XAT Decision Making

Vimla is the domestic help for Shreya and her neighbour Padma

Analyse the following caselet and answer the questions that follow:

Vimla is the domestic help for Shreya and her neighbour Padma; both live in a posh gated community. Vimla not only cleans the house, but also cooks for both the families. Shreya treasures Vimla ever since she joined her family four years ago. Vimla joined Padma’s household this year.

1. One evening Shreya trying to pay the pizza delivery was surprised to find a few five hundred rupee notes missing from her purse that she was sure were there earlier. She wants to ascertain if someone has stolen the money. On reflecting, the following facts crossed her mind:

1. In the last one year, Shreya had noticed cash missing on three occasions.
2. Shreya’s husband also shared that a few notes were missing from his wallet, though he was not sure if they were stolen.
3. Her eldest son had been pestering Shreya for more pocket money for the last three weeks; in the last few days, he had stopped doing so.
4. In the last one year, Vimla had received six mails from her family asking for money.
5. Her eldest son’s expenditure had gone up in the last few days.

Which of the following combinations of the above statements would DECREASE the likelihood that Vimla has stolen the money?

1. 1 and 3
2. 1 and 4
3. 1 and 5
4. 2 and 4
5. 3 and 5

2. Padma discovered some money missing from her purse. She suspects that Vimla has stolen it. She wants to prevent the stealing from happening again and is contemplating the following actions:

1. She should let it pass, since to err is human.
2. She should confront Vimla and tell her that she knows the truth and the act is unpardonable regardless of her past service and she is thinking of terminating her services.
3. She should tell Vimla that she is aware someone has stolen money from the house but is not sure who it is.
4. She should share with Vimla that neighbours think Vimla has stolen the money she doesn’t, but is interested in finding out the truth.
5. She should directly ask Vimla if she stole the money, promising her no punishment if she confesses.

Arrange the following combinations of the above actions in the DECREASING order of appropriateness.

1. 1, 5, 4
2. 2, 4, 1
3. 2, 5, 4
4. 3, 5, 4
5. 5, 2, 4

Genius Consulting is a boutique consulting firm started by

Analyse the following caselet and answer the question that follows:

Genius Consulting is a boutique consulting firm started by Shirish, Balram, Rahman and Xavier, four friends from a premier business school. They committed themselves to abide by two principles: a) not to indulge in anything unethical and b) share earnings equally.

Genius Consulting could not get a significant project till the following year, when they managed a big one after Rahman’s father referred their firm to his top management. Convinced of the team’s talent following an impressive presentation, the top management awarded them the project even though six other referred teams made presentations.

The day following the presentations, they met to decide the way forward for the organization. Which of the following choices would be the most appropriate for Genius Consulting?

1. As this project violates both their principles, Genius consulting should not take up the project.
2. Due to the violation of the first principle Genius consulting should not take up this project.
3. They should take up the project. Further, since Rahman had agreed to equal sharing, he is not entitled to finder’s fee.
4. They should take up the project and as the referral helped them survive, Rahman should be paid finder’s fee.
5. They should take up the project. But, in order not to violate the principles, Rahman can be paid finder’s fee this year and an equal amount be deducted from his compensation the next year.

Mrs Biswas was to retire in one year after serving

Analyse the following caselet and answer the questions that follow:

Mrs Biswas was to retire in one year after serving in the construction department of the Gujarat government for more than thirty years. After retirement, she wanted to spend her retired life along with Mr Biswas, a retired school teacher in a small town in Kerala. They had two children, both studying in Bengaluru. The Biswas’ wished to construct a house in Kerala with their life savings.

The couple gathered information about owning a house in Kerala. They had four options:

1. Buy a fully furnished house from a big developer.
2. Buy a semi-furnished house from big developer and furnish it.
3. Get a local unregistered contractor to construct a house and furnish it.
4. Mr Biswas with inputs from the family could supervise the construction of a house back in Kerala by employing the best material, engineers, masons and labourers.

1. Which option would ENSURE the best control of quality of construction for the Biswas’?

1. The first option would ensure the best quality.
2. The second option would ensure the best quality.
3. The third option would ensure the best quality.
4. The fourth option would ensure the best quality.
5. Any of the options will equally ensure the best quality.

