Analytical Decision Making, Introduction and Examples (with Solutions), Reasoning | Reasoning Aptitude for Competitive Examinations - Bank Exams PDF Download

Analytical Decision Making is based on a  set of relationships laid out, generally arbitrarily, from which new information can be deduced. This involves two steps-first of analysis and second of reasoning. Analytical decision making deals with questions in which you have to decide upon the course of action taken upon a candidate who has

applied for a post or membership to an institution keeping in mind the essential requisites and the data given for the candidate. We can classify such questions into a few major categories.

Category I

In this type a vacancy is being declared. The necessary qualifications required by the

recruiting agencies are given with certain exceptions. The qualifications and the merits of

the candidates are mentioned. The decision about each candidate has to be made from amongst the five choices given, which state the courses of action to be taken as per the candidate’s potential.

Category II

Here the eligibility conditions for joining a course or availing certain benefits etc are given as against the vacancies mentioned in the former category. The qualifications of the candidates are also mentioned. The decision about each candidate is to be made from amongst the five answer choices given.

EXERCISE

Qs. 1-10. Following are the criteria for selection of officers in an organisation.

The candidate must:

(i) have passed HSC examination in first class with at least 60% marks.
(ii) have passed graduation degree in any discipline with at least 55% marks.
(iii) have completed a certificate/diploma/degree course in Computer Science.
(iv) be not less than 21 years and not more than 30 years of age as on 1.7.2008.

If a candidate satisfies all the above-mentioned criteria except:

(a) at (ii) above but is a post-graduate, case may be referred to the Executive Director (ED).
(b) at (iii) above but has studied Computer Science as one of subjects of curriculum, case may be referred to the Vice President (VP).

In each of the questions below, information of one candidate is given. You have to take one of the following five decisions based on the information provided and the criteria and conditions given above. You are not to assume anything other than the information provided in each question. All these cases are given to you as on 1.7.2008. You have to indicate your decision by marking answers to each question as follows:

Mark answer

(1) if the case is to be referred to Executive Head.
(2) if the case is to be referred to Vice President.
(3) if the candidate is to be selected.
(4) if the information is inadequate to take a decision.
(5) if the candidate is not to be selected.

1. Suresh, is a Commerce graduate passed with 57% marks. He had secured 73% marks in HSC. He has studied Computer Science as one of the subjects at HSC. His date of birth is 22.9.1982.

2. Archana has passed BMS degree examination in second class with 58% marks and HSC in first class with 65% marks. She has completed a diploma in Computer Science. She has completed 35 years of age in November 2007.

3. Raj Grover has passed HSC exam in first class with 49% marks. Thereafter he did a 6 months certificate course in Computer Science and presently is pursuing final year of engineering degree examination. His date of birth is 28.12.1980.

4. Shamika Gupta is a Science graduate passed in 2006 with 47% at the age of 22 years. She had scored 64% marks in HSC. She has also passed M.Sc. with 58% marks. She has done a certificate course in computers.

5. Jasmine is a postgraduate in Computer Science passed in first class with 62% marks. She had scored 81% marks in HSC. Her date of birth is 17.6.1979.

6. Vaishnavi is a B.A. passed in first class with 63% marks. She had passed HSC examination in first class with 69% marks. She has also completed a certificate course in Computer Science with a ‘A’ grade.  Her date of birth is 23.9.1984.

7. Anubhav Gokhale, is a B.Sc. with Computer Science passed in second class with 58% marks. He had passed HSC in first class with 76% marks. He has completed 25 years of age in December 2007.

8. Manish Chaudhary passed HSC examination in first class with 83% marks and B.Com. in second class with 57% marks. He has joined  a computer certificate course very recently. His date of birth is 26.4.1982.

9. Uvaraj passed HSC examination in 2003 with 85% marks and B.Sc. Degree examination in 2006 with 69% marks. He has completed a certificate course in computer science with good marks. His date of birth is 17.9.84.

10. Vandana Chowdhury is B.Com graduate passed in second class with 56% marks. She had passed HSC in second class with 69% marks. She has also completed a Computer diploma with 56% marks. Her date of birth is 11.5.1982.

PRACTICE EXERCISE—ANALYTICAL DECISION MAKING

Qs. 1-6. Study the following information carefully and answer the questions given below:

Following are the conditions for admitting students for a Doctoral Programme in Management: The applicant must—

(i) be a post graduate in any discipline with at least 50 per cent marks.
(ii) have passed the eligibility test with at least 60 per cent marks.
(iii) have work experience of at least two years after completing post graduation.
(iv) not be less than twenty five years as on 1.12.2002.

In the case of an applicant who fulfils all other conditions except:

(a) at (i) above, but have completed M. Phil. program, his/her case is to be referred to Director.
(b) at (ii) above, but has work experience of more than five years, his/her case is to be referred to Registrar.

