PMI-PMP: How should the project teams interact in their meetings?

Question

A global program is being kicked off, and various distributed teams are involved in delivering the initiative. Besides planning and executing the scope for the initiative, team interactions must be considered. How should the project teams interact in their meetings?

A. Videoconferencing
B. Encrypted emails
C. Phone conversations
D. Chat conversations

Answer

A. Videoconferencing

Explanation

The correct answer to the question is A. Videoconferencing.

When managing a global program with distributed teams, effective team interactions are crucial for successful project delivery. While options B, C, and D (encrypted emails, phone conversations, and chat conversations) can be useful for communication, videoconferencing provides the most comprehensive and effective means of team interaction. Here’s why:

1. Visual Communication: Videoconferencing allows team members to see each other, facilitating non-verbal communication cues such as facial expressions and body language. This visual element enhances understanding and helps build rapport among team members, even when they are geographically dispersed.
2. Real-Time Collaboration: Videoconferencing enables real-time collaboration, allowing team members to discuss project-related matters, share screens, and collaborate on documents simultaneously. This level of interactivity fosters engagement and promotes effective decision-making.
3. Enhanced Engagement: Videoconferencing helps maintain team engagement by creating a sense of presence and connection. It reduces the likelihood of distractions and encourages active participation from all team members, leading to better collaboration and problem-solving.
4. Building Relationships: Face-to-face interactions, even through video, help build relationships and trust among team members. This is especially important when working with distributed teams, as it can mitigate the challenges of cultural differences and time zone variations.

While options B, C, and D can be useful for certain types of communication, they lack the comprehensive benefits provided by videoconferencing. Encrypted emails may ensure secure communication, but they lack the visual and real-time collaboration aspects. Phone conversations are limited to audio-only, missing out on visual cues, and chat conversations may lack the richness of communication that videoconferencing offers.

In conclusion, when managing a global program with distributed teams, videoconferencing is the most effective means of team interaction. It enables visual communication, real-time collaboration, enhanced engagement, and relationship building, making it the ideal choice for project teams to conduct their meetings.

Reference

• 8 tips on how to best interact with your team members – The Predictive Index
• Communicate with the project team: the best techniques to use – Twproject: project management software,resource management, time tracking, planning, Gantt, kanban
• 10 Project Meetings to Guide Your Project Management Team (projectmanager.com)
• Types of Project Management Meetings and How to Conquer Them (hubstaff.com)

Project Management Professional PMI-PMP certification exam practice question and answer (Q&A) dump with detail explanation and reference available free, helpful to pass the Project Management Professional PMI-PMP exam and earn Project Management Professional PMI-PMP certification.