about 4.1% of the exam content - about 90 minutes - 14 practice questions
0:00 / --:--
Reading
A stakeholder is anyone who can affect, be affected by, or believe themselves to be
affected by the project. That last clause is the one people underestimate. The neighbor who thinks your
dumpster is on her easement is a stakeholder whether or not she is legally correct, and ignoring her will cost
you a week.
On a GCHS accessibility retrofit the list is long: the homeowner, family members and caregivers, an
occupational therapist, the crew and subs, the code official and inspectors, the grant funder, the city or
county housing office, the historic district commission if it applies, insurers, neighbors, and GCHS
leadership. Every one of them has a different level of power, a different level of interest, and a different
idea of what success looks like.
Identify, analyze, prioritize, engage, monitor
Stakeholder engagement is a continuous cycle, not a one-time exercise at initiation.
Identify: brainstorm broadly, review documents and agreements, ask existing
stakeholders who else is affected, and check organizational records from similar past projects. Identify
early and keep identifying; new stakeholders appear at every phase.
Analyze: assess power, interest, influence, attitude, expectations, and how the
project affects them. Record it in the stakeholder register.
Prioritize: you cannot give everyone equal attention, so classify and allocate effort.
Engage: communicate, involve, negotiate, and build trust at the level each stakeholder
warrants.
Monitor: attitudes shift. A supporter can become a blocker overnight when the impact
lands on them personally.
Key points
The stakeholder register holds identity, role, interest, influence, expectations, and
classification. It is a living document, updated throughout.
Analysis is not a filing exercise; its only purpose is to decide how you will engage
each person.
When a stakeholder is unhappy or surprised, the best answer is almost always to meet with them
and understand their concern, not to send a report or escalate.
Never let a stakeholder be surprised. Bad news delivered early is a manageable problem; bad
news discovered late is a credibility loss.
Classification models
Two models come up repeatedly. The power-interest grid is the workhorse; the
salience model adds a third dimension.
Quadrant
Power
Interest
Strategy
GCHS example
Manage closely
High
High
Engage fully and continuously; involve in decisions
The homeowner; the grant funder
Keep satisfied
High
Low
Meet their needs, do not overload with detail; keep them comfortable
A senior code official; GCHS executive leadership
Keep informed
Low
High
Regular updates; a useful source of detailed input and early warning
The occupational therapist; a caregiver adult child
Monitor
Low
Low
Minimal effort; watch for change in status
A neighbor two doors down
The salience model classifies by power (ability to impose will), legitimacy
(a valid claim or right to be involved), and urgency (their need for immediate attention). A
stakeholder with all three is definitive and gets priority. This model is useful when someone
is loud but has no legitimate claim, or has a legitimate claim but no power: the inspector, for example, has
legitimacy and power; an angry passerby may have urgency and nothing else.
Current versus desired engagement
The stakeholder engagement assessment matrix plots each stakeholder's current engagement
level against the level the project needs, using five levels: unaware, resistant, neutral, supportive,
leading. Mark current as C and desired as D. Every gap between them becomes a
specific engagement action.
Unaware: does not know the project exists or how it affects them.
Resistant: aware and opposed to the work or its outcomes.
Neutral: aware, neither supporting nor opposing.
Supportive: aware and in favor.
Leading: actively engaged in ensuring the project succeeds.
Note that desired is not always leading. Some stakeholders only need to be supportive, and
trying to drag everyone to leading wastes effort and irritates people.
Handling a resistant stakeholder
The exam pattern is consistent: meet with them privately and understand why they are resisting
before you do anything else. Resistance almost always encodes real information: an impact you
missed, a past broken promise, a constraint you did not know about. Answers that isolate the resistant
stakeholder, go around them to a superior, or attempt to overrule them are wrong. Answers that add them to a
distribution list are insufficient; that is transmission, not engagement.
Engaging stakeholders in adaptive and hybrid work
About 60% of the exam assumes adaptive or hybrid delivery, and stakeholder engagement looks different there:
Continuous involvement replaces periodic reporting. Stakeholders see working increments
at reviews rather than reading status about work they cannot inspect.
The product owner is the stakeholders' voice into the backlog and the single point for
priority decisions.
Transparency by default: visible boards, open backlogs, and information radiators mean
stakeholders can self-serve rather than requesting updates.
Feedback is designed into the cadence: reviews and demos exist precisely to catch
misalignment within one iteration.
In hybrid GCHS work, formal stakeholders such as funders and code officials often need
predictive-style documentation and milestone reporting, while the homeowner and OT are best engaged
iteratively with walkthroughs and mockups. Running both engagement styles in parallel is normal.
