PMP · Question #86
A project is comprised of team members who are not engaged and committed to project success. What should the project manager do to address this situation?
The correct answer is B. Call each team member to gain their perspective on the problem, then bring the whole team. To address unengaged team members, the project manager should first individually understand each team member's perspective before facilitating a collective team discussion to find solutions.
Question
A project is comprised of team members who are not engaged and committed to project success. What should the project manager do to address this situation?
Options
- AContact the project sponsor to request approval to release the current team and hire replacement
- BCall each team member to gain their perspective on the problem, then bring the whole team
- CSend each team member a direct email indicating that disciplinary action is likely if they do not
- DAccept the situation knowing there is schedule slack available to release on an incremental basis
How the community answered
(25 responses)- A4% (1)
- B76% (19)
- C8% (2)
- D12% (3)
Why each option
To address unengaged team members, the project manager should first individually understand each team member's perspective before facilitating a collective team discussion to find solutions.
Immediately replacing the entire team is a drastic, costly, and time-consuming measure that doesn't address the underlying issues and can damage morale for future teams.
When team members are disengaged, the project manager should first engage in one-on-one conversations to understand the root causes from each individual's perspective, as disengagement can stem from various personal or project-related factors. After gathering these insights, bringing the whole team together allows for an open discussion of the issues and collaborative development of solutions, fostering a sense of ownership and re-engagement.
Threatening disciplinary action is a punitive approach that is likely to further decrease morale and engagement, rather than solving the root cause of the problem.
Accepting low engagement is detrimental to project success and is a failure of the project manager's responsibility to lead and motivate the team.
Concept tested: Team motivation; conflict management; team development
Source: https://www.pmi.org/pmbok-guide-standards/foundational/pmbok/project-resource-management
Topics
Community Discussion
7
Mateus R.Jul 5, 2026Think of it like a farmer noticing his cattle aren't coming to the feed trough - you don't shoot the whole herd and buy new cows, and you don't just send an angry letter. You walk out to the pasture to see what's spooking them, then gather the herd to sort it out together. Option B is the PMP way because it puts you in direct communication with individuals to uncover the root cause before bringing everyone together to build commitment and fix the team dynamics. Replacing the team (A) or threatening them (C) ignores the underlying problem, and just accepting it
Mei-Ling H.Jun 16, 2026B. Saw this on my exam last month, talked myself into B because PMI loves direct conversation.
Mateus R.Jun 17, 2026B is right but the real giveaway is the word "schedule" - PMI also loves their status reports, yet an automated scheduled push is never the same animal as two people talking it out.
Yusuf A.Jul 5, 2026Leaned toward A at first but my PM mentor said B, talk to people before replacing them.
Yuki V.Jul 5, 2026Leaned toward A at first but PMI wants you to talk to people first, so B.
Samuel O.Jun 29, 2026Going with D here. After 20 years in the field, I have learned that forcing engagement through emails or meetings when morale is already in the tank just makes things worse and burns through whatever goodwill you have left. If you have schedule slack, you use it. You let the work release incrementally and give yourself breathing room to figure out whether the issue is bad requirements, burnout, or something upstream with the sponsor. Throwing replacement bodies at it or threatening discipline is how you tank the deliverable for good.
Yuki V.Jun 30, 2026B is the correct answer here, and I confirmed it on my exam last week. The question is really asking what the PM should do first, and that means going back to the team to understand root causes before deciding whether to adjust the schedule or anything else. Samuel's instinct to protect morale makes sense in the real world, but on the exam you always investigate before you act.