English Quiz for IRDAI Junior Officer 2016 – Set 2

Directions (Q. 1-15):
Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions given below it.
Certain words are given in bold to help you to locate them while answering some
of the questions.

Management is a set of processes
that can keep a complicated system of people and technology running smoothly.
The most important aspects of management include planning, budgeting,
organising, staffing, controlling, and problem-solving. Leadership is a set of
processes that creates organizations in the first place or adapts them to
significantly changing circumstances. Leadership defines what the future should
look like, aligns people with that vision, and inspires them to make it happen
despite the obstacles. This distinction is absolutely crucial for our purposes
here: Successful transformation is 70 to 90 per cent leadership and only 10 to
30 per cent management. Yet for historical reasons, many organizations today
don’t have much leadership. And almost everyone thinks about the problems here
as one of managing change.

For most of this century, as we
created thousands and thousands of large organizations for the first time in
human history, we didn’t have enough good managers to keep all those
bureaucracies functioning. So many companies and universities developed
management programmes, and hundreds and thousands of people were encouraged to
learn management on the job. And they did. But, people were taught little about
leadership. To some degree, management was emphasized because it’s easier to
teach than leadership. But even more so, management was the main item on the
twentieth century agenda because that’s what was needed. For every entrepreneur
or business builder who was a leader, we needed hundreds of managers to run
their ever growing enterprises.

Unfortunately for us today, this
emphasis on management has often been institutionalized in corporate cultures
that discourage employees from learning how to lead. Ironically, past success
is usually the key ingredient in producing this outcome. The syndrome, as I
have observed it on many occasions, goes like this: success creates some degree
of market dominance, which in turn produces much growth. After a while keeping
the ever larger organization under control becomes the primary challenge. So
attention turns inward, and managerial competencies are nurtured. With a strong emphasis on management but not on
leadership, bureaucracy and an inward focus take over. But with continued
success, the result mostly of market dominance, the problem often goes
unaddressed and an unhealthy arrogance begins to evolve. All of these
characteristics then make any transformation effort much more difficult.

Arrogant managers can
over-evaluate their current performance and competitive position, listen
poorly, and learn slowly. Inwardly focused employees can have difficulty seeing
the very forces that present threats and opportunities. Bureaucratic cultures
can smother those who want to
respond to shifting conditions. And the lack of leadership leaves no force
inside these organisations to break out of the morass.

1. Why, according to
the author, is a distinction between management and leadership crucial?

1) Leaders are reactive whereas managers are proactive.

2) Organisations are facing problems of not getting good managers.

3) Organisations are pursuing the strategy of status quo.

4) In today’s context, organisations need leaders much more
than managers in transforming them.

5) None of these

2. Why did companies
and universities develop programmes to prepare managers in such a large number?

1) Companies and universities wanted to generate funds through
these programmes.

2) A large number of organisations were created and they
needed managers in good number.

3) Organisations did not wants spend their scarce resources
in training managers.

4) Organisations wanted to create communication network
through trained managers.

5) None of these

3. Which of the
following statements is NOT TRUE in the context of the passage?

1) Bureaucratic culture can smother those who want to respond
to changing conditions.

2) Leadership produces change and has the potential to
establish direction.

3) Pressure on managers comes mostly from within.

4) Leadership centres on carrying out important functions
such as planning and problem-solving.

5) Managers believe that they are the best and that their idiosyncratic
traditions are superior.

4. Which of the
following is not the characteristic of bureaucratic culture?

1) Managers listen poorly and learn slowly.

2) Managerial competencies are nurtured.

3) Employees clearly see the forces that present threats and
opportunities.

4) Prevalence of unhealthy arrogance.

5) Managers tend to stifle initiative and innovation.

5. Which of the
following is SIMILAR in meaning to the word SMOTHER as used in the passage?

1) suppress

2) encourage

3) instigate

4) criticise

5) attack

6. How has the author
defined management?

1) It is the process of adapting organisations to changing circumstances.

2) It is the system of aligning people with the direction it
has taken.

3) It refers to creating a vision to help direct the change effort.

4) Creating better performance through customer orientation.

5) None of these

7. Management
education was emphasized in the management programmes because

1) establishing direction was the main focus of organisations

2) motivating employees was thought to be done by managers

3) strategies for producing change was the main focus of
organisations

4) organisations wanted to create powerful guiding coalition

5) management was the main item of agenda in organisations

8. What is the
historical reason for many organisations not having leadership?

1) A view that leaders are born, they are not made

2) Leaders lack managerial skills and organisations need managers

3) Leaders are weak in carrying out traditional functions of
management

4) Leaders allow too much complacency in organisations

5) None of these

9. In the passage,
management is equated with

1) Organisation

2) Leadership

3) Organisational vision

4) Bureaucracy

5) Managerial training

10. Why does the
attention of large organisations turn inward?

1) Their managers become arrogant.

2) They have to keep themselves under control.

3) Their success creates market dominance.

4) They want to project their predictability.

5) None of these

11. Which of the
following is SIMILAR in meaning of the word NURTURED as used in the passage?

1) created

2) developed

3) thwarted

4) surfaced

5) halted

12. What, according
to the author, is leadership?

1) Process which keeps the system of people and technology
running smoothly

2) Planning the future and budgeting resources of the organisation

3) Inspiring people to realise the vision

4) Carrying out the crucial functions of management

5) None of these

13. Which of the following
characteristics helps organisations in their transformation efforts?

1) Emphasis on leadership but not on management

2) A strong and dogmatic culture

3) Bureaucratic and inward-looking approach

4) Failing to acknowledge the value of customers and shareholders

5) None of these

14. Why were people
taught little about leadership in management programmes?

1) Teachers were busy in understanding the phenomenon of
leadership.

2) Enough study material was not available to facilitate teaching
of leadership.

3) Focus of these programmes was on developing managers.

4) Leadership was considered only a political phenomenon.

5) None of these

15. Which of the
following statements is/are definitely true in the context of the passage?

A. Bureaucracy fosters strong and arrogant culture.

B. Leadership competencies are nurtured in large-size organisations.

C. Successful transformation in organisations is 70 to 90
per cent leadership.

1) Only A and B

2) Only A and C

3) Only B and C

4) Only B

5) Only C

Rules

1. Chitrarth Nirmal
2. the fighter
3. $ |)ixit