Test English-30

Instructions
1. The test comprises of 15 questions. You should complete the test within 20 minutes.
2. There is only one correct answer to each question.
3. All questions carry four marks each.
4. Each wrong answer will attract a penalty of one mark.

Direction for question number 1 to 7:
The passage given below is followed by a set of four questions. Choose the most appropriate answer to each question.

One of the basic principles of people management for most of the 20th century was to narrow an individual's task down to a small, heavily monitored, transparently cost-effective unit to work. This was particularly the case in many areas of manufacturing, where it was felt to be a necessary route to greater competitiveness. It left the individual with little chance to show any initiative. Today, that tenet is being turned largely on its head. Much more is expected from employees; their value to a company's well-being is increasingly acknowledged, even if not necessarily properly recognized. This transition has been accompanied by the emergence of 'human resource management', a term not universally acknowledged as representing much more than 'personnel management', but one which does signify a broader ambit than in the past. Just how much broader is discussed here, along with the widely differing attitudes of trade unions to human resource management, and the issues that management must confront. Also examined are the issues that have been preoccupying human resource managers themselves. An example is the rapid emergence of new technology, which puts pressures on workers that cannot always be easily resolved.

It is on the nature of good management practise that nothing, in isolation, provides the answer to every prayer. As John Grapper relates, British Airways, which lays claim to being the world's favourite airline, has embraced human resource management to what is generally considered to be good effect. It sees its employees as front-line troops in the competitive battle with other airline. Its overall success is acknowledged, witness its ability to produce profits while rivals notch up huge losses. Grapper traces the pressure to re-think, heavily monitored, narrowly defined work patterns as having come from Japan, where the team approach, with decisions made by consensus, is acknowledged to be a potent competitive weapon. Much of the shift is due to the fact that traditionally structured principles are incompatible with rapid technological change. This is especially so in service industries, where labour accounts for a large majority of total costs, and where employes can be at the forefront of enhancing standards of service. The mixed attitudes of unions to HRM emerge against a background of distrust. Inetivably, if responsibility is pushed further down the organisation, with established lines of authority being eroded, the unions' traditional role is called into question. This suspicion is exemplified by a national officer of the Transport and General Workers' Union, who also accuses employers of oftern having as their real motivational desire to weaken collective strength.

An academic's view is that HRM sits uncomfortably with industrial relations since, among other things, managers will endeavour to by-pass unions to achieve their ends. But not all unions are opposed to HRM, one particularly perceptive view being that it is inevitably an acknowledgement by management that workers should be more involved in decision-making. A rider to this is that it brings managers under greater pressure to deliver and opens them to accusations of merely playing lip-service to the concept if they prove unhappy about being challenged. A further view is that HRM in the United Kingdom is a pale shadow of the regimes that exist in Continental Europe, since the 'power' offered to workers is rather illusory and allows little scope for feedback from workers to upper echelons of management. This argument could well be supported by attitudes which are reported in Christopher Lorenz's article about whether or not a value can be put on human resources and if, indeed, management really wishes to do so. Lorenz points to the growing number of chief executives who are at least paying attention to concepts which enhance the status of employees. But the questions whether this has any more substance than is revealed by the perfunctory acknowledgement in so many company annual reports of how valuable employees are to the organisation. One of the inevitable outcomes fo 'empowerment' of employees is that they will make mistakes and that they should be left (or helped) to learn by them. Yet this prospect helps make some managements draw back from delegating real power of decision further down the line and thus from taking HRm to its proper conclusion.

In a world of rapid technological advance, human resources play a crucial role - but not just in ensuring that the latest piece of technology performs. They are also a barometer of which is achievable and what is not, as Michael Dixon illustrates. What is particularly clear is that employees' reactions to new technology must be read carefully if they are not to be misinterpreated. For, however impressive any technology might be, some of its technical possibilities may have to be sacrificed in order to match what employees are happy - or can be persuaded - to work with. Even in companies where HRM becomes very much the chief executive's remit, much of the responsibility for ensuring that employees' views are understood by management still falls to the human resource manager. Many managers still feel vulnerable in the organisational heirarchy, however, Simon Holberton suggests that while they know what their role sould be, many human resource managers find themselves insufficiently informed by their companies to design programmes to meet managers' demands. significantly, training is at the top of the list of their priorities. And while, the economic climate has changed considerably for the worse with budgest slashed or put on hold, training is still widely perceived to be one of the most pressing requirements if a wide swathe of companies is not to be left unprepared to take advantage of an economic upturn.

