Explore topic-wise InterviewSolutions in Current Affairs.

For whom to produce means how is the total output of goods and services produced in the economy to be divided among its members. Who shall get the goods and services produced in the economy?

National income is defined as the value of all final goods and services produced by the residents of a country in a year.

Social welfare is defined as the sum total of the happiness of all the individuals in the society.

Pigou defines economic welfare as that part of social welfare that can be directly or indirectly measured in money.

1. It is our duty to look after our parents in their old age.

2. Courtesy is great attribute that should pass on to posterity.

3. People often catch sight of a rainbow during rainy season.

4. It is good to give up smoking.

5. The demonetization of currency will reveal a great deal of black money.

6. We had to look up at the sky to view the lunar eclipse.

7. The gentleman began to put away the gifts carefully.

d) All the above options.

Place of discovery of element can also play a role in its naming. The gas which was first discovered in the sun was named Helium. Because, Greek name for sun is helios’.

(a) Atoms are building block of all matter. They are the smallest particle of elements that can take part in a chemical reaction. 

They exist in combined form i.e in the form of molecules and ions. 

(b) Molecule is made up of atom and it is the smallest particle of a substance which has the properties of that substance. It can exist in a free state. 

Example: Oxygen atoms combine to form O3 molecules

(c) Molecule of an element consist of two or more atoms of the same element chemically bonded together whereas molecule of a compound consist of two or more atoms of different elements chemically bonded together. 

Example for molecule of an element is that bromine atoms are covalently bonded to give a molecule of bromine Br₂

Example for molecule of a compound is one atom of nitrogen and three atoms of oxygen chemically bonded together to form HNO₃

Once I was walking on the bank of the Indira Gandhi Canal. It was a cool morning and mild breeze was blowing. I was walking at a slow pace. All of a sudden I heard the cry of an old man, who had fallen into the canal. I took immediate decision and jumped into the canal. I took hold of the old man and pushed him up water. I was swimming by holding the old man. Unfortunately I did not find someone whom I might call for help. But I did not lose my heart. I struggled with my entire strength and carried the old man to the bank of the canal. After reaching the bank, I made the old man lie down on the grass. After sometime he regained his senses. Till then, the members of his family had arrived at the spot. I told them the whole story. They thanked me a lot. I was very happy because I had saved the life of an old man from drowning.

एक बार मैं इंदिरा गांधी नहर के किनारे घूम रहा था। यह एक शीतलता से भरपूर सुबह का समय था और शीतल मंद पवन बह रहे थे। मैं धीरे-धीरे टहल रहा था। अचानक से मैंने एक बूढ़े व्यक्ति के चिल्लाने की आवाज सुनी जो नहर में गिर गए थे। मैंने तत्काल निर्णय लिया और नहर में कूद पड़ा। मैंने उस बूढ़े आदमी का हाथ पकड़ा और उसे खींच कर पानी से ऊपर कर लिया। उस बूढ़े आदमी को उठाते हुए मैं । पानी में तैर रहा था। संयोग की बात है कि मैं उस समय किसी भी आदमी को नहीं देख रहा था जिसे अपनी सहायता के लिए बुलाता। लेकिन मैंने अपना हिम्मत नहीं हारा। मैंने अपनी पूरी ताकत के साथ संघर्श किया और उस बुजुर्ग को नहर के किनारे पर ले आया। नहर के किनारे पर आने के बाद मैंने उस बुजुर्ग को घास पर लिटा दिया। इसके कुछ समय बाद मैंने उनके हालत का मुआयना लिया। तब तक उनके परिवार के सदस्य भी वहां आ चुके थे। मैंने उन्हें सारी घटना बताया और उन्होंने मुझे धन्यवाद दिया। में इस बात से बेहद खुश था कि मैंने एक बूढ़े आदमी की जान पानी में डूबने से बचाया।

a) Macro economy

1. Recognize the scarcity of resources against the unlimited wants. 2. Prioritizing the use of resources.

Once a thief was caught red handed in my colony. The residents of my colony wanted to hand him over to the police. But I wanted to talk to the thief. During our talk, I came to know that the thief had two daughters who were hungry from last two days. He needed money to buy food for his children. His pathetic story melted my heart and I decided to do something for him. I personally talked to the secretary of the colony and requested him to give the thief a chance. At last, he was persuaded. The thief was not handed over to the police. Instead, he was given a job in the colony. Now he is very happy with his family.

