Event
- 1. Q Which management guru with a background in medicine wrote a book called the "Mechanism of Mind"? A Edward De Bono Q Top Gear, launched recently by Worldwide Media Ltd., is a joint venture between Bennett Coleman & Co Ltd. and which organization / company? A BBC Worldwide (Since its inception in 1993, Top Gear is one of UK's leading auto magazines) Q Which famous publication devised the Big Mac Index? A The Economist Q Retail giant Wal-Mart is known for its worldwide strategy of EDLP. Expand EDLP. A Every Day Lower Prices Q Which management guru became known for his pioneering research on national and organisational cultures? A Gert Hofstede Q Which clothing brand was the first to introduce the concept of fashion store by day and bar by night in India? A Provogue Q Which Indian company has a customer relationship programme called Passport Programme? A Hero Honda Q Which company employees hundreds of thousands of American teenagers to popularise a new launch?
- 2. A P&G Q Which company organises a Challenge Bibendum car show? A Michelin Q Project Tejasvani is an initiative by which company to empower its women employees? A Tata Steel Q Which tech (net) company organises a Codejam Competiton to find the best programming talent? A Google Q Which billionaire is associated with the Open Society Institute which donates large sums to various organisations the world? A George Soros Q Which new advertising methodology was used by Sony to promote its show Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahin at Mumbai in November 2003? A 'Flash mob' where a few dozen people converged at Apna Bazar and chanted Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahin. Q In 2003, which brand had created an advertisement character called Terry Tate? A Reebok Q As the net gathered momentum, Jack Welch asserted that there should be a new G.E. way. He named it dyb.com. What does it stand for? A destroy your business i.e. blow the damn thing up before the competition does.
- 3. Q Nuts Crazy Recipe for Business and Personal Success (by Keven and Jackie Freiberg) is about which company ? A Southwest Airlines 1. What psychological methodology does NLP stand for? Neuro-Linguistic Programming 2. David McLelland's motivational theory identified three principal motivational needs which he said each of us possesses to varying degrees, and which characterise our motivational behaviour; what are these three motivational needs? Achievement (n-ach), the need to achieve things; Authority/Power (n-pow), the need to have impact, influence and authority; and Affiliation (n-affil), the need for relationships, interaction and acceptance among other people (or words to similar effect as these definitions) 3. Which organisation produces the UK's ABC1C2 (etc) Social Grade Classifications Statistics? NRS Ltd (National Readership Survey) 4. What does the selling acronym AIDA stand for? Attention, Interest, Desire, Action 5. Who developed the 'Equity Theory' of job motivation in the 1960's? J Stacey Adams 6. What does the financial abbreviation P&L stand for? Profit and Loss (fully, Profit and Loss Account) 7. Who developed the ten stages of corporate life cycle, starting with Courtship and Infancy and ending in Bureaucracy and Death? Dr Ichak Adizes 8. The Ansoff matrix correlates what two aspects of business development from the 'new' and 'existing' perspectives? Products and Markets 9. In selling and communications, what do 'open questions' generally achieve? Open questions gather information, improve understanding, and build rapport by encouraging the other person to talk and explain things, including how they feel about things 10. Albert Mehrabian researched and published a now widely referenced set of statistics for the effectiveness of spoken communications relating to feelings and attitudes; what three types of communication did he identify and
- 4. what percentages for each did he attach to each type in terms of the percentage of meaning (or understanding) that each communication type conveyed from person to person in his study? Mehrabian's research stated that: in relation to feelings and attitudes, 7% of meaning conveyed is in the words that are spoken; 38% of meaning conveyed is in the way that the words are said (paralinguistic); and 55% of meaning conveyed is in facial expression - importantly these findings relate to feelings and attitudes, and not to communications of more simple and obvious nature 11. In business accounts and financial reporting, expenses which change according to scale of performance or usage or demand are known as what? Variable Costs 12. What is the name of Ingham and Luft's model and theory which deals with hidden and open areas of knowledge about a person? The Johari Window 13. The '360 degree' appraisal method collects feedback from whom, about whom? A '360 Degree' feedback appraisal collects the views from people who work with the appraisee, about the appraisee, including subordinates, peers, upline managers; effectively anyone who comes into contact with the appraisee and who is happy to provide constructive feedback about the appraisee's strengths and areas for improvement 14. What are the four levels of learning evaluation defined in Donald Kirkpatrick's original four-stage model? 1. Enjoyment; 2. Transfer of learning; 3. Application of learning; 4. Effect of application (or words to the same effect as these four definitions) 15. What is the correct ascending order of these human needs according to Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs: Esteem, Safety, Belongingness and Love, Self-Actualisation, Biological and Physiological? Biological and Physiological Needs (basic life needs - shelter, food, drink, sleep, etc); Safety Needs (security, protection, law, etc); Belongingness and Love Needs (family, affection, relationships, etc); Esteem Needs (achievement, status, responsibility, reputation, etc); Self-
