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Optimize Projects and Processes: How Can Project Manager Correct Team Misalignment in Task Execution?

What Is the Best Way to Improve Efficiency When Team Members Focus on Wrong Tasks?

When a team wastes time on low-priority or misaligned activities, effective intervention focuses on collaboration, guidance, and prioritization. Pairing team members fosters accountability, knowledge sharing, and mutual correction—key factors in redirecting effort toward the most valuable tasks.

Question

Your team has just begun redesigning an electrical utility’s billing system, and already you can see challenges: Your team members seem to be wasting time on the wrong tasks. What course of action would best help solve the problem?

A. Assign tasks to two members to work on together.
B. Clarify the quality expectations for the team.
C. Encourage team members to take a break and recharge.
D. Help team members readjust their work schedules.

Answer

A. Assign tasks to two members to work on together.

Explanation

Adjusting work schedules is more appropriate for dealing with burnout.
Clarifying the quality expectations is more appropriate when team members are delivering poor-quality work.
If team members are spending time on the wrong tasks, try assigning tasks to two team members to work on together. You can also emphasize which tasks are most important and provide resources for improving time management skills.

Assigning tasks to pairs allows team members to cross-check progress and stay aligned on priorities. Collaboration minimizes duplication, reduces miscommunication, and encourages peer accountability. It also helps uncover misunderstandings about task scope, dependencies, or objectives early in the redesign process. This approach is particularly useful when managing complex, technical projects like an electrical utility’s billing system, where precision and synchronization between components are critical.

By pairing workers, the manager can also monitor how effectively team members interpret and implement project goals, ensuring that time is spent on the right activities. This corrective measure brings immediate structure to the workflow without introducing unnecessary rework or morale issues.

Incorrect options

B. Clarify the quality expectations for the team: Quality standards address output accuracy, not task selection or focus. The problem described relates to prioritization, not quality.

C. Encourage team members to take a break and recharge: Breaks are beneficial for exhaustion, but there’s no indication of burnout here. The issue is misdirected effort.

D. Help team members readjust their work schedules: Adjusting schedules helps manage workload or fatigue but does not address confusion about which tasks deserve attention.

Assigning paired tasks therefore directly targets inefficiency by promoting cooperation, improving focus, and reinforcing alignment with project priorities.

Optimize Projects and Processes certification exam assessment practice question and answer (Q&A) dump including multiple choice questions (MCQ) and objective type questions, with detail explanation and reference available free, helpful to pass the Optimize Projects and Processes exam and earn Optimize Projects and Processes certificate.