A team member is struggling to deliver assigned tasks and the project is at risk of delay. The root cause is the member's lack of understanding of a newly implemented system. What should the project manager do?

Assigning an experienced resource to support the team member is the most effective and proactive solution. This approach directly addresses the root cause (lack of understanding) by providing immediate, targeted assistance, enabling the team member to learn and contribute, thereby mitigating the risk of delay. Asking the team member to learn through on-the-job training alone might be too slow and still jeopardize the schedule. Issuing a change request to extend the project schedule is a reactive measure that doesn't solve the underlying problem and should be a last resort. Escalating performance issues to the sponsor is premature and unhelpful at this stage, as the issue is a knowledge gap, not necessarily a performance deficiency requiring disciplinary action.