Post-Course Test

Question 1 of 13

1. Question

50 point(s)

John, your colleague and close friend, had found that Rajesh, the new lateral hire, regularly uses office stationery for personal purposes. Your own enquiry had confirmed this. But, when confronted, Rajesh clarified that in his previous organisation using office stationery for one’s own work was deemed perfectly fine. Rajesh also mentioned that he didn’t realise that this would be a problem, was deeply sorry about what he had done and that this would not happen again.

John, however, sees this as an integrity issue and feels that Rajesh should be sacked, partly also to set an example for others. He is gearing to bring this to HR’s knowledge and has also begun to drum up support from other team members for his plan. He has requested you for your support. You feel that Rajesh should be given another chance, but John is adamant. He mentioned that you need to choose whose side you will be on.

How will you respond to the situation?

a. Take John’s input, tell him that you will consider it, but share with what you have learned about Rajesh. Inform him gently that you will follow your conscience and take the right actions, when required.
b. Tell John that you truly respect him as a professional and also that you respect his judgment. However, tell him assertively that he is wrong about Rajesh and hence not supporting him. Lastly, tell him that you will work with Rajesh to get him to change.
c. Go with John’s plan and support him in getting Rajesh’s employment terminated. After all, being an experienced professional, John would probably have recognised that Rajesh has some serious character flaws. Worse still, not supporting John could probably cause you to lose your close friend.
d. Accept that John is right to recognise this as an integrity issue. But share with him your own findings. Tell him that you want to give Rajesh a chance to save his career. Suggest that you will observe Rajesh for a period of time and that at the end of this, you can both meet and decide on the future course of action.
e. Tell John in no uncertain terms that he is wrong in his assessment of Rajesh. Then, in an assertive manner, tell him that you will not be bullied into meekly supporting his point of view. Then, go ahead and present a counter case to John’s, before HR before John can present his.

Question 2 of 13

2. Question

50 point(s)

Giving personal feedback; expressing anger

Raj, your team member, shared an inside joke about you in a cross-team meeting, where he was making a presentation. This joke was something that only your immediate team knew of. This made you a laughing stock in the larger team and left you feeling humiliated. You feel deep anger and hurt well up within you.

Which of the following would be the right way to communicate with Raj in this situation?

a. “Raj, I will tolerate your behaviour once, but I will not do so the next time around. You try this kind of nonsense once more and you’ve had it. Consider yourself warned”
b. “Raj, when inside jokes about me are shared in public I feel deeply let down. I request you to keep our jokes strictly between ourselves or I will be forced to prevent jokes of any nature being cracked against me."
c. “Raj, my friend, please avoid calling me names in front of people. One, I am a senior resource in the team, two, we are friends. Would you like it if I shared our inside jokes with others?”
d. "Raj, I want to know what gives you the right to share our private jokes in public and that too in front of my peers."
e. "Raj, I am angry, but I will talk to you assertively, instead of aggressively. We are friends. Always bear that in mind and behave accordingly”

Question 3 of 13

3. Question

50 point(s)

Denying a request/ Saying no

Your boss just walked into your cubicle and asked you to handle a couple of ‘critical’ (that’s what he said!) tasks that he said absolutely needed to be completed by EOD, tomorrow. Problem is that you already have more than the work that you can handle. You are already handling two large projects, the deadlines for which are fast approaching. There is no way in which you can see yourself taking on an additional task, especially if it is time critical.

What would be the right response to give your boss?

a. “Boss, I understand that this is a critical task that needs to be completed by EOD. However, as I am already handling more than my share of tasks, I will be left with no time to handle this one. So, I will have to politely decline taking on this task”
b. “Boss, I am already handling some really critical tasks. There is no way that I can handle this”
c. "Boss, I understand that this is a critical task that needs to be completed. However, I am currently handling some additional tasks, which require working beyond the normal work hours. However, I could take this on, but then you cannot hold me responsible for the other deadlines not being met. If that is fine, then I will take this up”
d. “Boss, I understand that this is a critical task that needs to be completed by EOD. However, as I am currently handling a large number of tasks, I will be unable to take the new task on. If, on the other hand, you can move the deadlines of my current assignments then I could take this new task on.”
e. “Boss, since this is a time critical task, I will try to handle it. Please send me the mail with details about the work. I will see what I can do.”

Question 4 of 13

4. Question

50 point(s)

Handling criticism:

It is a meeting between Bhavna, your colleague, Sanjay, your boss, and you (Preeti).

“Preeti, yet again, you have displayed that you are a poor negotiator. Your lack of negotiation skills are getting us bad deals from our vendors and we are overshooting our budget”. She laughs as she says this. Only, her laugh sounds forced. She is hoping that the passing her words as a joke will cover up the real intent behind her conduct.

You feel insulted. You are a fairly skilled negotiator. Her words, you recognise, are meant to cause offense and to make you look incompetent in front of your boss.

It is a power struggle. She has been behaving this way for a while now, and her behaviour is beginning to grate on you.

Which of the following would be the ideal response to Bhavna’s conduct?

a. “Yes, I realise that you feel that I did not negotiate a good deal sometime, somewhere. What will help me understand you better is if you could explain your reasoning behind that claim?”
b. “What do you mean by that? Could you justify that with evidence?”
c. “That’s not true! For a colleague of mine to make an accusation like that about me, and that too without thinking it through, is disappointing. I used to really look up to you. Now, I do not know what to think about you.”
d. “Look Bhavna, we are colleagues. And as colleagues, we need to work collaboratively and in sync. We also need to set the benchmark for our fellow team members to follow. I know that I do not need to tell you all this considering that you are the senior most among us.”
e. “Bhavna, that is not true. I do not know what has prompted you to say that.”

