Report on the techniques of project management

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Reference no: EM13789611

1. There is no such thing as a project team with a(n) ____________.
a. deliverable
b. ongoing, nonspecific purpose
c. goal
d. project manager

2. A project that results in "doing the wrong things well" has ignored the _____________ goal.
a. budgetary
b. technical
c. customer satisfaction
d. scheduling

3. The technical side of project management emphasizes ______________.
a. team building
b. conflict management
c. negotiation
d. budgeting

4. The behavioral side of project management emphasizes ______________.
a. scheduling
b. leadership
c. planning
d. project selection

5. Geoffco's project manager names three individuals and requests a project budget of $3,000,000 for the new 8-Pod, a backpack-sized personal music player for 8-track tapes capable of holding up to 100 songs from the 60s and 70s. This important step takes place during ____________ of the project life cycle.
a. planning
b. conceptualization
c. execution
d. termination

6. The degree of risk associated with a project is typically at its highest during the ____________ phase.
a. conceptualization
b. planning
c. execution
d. termination

7. A spider web diagram is useful for ____________.
a. showing company performance on a number of criteria simultaneously
b. collecting data on how a competitor manages projects
c. identifying industry standards for project management maturity
d. coaching, evaluating and auditing projects

8. The project maturity model developed by the Center for Business Practices would have _____________ rings if a spider web diagram were used.
a. three
b. four
c. five
d. six

9. Which of these is not characteristic of a project?
a. Projects are responsible for the newest and most improved products, services and organizational processes.
b. Projects are ad hoc endeavors with a clear life cycle.
c. Projects provide a philosophy and strategy for the management of change.
d. Traditional process management functions of planning, organizing and controlling do not apply to project management.

10. Which of the following is not a project constraint?
a. the budget
b. the customer requirements
c. the schedule
d. the technical specifications

11. Projects differ from classic organizational processes because projects are ____________.
a. discrete activities
b. part of line organization
c. well established systems in place to integrate efforts
d. multi-objective

12. Process management features _____________ with respect to project management.
a. greater heterogeneity
b. greater certainty of performance
c. lower numbers of goals and objectives
d. lower adherence to established practices

13. Studies of IT projects reveal that _____________.
a. initial cost estimates are overrun by an average of 15%
b. over 66% of IT projects were delivered to customers but not used
c. about 25% of all IT projects become runaways by overshooting budgets and timetables
d. up to 75% of software projects are cancelled

14. A business reality that makes effective project management critical is the fact that _____________.
a. products are becoming increasingly simple
b. inflation is rampant
c. product life cycles are compressing
d. product launch windows are widening

15. A product is introduced into a market, gains the acceptance of a fickle public and is finally supplanted by a new and improved offering. This phenomenon is known as ____________.
a. the product life cycle
b. the rule of 80
c. the Mendoza line
d. the beta

16. External stakeholders that are external to a project but possess the power to effectively disrupt the project's development are ____________ groups.
a. intervenor
b. environmental
c. stressor
d. special-interest

17. Which of the following statements about clients is best?
a. Client refers to the entire customer organization.
b. Clients are concerned with receiving the project as quickly as they can possibly get it.
c. Client groups tend to have similar agendas.
d. A single presentation is best when dealing with all client groups in an organization so that everyone hears exactly the same message.

18. The tendency of employees in a functionally organized company to become fixated on their own concerns and work assignments to the exclusion of the needs of other departments is known as _____________.
a. layering
b. myopia
c. nepotism
d. siloing

19. The functional structure is well-suited when _____________.
a. there are low levels of external uncertainty
b. there is high instability in the environment
c. project coordination is assigned to the lowest levels in an organization
d. there must be rapid response to external opportunities and threats

20. The manager of the Super Burrito Project is in the midst of an important project team meeting but Fred Fromage, the representative from the Cheese department, is nowhere to be found. After a brief investigation, it is determined that Fred's manager in the Cheese department has other plans for Fred's time and efforts over the next several days and he simply won't be available for Super Burrito Project work. The organizational structure being used here is unquestionably a ______________.
a. strong matrix
b. weak matrix
c. project organization
d. chevre organization

21. A major weakness of a matrix organizational structure for project management occurs when _____________.
a. the environment is dynamic
b. resources are scarce and shared between functional responsibilities and the competing project
c. the number of human resource coordination meetings is considered
d. one considers the dual importance of project management and functional efficiency