In each of the following questions, detailed information of one applicant is provided. You have to decide the correct course of action based on the above conditions and the information provided in each question. You are not to assume anything other than the information provided in each question. All these cases are given to you as on 1.12.2002.

Mark answer:

(1) if the applicant is to be admitted.
(2) if the applicant is not to be admitted.
(3) if the case is to be referred to Director.
(4) if the case is to be referred to Registrar.
(5) if the information provided is inadequate to take a decision.

1. Barkha Jaiswal has secured 75 per cent marks in post graduation and has been working for seven years after post graduation. She was born on 11th February,1974.

2. Ashok Upadhyaya has been working for three years after completing M. Phil. Programme. He was born on 1st November, 1973. He has secured 60 per cent marks in the eligibility test and 45 per cent marks in post graduation.

3. Shikha Trivedi was born on 19th April, 1976. She has passed post graduation and eligibility test each with 55 per cent marks. She has been working for three years.

4. Neela Goel has completed her M. Phil. Programme after completing her post graduation with 65 per cent marks. She has secured 50 per cent marks in the eligibility test. She has been working for six years after post graduation. She was born on 20th August, 1972.

5. Manoj Khanna has secured 50 per cent and 60 per cent marks in post graduation and eligibility test respectively. He has been working for four years after his education and he was born on 11th February, 1974.

6. Tarun Nagpal was born on 5th March, 1975. He has secured 85 per cent marks in the eligibility test and 55 per cent marks in post graduation. He has been working for three years.

Directions. Q. 7-10: Read the following situations and choose the best possible alternative.

7. You, a recruitment manager, are interviewing Mayank, a hard working young man, who has problems in speaking fluent English. He has studied in vernacular medium schools and colleges. Amongst the following options, what would you choose to do, if your company has vacancies?

1) I would hire him at all costs.
2) I would hire him for a production or finance job but not for a marketing job, which requires good communication skills.
3) I would ask him to improve his communication skills and come back again.
4) I would not hire him as he might be a burden on the orgainsation because of his orgainsation because of his poor communication skills.
5) I would hire him for the job he is good at, and provide training in other areas.

8. The city of Nagar has a population of 10 million 2 million amongst whom were rich, 3, million poor and 5 million belonged to the middle class. Saundarya Cosmetics manufactured and sold beauty product to the rich class at a premium price. Its products were very popular with customers. Many people from middle and poor segments of population aspired to buy these products but could not afford them because of high prices. Of late, sales growth was stagnating in the following is the best option for Saundarya Cosmetics to maximize long-term profits?

1) Sell the same products at lower prices to middle and poor class.
2) Sell its products under different brand names to middle and poor class.
3) Sell similar products, of different quality standards with different brand names, to middle class and poor class.
4) Continue to target rich only and hope that today’s middle class would be tomorrow’s rice class.
5) Target middle class as it is the largest segment and forget about the rich.

9. Seema was a Finance Manager in an MNC and felt that gender discrimination at the workplace hampered her career growth. Frustrated, she quit the job and started a company. While starting her company, Seema decided that she would have an equal proportion of males and females. Over the last six years, Seema emerged as a very successful entrepreneur and expanded her business to eight locations in the country. However, Seema recently stated facing an ethical dilemma because she realised that female employees were not willing to travel across cities and work late hours, as the work required them to do so. Male employees did not hesitate undertaking such work. Seema started to feel the pressure of reducing the proportion of female employees. On the other hand, she is aware that equal representation was one of the strongest reasons for her to have founded the company. What should she do as a conscientious female entrepreneur?

1) See if unwilling female employees could be given assignments which do not require travel and involve less overtime.
2) Reduce the number of female employees, as it is a business requirement. She should not let anything after her business.
3) Let the status quo continue
4) Henceforth hire only male employees
5) She should close the business

10.  A database software manufacturing company found out that a product it has launched recently had a few bugs. The product has already been bought by more than a million customers. The company realized that bugs could cost its customer significantly. However, if it informs the customers about the bug, if feared losing credibility. What would be the most ethical option for the company?

1) Apologise and fix up the bug for all customer even if it has to incur losses.
2) Do not tell customers about bugs and remove them only when customers face problems, even if it meant losses for the customers.
3) Keep silent and do nothing.
4) Keep silent but introduce an improved product that is bug free at the earliest.
5) Take the product off the marked and apologise to customers

Directions (Qs. 11-20): The following criteria have been drawn to finalise the list of candidates to be called for an interview after the round of written examination for bank P.O., held by the XYZ Bank of India. The candidate must: 
1. hold a degree in any stream, from a recognised university, with a first class in graduation and at least Second division in post-graduation.
2. be at least 21 years, as on 01.01.02.
3. possess at least 80% marks in the written exam of bank P.O.
4. have a computer course certificate for 1 year course or more.
5. be drawing at least Rs 4500 p.m. in his/her previous job.
6. be of Indian nationality.
In case of candidates qualifying all conditions except:
7. (2) above, the case will be referred to the General Manager (GM).
8. (4) above, the case will be referred to the Director.

