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Micro-Finance Branch Management and Performance Evaluation

XAT 2018 · Decision Making · Medium · Decision Making

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Passage / data set

Answer the following questions on the basis of information given in the following situation.

Satyender heads a branch of a Micro-Finance company. The company provides small-size loans catering to rural households. As the head of the branch, he supervises three collection officers - Palani, Sayed, and Godwin. Palani was recently transferred by the company from another branch.

Question 1 of 3

Sayed feared Palani's transfer may pull down the performance of the branch, as he felt Palani was transferred due to his poor performance in the previous branch. Which of the following information will most likely assuage Sayed's fear?

  1. A.

    In the past 12 years as the head of branch, Satyender has exceeded targets every time.

  2. B.

    Palani has been a top performer in the organization; his performance has deteriorated only in the last three years.

  3. C.

    The branch's performance has been good for the past 10 years; Sayed has joined the organization 3 years back.

  4. D.

    When Sayed joined as a fresher in this branch, others in the branch had feared that he might bring down the performance of the branch.

  5. E.

    While calculating the branch's performance, the branch head has the choice to exclude new joinee's performance.

Answer

E

Explanation

Option E addresses Sayed's core fear about the branch's overall performance being pulled down. If the branch head can exclude a new joinee's performance, Palani's results won't hurt the branch's recorded metrics.

Question 2 of 3

Three months later, Palani submitted local travel bills to Satyender for reimbursement. Satyender realized that the bill amount was 30% higher than expected. Which of the following options, if true, will enable Satyender take a decision that shall set a precedent, which is least likely to be misused in the future?

  1. A.

    Palani being new to the area uses autorickshaws which are more expensive than personal motorcycles used by other collection officers.

  2. B.

    Unlike his colleagues, Palani's house has very poor public transport connectivity.

  3. C.

    Unlike his colleagues, Palani's sales territory has a powerful competitor.

  4. D.

    Unlike his colleagues, Palani's customers can meet him only during weekends.

  5. E.

    Unlike his colleagues, Palani has to visit customers repeatedly as they require additional persuasion.

Answer

A

Explanation

Option A presents an objective, temporary, and quantifiable condition (being new and using public/hired transport instead of personal vehicles) that can be verified and normalized over time.

Question 3 of 3

Satyender is allocating territories to his subordinates for the coming financial year. So far, Palani's performance has been poor and this allocation will decide his future in the organization. Which of the following information will be the least useful to Satyender in taking a fair allocation decision?

  1. A.

    Sayed's territory has shown consistently good performance in the past three years.

  2. B.

    Sayed's territory faces stiff competition from a well-known brand.

  3. C.

    A new territory that faces competition from two relatively unknown brands.

  4. D.

    Godwin's territory has shown consistent results in the past three years.

  5. E.

    Godwin's territory performance has been flat for the past two years.

Answer

C

Explanation

Option C talks about a new territory without linking it to any officer's capability or past performance history, providing no helpful relative metric for a fair allocation.

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