XAT Decision-Making in a Situation Practice Questions With Solutions

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XAT Decision Making Decision-Making in a Situation Practice Questions

InstructionThese instructions are applicable only to questions 1 to 3
Instructions

Read the following scenario and answer the THREE questions that follow.

Raman had been working tirelessly as a Project Manager in the IT department of Flying Groceries, a renowned app-based supply chain company, for the past three years. Having graduated from a top-tier engineering college, he dived straight into the corporate world, managing projects with great zeal that inspired his seniors.

At the end of his first year with Flying Groceries, impressed with his hard work, Raman’s boss, Suraj, the founder-CEO of Flying Groceries, fast-tracked his promotion and made him Delivery Manager responsible for multiple projects of a vertical. Suraj also promised Raman the position of Chief Operation Officer in the fifth year of his tenure.

In search of a greater career trajectory, Raman pursued entrance exams for business schools. His efforts bore fruits as he secured a place in the country’s best business school, known for a strong alumni base, stellar placement records and demanding academic requirements.

Raman was delighted; he had three months to join the business school. Flying Groceries demanded that any employee who wished to leave the organization should give at least a month’s notice. Raman decided to continue working and enriching his work experience, which will be beneficial when applying to companies after graduating from the business school. Therefore, he decided not to share the news of the offer with anyone else for the time being.

Question 1.

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Flying Groceries was planning to implement a much-needed update to enhance the functionality and user experience of their app. According to Suraj, the update was expected to take at least six months to complete. Suraj wanted Raman to lead this project because his leadership was critical for the project’s success. However, Raman knew that he would be there only for three months; he was not sure whether he should accept the project.
Which of the following information, if true, will BEST assist Raman in accepting the role of leading the project?

Question 2.

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After a couple of months, Raman resigned. Suraj was shocked by Raman’s resignation and asked him to reconsider his decision. When Raman expressed his inability to continue, Suraj felt betrayed. This led to a series of heated arguments between them, and they swore to never work together again.

Raman joined the business school; however, he soon realized that that summer internship placements were approaching. Consequently, he would require verification of his responsibilities from Flying Groceries.
Which of the following actions is the MOST appropriate for Raman to obtain his verification?

Question 3.

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Raman received a verification letter from Flying Groceries outlining his basic job responsibilities during his tenure there. However, Raman required a document to substantiate the additional responsibilities he undertook at Flying Groceries by going beyond his call of duty. Sadly, he did not have any documentation of such additional responsibilities.
Which of the following options will BEST help substantiate the additional responsibilities Raman undertook?

InstructionThese instructions are applicable only to questions 4 to 6
Instructions

Read the following scenario and answer the THREE questions that follow.

Ms. Vineeta Lama, a respected figure in the small town of Jampur, found herself stranded on the road, once again, when her old small hatchback car broke down. Finding herself alone on the deserted road with no one to help, Vineeta, in desperation called Shyam Saigal, the General Manager of Balaji Motors − the only dealership in Jampur that sells Diplomatico cars, the brand that Vineeta drives. Vineeta knew Shyam from her frequent visits for getting her hatchback car serviced. Surprisingly, he arrived within fifteen minutes, accompanied by a mechanic from his dealership. Further, he arranged for the vehicle to be towed and kindly offered Vineeta a ride home. On the way back, he advised Vineeta to exchange her old car with a new Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) on a good discount from his dealership. He assured her that he would add several additional services to ensure her SUV remained in excellent condition for many years ahead.

Question 4.

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Due to her old car’s frequent breakdowns, Vineeta decided it was a time to replace it. She was afraid whether buying a Diplomatico SUV from Balaji Motors, as suggested by Shyam, will be a right decision for her.

Which of the following pieces of additional information will help her the MOST in taking the right decision?

Question 5.

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Shyam’s satisfaction from meeting the month’s quota for selling SUVs turned to dismay when one of his young executives nervously told him that he mistakenly punched an extended warranty for free to Vineeta’s purchase contract earlier that morning. This could not be reversed from the company’s system and meant a loss of Rs. 19,000 for the dealership. The executive was very sorry and was ready to take accountability. However, the amount was too large to be borne by the executive.

Shyam was not concerned about placing accountability, but rather the recovery of the loss. He was unsure whether he should ask Vineeta for the money.