एक बार एक चोर हमारे मोहल्ले में चोरी करते रंगे हाथों पकड़ा गया। मेरे मोहल्ले के रहने वाले उसे पुलिस के हवाले कर देना चाहते थे। लेकिन मैं उससे बात करना चाहता था। हमारे आपसी बातचीत के दौरान हमने यह जान लिया कि उस चोर की दो बेटियां है जो पिछले दो दिन से भूखी है। उसे अपने बच्चों को भोजन कराने के लिए सामान खरीदने के लिए पैसों की आवश्यकता थी। उसकी इस दर्दनाक कहानी ने मेरे हृदय को द्रवित कर दिया और मैंने यह निर्णय लिया कि उसके लिए कुछ करूं। मैंने व्यक्तिगत तौर पर मोहल्लेवालों से गुप्त मंत्रणा किया और उन्हें इस बात के लिए राजी कर लिया कि उस चोर को एक मौका दिया जाय। अंततः वे तैयार हो गए। चोर को पुलिस को नहीं सौंपा गया। इसकी जगह उसे मोहल्ले में ही नौकरी दे दी गई। आज वह अपने परिवार के साथ बहुत ही खुश है।

The radius of an atom is usually expressed in ‘nanometres’.

We use our skills and labour to earn money and satisfy our wants by using that money. The varied activities which we perform in order to earn money and wealth, for satisfaction of our wants, are called economic activities.

The size of an atom is indicated by its ‘atomic radius’.

Micro economics is the study of decision making to use resources by smallest component of the society, namely individuals, household and business firms.

Atoms are the building blocks of matter.

Micro economics analysis our decision.

Economic activities are classified into four kinds 

1. Production 

2. Consumption 

3. Exchange 

4. Distribution

Correct option is A) Atoms

Correct option is A) indivisible

Once prioritized, we allocate most of our resources to purchase that commodity which satisfies the chosen wants are called scarcity’

The word “economics” comes from the Greek words “oikos”, meaning “household” and “nomos”, meaning “management”. Thus, economics refers to the art of “household”, “management” that involves using the available means to satisfy the basic needs of the family as well as to prosper.

Correct option is (c) oikonomia

The word ‘Economics’ is derived from the Greek word ‘Oikonomia’ which means family management.

1. Oikos , nomos

2. Scarcity & Choice

3. Economic activities

4. Small

5. Large

A normal resident of a country can be defined as a person, who ordinarily resides in a country and whose centre of interest also lies in that country. Normal residents means, those persons, who have been granted the citizenship of that country. National income is said to be the total of all the incomes of the normal residents of a country. Since we differentiate between the economic activities of normal residents and non-residents, therefore, the concept of normal residents is important in the calculation of national income.

Decline in the value of capital assets is called depreciation. Due to depreciation, productive efficiency of machines, buildings, dam canals and equipment for generation of electricity declines. This is due to use of capital goods in the process of production. In this way, depreciation is one reason for decrease in value of capital asset. Therefore, to calculate net investment, we deduct the value of depreciation from gross investment.

Depreciation = Gross investment – Net investment.

(a) C + I + G + (X – M)

(c) both (a) and (b)

(a) Consumption goods : Consumption goods are those goods which are used by end-users to satisfy their needs and desires.These goods are consumed fully after purchase. Consumption goods are not used as raw material to produce new goods. Being final product, these are included in the calculation of national income. Food, clothes, vehicle, radio, television, books, etc. are the examples of consumption goods.

(b) Capital goods : Capital goods are those goods which are used to produce other goods and services. Those goods which are used in production process are called capital goods.

Capital goods are used as raw material to produce new goods. Machines, furniture, tools, equipment, buildings, dams, canal and plants for generation of electricity, etc. are examples of capital goods. Development of a country depends upon production of capital goods. Capital goods are used for production, so these are also known as producer goods.

(c) Intermediate goods : Goods which are within the boundary of production are called intermediate goods. In simple words, those goods which can be used for the production of other goods in the form of raw material are known as intermediate goods. Intermediate goods are normally in the form of semi-produced goods or raw material. Intermediate goods are processed through more than one process to convert them into final product. Cotton, thread are intermediate goods for readymade clothes.

Goods that are used as raw materials in the production of other items are called intermediate goods.

Gross Investment – Increase in value of capital goods during a specific period is called gross investment. Examples of gross investment are new machine, new building, new dam, new canal, new- equipment for generation of electricity and electricity lines, etc. Already in use machines, old houses, old dams and expenditure on repairs of old canals are also included in gross investment.