- 5. Actualisation (personal growth, self-fulfilment, etc) 16. What part of our brains typically handles process-type functions, according to brain theorists such as Katherine Benziger? Left Basal (left rear) 17. What does the accounting acronym FIFO mean? First In First Out (a convention for writing down the balance sheet value of assets of the same type - oldest are written-off first) 18. One of the most effective and efficient forms of marketing is abbreviated to the initials WOM; what is it? Word Of Mouth 19. Bloom's Taxonomy of Learning Domains divides learning development into three main aspects: Cognitive, Affective and Psychomotor; what might these three aspects of personal development more commonly be called? Knowledge, Attitude, Skills 20. Who wrote the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People? Dr Stephen Covey 21. The 'Big Five' personality dimensions, by which modern day psychologists believe every person's personality and behaviour tendencies can be measured are commonly abbreviated to the OCEAN acronym; what does OCEAN stand for? Openness to experience, Conscientiousness, Extraversion/introversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism 22. What are the four metaphorical terms used to describe products/services in Boston Matrix model according to market share and market maturity? Dog, Cash Cow, Problem Child and Star (or Rising Star) 23. The financial ratio which divides a company's 'liquid assets' by 'current liabilities' is known by what popular term? Acid Test (or 'Quick Ratio') 24. What three important things should be confirmed and understood before conducting a brainstorming ideas session? The purpose or aim of the exercise; a time limit; the fact that all ideas are welcome and to be respected (ie., sometimes the craziest-sounding ideas are the best ones). 25. What does the SWOT stand for in SWOT analysis? Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats
- 6. 26. What are the 'Four Functional Types' within Carl Jung's theory? Thinking, Feeling, Sensation, Intuition 27. With what was the Kyoto Summit concerned? Global climate change (in other words, greenhouse gas emissions) 28. What are the four sequential stages of the 'conscious competence' learning model? 1. Unconscious Incompetence, 2. Conscious Incompetence, 3. Conscious Competence, 4. Unconscious Competence 29. What is the '1st Law of Cybernetics' (aka the 'Law of Requisite Variety')? "The unit within the system with the most behavioural responses available to it controls the system." (or words to that effect) 30. What are the four main 'Temperament' types called within David Keirsey's Temperaments personality theory? Artisan, Idealist, Guardian, Rational/Rationalist 31. According to the Tannenbaum and Schmidt Continuum theory relating to leadership, delegation and team development, what must be reduced in order for the team's area of freedom (and growth) to increase? The manager's use of authority 32. What does the financial term ROI stand for? Return On Investment 33. Whose experiential learning theory comprises the learning styles named: Concrete Experience (feeling); Abstract Conceptualization (thinking); Active Experimentation (doing); and Reflective Observation (watching)? David Kolb 34. Daniel Goleman was responsible for popularising and defining what management and behavioural concept in his eponymously titled (ie., the title is also the subject) 1995 book? Emotional Intelligence 35. What is psychometrics? The science of measuring (or testing) human personality type (or mental abilities) 36. What is the management technique that is commonly and informally abbreviated to MBWA? Management By Walking About (or Wandering Around) - the term is generally attributed to Tom Peters (In Search Of Excellence, 1982) although it was probably part of a new management ideology first
- 7. pioneered by a few bright American companies as far back as the 1940's 37. Large size hand-writing generally indicates what characteristics in the personality of the writer? Extraverted or out-going nature 38. Since October 2004, UK employers must follow a minimum process of three-stages for handling disputes with employees, including disciplinary and grievance matters; what are the basic minimum three stages required? 1. Write a letter to the employee explaining the issue; 2. Have a meeting with the employee to discuss the issue; 3. Hold or offer an appeal meeting with the employee if required. 39. Douglas McGregor defined two main styles of management; what did he call them and how are each of the two styles typified? X-Theory (or Theory-X - is authoritarian, autocratic and repressive) and Y-Theory (or Theory-Y - participative, delegating, and developmental - or words to similar effect as these two descriptions) 40. Bruce Tuckman's theory about team development uses what four sequential rhyming words to describe the four stages of a group's progression? Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing 41. What are Howard Gardner's seven (original) Multiple Intelligences? Linguistic (words and language), Logical-Mathematical (logic and numbers), Musical (music, sound, rhythm), Bodily-Kinesthetic (body movement control), Spatial-Visual (images and space), Interpersonal (other people's feelings), Intrapersonal (self-awareness) 42. According to Herzberg's motivational theory, which of these are 'hygiene needs' (also called 'maintenance factors') and which are true 'motivators': work conditions, salary, achievement, advancement, work itself, responsibility, company car, status, recognition, and personal growth? Of the examples listed, hygiene needs are: work conditions, salary, company car, status (true motivators in the list are achievement, recognition, work itself, responsibility, advancement, and personal growth) 43. What does VAK stand for in the learning styles theory? Visual, Auditory,
