PMP · Question #1117
Team members of a new scrum team are skilled and excited about the project, despite never having worked together before. The project leader requested an offsite team building activity to talk about th
The correct answer is D. Use the office facilities and support to organize an interactive event for the team members in-. When an external team-building activity is rejected due to cost, the project leader should creatively use available internal resources and facilities to organize an engaging, cost-effective in-house event to foster team cohesion.
Question
Team members of a new scrum team are skilled and excited about the project, despite never having worked together before. The project leader requested an offsite team building activity to talk about the project and get familiar with each other, but the activity was not approved by the sponsor who is trying to save money. The project leader believes it is important to hold a team building activity to bring the team together. What should the project leader do?
Options
- ATell the team that the event will be handled at the end of the project due to current financial
- BBypass the event because the team members' seniority is enough to engage without further
- CExplain the financial constraint and ask each team member to pay their own share for the event
- DUse the office facilities and support to organize an interactive event for the team members in-
How the community answered
(43 responses)- A14% (6)
- B2% (1)
- C7% (3)
- D77% (33)
Why each option
When an external team-building activity is rejected due to cost, the project leader should creatively use available internal resources and facilities to organize an engaging, cost-effective in-house event to foster team cohesion.
Delaying the event until the end of the project misses the opportunity to build early team cohesion, which is crucial for a new team's effectiveness and forming stage.
Bypassing the event based solely on seniority overlooks the fact that the team members have never worked together, which is the core issue the team building aims to address.
Asking team members to pay for the event is unprofessional and highly likely to cause dissatisfaction and damage morale, counteracting the purpose of team building.
The project leader recognizes the importance of team building for a new team but faces budget constraints. A pragmatic solution is to utilize existing office facilities and internal support to organize a cost-effective, interactive event in-house, achieving the team-building goal without incurring additional sponsor-rejected costs.
Concept tested: Team development and resourcefulness
Source: https://www.pmi.org/pmbok-guide-standards/foundational/pmbok/project-resource-management
Topics
Community Discussion
7
Brenda K.Jun 11, 2026D is your quick win here, do not overthink it. The sponsor blocked the offsite activity for cost reasons, so the project leader finds a no cost alternative using existing office facilities to accomplish the same team building goal. A is wrong because deferring team building on a new scrum team hurts performance, and C is a terrible leadership move since team members should never fund their own work events. D keeps the activity alive without spending money the sponsor denied, which is the classic PMP compromise answer.
Dervla O.Jun 13, 2026Good call on D, and the other tell is that the stem says "accomplish the same goal" which signals the exam wants you to preserve the objective while swapping the constraint, not trade it away.
Yusuf A.Jun 20, 2026I first leaned toward B since the team is already skilled and excited, but my senior PM pointed out that never having worked together is the real risk here, not their individual competence. D makes sense because the leader can still achieve the team-building goal using existing office resources instead of spending money the sponsor won't approve. The PM mindset is to find alternatives rather than just cancel something you believe is important. Has anyone actually seen a question like this where canceling the activity was the right call?
Dervla O.Jun 21, 2026Your senior PM is right that the teamwork risk is the real stem driver, but the reason D wins is simpler: the question tests whether you separate the goal from the method, and canceling is only correct when no alternative exists.
Prof. SaraJul 5, 2026D is correct here, and the logic maps to the Team Development domain on the PMP blueprint. Option B is the tempting trap because the stem explicitly says the team is skilled, but individual seniority does not equal team cohesion, and skipping team building for a brand new group is a classic mistake. Option A punishes the team by deferring engagement to the end, which defeats the entire purpose of forming a strong unit early. The right move is to respect the sponsor's financial constraint while still delivering on the people priority, so an in-office interactive event gets you both.
Dervla O.Jun 17, 2026D is correct here. The leader owns the problem of building team cohesion without the offsite budget, so using existing office facilities keeps the activity intact while respecting the sponsor's cost constraint.
Bao N.Jun 28, 2026D is right but the stem cuts off; still the in-office workaround is the PMP answer.