Oral Exam Questions

1. What is 'The Eye of Competence'?
The Eye of Competence represents the integration of all the elements of project management
as seen through the eyes of the project manager when evaluating a specific situation.
The eye represents clarity and vision.
2. Name and explain the three ranges of PM competences.
Pofessional project management breaks down into 46 competences that
cover the three following categories:
technical competences for project management;

behavioral competences of project personnel;
contextual competences of projects, programs and portfolios.
Category of technical competences consists of 20 competences.

Behavioural competences consists of 15 competences.
Contextual competences consist of 11 competences.
3. What is a project?
A project is a time and cost-constrained operation to realise a set of defined deliverables (the
scope to fulfil the projects objectives) up to quality standards and requirements.
4. What is project orientation?
Project orientation is the term used to describe the orientation of organizations to managing
by projects and the development of project mgmt competence
5. What is project management?
PM is planning, organising, monitoring and controlling af all aspects of a project and the
management and leadership of all involved to achieve the project objectives safely and within
agreed criteral for time, cost, scope and performance/quality.
6. What is the goal of project management?
The goal of PM is to achive the project objectives safly and within agreed criteria for time,
cost, scope and performance
7. What are deliverables?
The deliverables are tangible or itangible assets created by the project, programme or
portfolio for the customer.
8. What is a programme?
A programme of projects is put together to realise a strategic goal set out by the organisation.
To achieve this, it initiates a group of interrelated projects to deliver the products/outcomes
needed to attain this goal and it defines the organisational changes needed to facilitate the
strategic change.
9. What is the goal of a programme?
THE GOAL OF A programme is to achieve strategic change/goal and to deliver the benefits
that the organisation expect.
10. What is programme management?

PROGRAMME MANAGEMENT provides the framework for implementing strategies and
initiatives.
11. What is a portfolio?

Portfolio management is concerned with coordinating the projects and programmes of an
organisation to optimise throughput, balance the risk profile of the portfolio and to manage
the alignment of projects in relation to the organisations strategy and their delivery within
budgetary constraints
12. What is the goal of a portfolio?

THE GOAL OF portfolio is to coordinate, optimise and align with strategy.
13. What is portfolio management?
PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT is an instrument it manage the continuity of projects and

programmes ina na organisation. It covers the prioritisation of projects and/or programmes
within an organisation and the optimisation of the contribution of the projects as a whole to
the organisation's strategy.
14. What are 'interested parties'?

Interested parties are people or groups who are interested in the performance and/or success
of the project or who are constrained by the project.
15. What is project quality management?
Project quality management is the responsibility of the project, programme or portfolio mgmt
as a part of the mgmt of total quality.
16. Name and explain the stages of team life-cycle.
FORMING develop a common sense of purpose, belonging and commitment
STORMING assign roles, responsibilities and tasks to aid control, decision-making and
conflict resolution
NORMING openess in how team members can work together
PERFORMING develop interdependency to obtain outstanding results.
17. What are project requirements?
Project requirements are derived form customer needs which are driven by opportunities and
threats.
18. What is requirements management?
Requirements management is the identification, definition and agreement of the project to
meet the needs and expectations of interested parties.
19. What is project strategy?
PROJECT STRATEGY - a high level view of how to attain the project goal
20. What is a project goal?
PROJECT GOAL - to provide value to the interested parties, to produce deliverables
21. What is a project objective?
PROJECT OBJECTIVE - to produce the agreed end results, especially the deliverables, in the
time-frame required, within budget and within acceptable parameters of risk
22. What is a project organization?
Project and programme organisations are unique and temporary and adapted to the phases of
the project life-cycle or the conditions of the programme cycle. Portfolio organisations are
similar to permanent organisations and often a part of them. However, the orientation in any
organisation should be mainly towards projects. The project organisation and resources
requested for project delivery need to reflect the project objectives
23. What is information management?
Information management includes modeling, gathering, storing and retrieving project data
24. Name some forms the media can take.
Paper, e-mail
25. 26. 27. 28. Name and describe three (3) negotiation tactics.
Negotiation tactics:
Limited Authority: This tactic is a variation on the good guy/bad guy routine,
but instead of two people working over you, the one person youre dealing with
tells you that he or she must approve any deals with an unseen higher authority.
Sometimes, this higher authority exists, but other times your counterpart will
create this figure to gain an edge in the negotiation process.
The Red Herring: This technique comes from fox hunting competitions, where
one team drags a dead fish across the foxs path to distract the other teams
dogs. At the bargaining table, this means one side brings up a minor point to
distract the other side from the main issue. Effective and ethical negotiators
generally agree that this tactic is the sleaziest of them all.
Low-Balling: This is the opposite of the trial balloon. Instead of tempting you to
make the first offer, your counterpart will open the process with a fantastic offer.
Then after you agree, they start hitting you with additional necessities.
29. Describe the 'outrageous behavior' negotiation tactic.

