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PMP Practice: Analyze team members and stakeholders influence

Question 6 of 7 in Lead a Team

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Ananya Krishnamurthy is managing a twelve-month infrastructure upgrade project for Ambitious Napkin Inc. During the third month, two senior engineers—Rafael and Amara—begin openly disagreeing during team meetings about the network architecture approach. Their debates have become increasingly tense, with both engineers questioning each other's technical competence in front of the team. Yesterday, three other team members approached Dante privately, expressing concern that the conflict is making meetings uncomfortable and slowing down decisions. The project schedule shows that the architecture must be finalized within two weeks to avoid delaying subsequent phases. Dante has confirmed that both Rafael and Amara have strong technical credentials and have successfully delivered similar work on past projects. What should Ananya do to address this situation?
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Correct answer: Meet individually with Rafael and Amara to understand each person's perspective and concerns, then facilitate a collaborative session where both can work toward a mutually acceptable technical solution

Explanation

This scenario tests servant leadership principles, specifically how a project manager facilitates conflict resolution while empowering team members. The correct approach is to meet individually with each engineer first to understand their perspectives without the pressure of an audience, then bring them together in a collaborative problem-solving session. This demonstrates servant leadership by removing barriers (the public nature of the disagreement), fostering direct communication, and enabling the team members themselves to reach a solution. The scenario provides key facts that make this the best answer: both engineers are technically competent, the conflict is affecting team morale, and there is time pressure but not an emergency requiring immediate directive action. The individual meetings build trust and understanding, while the collaborative session keeps ownership of the technical solution with the experts rather than imposing a top-down decision.

**Why not A:** Reviewing the charter and making a unilateral architecture decision removes ownership from the technical experts. Both engineers have strong credentials and the PM is not the subject matter expert. A top-down decision would also fail to address the interpersonal conflict and its impact on team morale.

**Why not C:** Organizing a team workshop on professional communication treats the symptom (heated debates) rather than the root cause (a genuine technical disagreement). While respectful communication is important, the team needs the underlying technical conflict resolved, not just better manners during arguments.

**Why not D:** Escalating to functional managers passes responsibility to people outside the project without first attempting direct facilitation. The conflict is project-specific and within the PM's ability to address through direct engagement, and escalating prematurely could damage trust with both engineers.

Key Concept

This question covers Analyze team members and stakeholders influence under Lead a Team (People).

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