Jacob Is a Project Manager in a Large Software Services

question 77

Multiple Choice

Jacob is a project manager in a large software services company. In a bid to maximize his team's productivity, Jacob decides to follow the goal-setting theory. In line with the principles of the theory, he sets specific, difficult goals for all of his team members and ensures that they understand and accept the new standards. Which of the following facts, if true would undermine Jacob's strategy?

• A) Jacob's team is a virtual team that is spread across cities in the Canada and they rely on various communication technologies to collaborate on projects.
• B) Before he adopted the goal-setting approach, Jacob was following a system of providing his team general goals rather than specific ones.
• C) Jacob's team handles development projects that are critical to the company and is comprised largely of carefully selected high-achievers who excel at their work.
• D) Jacob's company has a horizontal organizational structure and an open and participatory management style.
• E) Jacob has built into the goals set many milestones which act as reminders to the team to carry out self-evaluations of their work.

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Definitions:

Benchmarking

The practice of comparing business processes and performance metrics to industry bests and best practices from other companies.

Fishbone Diagram

A visual tool used to identify, explore, and display the possible causes of a particular problem.

Flowcharting

A graphical representation of a process, illustrating the sequence of operations or steps involved, often used in planning and problem-solving.

Run Chart

A simple graphical tool used to display observed data in time order, commonly used in quality improvement processes to identify trends.