PMP · Question #189
A newly commissioned project has had trouble recruiting team members because the turnover rate is high. The human resource (HR) manager has conducted several exit interviews. Many team members have ex
The correct answer is C. Develop relationship skills as a leader and also develop the teams' emotional intelligence skills.. To address a high team turnover rate caused by the project manager's inadequate relationship management and their dismissive attitude, the project manager must focus on developing their own relationship and leadership skills, along with fostering the team's emotional intelligence
Question
Options
- AAvoid micromanaging the team, enforce stricter rules, and monitor employees.
- BExplain to the recruiting manager that a project is temporary in nature, making it different than an
- CDevelop relationship skills as a leader and also develop the teams' emotional intelligence skills.
- DBe more involved in the team member recruitment process to ensure qualified team members are
How the community answered
(39 responses)- A8% (3)
- B3% (1)
- C77% (30)
- D13% (5)
Why each option
To address a high team turnover rate caused by the project manager's inadequate relationship management and their dismissive attitude, the project manager must focus on developing their own relationship and leadership skills, along with fostering the team's emotional intelligence.
Avoiding micromanagement is good, but enforcing stricter rules and monitoring employees would likely worsen team morale and increase turnover, directly contradicting the goal.
Explaining the temporary nature of a project does not address the core issue of poor relationship management and is unlikely to improve recruitment or retention.
The feedback from exit interviews explicitly points to the project manager's "inadequate relationship management competencies" and their dismissive response ("exiting team members were lazy") further highlights a lack of self-awareness and empathy. To prevent high turnover, the project manager must address these fundamental leadership deficiencies by developing their own relationship management skills and fostering a positive team environment through emotional intelligence. This will improve team dynamics, morale, and retention.
While involvement in recruitment is helpful, it won't solve the underlying problem of poor relationship management that is causing existing team members to leave.
Concept tested: Leadership skills, relationship management, and emotional intelligence for retention
Topics
Community Discussion
7
Ola B.Feb 27, 2026C is the answer. The exit interviews are your data pointing straight at relationship management, and the PM blaming lazy team members is the exact blind spot that emotional intelligence training fixes.
Anjali D.Feb 28, 2026Agreed on C, and the complementary angle is that the PM framing it as a motivation problem rather than a skills gap is itself the EQ deficit the question is testing for, so the two halves of the stem are really pointing at the same root cause.
Olusegun A.Mar 18, 2026C is correct. Exit interviews are hard data pointing at a competency gap, and PMBOK is explicit that the PM owns developing emotional intelligence on the team, not blaming attrition on laziness.
Ola B.Mar 19, 2026Agreed on C, and if you want to see the competency gap dynamic in action, spin up a quick retro simulation with a few colleagues where one role has zero EI training and watch the attrition logic play out firsthand.
Yusuf A.Mar 5, 2026C is the right call but I remember my senior PM pointing out that D trips people up because it feels like you are fixing the root cause, when really the exit interviews already told you the problem is the PM, not the hires. Also the question cuts off options B and D mid-sentence which is annoying, but the emotional intelligence angle in C is what the exam wants here.
Ola B.Mar 7, 2026C is the exam answer but if you spin up a quick lab and actually run through a scenario where you map exit interview feedback to root cause categories you will see why D feels right but misses the point, the fix here is people not process.
Anjali D.Mar 15, 2026Saw this on my exam last month, C is correct, PM must grow relationship and EI skills.