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English Test 112

Directions for Questions from 1 to 5:

Whether it is a “mom-and-pop” grocery anticipating next week’s demand for bologna, a multibillion-dollar conglomerate determined to meet growing
competition in the Common Market, or a social welfare agency anticipating economic trends in its service area, every organization finds planning and
formulation of strategy necessary. It is obvious that a manager must plan his action before he takes it (and then observe the results). But it is not
obvious to many how planning – particularly corporate planning – has changed in the last two decades or so as a result of changing economic,
societal, and market forces.

Time was when almost every business concentrated on a single product or a group of related products or services. Planning was essentially a
matter of making sure that the products moved out of the factory, that the demand for them was present (sometimes created, if not already
present), and that the demand was met at a profit. Long-term strategy often was confined to such questions as whether to extend the market
territory west of the Mississippi or whether to expand the product line to more fully meet the needs of customers. Usually, the objectives of the
organization were more or less fixed; its management carried on the planning process, most often informally, to make sure that those objectives
were being met.

Then came World War II. The decision it caused in operational and in managerial terms, coupled with the economic boom that followed it, made the
old way of conducting business hopelessly inadequate and obsolete.New markets opened up, first in the United States, then elsewhere;
competition stiffened as new rivals sprang up and the imaginary limits of spheres of activity vanished; and the surging stock market set a premium
on performance translated into earnings per share. The informal, single-minded planning process had to adjust accordingly. As Frank Gilmore wrote
in his contribution to this section, the managers of business organizations “recognized that.....…concern for short-term problems would have to shift
to plans for capitalizing on longterm opportunities; …sizing up the situation as a basis for a new course of action would have to give way to
reappraising existing strategy in the light of the changing environment; … sporadic diagnosis would have to be replaced by constant surveillance; …
concern for immediate profits and for adaptability to meet changes in current conditions needed to shift to focusing on long-range ROI, growth,
flexibility, and stability.

In the most progressive corporations – in the most progressive large non-business organizations too—planning departments were established. As
top executives increasingly became aware of the value of this function, planners gained access to their offices. By 1970 a leader in the upgrading of
this function, George A. Steiner, was able to write in the Harvard Business Review, “As recently as 1965,, [the corporate planner] was viewed in
many corporations as, at best, a fad and, at worst, a necessary overhead… This view… is disappearing and is not prevalent at all in the advanced
larger companies.”

A principal task for the planner became scanning the external environment. Increasing government regulation and surveillance of business, the
more demanding and more strident voice of consumers, the accelerating pace of technology, the increasing interdependence of national
economies—these factors and many more added greater complexity and difficulty to the task of strategic planning. The pricing of a product made by
a German subsidiary, for example, might depend to an extend on the valuation in inventory of its components, and that value would hinge in part
on the fluctuating worth of the Deutschmark against the dollar.

1. According to the passage what major changes came about in the organizational management processes in the post war period and the
subsequent duration?

j Managing workforce became central to achieving organizational goals.

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j Controlling processes occupied the mainstay focus at the workplace.
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j Planning departments were created in progressive organizations.
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j Execution departments emerged as an apex decision-making body.
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j Designing structures and systems became the core of all organizational activities.
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2. What is the rationale and relevance of mentioning World War II in the context of the passage.

j WW II unleashed a plethora of changes converting businesses into warfare managing which required a similar strategy.
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j The War catapulted the US to the helm of global affairs.
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j It led to the erosion of economic & political boundaries of the nation-states.
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j The war led to scores of inventions and innovations that were later deployed to conduct businesses as well.
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j All of the above.
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3. According to Frank Gilmore an effective corporate plan has the following attributes.

j It is prepared in response to the changing business milieu.

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 j It’s a long term course of action aimed at capitalizing upon future positive developments.
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j It lays emphasis upon long term growth, stability and viability of a system.
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j It is a document that is prepared through continuous and systematic monitoring and analysis of developments that go in and around an
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organization.
j All of the above.
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4. The statement “the informal, single-minded planning process had to adjust accordingly” implies that

j Reappraising existing strategy in the light of the changing environment was warranted in order to survive the dynamics of the economic,
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societal, and market forces.
j the objectives of the organizations could continue to be more or less fixed.
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j Concern for short term objectives could enjoy precedence over long term opportunities
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j Concentrating on a single product or a group of related products or services as opposed to a multi product business emerged as the new way-
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out.
j Businesses could continue to reap profits, as the demand was more or less already present for all kind of supplies.
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5. What major inference can be drawn from the first paragraph of the passage?

j Planning helps anticipate next week’s demand for bologna.

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j Planning helps anticipate and forecast economic trends.
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j Planning helps determine how to meet growing competition in a common market.
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j Planning is at the core of all organizational systems and processes.
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j While planning is important, it’s equally important to comprehend how planning-in particular corporate planning-has changed in the last few
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decades.
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Directions for Questions from 6 to 7:

The sentences given in each question, when properly sequenced, form a coherent paragraph. Each sentence is labelled with a letter. Choose the
most logical order of sentences from among the given choices to construct a coherent paragraph

6. A. I spent months in that hospital bed.

B. Sadly, the plane crash had claimed many lives including those of Jack and Ross, my business
partners – a loss that devastated me.
C. The three of us had experienced so much together over the previous few years, and I had no interest
in running the company without them.
D. They were not simply the co-founders of Bravelife.com; Jack and Ross had become my best friends.

j DCBA
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j ABCD
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j DCAB
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j CBDA
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j ADCB
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7. A. There’s much to be done.

B. Outside in the sunrise garden roses are already awake, clematis climb like a growing child and all
the border marigolds are on fire.
C. Climbing painfully from a sore mattress, standing in striped pyjamas by the window, Jim stares
gardenwards.
D. These days it’s all weed killing, backache and wishes.

j ABCD
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j DCBA
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j CADB
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j BCDA
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j ACBD
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Directions for Questions from 8 to 10:

Identify the incorrect sentence or sentences.

8. A On the playgrounds of Brooklyn, basketball is more religious rite than a sport.

B. Its devotees are on the court ten hours a day, six days a week.
C. Seventeen and eighteen-year olds have rheumatoid knees from the constant pounding of their feet
on the asphalt.
D. They play through the afternoon heat with little more to feed them than a can of soda, and they play
at night in the dim illumination of streetlights.

j A and D
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j B and D
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j C and D
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j C and B
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j D only
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9. A. One important development was the invention of communication satellites which allow images and
messages to be sent digitally around the world.
B. One advantage is that current events are to be sent world wide in seconds.
C. News used to travel by ship and take weeks or months to get overseas.
D. When a disaster struck the World Trade Center, the world saw it immediately and condemned the
terrorists’ actions.

j A and B
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j A and C
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j B and D
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j C and D
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j D only
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10. A. It is difficult to deny that the world of music has changed greatly since the past thirty years.
B. The style, sound, technology, and lyrics of music has been altered greatly.
C. In the last three decades, several new categories of music have come along.
D. One reason why music has changed so greatly is that artists use music as a tool to publicize certain
social messages.

j A and D
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j B and C
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j C and D
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j A and B
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j C only
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