- 8. Kinesthetic/Kinaesthetic (three different learning styles or methods - seeing, listening, doing) 44. What does the business acronym IPO stand for? Initial Public Offering (meaning the initial sale of privately owned equity, i.e., stock or shares, in a company, via the issue of shares to the public and other investing institutions) 45. What does the PEST stand for in PEST analysis? Political, Economical, Social, Technological 46. What do 'open questions' typically begin with? Open questions typically begin with Who, What, How, When, Where, and Why, (or for particularly capable or intelligent respondents, 'Tell me about...') 47. What visionary management thinker wrote The Age Of Unreason and The Empty Raincoat? Charles Handy 48. What are the names of the (nine) Belbin 'team roles'? Coordinator (was called 'Chairman'), Shaper, Plant, Monitor-Evaluator, Implementer (was called 'Company Worker'), Resource Investigator, Team Worker, Completer-Finisher, Specialist 49. In marketing, what are the The Four P's? Product, Price, Promotion, Place 50. A lot of the traditional 20th century sales theory and training was influenced by the 1937 book 'How to Win Friends and Influence People'; who wrote it? Dale Carnegie How did you do? (Scores and grading have absolutely no scientific basis whatsoever - it's for fun.) 0-10 - you've made an excellent start and you have some exciting and fascinating learning ahead of you 11-20 - pretty good - you could run a small team or department and fair sized general store at weekends 21-30 - very good - you could run a small company or a biggish department and do a bit of part-time consultancy 31-40 - seriously impressive - you could run a biggish company or a small country and perhaps both 41-45 - outstandingly brilliant - you are probably a professor of management at Harvard
- 9. 46-50 - unbelievable - you should be running the businessballs website 1. Which of these is a 'soft' skill? Analysing, Monitoring, Budgeting, Counselling? Counselling. ('Soft' skills typically involve people and communications). 2. Integrity is essential in all functions, but is it most crucial in supervision, management, or leadership? Leadership. (Leadership which lacks integrity can bring down an entire corporation). 3. Staff performance appraisals work best if they are strictly an annual event - true or false? False. (A person's performance and progress and project work, etc., benefit enormously from more frequent appraisal discussions than once a year. Informal appraisals can be conducted as frequently as is helpful. Obviously the more frequent, the less formal, which is another benefit.) 4. Which tends to produce the highest percentage gross profit: mature high-volume products or new low-volume specialised services? New low-volume specialised services. (Mature markets tend to be more competitive which compresses pricing and margins. Mature products also have to be priced competitively to enable volume distribution, and to resist threats from newer better solutions. High-volume production requires competitive pricing in order to the maintain volumes necessary to support related large scale investment. Additionally customers and buyers are more informed and price-sensitive in mature markets.) 5. For effective time management what's the best frequency for checking your email inbox: constantly, every hour, two or three times a day? Two or three times a day. (Constant interruptions and distractions are extremely unhelpful for all proactive work, especially thinking, communicating, creating, planning, project managing, etc. Many organisations have developed the weird practice of continuous email checking or alerting, but that doesn't make it right. It's a question of managing
- 10. your environment rather than let it manage you.) 6. It is said that "If you can't measure it then you can't..." what? Manage it. 7. Abraham Maslow developed the Hierarchy of what? Needs. 8. What does MBO or MBO's stand for? Management By Objectives. 9. A subordinate has raised a personal issue with you by email which is causing him/her obvious distress - what's the best means of communicating from this point: email, phone, face-to-face, text, letter? Face-to-face (in private). (It's extremely difficult to understand people - and to be understood - without face-to-face spoken communications. This is because tone of voice and body language, especially facial expressions, carry more meaning than words in all but obvious unemotional communications. 10. Putting interviewees under a lot of pressure at job interviews is generally helpful to the process of finding out about the person - true or false? False. (The purpose of interviews is to discover as much as possible about the person. When people are under pressure they clam up and/or mask their true characteristics. Interviews are artificial and pressurising enough without deliberately making them any more so.) 11. Experiential learning is most beneficial to people who have a visual, auditory, or kinesthetic learning style preference? Kinesthetic (Also spelled Kinaesthetic. A person who prefers this style favours 'hands-on' learning. For effective teaching, training, development, etc., using an appropriate style of learning for the learner is as important as the learning content itself.) 12. Which is likely to motivate an enthusiastic capable team member most: doubling their target, agreeing additional responsibility, a bonus payment, a new car? Agreeing additional responsibility. (None of the others actually changes