The following pieces of information are available to Shyam:
A. Shyam is aware that Vineeta is very happy with the deal he gave her for the car.
B. Shyam feels that Diplomatico’s software system is complicated for new employees, which might have also played a role in the error.
C. Vineeta has a wide network and can connect Shyam with many potential customers.
D. Vineeta’s brother, a car enthusiast, has enough knowledge of how car dealers operate.
E. Shyam feels that if he maintains the current sales volume, he might be able to persuade Diplomatico to write off the amount (Rs. 19,000).

Which of the following combinations, of the above pieces of information, will MOST likely stop Shyam from trying to recover the money from Vineeta?

Question 6.

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Three months passed. While returning from a friend’s house, Vineeta’s new SUV was hit by another car. Fortunately, she was not injured, but the SUV was badly damaged. Surprisingly, when Vineeta took the car for repairs to Balaji Motors, she was told that the repairs would not cost her anything as the extended warranty on her car covered such accidents. Vineeta could not recall purchasing such a warranty; hence, she contacted Shyam. Shyam informed her that the extended warranty was mistakenly punched into her contract by an executive. As this mistake could not be reversed due to the company’s rigid policies, Shyam bore the cost of Rs. 19,000. He further added that Vineeta should consider it a gift from Balaji Motors for purchasing the highest-priced Diplomatico SUV.

As Vineeta rode back home, she wondered if she should pay Rs. 19,000 to Shyam since the extended warranty came to her aid that day.

Which of the following is the MOST compelling rationale for Vineeta to justify not paying Rs. 19,000 to Shyam?

InstructionThese instructions are applicable only to questions 7 to 9
Instructions

Read the following scenario and answer the THREE questions that follow.

Bharat Business School (BBS), a premier business school, was renowned for the quality education it provided. Its faculty, known for their domain area expertise and excellence in teaching, competed with each other for a better student feedback. Of late, the institute was finding it difficult to upgrade its course content with rapidly changing global business scenario. The difficulties multiplied when the school realized that some of senior faculty would retire on regular basis, starting in the near future. To overcome these difficulties, BBS decided to recruit young faculty in all the departments (e.g., Economics, Finance,
Marketing, HRM, Production etc).

When the Dean - Academics scanned the applications, she found three distinct types of aspirants viz. (i) A type candidates who were very good teachers, competent at teaching the courses taught by existing faculty members; (ii) B type candidates who were average teachers, competent at creating and teaching new courses that would complement existing courses, taught by the current faculty; (iii) C type candidates were not-so-good teachers, willing to teach any course BBS required.

Note1: A course is termed complementary when it covers latest content and complements existing courses offered by a department.
Note2: Each department decides the suite of courses to be offered.

Question 7.

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Given the above context, which of the following options will be the BEST recruitment decision for BBS?

Question 8.

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Suppose the Dean - Academics wanted to reduce future conflicts and political maneuvering to ensure harmony among faculty.

Which of the following options will BEST reduce conflicts and politicking amongst the faculty?

Question 9.

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Suppose the Dean-Academics wanted to ensure the most efficient utilization of faculty resources.
Which of the following hiring decisions will ensure the MOST efficient utilization of faculty resources?

InstructionThese instructions are applicable only to questions 10 to 12
Instructions

Go through the following scenario and answer the THREE questions that follow.

To prepare a dish (e.g., Dosa- Sambhar, Idli-chutney, Rajma-Chawal, Mawa-Bati), the chef has to finish nine activities, some of which could be done simultaneously, while others could not be done simultaneously (see diagram). One of the challenges faced by the chef was to precisely calculate the preparation time of a dish and communicate the waiting time to the customers.

However, based on the past data, the chef had an idea about approximate time taken to complete each activity. He had noted down the best (optimistic), worst (pessimistic) and most likely (most commonly observed) time to finish each of the nine activities. Further, the chef realised that frequency of occurrence of most likely time was 66.666%, and the frequency of occurrence of pessimistic and optimistic times were 16.666% each. The diagram below shows the activities involved and the table shows the optimistic, pessimistic, and most likely times for each activity. Time is indicated in minutes in the table below.

Question 10.

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The expected time to prepare the dish is the weighted average of optimistic, pessimistic and most likely time.

Which of the following is the expected wait time for the chef to communicate to the customers?

Question 11.

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Customer dissatisfaction is the difference of actual waiting time (AWT) and expected waiting time (EWT). AWT is the actual time spent by customer before being served the dish. EWT of the customer is the time communicated by the chef.

What is the minimum waiting time (EWT) that the chef should communicate to minimise customer dissatisfaction?