Gross investment = Net investment + Depreciation

Net Investment – To calculate net investment, we deduct depreciation on physical capital goods. If depreciation of physical capital goods, i.e. depreciation is deducted from gross investment, it will give us net investment. Production and productive capacity improves only along with increase in net investment.

Net investment = Gross investment – Depreciation.

The flow of money as payment of means from commercial firms to the family sector, and the flow of consumption expenditure from the family to business firms is called monetary flow.

The flow of means of production from’ families to commercial firms and flow of consumer goods and services from commercial firms to families is called actual flow.

(d) final goods and services

Intermediate goods are generally in the form of semi-finished goods and raw materials. The intermediate object changes through one or more stages of the production process and turns into the finished goods.

(a) Francois Quesney

(d) Pump set for irrigation

(c) Depreciation

Correct option is C) b & c

Developing an organizational structure, results in jobs which have to be staffed. Job analysis is the procedure through which you determine the duties and nature of the jobs and the kinds of people (in terms of skills and experience) who should be hired for them.’ It provides you with data on job requirements, which are then used for developing job descriptions (what the job entails) and job specifications (what kind of people to hire for the job). Some of the definitions of job analysis ate given as follows,

to understand the meaning of the term more clearly:

According to Michael L. Jucius, “Job analysis refers to the process of studying the operations, duties and organizational aspects of jobs in order to derive specifications or as they called by some, job descriptions.”

According to DeCenzo and P. Robbins, “A job analysis is a systematic exploration of the activities within a job. It is a basic technical procedure, one that is used to define the duties, responsibilities, and accountabilities of a job.”

According to Herbert G Herman “A job is a collection of tasks that can be performed by a single employee to contribute to the production of some product or service provided by the organization. Each job has certain ability requirements (as well as certain rewards) associated with it. Job analysis process used to identify these requirements.”

Flippo has offered a more comprehensive definition of job analysis as, “Job analysis is the process of studying and collecting information relating to the operations and responsibilities of a specific job. The immediate products of the analysis are job descriptions and job specifications”

Thus, job analysis involves the process of identifying the nature of a job (job description) and the qualities of the likely job holder (job specification)

The various techniques of job design and redesign are discussed below:

1. Job Simplification: In job simplification, the complete job is broken down into small subparts; this is done so that employee can do these jobs without much specialized training. Moreover, small operations of the job can also be performed simultaneously so that the complete operation can be done more quickly. For job simplification, generally time and motion studies are used.

2. Job Rotation: Another technique designed to enhance employee motivation is job rotation, or periodically assigning employees to alternating jobs or tasks. For example, an employee may spend two weeks attaching bumpers to vehicles and the following two weeks making final checks of the chassis. During the next month, the same employee may be assigned to two different jobs. Therefore, the employee would be rotated among four jobs. The advantage of job rotation is that employees do not have the same routine job day after day. Job rotation only addresses the problem of assigning employees to jobs of limited scope; the depth of the job does not change. The job cycle of the actual daily work performed has not been lengthened or changed. Instead, employees are simply assigned to different jobs with different cycles.

Because job rotation does not change the basic nature of jobs, it is criticized as nothing more than having an employee perform several boring and monotonous jobs rather than one. Some employees dislike job rotation more than being assigned to one boring job because when they are assigned to one job they know exactly where to report and what work to expect each day. Workers quickly realize that job rotation does not increase their interest in their work.

Although it seldom addresses the lack of employee motivation, it give manages a means of coping with frequent absenteeism and high turnover. Thus when absenteeism or turnover occurs in the work force, managers can quickly fill the vacated position because each employee can perform several jobs.

Job rotation is often effectively used as a training technique for new, inexperienced employees. At higher organizational levels, rotation also helps to develop managerial generalists because it exposes them to several different operations

Advantage of Job Rotation Technique:

• The employee experiences variety of work, workplace and peer group. 
• Job rotation helps to broaden the knowledge and skills of an employee. 
• The main advantage of job rotation is that it relieves the employee from the boredom and monotony of doing the same job. 
• With the help of this method, people become more flexible. They are prepared to assume responsibility especially at other positions. 
• Job rotation broadens the work experience of employees and turns specialists into generalists. 
• It is beneficial for the management also as the management gets employees who can perform a variety of tasks to meet the contingencies. 
• This method improves the self image and personal worth of the employee.