2. Which of the following additional information, IF TRUE, would improve the chances of the third option being preferred?

1. Based on the current information, with no additional information, the third is the best option.
2. Among local property holders, the contractor in the third option enjoys a good reputation.
3. Big developers are less open to changes in design.
4. Mr Biswas cannot stay back alone to supervise the construction.
5. The Biswas’ want to select the furniture on their own.

As a newly started organization in the IT sector

Analyse the following caselete and answer the question that follows:

As a newly started organization in the IT sector, Saksha IT is a fast growing 400 employee organization. Its head, Saksha Kumar believes in building an organization driven by humility. Which of the following policies would best help him achieve that?

1. Employees shall, in their annual evaluation form, be asked to acknowledge three of their shortcomings, overcoming which will make them better.
2. Employees shall be asked to share with their peers three shortcomings they had noticed about their peers.
3. The immediate superiors would suggest three shortcomings their subordinates have to work on in a given period.
4. Everyone beginning with Saksha, shall be asked to share three of their weaknesses, in a public forum.
5. Employees shall be asked to overcome three shortcomings in the following year. Improvement, if noticed would attract rewards.

A pastor had eaten at restaurant with his troup

Analyse the following caselet and answer the questions that follow:

A pastor had eaten at restaurant with his troup of ten and his family. It is a norm to tip the waiter and about 20% of a waiter’s salary comes from these tips. However, while paying the bill, the pastor crossed out the automatic 18% tip charged for parties of more than eight and wrote “I give God 10% why do you get 18%?” above his signature. The chagrined waitress at the restaurant posted a photo of this on the social media. She was subsequently fired for violating company’s policy on customer privacy.

This would have been understandable if the restaurant had not posted just 2 weeks ago a customer receipt that was complimenting them. Social media and social activists came heavily upon the management’s ambivalent stand and the firing of the waitress. In response, the company posted a note on their social media page defending their actions. This quickly drew over 10,000 comments, mostly negative, to which the management started responding by posting the same note over and over again. There were also accusations of the company deleting negative comments and blocking users. The restaurant also experienced a sizable drop in their footfall.

1. Who/what is the main cause for the situation becoming unmanageable?

1. The pastor for flouting the norm of restaurant.
2. The waitress for violating customer privacy.
3. The management for not taking action against the pastor.
4. The management for giving out disproportionate punishment to waitress.
5. The management for removing negative comments from the social media.

2. The downward spiral continued for the restaurant as the management persisted in defending their actions and argued with those who criticised them. By the following week, the original post had generated over 18,000 negative comments. Which of the following is the best way forward for the restaurant at this juncture?

1. Unconditionally restore the waitress to her former position and salary on the ground that she was never at fault in the first place.
2. Apologise to and reinstate the waitress and ask her to apologize for her breach of customer privacy and post both the apologies on social media.
3. Reinstate the waitress provided she apologises for her breach of customer privacy and post that apology on the restaurant’s social media page.
4. Reinstate the waitress if and only if she apologizes for her breach of customer privacy and posts that apology on her social media page.
5. Recruit two waitress at a higher wage but stick to the original decision of firing the waitress.

Principal Maheshwari of BINK School of Management is facing a problem

Analyse the following caselete and answer the question that follows:

Principal Maheshwari of BINK School of Management is facing a problem that calls for quick action. She received an anonymous mail one day, possibly from one of the students, complaining about outdated syllabi, medicore teachers and poor choice of courses on offer.

Which of the following is the best course of action available to the Principal?

1. She should invite students to discuss any problem openly, one on one or in small groups, promise to act on them but firmly condemn the culture of anonymous mails.
2. She should update the students about the efforts the institute is taking in sprucing up the syllabi, hiring talented faculty etc., but make no reference to the letter.
3. She should convene a meeting of the faculty at the earliest and get them to work on updating the syllabi and also arrange a faculty development program but keep mum about the letter.
4. She should convene a meeting of the faculty and talk about the letter as a symptom of a deeper malaise, ask them to update the syllabi and also organize a faculty development program.
5. She should ignore the letter and not think about it at all.

