Bylocaldoctorsandnurses,wehopemorepeople.

—Haveyoufinishedthework?

—Notyet,butnomatterhowharditis,we'llkeep___untilwemakeit.

Themajorityofsuccessfulseniormanagersdonotcloselyfollowtheclassicalrationalmodeloffirstclarifyinggoals,assessingtheproblem,formulatingoptions,estimatinglikelihoodsofsuccess,makingadecision,andonlythentakingactiontoimplementthedecision.Rather,intheirday-by-daytacticalmaneuvers,theseseniorexecutivesrelyonwhatisvaguelytermedintuitiontomanageanetworkofinterrelatedproblemsthatrequirethemtodealwithambiguity,inconsistency,novelty,andsurprise;andtointegrateactionintotheprocessofthinking.Generationsofwritersonmanagementhaverecognizedthatsomepracticingmanagersrelyheavilyonintuition.Ingeneral,however,suchwritersdisplayapoorgraspofwhatintuitionis.Someseeitastheoppositeofrationality;othersviewitasanexcuseforcapriciousness.Isenberg'srecentresearchonthecognitiveprocessesofseniormanagersrevealsthatmanagers'intuitionisneitherofthese.Rather,seniormanagersuseintuitioninatleastfivedistinctways.First,theyintuitivelysensewhenaproblemexists.Second,managersrelyonintuitiontoperformwell-learnedbehaviorpatternsrapidly.Thisintuitionisnotarbitraryorirrational,butisbasedonyearsofpainstakingpracticeandhands-onexperiencethatbuildskills.Athirdfunctionofintuitionistosynthesizeisolatedbitsmofdataandpracticeintoanintegratedpicture,ofteninanAha!experience.Fourth,somemanagersuseintuitionasacheckontheresultsofmorerationalanalysis.Mostseniorexecutivesarefamiliarwiththeformaldecisionanalysismodelsandtools,andthosewhousesuchsystematicmethodsforreachingdecisionsareoccasionallyleeryofsolutionssuggestedbythesemethodswhichruncountertotheirsenseofthecorrectcourseofaction.Finally,managerscanuseintuitiontobypassin-depthanalysisandmoverapidlytoengenderaplausiblesolution.Usedinthisway,intuitionisanalmostinstantaneouscognitiveprocessinwhichamanagerrecognizesfamiliarpatterns.Oneoftheimplicationsoftheintuitivestyleofexecutivemanagementisthatthinkingisinseparablefromacting.Sincemanagersoftenknowwhatisrightbeforetheycananalyzeandexplainit,theyfrequentlyactfirstandexplainlater.Analysisisinextricablytiedtoactioninthinking/actingcycles,inwhichmanagersdevelopthoughtsabouttheircompaniesandorganizationsnotbyanalyzingaproblematicsituationandthenacting,butbyactingandanalyzingincloseconcert.Giventhegreatuncertaintyofmanyofthemanagementissuesthattheyface,seniormanagersofteninstigateacourseofactionsimplytolearnmoreaboutanissue.Theythenusetheresultsoftheactiontodevelopamorecompleteunderstandingoftheissue.Oneimplicationofthinking/actingcyclesisthatactionisoftenpartofdefiningtheproblem,notjustofimplementingthesolution.

1.Accordingtothetext,seniormanagersuseintuitioninallofthefollowingwaysEXCEPTto

[A]Speedupofthecreationofasolutiontoaproblem.

[B]Identifyaproblem.

[C]Bringtogetherdisparatefacts.

[D]Stipulatecleargoals.

2.Thetextsuggestswhichofthefollowingaboutthewritersonmanagementmentionedinline1,paragraph2

[A]Theyhavecriticizedmanagersfornotfollowingtheclassicalrationalmodelofdecisionanalysis.

[B]Theyhavenotbasedtheiranalysesonasufficientlylargesampleofactualmanagers.

[C]Theyhavereliedindrawingtheirconclusionsonwhatmanagerssayratherthanonwhatmanagersdo.

[D]Theyhavemisunderstoodhowmanagersuseintuitioninmakingbusinessdecisions.

3.ItcanbeinferredfromthetextthatwhichofthefollowingwouldmostprobablybeonemajordifferenceinbehaviorbetweenManagerX,whousesintuitiontoreachdecisions,andManagerY,whousesonlyformaldecisionanalysis

[A]ManagerXanalyzesfirstandthenacts;ManagerYdoesnot.

[B]ManagerXcheckspossiblesolutionstoaproblembysystematicanalysis;ManagerYdoesnot.

[C]ManagerXtakesactioninordertoarriveatthesolutiontoaproblem;ManagerYdoesnot.

[D]ManagerYdrawsonyearsofhands-onexperienceincreatingasolutiontoaproblem;ManagerXdoesnot.

4.Thetextprovidessupportforwhichofthefollowingstatements

[A]Managerswhorelyonintuitionaremoresuccessfulthanthosewhorelyonformaldecisionanalysis.

[B]Managerscannotjustifytheirintuitivedecisions.

[C]Managers''intuitionworkscontrarytotheirrationalandanalyticalskills.

[D]Intuitionenablesmanagerstoemploytheirpracticalexperiencemoreefficiently.

5.Whichofthefollowingbestdescribestheorganizationofthefirstparagraphofthetext

[A]Anassertionismadeandaspecificsupportingexampleisgiven.

[B]Aconventionalmodelisdismissedandanalternativeintroduced.

[C]Theresultsofrecentresearchareintroducedandsummarized.

[D]Twoopposingpointsofviewarepresentedandevaluated.

Theradiois________astrangesignal.What’swrongwithit?

Writing:

Thepresentworldwitnessesinventionanduseofvariousrobots,someofwhomevencanplaygameswithhumananddefeatthelatter.Suchbeingthecase,manyareworriedthatrobotswillsurpasshumanbeingsinintelligenceandenslavethem,whileothersbelievethatthehumanmindwillalwaysbesuperiortomachinesbecausemachinesareonlytoolsofhumanminds.Whatisyouropinion?Writeanessayofabout400words.

Inthefirstpartofyouressayyoushouldstateclearlyyourmainargument,andinthesecondpartyoushouldsupportyourargumentwithappropriatedetails.Inthelastpartyoushouldbringwhatyouhavewrittentoanaturalconclusionormakeasummary.

Youshouldsupplyanappropriatetitleforyouressay.

Markswillbeawardedforcontent,organization,grammarandappropriateness.Failuretofollowtheaboveinstructionsmayresultinalossofmarks.