It is late at night on a weekend when a team member calls the project manager on the telephone. The team member is crying about the pressures of an upcoming deadline. What should the project manager do?
A.
Review the organization's human resources (HR) policy.
B.
Empathize with the team member and discuss next steps.
C.
Ask the team member to send their concerns in writing.
D.
Schedule a meeting with the team member for the next work day.
While B might be the answer as per PMI recommendation, the PM should also be allowed to have a personal/professional work life balance. The PM should be expected to be a cousellor for the team all hours of the day, including their own personal time.
PMI should recognize this and allow the PM to draw a line with the employee. The best course should be to schedule a meeting with the team member the very next day to address their concerns.
I understand that everyone will think the correct answer is B, but in the real world it would be D. We're talking about a LATE NIGHT phone call on the WEEKEND! And for a deadline that certainly doesn't fall on Sunday but which can also be discussed on Monday when we return to the office...
Correct, but as a project manager you must show empathy to the project team. Asking them to join you in a meeting will seem like you do not care and just want to hang up the call.
B. would discuss the next steps which should be a one-one meeting with the employee
Dis the correct approach, while I would emphasize with the team member, I did ask to have a formal meeting the next business day to discuss his/ her concern in detail.
This question isn't asking what the PM should do "next", but just asking what the PM should do. I see many comments saying "empathize first", but "first" is not what we should focus on here.
Considering LATE NIGHT and WEEKEND, I think D is the correct answer.
Answer D, schedule 1-1 next day, if the option 'B" just leaves at empathizing then thats a better answer but it also talks about next steps, no manager will take time in the midnight of a weekend to discuss next steps or find a solution
Options A, C, and D either delay addressing the team member's concerns or are impersonal, which could lead to further frustration or stress for the individual.
A voting comment increases the vote count for the chosen answer by one.
Upvoting a comment with a selected answer will also increase the vote count towards that answer by one.
So if you see a comment that you already agree with, you can upvote it instead of posting a new comment.
58e5964
Highly Voted 1 year, 2 months agomdkhassan
1 year agoAP2023S
Highly Voted 1 year, 11 months agoAbbasTaki
1 year, 10 months agoSketchie
1 year, 6 months agoPrincessviv96
Most Recent 3 days, 5 hours agomaya1
1 week, 5 days agoChymKuBoy
1 month agoAjitZavade
1 month agoK91
3 months agokavikris
4 months agovlxx
5 months, 3 weeks agoLotToLearn
6 months, 1 week agoBuviD
1 year, 2 months agoBuviD
1 year, 2 months agoLhenica
1 year, 4 months agoGabMonterey
1 year, 4 months agoestimater
1 year, 5 months agoSketchie
1 year, 6 months agoAsakthi
1 year, 7 months ago