XAT 2012 — Decision Making Question 19
Answer the following question based on the information given below.
Dev Anand, CEO of a construction company, recently escaped a potentially fatal accident. Dev had failed to notice a red light while driving his car and attending to his phone calls. His well-wishers advised him to get a suitable replacement for the previous driver Ram Singh, who had resigned three months back.
Ram Singh was not just a driver, but also a trusted lieutenant for Dev Anand for the last five years. Ram used to interact with other drivers and gathered critical information that helped Dev in successfully bidding for different contracts. His inputs also helped Dev to identify some dishonest employees, and to retain crucial employees who were considering attractive offers from his competitors. Some of the senior employees did not like the informal influence of Ram and made it difficult for him to continue in the firm. Dev provided him an alternative job with one of his relatives.
During the last three months Dev has considered different candidates for the post. The backgrounds of the candidates are given in the table below.
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Dev is primarily looking for a stable and trustworthy driver, who can be a suitable replacement for Ram. His family members do not want Dev to appoint a young driver, as most of them are inexperienced. Dev’s driver is an employee of the firm and hence the appointment has to be routed through the HR manager of the firm. The HR manager prefers to maintain parity among all employees of the firm. He also needs to ensure that the selection of a new driver does not lead to discontent among the senior employees of the firm.
In order to resolve the conflicting preferences, one of Dev’s friends suggested Dev, his family members and the HR manager to identify their most and the least preferred candidates without considering the concerns of other stakeholders.
Dev’s most and least preferred candidates: Bal Singh and Chetan respectively
Family members’ most and least preferred candidates: Bal Singh and Chintan respectively
HR manager’s most and least preferred candidates: Chethan and Bal Singh respectively
Which of the above three statements is/are in conformity with the information provided in the passage?
Answer & solution
Option I
- B
Option II
- C
Options I and II
- D
Options II and III
- E
Option I, II and III
Looking at the solution to the earlier question, Bal Singh would be Dev Anand’s most preferred driver. Also, as explained earlier, Sunder and Chintan would not be suitable as they not stable; Mani would not be suitable as he is not trustworthy (claims to have more than one year of experience but cannot substantiate it) and Chethan would not be suitable as he is neither stable (he is coming over on a temporary basis) nor trustworthy (the competitor is offering the services which could be a ploy). So, Chethan would be the least preferred driver.
Thus, Statement I is in conformance with the given information.
The family members want a driver who is not young. Chintan who is the eldest among the candidates (44 years) has been mentioned as the least preferred driver. Based on the given information, the least preferred driver for the family should have been Mani.
Thus, Statement II is not in conformance with the given information.
The HR manager would not prefer Bal Singh as he has a profile very similar to Ram Singh and that created discontent among senior employees. The HR manager wants to avoid that. So, Bal Singh will be his least preferred choice. Among the other four drivers, there is no information available to identify the driver who would be the most preferred.
Thus, Statement III is not in conformance with the given information.
Hence, option (a).
Note: Once statement II is identified as not in conformance, the answer straightaway becomes option 1 as all the other options mention statement II as one of the statements. Also, if you are confused in statement III, note that there is no option that has only statements I and III.