XAT 2023 Question Paper - DM
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.
Given the above context, which of the following options will be the BEST recruitment decision for BBS?
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?
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?
Read the following scenario and answer the THREE questions that follow.
During the floods of 2018-2019, a group of philanthropists led by Niyabuddin, wished to open free food centre for the needy. Their motto was that “no human should be hungry.” Nothing gives more satisfaction to the philanthropists than to see the hungry eat to the fullest.
Post Covid-19, the group started a food centre by the name Win Borne Life Care Food (WBLCF) in a small town called Palakkad. The centre started gaining popularity as the number of people enjoying free meals increased over time. Initially, WBLCF offered a standardized menu consisting of idli, upma, puttu for breakfast, curd rice for lunch, and idli or upma for supper. Six women were employed by WBLCF to prepare all the meals. As the number of diners increased, they started expecting a variety in the menu. At WBLCF, not all the diners eat "free": while two-thirds of diners get free food, one-third would donate some amount to a transparent charity box kept at the entrance. For example, a man donated Rs. 500 after consuming two idlis, and a woman approached Niyabuddin and inquired about donating 10 kilogrammes of rice. Those who could not afford to donate, were often seen prostrating worshipfully in front of the charity box. Some caring individuals made monetary donation while others donated rice, fruits and vegetables to WBLCF. Further, the centre received enquiries from many locals on how they could contribute to the cause.
As the centre was lauded for its philanthropic work by people of the town, Niyabuddin intended to replicate the initiative in the nearby districts. However, he is concerned about the cost that goes into running the centre. Almost 75 percent of the donated amount goes into buying the cooking ingredients, while the rest goes into paying salaries, operations and maintenance costs.
From the following, choose the MOST important challenge that Niyabuddin has to overcome to sustain WBLCF.
Niyabuddin realised that on some days the food was wasted while on other days diners went back hungry. He sought advice from a consultant friend on how to reduce wastage. The consultant suggested the following:
1. Launch a mobile app so that diners can pre-inform their arrival to WBLCF.
2. Ask diners who enjoy free meal to distribute excess food to hungry on streets
3. Ask diners to eat less as it is good for health
4. Preach people to eat less
5. Ration amount of food to be served to the diners
Which of the above ideas will not be consistent with the core ethos of
WBLCF?
Niyabuddin wanted to conserve local recipes that can be used to prepare mouth-smacking dishes for the diners.
Which of the following could be the BEST way to conserve local recipes?
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.
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?
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?
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.)
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?
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?
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
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."
Which of the following options will have the LEAST negative consequenceon Moonlighting employees?
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?
Read the following scenario and answer the TWO questions that follow.
The CEO of the Jamshedpur Tea Factory (JTF) was in a quandary over employees skipping work. It was becoming increasingly difficult for him to identify employees who faked illness to skip work. The work of the employees was complex and intricate, and they had to report to eight supervisors. “Faking illness” made it difficult for JTF to judiciously decide on “Promotion” and “Training” of employees. An employee could only be promoted on the completion of a multi-skilling training program. Further, to be nominated for the training program, an employee must be recommended by a minimum of six supervisors. JTF wanted to promote only sincere and deserving employees.
The CEO was thinking of changing the policy regarding leave, training & promotion.
Which of the following will be the MOST efficient course of action for JTF and yet be fair to the employees?
Which of the following policies will be MOST prone to error while selecting deserving and sincere employees?
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.
From the following, choose the BEST option that will increase Dhan’s chances of realising her dream of starting a venture?
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?
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?
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.
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?
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.
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?