Communication that engages rather than merely informs
PMI distinguishes communication methods. Interactive (meetings, calls, conversation) is
multidirectional and best for anything complex or sensitive. Push (email, reports, memos)
sends information to specific people but does not confirm receipt or understanding. Pull
(shared dashboards, repositories, boards) lets stakeholders retrieve what they need when they need it.
The exam's recurring lesson: when a stakeholder is confused, worried, or resistant, the correct method is
interactive. Sending another report is push, and push has already failed if the person is
confused. Also note that the number of potential communication channels grows fast (with n people
the count is n(n−1)/2), which is why more stakeholders means a deliberate communications plan, not more emails.
Trust, expectations, and the tough conversations
Engagement runs on trust, and trust is built by doing what you said and by telling people things they would
rather not hear, early. Practical rules that also happen to be exam-correct:
Set expectations explicitly at the start, including what the project will not do.
Deliver bad news yourself, promptly, with options; never let a stakeholder learn it from someone else.
Say no clearly when something is out of scope, and explain the path if they want it added.
Follow up on commitments visibly; small kept promises compound.
Document agreements after conversations, so memory does not become the dispute.
On GCHS work there is an added dimension: many homeowners are elderly, low-income, or living with a
disability, and the project happens inside their home while they live in it. Engagement includes
plain-language explanations without jargon, realistic warnings about dust, water shutoffs, and noise,
accessible communication formats, and genuine respect for the fact that the job site is someone's living room.
Where a funding agreement carries ESG, resilience, or fair-housing conditions, the funder's reporting needs
are stakeholder requirements and belong in the engagement plan from day one.
The single most-tested instinct
When an exam item describes an upset, surprised, or newly identified stakeholder, the best answer is
nearly always to engage that person directly to understand their concern or needs, then
update the stakeholder register and engagement plan. Escalating to the sponsor, ignoring a low-power
complainer, or firing off a status report are the three distractors you will see over and over.
Practice Questions
1. Which definition of a stakeholder matches PMI's usage?
Anyone named in the project charter
Anyone who provides funding to the project
Anyone who can affect, be affected by, or perceive themselves to be affected by the project
Anyone with formal approval authority over deliverables
Answer: c. PMI's definition deliberately includes people who merely believe they are affected, because their behavior can impact the project regardless of whether the belief is accurate. Limiting the definition to funders or approvers leaves out neighbors, regulators, and end users who routinely disrupt projects.
2. A neighbor complains that the project dumpster encroaches on her property, though the placement is legal. What should the project manager do FIRST?
Ignore the complaint since she has no authority over the project and the placement is legal
Explain that the placement is legal and continue
Meet with the neighbor to understand her concern and look for a workable fix
Ignore the complaint since she has no authority over the project
Answer: c. A person who believes they are affected is a stakeholder, and engaging directly usually resolves the issue cheaply before it becomes a formal complaint or a work stoppage. Being technically right and dismissive is exactly the behavior that turns a minor irritation into an escalated dispute.
3. Which artifact records stakeholder identity, role, interest, influence, and classification?
Project charter
Communications management plan
Team charter
Stakeholder register
Answer: d. The stakeholder register is the repository for stakeholder identification and analysis information and is updated continuously. The communications plan is the tempting wrong answer; it describes how information will flow, not who the stakeholders are and what they care about.
4. On a power-interest grid, how should a stakeholder with HIGH power and LOW interest be managed?
Keep satisfied, meeting their needs without overwhelming them with detail
Keep informed with frequent detailed updates
Monitor with minimal effort
Manage closely with continuous involvement
Answer: a. High power and low interest calls for keeping them satisfied; they can hurt the project if displeased but do not want daily detail. Flooding them with detail is the common mistake and often converts a neutral executive into an annoyed one.
5. In the salience model, which three attributes are used to classify stakeholders?
Power, interest, influence
Power, legitimacy, urgency
Authority, proximity, attitude
Impact, probability, urgency
Answer: b. Salience combines power, legitimacy, and urgency, and a stakeholder holding all three is definitive and gets priority. Power and interest belong to the grid model, and impact and probability are risk attributes, not stakeholder ones.
6. A stakeholder is currently resistant, and the project needs them to be at least neutral. Which tool captures this gap?
Power-interest grid
Stakeholder engagement assessment matrix
RACI chart
Salience model
Answer: b. The engagement assessment matrix plots current against desired engagement levels (unaware, resistant, neutral, supportive, leading) and each gap drives a specific action. The power-interest grid classifies importance, but it does not track the current-versus-desired distinction.
7. A GCHS project team has 8 stakeholders who all need to be able to communicate directly with one another. How many communication channels exist among them?
56
28
16
36
Answer: b. The formula is n(n-1)/2, so 8(7)/2 = 28. The number of channels grows faster than the number of people, which is exactly why more stakeholders calls for a deliberate communications plan rather than more emails.
