Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IIT-K) 2006 JT - Question Paper

hard to accomplish. Still, as Henry Ford has commented, a certain rough logic lies behind treating people
like cogs in a machine when you only expect and want them to do machine-like work.
But very little of the
work of today’s knowledge firm is repetitive or mechanical. It requires responsiveness, inventiveness,
collaboration and attention. Judgment, persuasiveness, shared decisions, the pooling of knowledge, and the
creative sparks people strike off 1 a different depend on engagement with the work and 1 another, on the
commitment that makes 1 genuinely a member of an organization rather than simply an “employee”.
Although we ourselves sometimes fall into the trap of talking about “employers” and “employees” - the user
and the used - those terms really belong to the industrial-age model and are inappropriate to the type of work
and working relationships we consider here. Today’s most economically productive work is largely
voluntary, in the sense that doing it well calls for a willing engagement of the whole self in the task. “Going
through the motions” is insufficient when the motions are not prescribed but change as you go along. In our
view, the firm is neither a machine with every cog firmly in place performing its clearly described task nor an
unorganized (or se flock of opportunistic entrepreneurs pursuing their individual destinies. It is - it should be
- a social organization of people willingly engaged in a joint enterprise.
Q.36 The above passage implies that
(A) service-based, knowledge-intensive organizations dominate in today’s business scenario
(B) employees carry out standard, well-defined tasks -
(C) a voluntary worker is likely to be an engaged worker
(D) industrial firms cannot be economically productive
Q.37 Based on your studying of the above passage, identify the INCORRECT choice.
(A) A knowledge firm requires participation and collaboration
(B) A knowledge firm encourages trust and reciprocity
(C) A knowledge firm does not have employees
(D) A knowledge firm has flexible work descriptions
Q.38 In the light of your studying of the passage above identify the choice that contains the set of words
nearest in meaning to the set of words in CAPITAL letters
METAPHORICALLY: STANDARD : COG : ENGAGEMENT
(A) Allegorically: Bench-mark : Small Part : Obligation
(B) Figuratively: avg. : Small wheel : Appointment

Earning:   Approval pending.