1.The author would agree with which of the following ?

a. The individual's value in any organization is today properly recognized.
b. The individual's value in any organization was always recognized.
c. The individual's value is not recognized even today in any organization.
d. The individual is expected to do much less today than what he used to do earlier.
Ans: c

2. The success of British Airways can be attributed to

a. Its adapration of Human resource management principles
b. Its superior service and timely running of flights.
c. Its consideration that its employees are combatants in a battle, thus giving them more responsibility.
d. Both (a) and (c )
Ans: d

3. One of the salient features of Japanese work pattern is,

a. All the Japanese regard work as worship.
b. The decisions are usually takey by the top management, thus leading to success.
c. The belief in teamwork and taking decisions by consensus.
d. The respect for elders and their style of working.
Ans: c

4. The Trade Unions oppose Human Resources Management policies because,

a. If workers become more responsible the traditional role of Unions is jeopardised.
b. It is the tendency of the Unions to oppose anything new.
c. It will lead to greater inteference by the management in Union activity
d. None of these.
Ans: a

5. Why do some managements do not allow seeping down of responsibility ?

a. They want to take all the decisions themselves.
b. Employees may make mistakes and hence giving them responsibility would not be beneficial.
c. They have a basic attitude problem
d. both (a) and (c ).
Ans: b

6. According to Holberton, the reason why human resources managers do not perform well is because

a. they lack the basic drive to work.
b. they are not clear as to what their role is.
c. they are not informed by their companies as to what is needed.
d. Both (b) and (c ).
Ans: c

7. A new technology cannot always be put to work in its entirely because,

a. it may not be available in its entirely.
b. the employees may not be happy working with some technologies
c. some new technologies are found to be religiously offensive.
d. None of these.
Ans: b

Direction for question number 8 to 10
From the given alternatives choose the one that best completes the meaning of the sentence.

Until about 250 years ago, households did not take dirt as ..(23).. as they do now - it was a fact of life, and that was that. Cleaning often consisted of an annual ..(24)... called 'spring cleaning' when the furniture was moved aside, and all the linen products in the house were cleaned. Carpets and rugs were taken outside, hung on ropes and had the dust ..(25).. out of them - an exhausting and messy process.

8.

a. importantly
b. crucially
c. considerately
d. seriously
Ans: d

9.

a. ritual
b. result
c. resolution
d. scrub
Ans: a

10.

a. cleaned
b. taken
c. beaten
d. sucked
Ans: c

Direction for question number 11 to 15:
Choose the correct answer from the given 4 options



11. Choose the CORRECT QUESTION to the answer
No, I won't.

a. Shall you be thirty this year?
b. Will you go Home after work?
c. Peter, will you eat some spinach?
d. Will you go to party at Deborah's house?
Ans: c

12.Which is NOT CORRECT

a. The guard says we may not take pictures in the museum.
b. It may be the least expensive restaurant in town, but it's also the best
c. If you don't write it down, you may forget.
d. She is angry. I really think you may talk to her.
Ans: d

13. Which is CORRECT?

a. Problem with bureacracies is that they just grow and grow
b. They never shrink.
c. Who ever heard of a government who lowered taxes?
d. And any government does get more efficient?
Ans: b

14 Which is CORRECT?

a. Jack and Jill gone up the hill
b. for to fetch a pail of water
c. Jack down fell,
d. and Jill came tumbling after
Ans: d

15. Which is NOT CORRECT?

a. Can you hold my coat for a second while I put on my sweater?
b. The doctor says you can stay warm and drink lots of fluids.
c. The train ticket costs $6.50. You can pay with cash or credit card
d. If you don't understand you can ask a question.
Ans: b