Session 1 - Assorted Practice (PYQs) 4 December, 2020PASSAGE It is frequently said by top managers that were they ever inclined to ask themselves if there might be problems or opportunities deserving their attention other than those continuously arising from the daily round, they would at once send for some feputable firm of business consultants-company dcetoral management professors, experts. from Boston, confidential advisors, and so forth, The Idea that what might be lackit something personal to the top managers themselves, something, moreover, that they alone might one day be able to put right, would siriReThem as very strange, It would be even’ stranger to them to suggest that, not only were they themselves alone in being able to put things right, but that only they, too, could discover the avenues to successful amendment, But since there can be no learning without action and no action without learning, If change is to be brought about by the purchased services of outsiders, independently of any involvement at a personal level of the top managers who commission those outsiders, then there can be no learning-that is, no preparation among those at present in charge to meet the recurrent challenges of the future, The enterprise will therefore become dependent upon its external advisors until it can no longer afford to meet their fees and expenses-a condition now frequently encountered. Nor i this all, the external consultant generally claims expertise in such-and-such a field, and,con this account, will diagnose the afiliction (or interpret the hope) of his client management in terms of it; for a month or more everything will go as he predicts, the pattern uncovered will fit the forecast already made, and the plan of action will build upon the personal enthusiasms ofmembers of the host management. The outside consultants who have prepared the plan: not seldom by piecing together fragments of their past prescriptions to other clients-will radually ‘phase themselves out’ leaving those on the spot to implement what still needs to be done, With their wide Connections across a fast professional culture; the itinerant experts are able quickly to find the supér-specialist needed (it mig 3 seem) 10 advice upon some highly technical obstruction to success. — The assignment of a visiting fellow from another enterprise also anxious to do somethin about ils more obstinate and ill-structured embarrassments has battle in common with the engagement of professional experts. Were the fellows of the Iner University Programme to cary visting cards to widen their possbilities of future employment, they would endorse them in red capitals “Our strengrh just Tike your own, lies in our ignorance of your troubles; For, while the expert may pretend that his fist desire is to sée the problem as its seen by the marfigement that needs todo something about it, he is in his particular business for quite a differen reason, the visiting fellow, on the other hand, clearly another manager infact, anxious to interpret the trouble as a manager among managers, and to leam from his hosts as much as they are to learn from him. He does not seek to prolong his engagement with his hosts, or to withhold unpleasant advice that may Prejudice the willingness of his clients to meet their financial obligations-since there are none. He is not hoping as are many’ consultants that he may be offered an appointment in the firm he is setting out to belp, s0 that his advice will not be coloured by quite[7 adventitious possibilities having nothing to do with the original reasons for his bei the action learning programme at all. Faced with a temporary check, the visiting fellow has no headquarters office he may ring for instant support from another itinerant exper he will need to open up some fresh line of questioning with his hosts. Unlike the professional consultant, he will not be spending a lot of his time trying to find Ut What the most powerful person in the receiving organization believes the problem to be in order to present to him a solution based upon that interpretation; the visiting fellow will laboriously and with little thanks, be trying to reconcile the myriad views and experiences of large numbers of his new colleagues in such a manner that these now start to suggest to him what might be going on and how it may be improved upon. While in practice the expert consultant is desperately striving to use every interview he conduéis as a means of assembling every shared of an idea from others into what he will claim as his own solution, he must be very cautious about creating the impression that he is eirculatit the thitstiest of learners, his official status is a teller of others, an instructor of babes, a guide to the foolish, an enlightened dispelling the darkness, a leader of the blind, and so forth, He must be extremely cautious about giv has to learn, The visiting fellow, on the other hand, gets his authority to help his new colleagues from his ow eagerness {9 Team by recording the explanations of what they themselves imagine to be wrong, as the supreme non-expert, be is, atleast at the outset, in ro position 10 question what they say, nor to stem their desire to say it-and hence to learn from what they are trying to tell him about that which, they feel, seems to pass their own understanding, As Saint Paul reminded us all, “Let no man deceive himself’ Ifany man 1g an impression that there is anything heamong you seemed to be wise in this world, let him become a foo! that he may be wi It is one of the texts upon which action learning is founded, but