Question 12.

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Which of the following is the MOST volatile activity for the chef?

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InstructionThese instructions are applicable only to questions 1 to 3
Instructions

Read the following scenario and answer the THREE questions that follow.

Arti, CEO of an FMCG company, was under pressure from the Board of Governors (BoG) to increase diversity in the workforce. The board wanted the company to hire candidates with vision impairment*, as it believed that they contributed to organizations in many unique ways.

The CEO was apprehensive of hiring visually impaired candidates; she was not sure about the feasibility of accommodating them in the current setting. Moreover, Arti was unsure as to how the visually impaired could contribute meaningfully to the organization. (* A person, with a vision impairment in a range of 60-100 percent, is referred to as a visually impaired person. A person with 100 percent vision impairment cannot see at all.)

Question 1.

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The following arguments were presented to Arti about the candidates with vision impairment:
1.Visually impaired can do some activities better than the normal people and hence complement other employees.
2.Visually impaired can motivate other employees to work harder.
3. Visually impaired can act as a role model for other disadvantaged people in the society
4. Visually impaired can work harder to prove themselves
5. Hiring visually impaired people may enhance organizational reputation which may consequently lead to better sales.
6. Visually impaired have to be paid 20 percent extra salary. 

From the above arguments, which of the following options indicate that CEO’s apprehensions are misplaced?

Question 2.

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Arti wanted to follow the suggestion given by the Board of Governors; however, she was not sure if the company was ready to accommodate candidates with 100 percent visual impairment. Also, the concern of involving such employees in meaningful activities was constantly bothering her. Hence, she constituted a committee to come up with recommendations that would help the company in hiring 100 percent visually impaired employees
After two months of deliberations, the committee came up with the following recommendations:
1. Hire visually impaired employees unconditionally as it is any company’s social responsibility
2. Hire visually impaired employees in the activities they can contribute
3. Ensure visually impaired friendly office space, food courts, restrooms, parking etc.
4. Allow guide dogs to assist employees with 100 percent vision impairment in the office premises

Which of the following options will BEST allay concerns as well as be fair to all stakeholders?

Question 3.

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Suresh refuses to be served coffee by visually impaired baristas, but he does believe in donating to the visually impaired. The following statements could explain why Suresh does not want to be served by visually impaired baristas.
1. He thinks that visually impaired are inefficient at serving coffee.
2. His parents have taught him to donate, instead of accepting services from challenged individuals.
3. He believes that his refusal to be served will have adverse consequences.
4. He feels joyous amongst visually impaired; sharing his life and caring for them. 

From the following, choose the option that BEST explains Suresh’s biased behaviour

InstructionThese instructions are applicable only to questions 4 to 5
Instructions

Read the following scenario and answer the TWO questions that follow.

Moonlighting is the practice of working for one organisation while also accepting additional responsibilities and jobs, typically without the employer's knowledge in another organization. It is named as such because it is typically performed at night or on the weekends. “Doing two remote jobs at once was already happening; it was the biggest open secret out there in tech," said a US techie.
Due to weaker margins, major Indian IT companies such as Infosys, TCS, and Wipro announced that they would delay, postpone, or reduce variable pay-outs to employees for the first quarter of fiscal year 2023. This drew attention to Moonlighting. The Indian IT industry was divided on the issue of Moonlighting. Some considered it unethical, while others viewed it as an urgent necessity. Infozeta Chairman Patrick's stance on this matter was crystal clear. "There is a great deal of talk about people working part-time in the tech industry. This is cheating, pure and simple," he had tweeted.
However, McMillan, CEO of Betauniverse, does not consider Moonlighting as "cheating.". "Employment is a contract between an employer who pays me for working 'n' number of hours per day," he explained. “Now, what I do after that time is entirely up to me; I can do whatever I please."

Question 4.

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Which of the following options will have the LEAST negative consequenceon Moonlighting employees?

Question 5.

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Mr. Q is an IT professional who works for a small company in Bangalore. His office hours are from 2:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.; thus, he wants to utilize his morning time. He thought of taking up extra work; however, he is not sure about the righteousness of his decision. His company does not have any clear policy on Moonlighting. As he is confused, he seeks opinions of the people who work in his industry to understand ethical dimension of Moonlighting. The following opinions are shared with Mr. Q:
Opinion 1: Moonlighting is unacceptable since the employer has a complete right over the employee.
Opinion 2: Moonlighting is a choice of the employee, and that the employer has no authority over the employee's conduct after office hours.
Opinion 3: Moonlighting leads to employee missing out on important organizational work.
Opinion 4: While Moonlighting, the employee might unknowingly leak critical information gained from one organization to the other.
Opinion 5: It is OK to Moonlight as employers are exploitative and underpay employees.
Given the abovementioned opinions, which of the following combinations will BEST help Mr. Q to realize that Moonlighting is unethical?