A college campus with a population of around

Analyse the following caselet and answer the questions that follow:

A college campus with a population of around 2,000 of whom 200 were children, 1,200 people between 15 and 45 years, 500 people between 45 and 65 and around 100 people more than 65 years of age. The campus has two big gates opening out to the city. There are 400 cars and 500 motorbikes inside the campus. The residents relied on these vehicles to visit the city located 10 kilometres away.

Now, with land within the campus becoming scarce, the chief administrator (CA) found the growing demand for parking lot difficult to handle. The faculty, staff and students wanted increased parking space. In the past six years, the parking requirement on campus had doubled. The CA found it inappropriate to construct parking lots from the students’ fee, even though those with vehicles may not complain about it.

Besides creating parking problems, the CA felt that these vehicles added to the pollution and made residents less responsible toward each other. The risk to the children and the elderly because of over-speeding was menacing. Therefore, the CA wanted to reduce the number of vehicles in the campus. Many faculty members, students and staff members, however, felt that demand for more parking space was natural as vehicles were required to go to the market, railway station, airport, and inter-state bus terminal all located in the city. They also told the CA that the elderly, sick and the toddlers relied only on these vehicles. After listening to all stakeholders, the CA wanted to solve these problems while ensuring the campus remained responsible and green.

1. Which of the following actions would best satisfy all the stakeholders within the campus?

1. Levy extra fee on students to construct additional parking lots inside the campus. Students should pay for up-keep of the campus.
2. Let all vehicles be parked in a college-managed space outside the campus while two battery operated vehicles handle exigencies inside the campus.
3. Bring all stakeholders to the discussion table.
4. To reduce carbon footprints, only pooled vehicles should be allowed to operate inside the campus.
5. Charge significant fee from any vehicle entering or leaving the campus.

2. Which of the following would be the best option to increase revenue, decrease carbon footprint and still satisfy all the stakeholders in the campus?

1. Make substantial collection from vehicles entering or leaving campus and construct a parking lot outside the campus.
2. Levy extra fee on the students and build extra parking lots inside the campus.
3. Bring all stakeholders to table and let them build consensus.
4. To reduce the carbon footprint, only pooled vehicles be permitted on campus.
5. Let all vehicles be parked in a managed space outside the campus while battery operated vehicles parked at the two gates can be use inside the campus.

Girirajan an unemployed youngster from Kumbakonam, Tamilnadu, visited Singapore

Analyse the following caselet and answer the questions that follow:

Girirajan an unemployed youngster from Kumbakonam, Tamilnadu, visited Singapore where his school friend worked as software engineer. In Singapore, Girirajan realized that there were a lot of Tamils in "Little India" area. He soon assessed that there were very few restaurants serving authentic Tamil food and decided to set-up a restaurant "Giri’s" in "Little India" serving authentic Tamil food in traditional banana leaf. Customers loved the food. Very soon word spread about the good quality food served in the traditional way. Girirajan expanded operation recruiting 10 employees, all Tamils.

Six months later, Girirajan realized that a lot of Kannadiga and Telugu customers started visiting the restaurant along with their Tamil friends. One day, a Kannadiga customer looking for Devangere Benne Dosa suggested that it may not be a bad idea for Girirajan to serve Karnataka and Andhra cuisines along with Tamil.

With time, the popularity of the restaurant kept soaring. As a result, a lot of Malays, Indonesians and Chinese started visiting the restaurant. His software engineer friend advised to cater to customers of all nationalities. Despite his desire to go grand, Girirajan realized he did not have enough money to get extra space anywhere in Singapore and banks were also reluctant to lend.

One day, while assessing the business, he realized that the restaurant had 90% occupancy rate during peak hours and 40% during the non-peak hours. Both figures were increasing with time.

1. Which of the following options would be most suitable for the growth of the business?

1. Include Karnataka and Andhra cuisines in the menu.
2. Include Indonesian and Chinese in the menu.
3. Keep the focus on Tamil food only with an increased focus on quality improvement.
4. Expand to include either Karnataka and Andhra cuisines or Indonesian and Chinese cuisines.
5. Include Karnataka and Andhra cuisines as well as Indonesian and Chinese.