rarely seen on the Christmas cards from experts. See et Qu (0 the writer, the top managers send for the outside experts to put things ‘A. They do not believe in the capability level of their company staff. B. It appears to them, as the waste of time to get their own company staff involved. C. They do not wish to get themse{ves shouldered with such involvements and personal responsibilities in such situations, 1 D. They think that outside companies/firms have better skilled expertise in the area,Q2. As per the passage, it would be better in the interest of the company A. Ifthe top managers are not involved in such situations of putting the right, as it might distract them from their other impOrratrole B. If the job of correction and putting the things right is handled by the staff of the hosh company, with an active involvement of top managers, 1o enable them to have proper knowledge & skills. It will gear them up to face the problems which might arise later on C. If the job of putting things right is frame since they have better expertise en to outside companies, within the fixed time D. To award the jobs of putting things right to outside companies as the charges paid to the outside companies are much less than those that might be incurred on own experts.Q3. Which of the following messages does the writer desire to convey by using the phrases * Our stsength, just like your own, lieS in our ignorance’of your troubles’ A. The host company is fal Gomi ope, it would be beter 0 put he ee -xpert is equally ignorant but cunning enough to buy time and gettin; put right by gathering knowledge from the host company to action C. The expert from outside company is also a mana right with his knowledge & skill: + and can very well put the things D. The visiting expert would be raking strenuous efforts to get th gta job in the company, he is visiting, ht in order toQ4 Pha e themselves out” as described in the passage means A. The ignorance and working style of outside consultants might put the host company in, trouble. B. The expert company/firm will prolong the work 10 buy time only C. The work will ultimately have to be managed by the host team whéle the visiting expert will move out of the role D. Right from the beginning, the outside expert will not be of much help and the entire work will be accomplished by the employees. of |Host CompanyQ 5. The writer firmly believes that A. The managers at the top level should not be involved in action learning programmes, B. It is better to have the & skill from outside jes than involv the own staff. C. The managers & operational staff of the host company must go for operational learning to face recurring problems and is critical of outside agencies, D. The visiting expert will solve the problem without wasting the time of host company ‘managers, thus avoiding the trouble of their personal responsibilitiesIn 1942, the French writer Albert Camus composed an essay, “The Myth of Sisyphus’. It draws on the Greek fable of a man condemned tp roll a rock up a mountain only to have it roll back down under its own weight, a that lasts for eternity. Camus argues that this image __, the human condition in a world where we can no longer make sense of events; but instead of committing suicide, we should _, ourselves tg this ars ‘elusive feeling of absurdity” and bear it as best we.can. In this sense” Sisyphus is the wa ‘deal hero, Consider the following words: 1, surrender 2. choice 3. symbolises 4. quandary 5. attune 6. option 7. reconcile 8. depicts Which of the following options is the most appropriat in the above paragraph? sequence that best fits the blanks A426 B2.3,1 451 D2,5,7POEM Black lake, black boat, two black, cut-paper people, Where do the black trees go that drink he Their shadows must cover Canada A litle lights filtering from the water flowers Their leaves do not wish us to hurry They are round and flat and full of dark advice Cold words shake from the oar The sprit of blackness isin us, itis inthe fishes. A snag is lifting a valedictory, pale hand, Stars opening among the lilies. Are you not blinded bs-sioh-enpy This is the silence of abandoned souls.inLine 1? jptions best explains the effect of the im: Which of the follow A The first line encapsulates the theme ofithe poem, J with an overpowering sense of febellion, B The images are sulus C The atmosphere indicates a cyclical nature of life and death, .P The black lake lacks regenerative potential; ‘black boat” connotes the funergry boat cut-paper people are unreal E The repeated use of black suggests evilWhich of the following options presents a convincing evaluation of the line, ‘Stars opening among the lilies A The stars are flowers in the sky and the flowers in the lake are stars in water. C The spirit of blackness does not hinder the appearance of beauty in nature which is symbolic of hope blossoming in the soul D The mirror images, the worlds above and overlap. E Lilies purify the ‘dark’ into ‘light’ as symbolized in and by starsRANDOM Which of the statements below is least fallacious? A Cheat inexaminations is wror because God will punish you B Njitigating risks often comes with costs. The snake in the temple likes milk because devotees offer it milk D Educated people do not oppose sale of hard drinks by governments, So drinking cannot be illegal E Marlon Brando was such a great actor because everyone liked him.Which option does not reflect the relationship implicit iyEmendation » Edit6r’? A Injunction : Judge B Examination : Doctor C Discipline : Coach D tlluminggion Usher E Renunciation “Sameet ay oraoe 5 f my ze