InstructionThese instructions are applicable only to questions 6 to 8
Instructions

Read the following scenario and answer the THREE questions that follow.

Dhan, a poor but enterprising 15-year-old, resided in the world’s largest slum in a metropolitan city, along with her widowed mother. The densely packed slum housed about a million people, mostly in rickety one room tenements, connected by labyrinthine lanes and by-lanes. Dhan’s mother worked intermittently as a daily wager in a small savoury factory. For a 15-year-old, Dhan’s life was hectic. She spends two hours every day in fetching water for the household, packing breakfast and lunch for her mother. In addition, she had to prepare supper. On her mother’s insistence, Dhan also attended an evening bridge school run by an NGO. Dhan’s dream was to provide a comfortable life to her mother and take her family out of poverty. Of late, Dhan observed that the customers to a nearby tea-cum-savoury stall (TCS), were mostly the slum dwellers, who thronged the stall for its low prices and lack of alternatives. Further, Dhan gathered that the TCS could not cater to all of its customers, and the owner still made a neat Rs.800 profit per day. Dhan saw that a probable first step towards her family’s economic independence could be to own her own TCS.

Question 6.

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From the following, choose the BEST option that will increase Dhan’s chances of realising her dream of starting a venture?

Question 7.

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Within two years of establishment, Dhan’s TCS is not only outcompeting its nearest rivals in the slum but has also earned a goodwill for the quality and taste of its products. Hence, it has become famous within the slum as “Dhan Dhana Dhan” brand. Dhan now aspires to expand the reach of her savouries into the metropolitan region. Dhan wishes to scale up her savoury production from 100 kg to 1000 kg per day while maintaining quality. Dhan realizes that her establishment does not have the space for expansion on its own.

Which of the following options will BEST help Dhan to scale up production with least investment, tightly control quality, and also protect her business interests?

Question 8.

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Dhan with her ingenuity finds a way to scale up her production capacity on her own terms. Though Dhan’s TCS has become the famous “Dhan Dhana Dhan” brand within the slum, it is still unknown to the outside world. Thus, Dhan embarks on the next challenge of creating a market for savouries amongst the masses in the metropolitan region.

From the following, choose the BEST option that will help Dhan to sell her products, at the lowest price, to a maximum number of metropolitan customers?

InstructionThese instructions are applicable only to questions 9 to 11
Instructions

Read the following scenario and answer the THREE questions that follow.

In recent years, complaints of sexual harassment at “Fair Consulting” had increased exponentially. Fair Consulting had a gender-neutral, anti-sexual harassment policy and a committee to adjudicate on complaints. During the hearing of complaints, allegations and counter-allegations would fly thick and fast. This made it difficult for the adjudicating committee to conclusively decide on the complaints.

Question 9.

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Fair Consulting was mulling over three interventions to reduce sexual harassment cases in the workplace. They are:
1. Educate employees about the company’s anti-sexual harassment policy
2. Profile employees with a propensity to engage in acts of sexual harassment
3. Discipline sexual offenders

Which of the following options will the employees find LEAST ostracizing?

Question 10.

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The CEO of Fair Consulting wanted the adjudicating committee to reduce the number of errors while deciding on sexual harassment complaints. The employees suggested that the committee could do the following to reduce errors in judgment.

1. Listen to the arguments of both the complainant and the accused together
2. Listen to the arguments of both the complainant and the accused separately
3. Involve a member of women’s commission
4. Take the help of a retired judge
5. Hire a forensic expert to verify evidences

From the following, choose the MOST effective sequence that would help the committee to arrive at the right decision.

Question 11.

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Of late, the adjudicating committee received a complaint from a junior female consultant. Her immediate boss cracked a bawdy joke about her in the office tuck shop. When the committee probed the alleged misconduct, they identified an independent witness. She agreed to give her testimony to the committee: however, she was unsure if she would like to be identified either by the complainant or the accused. The convenor of the committee was confused about the stance to be taken on the witness’s concern.

Which of the following will be the BEST stance to be taken by the
convenor?

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