Disadvantage of Job Rotation Technique:

• Job rotation also creates disruptions. Members of the work group have to adjust to the new employee. 
• Productivity is reduced by moving a worker into new position just when his efficiency at the prior job was creating organizational economies. 
• Training costs are increased. 
• The supervisor may also have to spend more time answering question and monitoring the work of the recently rotated employee. 
• It can demotivate intelligent and ambitious trainees who seek specific responsibilities in their chosen specialty.

3. Job Enlargement: Another means of increasing employee’s satisfaction with routine jobs is job enlargement, or increasing the number of tasks performed (i.e. increasing the scope of the job). Job enlargement, like job rotation, tries to eliminate short job cycles that create boredom. Unlike job rotation, job enlargement actually increases the job cycle. When a job is enlarged, either the tasks being performed are enlarged or several short tasks are given to one worker. Thus, the scope of the job is increased because there are many tasks to be performed by the same worker. Job enlargement programs change many methods of operation- in contrast to job rotation, in which the same work procedures are used by workers who rotate through work stations. Although job enlargement actually changes the pace of the work and the operation by reallocating tasks and responsibilities, it does not increase the depth of a job. The focus of designing work for job enlargement is the exact opposite of that for job specialization. Instead of designing jobs to be divided up into the fewest of tasks per employee, a job is designed to have many tasks for the employee to perform. An enlarged job requires a longer training period because there are more tasks to be learned. Worker satisfaction should increase because is reduced as the job scope is expanded. However, job enlargement programs are successful with jobs what have increased scope; such workers are less prone to resort to absenteeism, grievances, slowdowns and other means of displaying job dissatisfaction.

Enlargement is done only on the horizontal level. Thus, the job remains the same, but becomes of a larger scale than before. In the words of Geroge Strauss and L.R. Sayles “Job enlargement implies that instead of assigning one man to each job, a group of men can be assigned to a group of jobs and then allowed to decide for themselves how to organize the work. Such changes permit more social contacts and control over the work process.

Job enlargement has the following advantages:

• Increase in diversity of jobs 
• Job satisfaction 
• Provides wholeness and identity with the task and increases the knowledge necessary to perform it. 
• Provides variety of skills. 
• Reduces tension and boredom. 
• Trains and develops more versatile employees.

Despite these advantages this is not a completely satisfactory method of job design as it does not increase the depth of a job. Enlarged jobs require longer training period as there are more tasks to be learned.

4. Job Enrichment: The concept of job enrichment has been derived from Herzberg’s two-factor theory of motivation in which he has suggested that job content is one of the basic factors of motivation. If the job is designed in such a manner that it becomes more interesting and challenging to the job performer and provides him opportunities for achievement, recognition, responsibility, advancement and growth, the job itself becomes a source of motivation to the individual.

According to Richard W. Beatty and Graig Eric. Schneider, “Job enrichment is a motivational technique which emphasizes the need for challenging and interesting work. It suggests that jobs be redesigned so that intrinsic satisfaction is derived from doing the job. In its best applications it leads to a vertically enhanced job by adding function from other organizational levels, making it contain more variety and challenge and offer autonomy and pride to the employee.”

According to P. Robbins, “Job enrichment refers to the vertical expansion of the jobs. It increases the degree to which the worker controls the planning, execution and evaluation of his work.”

In the words of Robert Albanese, “Job enrichment sometimes called. “vertical job leading’ is a job redesign strategy that focuses on job depth.”

According to Mondy. Holmes, and Flippo, “Job enrichment refers to basic changes in the content and level of responsibility of a job so to provide for the satisfaction of the motivation needs of personnel. Rebert Ford, who was associated with designing of jobs to make them more enriched, has provided some bases (though not exhaustive) for job enrichment as shown in Table.

Techniques of Job Enrichment: In order to enrich the jobs.

The management should adopt the following measures:

• Freedom in decisions 
• Assign a natural work unit to an employee. 
• Encouraging participation 
• Allow the employee to set his own standards of performance. 
• Minimize the controls to provide freedom to the employees 
• Make an employee directly responsible for his performance. 
• Encourage participation of employees in deciding organizational goals and policies. 
• Expand job vertically 
• Introducing new, difficult and creative tasks to the employees. 
• Sense of achievement.

Advantages of Job Enrichment: The advantages of job enrichment are as follows:

• It enriches the role. 
• Job enrichment is the most widely used of job design as it provides a meaningful learning to employees. 
• It makes the work interesting and employee get motivated. 
• It helps in reducing the rate of labour turnover and absenteeism. 
• It increases skills of the employees. 
• It increases morale and performance. 
• Reduce Boredom and dissatisfaction. 
• Increase in output both qualitative and quantitative.