Question 5 of 13

5. Question

50 point(s)

The conference call with your largest client has been going on for almost two hours, now.

Your client, a department head, had accused you of bungling up, when the error, in fact, had been caused by someone at the client’s end. When you pointed this out to the client, the client had gotten terribly defensive and accused you of “trying to act cheeky and cover up for your mistakes, instead of accepting them and apologising.”

Your client is equal parts angry and emotional now, continuing to pin the blame on you, showing little desire to listen to your logic and is threatening to shut the project down. Your manager, who is also on the call, is angry with you for upsetting the client and afraid that project might be shut down. Your client’s colleagues on the call are all silent.

What would you do in this situation?

a. Put your foot down and tell your client in no uncertain terms that it is not your fault and that everyone needs to look at this rationally, rather than through the lens of one’s emotions.
b. Mention that you would like to request to end the call now and relook the facts of the case to see if the mistake was indeed yours.
c. Continue gently to convince her that the mistake was committed at her end. Remind her that we all need to learn to look at things rationally and that this is what emotional maturity is all about.
d. Ask her team members on the call to tell her that she is wrong.
e. Be assertive. Tell her in an assertive manner that she is wrong in her assessment, that the mistake was committed at her end and that she needs to go back and relook the facts.

Question 6 of 13

6. Question

50 point(s)

What was the ‘style’ or means that Amit’s manager – the manager depicted in situation 1 in the podcast lesson – had been using IN THE PAST, when conducting reviews?

a. Using motivational inputs
b. Making people feel valued and cared for
c. Yelling, threatening, fault-finding
d. Choosing those whose performance can get better and working with them one-to-one

Question 7 of 13

7. Question

50 point(s)

How does the podcast depict Amit responding to his manager as a result of his manager’s past behaviour?

a. His motivation increases and he begins to perform better
b. He feels valued and his bonding with his manager improves, which then reflects in better performance
c. Amit’s ‘numbers’ improve because his manager has taken the time to identify what is causing poor performance and then finding a means to plug that gap
d. He distrusts his manager’s intentions and he responds sarcastically to his manager’s invitation to have a E4C2 conversation

Question 8 of 13

8. Question

50 point(s)

What input does the lesson mention managers can use to deal with cases like Amit’s, when in the past the manager’s review meeting style had been all about fault-finding, but now is seeking to conduct an E4C2 feed-forward conversation, but the team member doubts the manager’s intentions?

a. Force the team member to have an open E4C2 conversation
b. Threaten to report the team member to one’s own boss – the team member’s super boss – if she/ he is not agreeing to an open, honest E4C2 feed-forward conversation
c. Allow the person time to experience the new you, one, who has decided to stop being the abusive, threatening sort of manager, but has decided to be a facilitator, facilitating the team member improve performance
d. Gently instruct the person to stop being negative and be open to you. After all, we must all forget our past and look to the future.

Question 9 of 13

9. Question

50 point(s)

Now, you, as manager, have been tasked with getting people to perform, no matter what. Which of the following, as stated by the lesson, would be THE MOST APPROPRIATE FIRST RESPONSE by the manager, in a situation where the team member expresses that they had a genuine reason to underperform?

a. (In a gentle, polite voice) “Suresh, we are professionals, and you must understand that we are to perform, no matter what. So, illness cannot be an excuse for underperformance”
b. (In a gentle, polite voice) “Suresh, I can understand that you did not perform because you were unwell for more than a week, last month”
c. (In a strict voice) “That is not an acceptable reason for underperformance. We are being paid to perform, not to sit at home with our feet up
d. (In a strict voice) “So what? You had been unwell for a week. But you still had three weeks more to perform. So, why did you not work harder later?”

Question 10 of 13

10. Question

50 point(s)

The gentleman, in the light blue shirt, (to the right side of the image) is the manager, who is having a feed-forward conversation with this team member. He appears:

a. Comfortable, attentive and ‘open’ to what the person on the left is saying
b. ‘Closed’ and opposed/ hostile towards what the person on the left is speaking
c. ‘Open’ and friendly, because he is listening to the person on the left
d. It is hard to tell what he is thinking or feeling

Question 11 of 13

11. Question

50 point(s)

E4C2 feed-forward conversations should be conducted:

a. In a team huddle
b. In small groups
c. In private (one-to-one)

Question 12 of 13

12. Question

50 point(s)

In which of the situations mentioned below would the use of a ‘Carrot’ to motivate people to improve performance, work best? Pick as many options as you wish.

Please note that you must choose all possible correct options to earn the points for this quiz. Missing out any correct option, or choosing any incorrect option will lead to you not earning any points on the quiz.

a. When the work is mundane in nature
b. When the work is less cerebral or mentally challenging in nature
c. When the person is fully capable of performing at peak levels
d. When the person lacks the ability to meet goals. In such cases, the carrot works as an incentive to improve performance.
e. When the individual lacks the self-belief to meet set goals.

Question 13 of 13

13. Question

50 point(s)

The Carrot and Stick method of motivating people have limited effectiveness because these are:

a. Extrinsic in nature
b. Intrinsic in nature
c. Too dependent on the manager

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