Objective Comprehension-VI

Please study carefully the comprehension given below. The passages is followed by a set of questions choose the best answer to each question.

Can India make it to a leadership position in the new millennium or will it retain the ‘fast train-going-show’ image of the last 50 odd years? Most people believe that the potential for our country to succeed is huge. They are also disappointed at the inability to convert the natural advantages we possess into tangible benefits. The recent success of our infotech industry globally has reinforced the belief that when we put our mind to it we can and do succeed. Now, the expectation is that this success will be replicated in other areas.
There is not doubt that India’s further will be driven by the intellectual capital of its people. Even though many of the billion Indian people are and will continue for the foreseeable further to live in a third-world setting, there are many Indians with the skills, ability and aspiration to prosper and flourish in a first-world environment. It is, therefore, likely that India will, at the same time, belong to both the first and third worlds.
That first-world environment will be powered increasingly by knowledge workers and brainware India clearly has the numbers. It needs to invest in training and skill-building and also encourage entrepreneurship and risk-taking.
I have no magic recipe to convert India’s people power into a competitive advantage on global basis. Also, I am nowhere near qualified to address macro issues like universal education and school curriculam. Therefore, I have to shrink the issue into a familiar framework of ‘growing our people. ’
It is imperative that Indian business pay more than lip service to the empowerment of their employees. We have to break the ‘do-as-you are told’ mentality which inhibits creativity and promotes the culture of servitude long after our ‘foreign masters’ are gone. Together with empowerment, there has to be a culture of personal accountability so that everyone realises the necessity of valuing commitment.
In all areas of activity, seniority and hierarchies ( if any) must be based purely on merit. Seniority, like respect, must be earned and not ‘termed,’ i.e., based on the length of service. Future organisations will be based on communities and interaction between individuals and teams both within and outside the organisation. The work environment both with respect to physical space as well as culture, must be barrier less / boundryless, allowing the impromptu and regular and regular interaction across workgroups/teams.
Organisations must accept that empowerment and personal accountability should go hand in hand with a degree of tolerance for mistakes and failures. Mistakes and failures are good learning opportunities for our people and should be regarded as such unless repeated. Tolerance would also provide a safety net for those prepared to take risks, a quality rarely seen among Indian executives today but crucial to succeed in the new economy.
Organisations must be as transparent as possible with their employees. Both good and bad news must be shared. Often organisations and their leadership wrongly believe that the employees aren’t interested in certain information or more arrogantly, decide that information is best withheld as it is beyond the comprehension of their employees. Knowledge sharing must be pushed at all levels through a carrot-and-stick approach. Those who continuously hoard knowledge must be weeded out. Everyone must come to work thinking that they will learn and add to their skills.
Performance management must be institutionalised to give everyone a clear understanding of organisational goals, team goals, the individual’s role or goals within a team, rewards which follow from meeting goals and career opportunities in the organisation. Encourage a sense of commitment to the community among your employees. Apart from making them feel good about themselves it also affords opportunities for them to work as teams in a non-work environment. Above all, make work fun. If people, however talented, show up at work because it is a job’, then they are unlikely to realise their full potential.
The above is not an exhaustive list for each organisation to get the best out of its people. But if each organisation addresses some of these issues then people will grow individually and collectively. Thus, is bound to have a beneficial effect on harnessing and driving their intellectual capital.

Ques 1. The author attributes success of India in infotech industry to :
(a) do-as-you are told mentality
(b) lazy and intolerant attitude of Indians
(c) growing global economy
(d) realising the latent intellectual capital
(e) None of these

Ques 2. Which of the following is the best way for organisations to be transparent?
(a) Share both good and bad news at all levels
(b) Share only that information which employees can understand
(c) Share only good news and withhold bad news
(d) Only relevant information should be shared
(e) None of the above

Ques 3. The carrot-and-stick method will realise which of the following objectives?
(a) The accountability of the employees will improve
(b) The confidential information will remain as guarded secret
(c) There will be improvement in the skill of employees
(d) The free flow of knowledge and information will improve
(e) None of the above

Ques 4. Which of the following measures, if adopted, according to the passage will make employees value commitment?
1. Stresngthening the skills
2. Giving necessary instructions
3. Fixing accountability
(a) All of these
(b) 2 and 3
(c) 1 and 3
(d) Either 1, 2 and 3
(e) None of these

Ques 5. What does the word impromptu communicate in the passage?
(a) The communication should be unprovoked
(b) Employees interaction should be spontaneous and natural
(c) The work groups should be prompted to talk less, work more
(d) Work groups and teams should interact only if it is necessary
(e) None of the above

Ques 6. The phrase fast-train-going-slow in the passage refers to :
1. Following the old policies of governance
2. Not realising the inbuilt potential
(a) Only 1
(b) Only 2
(c) Either 1 and 2
(d) Neither 1 and 2
(e) Both 1 and 2

Ques 7. According to author, which of the following factors inhibits creativity?
(a) Giving more emphasis on seniority
(b) Less emphasis on team work
(c) Asking employees to follow directions only
(d) Liability of organisation to address macro issues
(e) None of these

Ques 8. According to the passage which of the following is predicament of Indian business?
(a) The core issues of universal education are not addressed
(b) The Government policies are not favourable
(c) While strengthening employees potential the policies are more talked implemented
(d) The field of competition is uneven
(e) None of the above

Ques 9. To realise the full potential of the talent, what are recommendations of the passage?
(a) Making the working place as funny as possible
(b) Love your job even if you hate to work
(c) Make clear difference between job and work
(d) Make your work as interesting as if it is fun
(e) None of the above

Ques 10. Which of the following provides good learning opportunities?
(a) High level of tolerance for failure
(b) Repeating the mistakes till learning takes place
(c) Overlooking the mistakes of the employees
(d) Making efforts not to do the same mistake again
(e) None of these

Ques 11. The phrase ‘seniority, like respect, must be earned’ ............... refers to :
1. the seniority must reflect the expertise and knowledge
2. the earning of seniority should be related to length of services.
3. merit should decide seniority.
(a) 1 and 3
(b) 1 and 2
(c) 2 and 3
(d) All of these
(e) None of these

Ques 12. What is the expectation of the author from the Indians?
(a) They will realise their potential in areas other than Information Technology
(b) Despite being slow they will think fast
(c) They will stop working oif forced to work like ‘do as you are told’
(d) Indian will turn natural disadvantage to advantage
(e) None of the above

Ques 13. Which of the following is not true in the context of the passage?
(a) India has huge potential to succeed
(b) To empower its employees Indian business pay more for the services of the employees
(c) The seniority should not be based on age
(d) India should encourage the risk taking behaviour
(e) Business bodies of future will have more knowledge workers

Ques 14. Which of the following best describes the word framework as used in the passage?
(a) Working within frame
(b) Fixing frame for the assigned work
(c) The basic premise
(d) Divising a defined work culture
(e) None of these

Ques 15. How does sense of commitment to community among employees help people?
(a) It develops competition feeling in them.
(b) People learn risk-taking even in non-work situation
(c) It encourages accountability in them
(d) People start perceiving opportunities for them to work as teams in non-work situation also
(e) None of the above

Answers :
(d), 2. (a), 3. (c), 4. (c), 5. (b), 6. (b) 7. (c) 8. (c), 9. (d), 10. (a), 11. (a), 12. (a), 13. (b), 14. (c) 15. (d)