22. The PMO is used to protect and support the skill of project management under the _____________ model.
a. resource pool
b. weather station
c. control tower
d. project

23. The PMO is used to maintain and provide a cadre of skilled and trained project professionals, as needed, under the _____________ model.
a. control tower
b. cadre
c. weather station
d. resource pool

24. A writer estimates it will take three months to generate spiffy documents to accompany a seminal work in operations management. He grossly underestimates the time required and misses his deadline by two months. This estimate was ____________ and ____________.
a. objective; accurate
b. subjective; accurate
c. objective; inaccurate
d. subjective; inaccurate

25. A wedding planner allows $10,000 for flowers and three weeks to receive all RSVPs back from the list of 700 guests. Both estimates are correct within a fraction of a percent. We could describe this factoid as ____________ and ____________.
A) numeric; ubjective
B) numeric; objective
C) nonnumeric; subjective
D) nonnumeric; objective

26. The efficient frontier in project management is the set of portfolio options that offer a _____________ return for a _____________ risk.
a. minimum; minimum
b. minimum; maximum
c. maximum; minimum
d. maximum; maximum

27. Which statement about the use of the profile model is best?
a. The profile model requires careful calculation of the percentage risk for each possible project.
b. The scale used for the profile model can be any two numerical variables that a company deems important.
c. The efficient frontier in the profile model is where return is 100% (or greater) and risk is 0%.
d. For a given level of risk, a positive move on the return axes would indicate a superior project.

28. Regardless of which selection method a firm uses, it should always _____________.
a. be able to predict how much revenue will be returned to the firm each year
b. know which project will ultimately succeed and which ones will fail
c. be objective in their selection method
d. use a weighted scoring technique

29. The systematic process of selecting, supporting and managing a firm's collection of projects is called _____________.
a. heavyweight project management
b. matrix project organization
c. profile management
d. project portfolio management

30. The concept of project portfolio management holds that firms should _____________.
a. regard all projects as unified assets
b. manage projects as independent entities
c. focus on short-term strategic goals
d. focus on long-term constraints

31. A project with the chance for a big payout may be funded if an important criterion is _____________.
a. cost
b. opportunity
c. top management pressure
d. risk

32. Group maintenance behavior would be exhibited by a project manager that ______________.
a. provides the necessary support and technical assistance
b. plans and schedules activities and resources appropriately
c. contributes to the completion of project assignments
d. works with subordinates to understand their problems

33. The group maintenance behavior of gatekeeping helps to ______________.
a. increase and equalize participation
b. reduce tension and hostility
c. regulate behavior
d. increase and equalize participation

34. The task-oriented behavior of summarizing accomplishes which specific outcome?
a. check on understanding and assess progress
b. guide and sequence discussion
c. check on agreement
d. increase comprehension

35. Tim slapped together his first webpage and proudly showed it to all his colleagues, pointing out what he thought were obvious and overwhelming advantages in simplicity and portability. His championing of webpages that he had read about in a trade journal ultimately shamed everyone else into adopting a web-based approach for all communication and cemented his status as a true ______________.
a. creative originator
b. entrepreneur
c. godfather
d. project manager

36. Michael wants to carry out his mentor's long range strategic vision of expanding the company's customer base by entering the casino business in Las Vegas. He issues a series of memos that explain the importance of these projects and makes sure that all necessary resources are at the disposal of the project management team, which is fortunate to have such a(n) _____________.
a. creative originator at the helm
b. entrepreneur
c. godfather
d. project manager

37. Which of the following is a traditional duty of a project champion?
a. cheerleader
b. visionary
c. politician
d. technical understanding

38. Which of the following is a nontraditional role of a project champion?
a. cheerleader
b. leadership
c. administrative
d. control

39. In order to allocate costs more precisely, a company will assign ______________.
a. bar codes to each activity
b. activity codes to each subdeliverable
c. WBS codes to each activity
d. level 4 codes to each package element

40. Which of these statements about subdeliverables is best?
a. Subdeliverables have durations of their own.
b. Subdeliverables consume resources.
c. Subdeliverables have direct, assignable costs.
d. Subdeliverables summarize the outcomes of work packages.

