E2 Practice Exam Questions with Answers Project and Relationship Management Certification

Hersey and Blanchard developed a theory of situational leadership which suggested that successful leaders should change their leadership style according to the maturity of the subordinates they are leading. This includes an assessment of their professional ability and their readiness to undertake set tasks.

Based on this theory, which leadership style would be best suited to a subordinate showing the highest levels of maturity, readiness, ability and willingness to tackle the work available?

Project management software packages may offer the automatic recalculation of a task duration if the resources allocated to the task are changed by the project manager.  The software considers the amount of work already defined and recalculates the duration of the task based on the changed resources.

Consider the following Task which has two Technical Authors assigned full-time for the entire 30 day duration of the task.

If a third Technical Author is now allocated full-time to the Documentation task, the planned duration of the task could be recalculated as  ?  days.

The means by which competitive advantage might be gained differs, depending on whether a resource based approach or a positioning approach is adopted.

Which of the following options characterises the resource based approach?

Select ALL that apply:

Michael Porter argued that nations can develop advanced business environments that are conducive to business development and lead to firms from one nation gaining a competitive advantage over firms from other countries. Porter used a diamond shaped diagram as the basis of a framework to illustrate and analyse the determinants that lead to national advantage.

Which of the following factors are present within the diamond framework?

Select ALL that apply.

WBS organisation has recruited a new project manager to manage the implementation of a new accounting package for its UK division.

The previous project manager created a hostile environment for the team involved in developing the new system.

How could the new project manager foster a more motivated team environment?

A mission statement describes the organisation's basic function in society. Which of the following is NOT an element of a mission statement?

The initial Balanced Scorecard design, defined by Kaplan and Norton, used four perspectives (or legs) for management control and the implementation of strategy. What are the FOUR original perspectives?

F Company is an international fast food company and is committed to the rational model for strategy.

A senior team has carried out a comprehensive study of the environment in which it currently operates, its resources, distinctive competences and a corporate appraisal. The mission and objectives have been set in accord with stakeholder directives, which are based on twin objectives to grow profits by 5% year on year and become one of the top 100 global brands.

The team has generated a short-list of different strategic initiatives which it believes may deliver the primary objectives required by the stakeholders. Each initiative has been examined separately on its merits in terms of feasibility, suitablity and acceptablity. As many factors as possible have been taken into account such as market analysis, economic growth and competitors.

In terms of the rational model, select the actions that the company has now carried out:

Philip Kotler outlined four levels of competition being faced by most business organisations operating in competitive environments. He based the four levels largely on the degree of product substitutability. These are brand, industry, form and generic competitors.

Analyse the level and type of competition between a 5-star hotel in London (marketed as the "World's greatest hotel") and a global chain of hotels with hundreds of hotels across the world.

Select the level of competition that describes the nature of their competition.

X is a major energy company and has discovered substantial onshore shale gas reserves in a rural part of the country. With new "fracking" technology, underground gas production could be profitable, provide jobs for local people and boost the local economy. This would require the purchase of large areas of land, without which the projects could not proceed.

Although local landowners were generally pleased to sell land to X at high prices, the reactions of local residents were less favourable as they were very concerned about the environmental impact.

Although their powers were limited, their influence on local councils was more significant. Every new fracking site was subject to strict planning controls and local councils controlled this process.

Using Mendelow's stakeholder management theory, which stakeholder group should be categorised as high interest/low power - with a strategy of "keep informed" (unless their power and influence start to increase)?

Charles Handy described organisational culture as:

A large multinational organisation, with financial processing centres in several countries in which it operates, has chosen to consolidate these activities on one site or, in other words, into a Shared Service Centre (SSC).

Which THREE of the following are drawbacks of an SSC?

V is the owner of a small jewellery business which deals exclusively in pearls. The business has built up an excellent network of suppliers which deliver a steady stream of high quality pearls to its workshops, where a team of highly skilled craftsmen turn basic pearls into items of jewellery. V feels that no other company has such a talented and valuable workforce and believes their skills are rare and difficult if not impossible to imitate. They are the key to the company's sustainable competitive advantage and success.

What is the approach to strategy which proposes that competitive advantage is achieved from the organisation's unique assets or competences?