Outrageous Behavior: This can be categorized as any form of socially unacceptable conduct
intended to force the other side to make a move, such as throwing a fit of anger or bursting
into tears. As most people feel uncomfortable in these situations, they may reduce their
negotiating terms just to avoid them.
30. What is efficiency?

EFFICIENCY is the ability to use time and resources cost-effectively to produce the agreed
deliverables and fulfill interested parties' expectations. It also embraces using methods,
systems and procedures in the most effective way.
31. What is a conflict?

CONFLICT is a clash of opposing interests or of incompatible personalities and may threaten
the achievement of project objectives.
32. What is a crisis?

CRISIS can be described as a time of acute difficulty, more so than would arise just as a result
of a conflict.
33. What is a project management office?
A project management office (or programme management or portfolio
management office) is part of a permanent organisation. Its roles are
typically to provide support, to set standards and guidelines for the
managers of the different projects and programmes, to collect project
management data from the projects, to consolidate these and to report to
some governing body. It has to ensure that the projects are aligned to the
organisations strategy and vision. This is generally performed through
business case management.
35. What is project management success?
To assess competence is one thing, but the ultimate goal of a project or programme manager is
to be successful. For that reason within IPMA, project success is defined as the appreciation
by the various interested parties of the project outcomes. This definition is more challenging
than to produce the project deliverables within time and budget, which is only part of it.
Project
Programme
The goal of a
is to produce deliverables
is to achieve strategic change
are related through the

business case of a project
are realised by a programme
are largely excluded from a

project
are largely included in a

programme
Is often excluded from a

project
is usually included in a
programme
are defined in the business

case and are manageable in
a project
are roughly defined within the

strategy; are broken-down to
individual projects within the
programme
Vision and strategy
Business benefits
Organisational change
Time, costs
Belbin Team Roles

A team is not a bunch of people with job titles, but a congregation of individuals, each of whom
has a role which is understood by other members. Members of a team seek out certain roles
and they perform most effectively in the ones that are most natural to them.
Dr. R. M. Belbin
During his research, Meredith found that each of the behaviours were essential in getting the
team successfully from start to finish. The key was balance. For example, Meredith Belbin
found that a team with no Plants struggled to come up with the initial spark of an idea with
which to push forward. However, once too many Plants were in the team, bad ideas concealed
good ones and non-starters were given too much airtime. Similarly, with no Shaper, the team
ambled along without drive and direction, missing deadlines. With too many Shapers, infighting began and morale was lowered.

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Oral Exam Questions

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1. What is 'The Eye of Competence'?

technical competences for project management;

Category of technical competences consists of 20 competences.

6. What is the goal of project management?

10. What is programme management?

11. What is a portfolio?

12. What is the goal of a portfolio?

13. What is portfolio management?

PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT is an instrument it manage the continuity of projects and

14. What are 'interested parties'?

29. Describe the 'outrageous behavior' negotiation tactic.

30. What is efficiency?

31. What is a conflict?

32. What is a crisis?

is to achieve strategic change

are related through the

are realised by a programme

are largely excluded from a

are largely included in a

Is often excluded from a

are defined in the business

are roughly defined within the

Vision and strategy

Belbin Team Roles

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