41. A young professor becomes obsessed with the latest release of Halo and completely loses sight of his research commitment to his colleagues, falling hopelessly behind schedule and consuming 80% of the department's computing budget. Addictive behavior not with standing, this sad tale would never have happened had ____________.
a. configuration controls been established
b. trend monitoring been regularly performed
c. design controls been appropriately deployed
d. document control been conducted assiduously

42. Systems for monitoring the project's scope, schedule, and costs during the design stage fall under the heading of _____________ control.
a. configuration
b. acquisition
c. design
d. specification

43. As the 80th change order floated across his desk, the project manager wished that he had kept the first seventy-nine. What money he had saved in scrap paper might as well be lost in charges that could never be recouped from the client. What he needs is better ___________.
a. trend monitoring
b. configuration control
c. specification control
d. document control

44. Which step in project management requires project managers to consider the types of records and reports they and their clients will require at the completion of the project?
a. project closeout
b. completion phase
c. reporting
d. planning

45. A priori consideration of information needs is performed ______________.
a. several years after a project is completed
b. before a project begins
c. at the start of a project
d. during the project

46. Conflict begins as team members begin to resist authority and demonstrate hidden agendas and prejudices in the _____________ stage of group development.
a. storming
b. performing
c. forming
d. norming

47. Everyone in the Tagi tribe agreed to vote out Gervasse at the next tribal council. Their 39-day project to make it to the final four together was two steps away from completion. This project group is in the ______________ stage of group development.
a. storming
b. performing
c. forming
d. norming

48. It appeared that everyone on the project team was finally on board; Jim would bring the doughnuts to all team meetings and Jenny would make the coffee. Fully caffeinated and on a sugar high, the team was coming together and fully committed to the project development process. The team was now planted firmly in the _____________ stage of group development.
a. storming
b. forming
c. norming
d. performing

49. "Our work here is done," the project leader shouted as he surveyed the scene. "Go home and reflect on what you've accomplished and I'll see you at the world premiere once we're all immortalized in a feature-length movie." This project team is in the _____________ stage of
group development.
a. forming
b. norming
c. performing
d. adjourning

50. The use of electronic media including e-mail, internet and teleconferencing to link geographically dispersed members creates a(n) ______________ team.
a. electronic
b. virtual
c. telegenic
d. cyber

51. The two main challenges for virtual teams include ______________.
a. maintaining autonomy
b. automating monotony
c. building trust
d. the bullwhip effect

52. Virtual teams are often slowed down by difficulty with ______________.
a. superordinate goals
b. task reliance
c. punctuated equilibrium
d. communication

53. Project penalty clauses that initiate at mutually agreed-on points in the project's development and implementation are ______________.
a. liquidated damages
b. milestone adjustments
c. contingency clauses
d. penalty points

54. The firm set aside a little extra money just in case an unforeseen element of cost pushed the project beyond what they had budgeted. This extra money is called a(n) ______________.
a. rainy day fund
b. contingency reserve
c. escalation clause
d. sinking fund
55. The mouse executive board meeting was drawing to a conclusion; the only way they would be able to detect the presence of the cat was to tie a bell around its tail. Under their risk management identification scheme, this would fall under ______________ risk.
a. commercial
b. execution
c. financial
d. technical
56. A method for conducting risk factor identification that consolidates the judgments of isolated, anonymous respondents is _____________.
a. a brainstorming meeting
b. the Delphi method
c. past history
d. multiple assessments

57. A method for conducting risk factor identification that generates ideas but doesn't focus on decision-making is ______________.
a. a brainstorming meeting
b. the Delphi method
c. past history
d. multiple assessments

58. The consequences of failure categories of cost, schedule reliability and performance were believed to be 0.2, 0.6, 0.5 and 0.7. What is the overall consequence of failure?
a. 0.2
b. 0.3
c. 0.4
d. 0.5

59. Input is received from an organization's management to create a project budget in ______________ budgeting.
a. zero-based
b. top-down
c. bottom-up
d. activity-based

60. An advantage of top-down budgeting is ______________.
a. that top management estimates of project costs are often quite accurate, at least in aggregate terms.
b. an elimination of the friction between top and lower levels in the competition for budget money.
c. that projects are no longer a zero-sum game among lower level managers
d. top management budgets, by definition, cannot experience overruns

61. A budget that is created by starting with the work breakdown structure, determining costs for each work package and then adding these costs together is ______________ budgeting.
a. zero-based
b. top-down
c. bottom-up
d. activity-based