X is a manufacturing company that has achieved long term success by understanding the structure of its industry, and where necessary changing its strategy in order to achieve improved performance by outperforming its competitors.

Success has depended on the company exploiting the underlying economic factors (such as economies of scale) better than its competitors and maintaining this over time, so achieving sustainable competitive advantage.

Researchers would call this an "outside-in" approach to strategy, with the company choosing a strategy that responds to the challenges and changes posed by the external environment.

Which type of strategy is X adopting?

Which of the following initiatives and schemes should be undertaken as a formal project?

Select ALL that apply.

China, Korea, Japan and Vietnam are high context cultures. 

In business relationships in high context cultures, which THREE of the following are typical?

Harvey Maylor defined four stages in the life cycle of a project. This became known as the 4D model.

Match the correct stage to each activity.

Every project has constraints. When running a project it is critical that the constraints are known.

What are the primary constraints in a project?

Which TWO of the following are soft elements of culture highlighted in the McKinsey 7-S Model?

With reference to Herzberg's motivation-hygiene concept (two-factor theory) relating to employee motivation, which of the following is a correct interpretation of his findings?

H is the owner of a motorcycle dealership in Los Angeles which provides sales, repair and servicing of very large motorcycles, typically with engines larger than 1000cc. Over the years H has built up a renowned team of highly skilled technicians that are experts in this particular size of motorcycle. H believes that their skills are rare and difficult, if not impossible, to imitate by any competitor in the region.

Despite this advantage the company has been suffering from declining profits in the past three years and the marketing consultant has advised H to change the focus of the company towards small 50cc mopeds and scooters - because that "is clearly what the market is now wanting".

The change being proposed is:

Mintzberg describes various forms of strategy and labels each form. Which of the following options contains the correct matching of label with description?

With respect to the management of quality on projects, which of the following statements is true?

A Company is undertaking a project for the first time and has given the Finance Manager the task of managing the project. He has been advised to use PERT, as it will help him with his Critical Path Analysis (CPA).

What information will the calculation using PERT provide the Finance Manager with to use in his CPA?

A project team is engaged in a risk assessment process prior to the execution of a major project. One risk is assessed to be of low impact but medium likelihood (probability). In these circumstances the appropriate response is:

In the UK there is a principles based approach to corporate governance. Which THREE of the following statements are part of this approach?

Performance appraisal systems are designed to meet a number of objectives. Which of the following is a positive objective of such a system?

A low cost airline is operating three flights a day between two industrial cities in neighbouring countries. The cities are 300 km apart and the terrain between the two countries is mostly flat grasslands. The two cities are also linked by motorways and a railway line.

At first the airline enjoyed first mover advantage and generated healthy profits for three years. But more recently, the airline is experiencing intense competitive pressures, reduced passenger numbers and lower returns. The airline directors are using Porter's Five Forces framework to analyse the nature and severity of the various competitive forces being experienced.

In the context of this model which of the following forces would be considered as a threat of a substitute product or service?

A fundamental concept of the successful use of a Balanced Scorecard is:

The purpose of PEST analysis is described by which of the following?

A, the Project Manager of Team Y, is frustrated at the lack of progress in the implementation of the new IT system. The team has the required skills and working conditions are good.

Which THREE of the following factors can A usefully manipulate to motivate the team to greater effort?

X is a Project Manager who works in a matrix organisational structure with an authoritarian leadership style. Team members are seconded on a part-time basis to teams led by X, who will then contribute to their individual performance appraisals at the end of each year.

X requires all team members to follow exactly what he tells them without question because he has the authority to provide negative feedback in their performance appraisals. According to the French and Raven model, select the type of power that X is using in these circumstances.

Harvey Maylor created a project life cycle model based on four discrete and sequential stages. This is known as the 4D model. One of the stages involves the following activities:

- Documentation must be completed. Contracts, letters, accounting records etc. must be filed properly.

- Project systems must be closed down, including accounting systems - only after all costs have been settled.

- Handover to the client/end users must take place, and where appropriate obtain sign-off to signify that the contract is complete.

- Review the project to provide project staff with immediate feedback on performance.

To which stage of the 4D model do these activities apply?

