Exam Prep - The Resource Interface Chapter 10

Chapter 10 - The resource interface

Test Bank

Type: true-false

Title: Chapter 10 Question 1

01) The financial resources required for project delivery come from the supplier domain but the human and technological resources required are the responsibilities of the owner domain.

a. True

b. False

Type: true-false

Title: Chapter 10 Question 2

02) The most important resources on the project are human.

a. True

b. False

Type: matching question

Title: Chapter 10 Question 3

03) Resources are allocated to the project structure resulting from the design by the PBFs from their resource-based. A valuable tool for doing this is the RACI chart which consists of:

Feedback:

Resources are allocated to the project structure resulting from the design by the PBFs from their resource-based. A valuable tool for doing this is the RACI chart which consists of:

• • R stands for who is responsible for executing the task
  • A stands for who is accountable for assuring the task is executed properly
  • C stands for who needs to be consulted about task execution
  • I stands for who needs to be informed that it has started, finished, or both

A-head reference: 10.2

a. R = stands for who is accountable for assuring the task is executed properly

b. A = stands for who needs to be informed that it has started, finished, or both

c. C = stands for who is responsible for executing the task.

d. I = stands for who needs to be consulted about task execution

Type: true-false

Title: Chapter 10 Question 4

04) In the RACI chart, the difference between Responsible and Accountable is important. The Accountable person organizes execution of the task and leads the task execution team, while the Responsible person appoints the A-person, and ensures that the A-person delivers.

a. True

b. False

Type: matching question

Title: Chapter 10 Question 5

05) Within the project matrix, the balance between the responsibility of the project managers compared to the resource-base managers varies across different projects:

Feedback:

Within the project matrix, the balance between the responsibility of the project managers compared to the resource-base managers varies across different projects:

• Where resource-base managers have complete responsibility, the project manager has little more than a liaison role so this can be considered to be a functional project organization.
• Where the project manager has clear responsibilities for overall co-ordination, monitors progress and brokers competition for resources, but is, in the end reliant on the resource base managers to make appropriate allocations of resources to the project, this can be considered a lightweight project organization
• Where the converse is true, and the project manager has the stronger hand, overriding resource allocations made by resource base managers, then this is heavyweight project organization.
• Where the project manager has complete autonomy – including the possibility of hiring staff directly – then this is an autonomous project organization which is common on megaprojects.

A-head reference: 10.2

a. Functional project organization = Where the project manager has clear responsibilities for overall co-ordination, monitors progress and brokers competition for resources, but is, in the end reliant on the resource base managers to make appropriate allocations of resources to the project

b. Lightweight project organization = Where the converse is true, and the project manager has the stronger hand, overriding resource allocations made by resource base managers

c. Heavyweight project organization = Where the project manager has complete autonomy – including the possibility of hiring staff directly

d. Autonomous project organization = Where resource-base managers have complete responsibility, the project manager has little more than a liaison role

Type: true-false

Title: Chapter 10 Question 6

06) The allocation of human resources to project delivery organizations generates considerable tensions as project managers and resource-base managers compete for resources.

a. True

b. False

Type: true-false

Title: Chapter 10 Question 7

07) The agile working methods should ease resource allocation tensions because they eliminate the problem of schedule overrun and hence the retention of resources by a particular project when they are needed on another project.

a. True

b. False

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 10 Question 8

08) Regions – typically major cities – where the human resources required for the delivery of projects congregate :

a. Project networks

b. Smart cities

c. Project ecologies

d. Project portfolio

Type: multiple choice question

Title: Chapter 10 Question 9

09) Knowledge that is fully communicable between any two or more individuals. Knowledge that can be traded internationally in the form of intellectual property, or it can be held in secret as proprietary knowledge to gain competitive advantage:

a. Implicit knowledge

b. Stock of information

c. Tacit knowledge

d. Explicit knowledge

Type: matching question

Title: Chapter 10 Question 10

10) While utilizing knowledge as a resource is essential in SPO, and many organizations have established strategies for its acquisition and deployment, these often remain ineffective for a number of reasons:

Feedback:

While utilizing knowledge as a resource is essential in SPO, and many organizations have established strategies for its acquisition and deployment, these often remain ineffective for a number of reasons:

• Time. In many PBFs, delivering the current project and capturing the next project is the overwhelming priority. The time required to take a day for the post-project meeting, to add to the intranet database, to make presentations at professional conferences is all time that is not directly fee-earning.
• Incentives. The aim of organizational knowledge strategies is to turn individual learning into organizational learning. This means that incentives are required to encourage people to share their expertise. Where employment relationships are collegial, organizational culture can play an important role in generating incentives; where employment is casualized through project ecologies, there are positive disincentives to share personal learning organizationally.
• Centralization. There are important trade-offs between the centralization of knowledge capture within the organization so that diffusion is maximized, and its decentralization so that more intensive team learning is favoured. In many centralized IT-based systems, senior managers become arbiters of what is appropriate knowledge, and knowledge management becomes seen as a specialist function.

A-head reference: 10.5

a. Time = There are important trade-offs between the centralization of knowledge capture within the organization so that diffusion is maximized, and its decentralization so that more intensive team learning is favoured. In many centralized IT-based systems, senior managers become arbiters of what is appropriate knowledge, and knowledge management becomes seen as a specialist function.

b. Incentives = In many PBFs, delivering the current project and capturing the next is the overwhelming priority. The time required to take a day for the post-project meeting, to add to the intranet database, to make presentations at professional conferences is all time that is not directly fee-earning.

c. Centralization = The aim of organizational knowledge strategies is to turn individual learning into organizational learning. This means that incentives are required to encourage people to share their expertise. Where employment relationships are collegial, organizational culture can play an important role in generating incentives; where employment is casualized through project ecologies, there are positive disincentives to share personal learning organizationally.