Disadvantages of Job Enrichment: Dunham and Newstrom state, “Even the strongest supporters of job enrichment readily admit that there are limitations in its application.” Newstrom and Keith Davis also write, “Employees are the final judges of what enriches their jobs. All that management can do is to gather information about what tends to enrich jobs, try these changes in the job system, and then determine whether employees feel that enrichment has occurred.” A few limitations of or problems with job enrichment are as follows

• Increase cost 
• Need more employee counseling, training, and guidance. 
• Not applicable to all jobs. 
• Negative impact on personnel. 
• Imposed on people. 
• Objected by unions 
• Pay dissatisfaction

1. Memory Management

2. Process Management

3. Device Management

4. File Management

5. Security Management

6. Control overall system performance

7. Error detecting aids

8. Coordination between other software and users.

(a) My Document

Job description is the immediate product of job analysis process; the data collected through job analysis provides a basis for job description and job specification.

Job Description: is a written record of the duties, responsibilities and requirements of a particular job. It is concerned with the job itself and not with the job holders. It is a statement describing the job in such terms as its title, location, duties, working conditions and hazards.

Flippo has Defined Job Description as, “A job description is an organized, factual statement of duties and responsibilities of a specific job. In brief, it should tell what is to be done. How it is done why. It is a standard of function, in that defines the appropriate and authorized content of a job.

According to Pigors and Myres, “Job description is a pertinent picture (in writing) of the organizational relationships, responsibilities and specific duties that constitutes a given job or position. It defines a scope of responsibility and continuing work assignments that are sufficiently different form that of other jobs to warrant a specific title.”

According to Zerga, who analyzed 401 articles on job description about 30 years ago.

A job description helps us in:

(i) Job grading and classification

(ii) Transfers and promotions.

(iii) Adjustments of grievances;

(iv) Defining and outlining promotional steps:

(v) Establishing a common understanding of a job between employers and employees;

(vi) Investigation accidents ;

(vii) Indicating faulty work procedures or duplication of papers;

(viii) Maintaining, operating and adjusting machinery;

(ix) Time and motion studies;

(x) Defining the limits of authority;

(xi) Indicating case of personal merit;

(xii) Studies of health and fatigue;

(xiii) Scientific guidance;

(xiv) Determining jobs suitable for occupational therapy;

(xv) Providing hiring specifications; and

(xvi) Providing performance indicators.

“Job description” is different from “performance assessment.” The former concerns such functions as planning, co-ordination, and assigning responsibility; while the latter concerns the quality of performance itself. Though job description is not assessment, it provides an important basis establishing assessment standards and objectives.

Job design is of comparatively recent origin. The human resource managers have realized that the design of a job has considerable influence on the productivity and job satisfaction; poorly designed jobs often result in boredom to the employees, increased turnover, job dissatisfaction, low productivity and an increase in overall costs of the organization. All these negative consequences can be avoided with the help of proper job design.

According to Jon Werner and DeSimone, “Job design is the development and alteration of the components of a job (such as the tasks one performs, and the scope of one’s responsibilities) to improve productivity and the quality of the employees’ work life.”

Job design has been defined by Davis (1966) as: “The specification of the contents, methods, and relationships of jobs in order to satisfy technological and organizational requirements as well as the social and personal requirements of the job-holder.”

Milkovich and Boudreau defined job design as, “Job design integrates work content (tasks, functions, and relationships), the rewards (extrinsic and intrinsic) and the qualifications required (skills, knowledge, abilities) for each job in a way that meets the needs of employees and the organization.”

Michael Armstrong has defined job design as “the process of deciding on the content of a job in terms of its duties and responsibilities, on the methods to be used in carrying out the job, in terms of techniques, systems and procedures, and on the relationships that should exist between the job holder and his superiors, subordinates and colleagues.”

Job design is an attempt to create a match between job requirements and human attributes. It involves organizing the components of the job and the interaction patterns among the members of a work group. It helps in developing appropriate design of job to improve efficiency and satisfaction.

Principles of Job Design:

Principles are the bases of the approach used in job design. Robertson and Smith (1985) have suggested the following five principles of job design:

• To influence skill variety, provide opportunities for people to do several tasks and combine tasks. 
• To influence task identity, combine tasks and from natural work units. 
• To influence task significance, form natural work units and inform people of the importance of their work. 
• To influence autonomy, give people responsibility for determining their own working systems. 
• To influence feedback; establish good relationship and open feedback channels.

(d) all of the above