62. When properly performed, bottom-up budgeting has the disadvantage of _____________.
a. a lack of detail needed in project plans
b. a lack of coordination among project managers and functional department heads
c. being a hindrance to top managers when prioritizing projects that are competing for the same scarce resources
d. a reduction of top management's control of the budget process to one of oversight

63. What learning rate is being demonstrated if the first unit takes 15 hours and the third unit takes 14 hours to complete?
a. greater than or equal to 97 percent
b. less than 97 percent but greater than or equal to 95 percent
c. less than 95 percent but greater than or equal to 93 percent
d. less than 93 percent

64. It took 80 hours of analysis to complete the first phase, but the second phase was done in 74 hours. If this learning rate continues, then the 8th analysis should take a mere ____________ hours and ____________ minutes, give or take.
a. 63; 20
b. 68; 30
c. 57; 15
d. 52; 45

65. Which of these indirect costs is typically classified as an overhead cost?
a. advertising
b. shipping
c. sales commissions
d. taxes

66. These can be located by doing a backward pass through a network.
a. critical paths
b. merge activities
c. successors
d. burst activities

67. An activity with two or more immediate predecessors is a(n) _______________.
a. merge activity
b. burst activity
c. float activity
d. event

68. An activity has an optimistic time estimate of 7 days, a most likely estimate of 12 days and a pessimistic estimate of 20 days. What is the expected standard deviation of the activity?
a. between 2 and 3
b. between 3 and 4
c. between 4 and 5
d. between 5 and 6

69. Activity Z has estimates a=5, b=10, m=7; activity X has estimates a=4, b=11, m=6; and activity Y has estimates a=3, b=12, m=8. Which of the following statements is most accurate?
a. Activity X is longer than Activity Y
b. Activity X has a higher standard deviation than Activity Z
c. Activity Z is shorter than Activity Y
d. Activity Y has a smaller variance than Activity Z

70. There's an old saying, "The job is not finished until the paperwork is done." From an activity network standpoint, this does not necessarily mean that the paperwork can't begin until the last non paperwork activity is completed. It might be possible to work on some paperwork as early activities are completed. In order to depict this in an activity network, ______________.
a. hammock activities could be drawn
b. subroutines could be added
c. shortcuts can be added to the network
d. laddering could be used to redraw the network

71. One approach to reducing project length would be to ______________.
a. convert parallel paths to be serial
b. convert merge activities to burst activities
c. use hammock activities in place of multiple activities
d. eliminate tasks on the critical path

72. A project's duration can be reduced by ______________.
a. shortening the duration of critical path tasks
b. adding tasks to the critical path
c. adding shorter routes around the critical path
d. completing the backward pass first

73. A basic Gantt chart _____________.
a. clearly displays early and late start and finish times for all activities
b. cannot be used to track the project's progress
c. permits scheduling resources well before they are needed
d. shows dummy activities to preserve network logic

74. If an activity's cost is plotted against its duration on axes with zeros at the origin, the slope of the line is _____________.
a. positive because it costs more to finish an activity more quickly
b. negative because a shorter activity costs less than a longer one
c. negative because it costs more to finish an activity more quickly
d. positive because a longer activity costs more than a shorter one

75. An activity on arrow network _____________.
a. cannot have more arrows than nodes
b. cannot have more nodes than arrows
c. has one more node than arrows
d. has one more arrow than nodes

76. The best approach to network representation of a large and hugely complex project is to _____________.
a. represent all activities and relationships
b. simplify network logic and reduce it to the most meaningful relationships
c. use AOA
d. use AON

77. CCPM advocates performing all noncritical activities ______________.
a. as late as possible
b. as early as possible
c. before starting the critical path
d. after completing the critical path

78. An important departure from traditional project management is that critical chain project management logic ______________.
a. changes from a late finish to an early start approach
b. factors in the effects of resource contention
c. adjusts expected activity durations to reflect a 95% probability of completion on time
d. creates a separate safety margin for each activity in the project

79. In order to resolve a resource conflict, it is advisable to ______________.
a. work backwards from the end of the project
b. work forwards from the start of the project
c. begin activities at their earliest possible start time
d. complete activities at their earliest possible finish time