8. A code official has clear legal authority over the inspection (power) and a valid right to be involved (legitimacy), but no pressing personal urgency about the timeline. Under the salience model, how should this stakeholder be classified?
Demanding: urgency present, power and legitimacy absent
Dormant: power present, legitimacy and urgency absent
Dominant: power and legitimacy present, urgency absent
Definitive: all three attributes present
Answer: c. With power and legitimacy but no urgency, the stakeholder is dominant, not definitive. Definitive requires all three attributes at once, which is what earns top priority.
9. A funder emails several pointed questions about a schedule delay after reading a routine written status report. What should the project manager do?
Schedule a call to discuss the concerns directly
Send a longer written report with more detail
Post the schedule to a shared dashboard for the funder to review
Forward the original status report again
Answer: a. When a stakeholder is confused, worried, or pushing back, interactive communication is correct because it is multidirectional and can actually resolve the concern. More push, in the form of a longer or repeated report, has already failed once and will not confirm understanding the second time either.
10. An insurance adjuster appears on site after a storm, three months into a project whose stakeholder register was last updated at kickoff. What does PMI expect the project manager to do?
Wait until the next scheduled phase gate to update the register and reassess everyone at once
Treat the adjuster as out of scope since they were not identified at kickoff
Refer the adjuster to the sponsor without engaging directly
Add the adjuster to the register now and assess their power and interest
Answer: d. Identification is continuous, and new stakeholders appear at every phase; the register is a living document updated as soon as someone new is relevant. Waiting for a phase gate or refusing to engage treats a one-time exercise as though it were still current.
11. An occupational therapist has deep interest in a bathroom modification's outcome but no formal authority over the project. Where does she sit on the power-interest grid, and what does that call for?
Low power, high interest: keep informed with regular updates
High power, high interest: manage closely, since she cares deeply about the outcome
Low power, low interest: monitor
High power, low interest: keep satisfied
Answer: a. Low power and high interest calls for keeping the stakeholder informed with regular updates; she is also a useful source of detailed input and early warning. Treating her as a monitor-only stakeholder wastes a genuinely engaged source of expertise.
12. A neighbor two doors down has expressed mild curiosity about the project but has no strong opinion and no authority over it. How should the project manager engage her?
Keep satisfied with executive-level updates
Add her to the crew's daily coordination meeting so she can follow the work as it happens
Manage closely with continuous involvement
Monitor with minimal effort, watching for any change in her status
Answer: d. Low power and low interest is the monitor quadrant: minimal effort, with a watch for any change in status. Overinvesting attention here pulls it away from stakeholders in the manage-closely and keep-informed quadrants who actually need it.
13. A project manager learns that a permit delay will push a homeowner's move-in date back three weeks. What should she do?
Deliver the news herself, promptly, along with the options available
Ask the code official to explain the delay directly to the homeowner
Wait until the delay is certain and unavoidable before saying anything
Let the homeowner discover the delay when the crew does not show up
Answer: a. Trust is built by delivering bad news yourself, promptly, with options, never letting a stakeholder learn it from someone else or by surprise. Passing the message to the code official, or delaying until it is unavoidable, both cost more credibility than an early honest conversation.
14. A funding agreement for a resilience-focused rehab includes reporting requirements on materials sourcing that were never discussed with the homeowner. Where should this information go?
Nowhere; funder reporting is handled entirely outside stakeholder engagement, by the finance office
Only into the closeout report
Only into the risk register
Into the engagement plan as a stakeholder requirement, as soon as it is known
Answer: d. Funder reporting needs tied to ESG or resilience conditions are stakeholder requirements and belong in the engagement plan from day one, not something discovered at closeout. Filing it only in the risk register misses that it is a known, current requirement, not a future uncertainty.
Glossary
Stakeholder
Anyone who can affect, be affected by, or believe themselves to be affected by the project.
Stakeholder register
The living document recording stakeholder identity, role, interest, influence, expectations, and classification.
Power-interest grid
A classification model sorting stakeholders into manage closely, keep satisfied, keep informed, and monitor, by their power and interest.
Salience model
A classification model using power, legitimacy, and urgency; a stakeholder with all three is definitive and gets priority.
Stakeholder engagement assessment matrix
A tool plotting each stakeholder's current engagement level against the desired level, across unaware, resistant, neutral, supportive, and leading.
Interactive communication
Multidirectional communication such as meetings or calls, best for anything complex, sensitive, or already confused.
Push communication
Information sent to specific people, such as email or reports, without confirming receipt or understanding.
Pull communication
Information stakeholders retrieve when needed, such as a shared dashboard or repository.