraversion: The degree to which a person is outgoing, talkative, sociable, and enjoys socializing. ● Agreeableness: This refers to the degree to which a person is nice, tolerant, sensitive, trusting, kind and warm. This is basically referring to how "nice" a person is to others. ● Neuroticism: This is how moody you are. In other words, it is about how likely your moods fluctuate. How is Maslow's hierarchy of needs an obsolete theory? The reason why Maslow's theory is obsolete is because it was based on observations done on people in clinical settings. It did not consider people being in work settings. Moreover, researchers failed to support the arguments that once a need is satisfied it no longer serves as a motivator and that only one need is dominant at a given time How are the needs based theories different from process based theories of motivation? The two classes of theories are different because they explain that people are motivated by different means; need based theories state that people are motivated to meet their individua l needs while on the other hand, process based theories see motivation as a rational process where individuals perceive their environment, analyze it, develop reactions and feelings and respond in certain ways. What does the Project Management 2nd edition define a project to be? A project is defined as any task that is temporary, has a definitive end and start date, is unique not a set of repetitive tasks. Also the completion of a project happens when the project's goals are met or it is no longer viable. What are the constraints for any project? The constraints for every project are: - Cost - Scope - Quality - Risk - Resources - Time How are outcome and behavioral controls important in organizational control? These two forms of control are important because outcome controls are controls used to control outcomes like production and tangible results, while behavioral controls involve evaluation of managerial and employee decision making. What exactly is the PMBOK? The PMBOK is a book that contains the fundamental knowledge required for managing projects and the knowledge is split in these areas: 1. Project performance domains 2. Tailoring 3. Models, methods and artifacts What defines successful projects? A successful project is one that meets or exceeds the stakeholder's requirements. Requirements include price, time, the money earned, number of people who bought it, etc.