Multiple choice

A good manager should

Directions: Read the passage given below and answer the question.

You may think the sign of a good manager is to have a department where everybody is busy at work on their assigned tasks. But if your people are merely doing their jobs, they’re only working at about half their potential. A truly productive department is one in which every employee is actively thinking of better, more efficient methods of working ways in which to produce a higher quality product, in less time, at lower cost.
To get this kind of innovation from your people, you have to be receptive to new ideas; what’s more, you have to encourage your people to produce new ideas. Incentives are one way to motivate employees to be more productive. You can offer a cash bonus, time off, or a gift. But a more potent form of motivation is simply the employee’s knowledge that management does listen to him or her, and does put employee suggestions and ideas to work.
When you listen to new ideas, be open-minded. Don’t shoot down a suggestion before you’ve heard it in full. Many of us are too quick, too eager, to show off our own experience and knowledge and say that something won’t work because ‘we’ve tried it before’ or ‘we don’t do it that way’. Well, may be you did try it before but that doesn’t mean it won’t work now. And having done things a certain way in the past doesn’t mean you’ve been doing them the best way. A good manager is open-minded and receptive to new ideas.

 

  1. be open-minded and receptive to new ideas

  2. quickly shoot down innovative suggestions from an employee to assert supremacy of his experience and knowledge

  3. discard innovative ideas dubbing them unworkable

  4. be content with the normal functioning of the department

Reveal answer Fill a bubble to check yourself
A Correct answer
Explanation

The passage states that when listening to new ideas, managers should 'be open-minded' and 'Don't shoot down a suggestion before you've heard it in full.' Option A directly reflects this positive behavior. Options B, C, and D describe the negative behaviors the passage warns managers against - being dismissive of new ideas or being complacent with the status quo.