- 11. anything sustainably and purposefully in terms of what the person does, which crucially is linked to true achievement and growth.) 13. What's a simple way to find out the causes if staff turnover (number of people leaving) has gone through the roof in the last two months? Carry out exit interviews with the people leaving and ask them. (People are at their most revealing when the ties have been cut. Added to which you are not dealing with rumour or opinions as might surface in staff surveys. Instead, exit interviews deal in facts, and enable very useful analysis if conducted with a reasonable number of leavers. Incidentally, staff turnover is normally shown as a percentage arrived at by dividing total leavers by total workforce. As a very broad guide, anything over 20% staff turnover in a year suggests serious problems. Anything less than 10% per year suggests stagnation.) 14. A company has a turnover of 贈11m. Its 'cost of sales' or 'cost of goods sold' (COGS) is 贈6.3m. Its overheads including fixed costs, depreciation (write-down of capital items) and any interest charges (on borrowings) are 贈3.5m. What is the company's percentage gross profit and percentage net profit before tax, and is this profit % for a company very high, very low or somewhat typical? 42.7% and 10.9%, and it's somewhat typical. Explanation: Gross profit is Turnover less COGS (贈11m less 贈6.3m) = 贈4.7m. Percentage Gross Profit (or 'gross margin') is 贈Gross Profit divided by Turnover (贈4.7m 歎 贈11m) = 42.7% . Net Profit before tax is Gross Profit less Overheads (贈4.7m less 贈3.5m) = 贈1.2m. Percentage Net Profit is 贈Net Profit divided by 贈Turnover (贈1.2m 歎 贈11m) = 10.9%. Anything around 10% is a typical sort of net profit percentage achieved by businesses and corporations, although this perspective is just a simple hypothetical 'P&L' (profit and loss account) and takes
- 12. no account of balance sheet or cash aspects, which together with the P&L provide the three main measures of business performance. 15. What acronym is useful when delegating a task to someone or agreeing an objective? SMART (Specific, Measurable, Agreed/Achievable, Realistic/Relevant, Timebound) - or extended to SMARTER (Specific, Measurable, Agreed/Achievable, Realistic/Relevant, Timebound, Ethical/Enjoyable, Recorded. It is important that 'agreed' is part of delegation process.) 16. If you assume responsibility for a mature, high-achieving confident team, which of the following is generally the best approach to take: stamp your authority on the group; introduce some new ideas of your own; give them space and make yourself available if needed; or look for ways to cut costs? Give them space and make yourself available if needed. (A mature, high-achieving confident team can virtually run itself - which is every team-manager's aim. Why go backwards? If you start micro-managing or interfering you will waste your time that you could have otherwise used on strategic creative developments and opportunities, and you will upset the team members. Your priority is to understand the team so as to help them develop, ideally including the development of a successor for yourself. This will enable you to move on to your next opportunity.) 17. What's the relevance of hobbies on a person's CV? A person's hobbies often indicate their strengths, potential and character, aside from and beyond what might be suggested by their work experience and qualifications. A person's hobbies also give you the chance to get them talking about things they feel passionate about, by which you can often discover more about someone than discussing their work or qualifications.
- 13. 18. What can 'closed' questions be used for? Getting yes/no answers; getting commitment (or 'closing' in selling); clarifying, qualifying and filtering. Ask a closed question if you need a short quick answer. If you want information and to listen and learn then ask 'open' questions (who, how, what, where, etc). 19. When planning the running order for a meeting is it generally best to put the big important items first or last or in the middle between smaller things? Big important agenda items should always go last - if you put them first you risk not having time left for all the small things, which could otherwise have been polished off quite quickly and easily, especially because people will be keen to get to the juicier items afterwards. Also people tend to do more posturing early in meetings - to 'have their say' even if they have nothing to say - which causes more problems for the big issues than the small ones. Later on in meetings, the dynamics and the emotions will typically have settled down a bit, which makes it easier to deal with the bigger issues. If there are other factors (guests with limited time availability for example) you'll need to schedule accordingly, but generally it's best to cover the small things first. Ensure you leave adequate time for the big items later, which means strictly managing the time used for the early small things. 20. When conducting appraisals or counselling sessions it's best to sit at your desk with the other person facing you on the other side, so as to reinforce your authority - true or false? False. (Similar to job interviews - you want the other person to be relaxed and comfortable, not threatened. Desks create barriers; so sit around a low coffee table instead. Sitting directly opposite facing each other is a confrontational arrangement; it's best to sit at an angle of between 90-120 degrees; or think of 12:15 or 12:20 on the clockface. Using any method to reinforce
- 14. or impose authority will increase emotions, which undermines the value of the communications.)