PMP People Domain Glossary — Key Terms & Definitions

People Domain Key Terms

Servant Leadership: A leadership philosophy where the leader's primary goal is to serve the team by removing impediments, supporting development, and ensuring team members have what they need to succeed.
Transformational Leadership: A leadership style that inspires team members to exceed expectations by creating a vision, modeling behaviors, and empowering individuals.
Situational Leadership: Adapting leadership style based on the maturity and competence of team members — directing, coaching, supporting, or delegating as appropriate.
Emotional Intelligence (EI): The ability to recognize, understand, and manage your own emotions and those of others. Components include self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skills.
Empathy: The ability to understand and share the feelings of another person, critical for building trust and resolving conflicts.

Collaborate/Problem-Solve: A conflict resolution approach where parties work together to find a win-win solution. PMI's preferred method for most situations.
Compromise/Reconcile: Each party gives up something to reach a mutually acceptable solution. A lose-lose approach since no one gets everything they want.
Withdraw/Avoid: Retreating from the conflict, either temporarily or permanently. Useful as a cooling-off strategy but doesn't resolve the underlying issue.
Smooth/Accommodate: Emphasizing areas of agreement while de-emphasizing areas of difference. Maintains harmony but may not resolve the core issue.
Force/Direct: Pushing one viewpoint at the expense of others. A win-lose approach, appropriate only in emergencies or when safety is at risk.

Tuckman's Stages: The five stages of team development: Forming → Storming → Norming → Performing → Adjourning.
Colocation: Placing team members in the same physical location to improve communication and collaboration. Also called a "war room" or "tight matrix."
Virtual Teams: Teams whose members are geographically dispersed and collaborate using technology. Requires extra attention to communication and trust-building.
Self-Organizing Team: A team that determines how to accomplish work rather than being directed by external leadership. Common in agile approaches.
Cross-Functional Team: A team composed of members from different functional areas with all skills necessary to complete the work.
Ground Rules: Agreed-upon behavioral expectations for team interaction, established early and reinforced throughout the project.

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs: A motivation theory proposing five levels of needs: physiological, safety, social/belonging, esteem, and self-actualization.
Herzberg's Two-Factor Theory: Distinguishes between hygiene factors (prevent dissatisfaction — salary, conditions, security) and motivators (drive satisfaction — achievement, recognition, growth).
McGregor's Theory X/Y: Theory X assumes workers are lazy and need control; Theory Y assumes workers are self-motivated and seek responsibility.
Intrinsic Motivation: Motivation driven by internal rewards such as personal satisfaction, learning, and purpose.
Extrinsic Motivation: Motivation driven by external rewards such as bonuses, promotions, or recognition.

Stakeholder: Any individual, group, or organization that may affect, be affected by, or perceive itself to be affected by a project decision, activity, or outcome.
Stakeholder Register: A document identifying stakeholders, their interests, involvement, and potential impact on the project.
Power/Interest Grid: A classification model that groups stakeholders by their level of authority (power) and concern (interest) regarding project outcomes.
Salience Model: Classifies stakeholders by power, urgency, and legitimacy to determine priority.