The document discusses the challenges faced when promoting an employee, Sam, to a leadership position, highlighting the 'halo effect' or 'Peter principle' where individuals may rise to their level of incompetence. It emphasizes that project team members are motivated by growth and skill application, but promotions must be carefully considered. Additionally, it suggests that PMP aspirants should explore various project management theories and sources for exam preparation beyond the PMBOK guide.

1. PMP EXAM
SAMPLE Q & A

2. Recently, you promoted your star programmer, Sam, to lead the agile development team. Sam was a
fantastic software coder, and you thought the promotion would mean that he could now share his expertise
with the other development team members. However, you are surprised to learn that the performance of
Sam in his new role is not meeting your expectations.
Which empirical rule did you forget while considering the promotion of Sam?
A. Expectancy theory
B. Halo effect
C. Pareto concept
D. Murphy's law
HINT: This management theory is also known as the 'Peter principle.'
Question

3. The correct answer is B.
The Halo effect (also known as the Peter principle) states "In a hierarchy, every employee tends to rise to
his/her level of incompetence." Most project team members are motivated by an opportunity to grow,
accomplish, and apply their professional skills to meet new challenges.
Their achievements continuously promote them within an organization to a certain level until they are
unable to perform. Sam might have risen to his incompetency level, which is what you have likely forgotten
to consider while promoting him to lead the development team.
The topic of this question is only briefly mentioned in the PMBOK® Guide. However, the PMP Examination
Content Outline (ECO) indicates that while there are some commonalities between the PMBOK® Guide and
the ECO, the exam is not bound by the PMBOK® Guide. The list of enablers specified in the tasks of the ECO
domains is not exhaustive either.
Answer

4. The ECO assumes that prospective PMP aspirants are familiar with other sources of
information/preparation, including but not limited to PMI Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct, PMI’s
Practice Standards (e.g., Scheduling, Earned Value Management, etc.); organizational behavior theories such
as Tuckman’s Ladder, Theory X and Theory Y, Maslow's hierarchy of needs; commonly frowned upon project
management practices, such as gold plating; and others.
We intentionally have these questions in our simulator so that you would be better prepared for the real
exam. PMP aspirants are encouraged to explore additional sources of information and/or to be familiar with
them from their project management experience. The PMBOK® Guide is provided as a reference to indicate
that the scenario refers the Develop Team process.
Answer

5. All our questions are updated to the latest
A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge
(PMBOK® Guide) standard.
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