An experienced IT project manager provides the following advice about planning a new project:

"The project should start with a Requirements Analysis which should take 10 days.  When this is finished Detailed Design (10 days) and Interface studies (15 days) can start at the same time. As soon as they are both complete Prototyping can start (30 days).

Prototyping is the predecessor of both Implementation (10 days) and Data Conversion (20 days).

Go-Live is the final activity (5 days) and follows when Implementation and Data Conversion are both complete."

Using critical path analysis which statements are correct.

Select ALL that apply.

According to Porter, there are THREE generic strategies through which an organisation can generate superior competitive performance. These are:

The concept of core competences is key to successful outsourcing strategy. Organisations should:

A business manufacturing running trainers is considering exporting to a fast growing Asian market. Using Porter's Five Forces, which of the following statements is most likely to be incorrect?

Two management actions that would be expected to occur at the START of most successful organisational change programmes are:

When comparing a resource based approach with a positioning based approach, which of the following are statements are true about the positioning based approach?

Select ALL that apply.

Verbal and non-verbal communications often take place at the same time. Which of the following best describes the complementary nature of non-verbal communication?

The advantages of effective delegation include which THREE of the following?

According to Kurt Lewin which of the following leadership styles was thought to result in the highest level of productivity and satisfaction?

A company is currently at the stage of organising the data which is captured within the big data process. What will they need to do next in order to complete all stages?

Select ALL that apply.

The functions of mentoring include which THREE of the following?

A publishing business prints thousands of books every week. The Managing Director employed Taylor's Principles of Scientific Management in order to run the business efficiently. Which of the following would not have

been initiatives he would have introduced into the business?

Select ALL that apply.

X Company's Board of Directors uses its expertise to develop future strategies. The Board defines objectives that need to be achieved and then, through formal proactive planning and careful analysis, it selects the most appropriate means to achieve them.

Which method of strategy formulation is the Board using?

James argues that performance appraisal has its roots in three substantiated psychological principles, meaning that people work / learn / achieve more when they are given the opportunities.

Which of the following does NOT apply?

An organisation manufacturing cosmetics was set up five years ago and has since grown considerably.

The organisation did not have clear strategies and as such any approaches emerged. The directors feel a new way to strategy setting would be more appropriate; one that could offer a more thorough, intended, deliberate approach.

Which of the following is a suitable approach to developing strategy for this organisation?

A company has used the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) matrix to plot the position of its products according to their relative market share and the growth of the market.

It has identified that it has several products under the heading of star.

Which of the following best describes its likely cash position? 

The Finance Director in an organisation has suffered from some criticism in her management approach, in particular her poor communication methods. For example, using finance jargon in her emails and sending messages out of normal office working hours.

This has lead to some of the members of staff being demotivated.

Which of the following possible recommendations would improve the communication situation present in this organisaion?

Select ALL that apply.

The difference between the latest event time and the earliest event time in a project network analysis is referred to as:

W is the supervisor of the house-keeping team in a large hotel. X, a member of the team, is consistently late to work which means that other team members have to perform extra work. A number of team members have also complained to W about X's aggressive behaviour. Two months ago W spoke to X informally about these issues and for a short period things improved.

But it is now clear that X is again displaying unacceptable behaviour and upsetting colleagues. W knows further action must now be taken to deal with the situation.

With reference to the disciplinary process, which is the best course of action for W to take?

Which term best describes the structure where the finance function is carried out by an external party?

An organisation facing difficult business conditions as a result of strong competition is aware of the need to improve its performance in bringing new products to market.

The director is aware of conflicting problems the organisation faces in its approach to new product development between the marketing department and the research and development department.

Which term best describes this type of conflict?

Porter's Diamond model suggests that there are four factors which determine national competitive advantage.  The four are listed below. Which has the incorrect definition?

The task of C the project manager and his management team is to implement a new examination system. The success of the project depends on the expertise, skill and commitment of both C's project team and that of examiners contracted to produce examination material in a radically new format.

Which of the following leadership styles should C adopt in order to gain maximum commitment from both his project team and from the examiners contracted to produce the new examination material?

Which of the models below identifies triggers for change from the macro environment?

A company is considering introducing a new product into the market but has been advised to undertake some qualitative research prior to doing this. The marketing manager is uncertain as to what information it will get from this type of research.

Which of the following can be identified by carrying out qualitative research?