80. When choosing the most viable solution to resource conflict issues, the best option is the one that ______________.
a. minimizes total network slack
b. minimizes total network schedule disruption
c. maximizes total network slack
d. maximizes activity late start times

81. A system-wide constraint is called a ______________.
a. rope
b. resource
c. drum
d. chain

82. Successful implementation of CCPM depends on first _____________.
a. identifying the critical chain that meanders through the project organization's portfolio of projects.
b. identifying the constraint that holds hostage the project organization's other resources
c. examining and changing the culture of the project organization
d. exploiting the drum by using it to subordinate the existing PERT network

83. The best method for establishing the existence of resource conflicts across project activities uses _____________.
a. Gantt charts
b. network diagrams
c. Pareto diagrams
d. resource-loading charts

84. A measurement process that determines the project goals and then the degree to which the actual performance lives up to these goals is ______________.
a. metric system
b. goal-performance linkage
c. five degrees of separation
d. gap analysis

85. Penalty clauses for schedule slippage are sometimes referred to as _______________.
a. liquidated damages
b. punitive damages
c. temporal assessments
d. late fees

86. A tracking Gantt chart cannot show ______________.
a. the reason an activity has slipped
b. which activities are ahead of schedule
c. which activities are on schedule
d. which activities are behind schedule

87. A tracking Gantt chart does not allow for ______________.
a. looking at today's activity progress and determining whether a single activity is behind scheduled
b. future projections of the project's status
c. looking at today's activity progress and determining whether the entire project is behind schedule
d. looking at today's activity progress and determining whether a single activity is ahead of schedule

88. It is possible to measure _____________ with the tracking Gantt chart.
a. only positive deviations from the schedule baseline
b. only negative deviations from the schedule baseline
c. both positive and negative deviations from the schedule baseline
d. both positive and negative deviations from the budget

89. If significant deviations from the project plan are detected, corrective action is taken and then _____________.
a. the monitoring and control cycle begins a new
b. project goals are adjusted to reflect current reality
c. the project stakeholders are informed of the budget or time difficulties
d. the critical chain is reviewed for task dependency

90. The classic project S-curve is a plot of ______________.
a. labor hours versus money expended
b. money expended versus elapsed time
c. elapsed time versus labor hours
d. number of personnel versus days behind schedule

91. A measurement process that determines the project goals and then the degree to which the actual performance lives up to these goals is _____________.
a. metric system
b. goal-performance linkage
c. five degrees of separation
d. gap analysis

92. Earned value management jointly considers the impact of ______________.
a. time, cost and planned cost
b. project performance, planned performance and cost
c. performance, cost and time
d. planned cost, planned performance and time

93. Which of these concerns does not belong in the assessment of team performance in a project final report?
a. Were the stakeholder's concerns addressed?
b. Were the best people in the organization selected to work on this project?
c. How were our project team members trained for their duties?
d. Does the project manager have the ability to evaluate worker performance?

94. A final report section on the techniques of project management would include an honest assessment of whether the ______________.
a. benefits promised to the client were actually delivered
b. resource costs could be better estimated
c. project workers came together as a team
d. the project finished on time

95. The primary goal in requiring a project final report is to _____________.
a. formally close-out the project
b. provide the customer with a sense of completion
c. lay the groundwork for successful future projects
d. find out the root cause for all failures, both major and minor

96. The project final report is fundamentally ______________.
a. a historical record
b. a review of human activity
c. window dressing for the project
d. a forward-looking document

97. In nonbinding arbitration, _____________.
a. the judge can offer suggestions for dispute resolution but cannot enforce these opinions.
b. the two parties agree to open up, or unbind, their books for inspection by the other party.
c. the client and project organizations both agree to perform exactly what the judge decrees.
d. the client and project organizations are not bound by the rules of law.

98. The goal of a lessons learned meeting is to recapitulate the series of events _____________.
a. as subjectively as possible
b. from the project manager's viewpoint
c. as intuitively as possible
d. from all possible viewpoints

99. Some of the greatest challenges facing project teams during termination is ______________.
a. maintaining the energy and motivation to finish
b. providing accurate data for the project final report
c. providing accurate root cause analysis for the project final report
d. finding another project to begin

100. An example of an external intellectual issue is the _______________.
a. control of charges to the project
b. screening of partially completed tasks
c. identification of outstanding commitments
d. determinants of requirements for audit trail data

Reference no: EM13789611

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