Based on these conditions, decide the course of action and give answers as:
(a) if candidate can be admitted for interview.
(b) if candidate cannot be admitted for interview.
(c) if candidate is to be referred to G.M.
(d) if candidate is to be referred to Director.
(e) if data are inadequate to decide the course of action.

11. Mr Rajneesh has been working in a computer company as a trainee for the past 2 years. He secured 80% marks in graduation and 57% in post-graduation. His marks in written exam are 82% and his date of birth is 19.07.79. He was drawing 
Rs 6000 p.m. salary. He is an Indian.

12. Meghna was born on January 5, 1983. She is an arts graduate with 66% marks in graduation and II class in post-graduation. She is currently working with the company Arti and Sons Ltd, since past 2 years and possesses 2 years computer certificate also. She is an Indian and obtained 87% marks in the P.O. exam.

13. Mr Rajiv has done B.Com with 62% marks and post-graduation with 58%. He is an NRI and has been employed for the past 3 years, drawing a salary of Rs 10,000 p.m. He secured 70% in the written P.O. exam. He was born in Nov 1978. He has the requisite computer certificate.

14. Sapna has done her graduation at the age of 20. She possesses the requisite percentage of marks at graduation, post-graduation and P.O. exams. Currently she is drawing Rs 12,500 salary per month. She obtained a 2-year computer degree in 2002. She is an Indian.

15. Aamir is a fresh post-graduate Indian, employed with the MNC "Crookes & Co", getting Rs 22,000 p.m. as salary. He obtained his computer degree in 2002, for a 4-year course. He was born on 02.06.1980. His marks in graduation were 54% and in post-graduation 67%. He got 80% in P.O. exam.

16. Champa is a science graduate, who got 88% marks in the P.O. exam. She topped in her graduation and post-graduation exams held by the RST University. She was born on 16.07.1976. She is working with the ABC Co for past 5 years, drawing currently Rs 27,000 p.m. She is an Indian by birth.

17. Ritu, an Indian, topped the P.O. exam with 94% marks. She has done her B.Com and M.Com from Panjab University with 86% and 74% marks. She is nearly 26 years old and possesses 5-year computer degree. She is employed at Rajapura Agro Tech Ltd for the past four years and gets a salary of Rs 10,000 per month at present. She was born on 11.12.1974.

18. Charu has done her M.Sc. with IInd class and graduated with 72% marks. She is working for past 1 years. She also obtained a 1-year computer diploma certificate. She secured 81% marks in the P.O. written exam and is currently running her 22nd year. She is an Indian national. At present she is drawing Rs 5500 basic salary. She is very charming girl and knows about office procedures.

19. Prasoon is living in India for the past 20 years. He has secured the required marks at graduation as well as at post-graduation. He is a management trainee in a company which gives him Rs 5000 p.m. as basic salary. He is an Indian by birth. He obtained 84% marks in the P.O. Exam. He also holds the requisite computer proficiency-level certificate.

20. Mr Mohanlal has done his M.A. with IInd class and graduation in Arts with 76% marks. He is working in a company and draws Rs 5000 basic salary per month. He also did a 6 months computer course. He has secured 83% marks in the bank P.O. Exam. He is an Indian.

EXAMPLES

Directions (Q. 1-10): Study the following information carefully and answer the questions based on it.

Course ‘X’ is one of the favourite courses of the youth started by a university ABC. The duration of the course is three years. Each year’s assignments consists of four papers of 100 marks each.

(i) To be declared pass it is necessary for a candidate to obtain 50% marks in each paper besides fetching 55% marks of total marks as a grand total (sum of the marks of twelve papers).

(ii) If a candidate obtains 80% marks of total marks and 75% marks in each of the twelve papers then the candidate should be awarded Distinction.

(iii) If a candidate obtains 60% marks of total marks but fails in maximum three papers in three different years and marks obtained in these three papers are not below 48% then the candidate will be entitled for 5 grace marks in each paper, and will be declared pass. And if the candidate fails in maximum two papers in two different years and marks obtained in these two papers are not below 46% then the candidate will be entitled for 5 grace marks in each paper and will be declared pass.

(iv) If a candidate obtains 65% marks of total marks and fails in maximum two papers of two different years and obtains more than 40% but less than 46% marks in these two papers then the candidate should be allowed to reappear in the examination for only these two papers.

Following table depicts the marks obtained by some candidates during the course X in three years. Keeping every aspect in mind, you have to take decision for each case. Give answer.

a) If the candidate is declared pass without grace marks.
b) If the candidate is awarded Distinction.
c) If the candidate is declared pass with grace marks.
d) If the candidate is allowed to reappear for the examination in maximum two papers.
e) If the candidate is declared fail.

(Papers for  First  Year )  (Papers for  Second  Year)  (Papers for Third Year)