Civil Service Management Judgement Test: Examples & Practice

The answer to the MOST question is B, and the answer to the LEAST question is D.

Response A is an excellent temporary solution. If the employee is tired and you are losing your patience, it is best to take a break. However, you can't be sure the reason for the employee’s lack of understanding is tiredness. This response doesn’t suggest a way to establish what the problem is.

Response B establishes the problem. By asking the employee to explain the task, you can see what he understood and what he got wrong. After installing the problem, you can focus on what he misunderstood. Thus, you'll have more information to solve the problem. The situation in the scenario is one of communication—you explain something, and the employee misunderstands. This solution creates effective communication between you two. From this point, you can spend more time training the employee on this task while focusing specifically on the problem and adapting your explanations to his needs.

Response C might be your final decision, but it’s giving up too quickly on the employee. This task is considered easy; therefore, the problem is probably in the tutoring process. This response lacks determination.

Response D shows a lack of determination. This new employee is still adjusting to his new job, and you need to get to know him and discover the best ways to work with him. In addition, if your manager hired him, she probably found him valuable, which should encourage you to make another effort.

The answer to the MOST question is B, and the answer to the LEAST question is A.

In this scenario, you face a conflict between team members. You are not told explicitly about any effect this has on your employees’ work. Still, you are told that team cooperation is affected (as employees avoid Nellie on professional matters), as is the workplace atmosphere. As you are responsible for your employees and the quality of their work, you should address this issue.

Isolating Nellie (response A) is an extreme move. While it may have to come to this, this response avoids trying to resolve the conflict itself between the employees. As a general comment, when taking such a step, you should consider how it would seem to Nellie and the rest of the team—would it appear as a punishment or a prize to get her own office?

Showing appreciation for Nellie’s work and asking for her cooperation (response B) informs her that this behaviour is indeed a problem. Moreover, it could encourage her to help. This response shows team-building skills. Showing appreciation and engaging Nellie to become a part of the solution, instead of simply marking her as the problem, are more likely to gain her cooperation. This response could be confusingly interpreted as unfavourable, but looking at the response's content, you can see that it combines an appreciation for the employee and a change request. Of the given answers, this is the best one.

Response C tries to protect Nellie, but it denies that there is a problem. As mentioned before, you are told that this behaviour indeed affects work—it restricts team cooperation (team building). In addition, you want your employees to feel comfortable in their team (responsibility for subordinates).

Encouraging the team not to take Nellie’s comments seriously (response D) is a response that could be appropriate after other courses of action have been tried. This response avoids trying to resolve the conflict between the employees, and assumes that Nellie can’t change her ways and become part of the team.

The answer to the MOST question is A, and the answer to the LEAST question is D.

 In this situation, you are faced with ambiguity due to your boss's management style. The main objective of this item is to evaluate your ability to work under management.

Notice that you are asked to choose two responses: the best and the worst. The best way to approach this sort of question is comprised of two steps: 1. marking each response as generally positive or negative, and 2. comparing the positive and the negative responses.

Let's consider each response individually:

Response #1: Deals with the problem head-on. You are informed that your manager's requests are somewhat abstract and that you therefore lack the specific operational guidelines to execute your team's tasks. Speaking directly with your manager will enable you to clarify task guidelines and execute them more accurately. Although this response may appear to indicate an inability to deal with ambiguity, it is the best response in this given situation. Communicating ambiguity is effective here, as it's better your manager makes clarifications rather than you start the task without understanding what it entails. The communication skills this response exhibits are an important element of working under management.

Response #2: Deals with the problem by taking initiative and creating your own management style. Here you show an ability to deal with ambiguity, find creative solutions to problems, and exhibit high levels of autonomy. However, you do not clarify the guidelines for the task and may therefore fail to execute this task as your manager anticipated. This response demonstrates many desirable competencies, including independence, strategic skills, and problem solving.

Response #3: Does not target the problem directly or actively search for a solution. This response lacks problem-solving skills and strategic skills. It also shows poor communication skills as you seek for the answer elsewhere, rather than addressing your manager directly. You are informed that when referring to the tasks of each manager, your boss's requests are somewhat abstract. You can therefore assume the other managers are facing the same ambiguity as yourself.

Response #4: Is a passive response as you take no action for solving the problem. Passivity is an extremely undesirable characteristic of a future manager. This is therefore the worst response choice out of the given four.

The two positive responses are #1 and #2 as both challenge the problem and find an appropriate solution. Response #1 appears to be the better response as it shows your ability to work under management and it addresses the main problem at hand—clarifying goals with superiors.

The two negative responses are #3 and #4 as neither addresses the problem directly or actively searches for a solution. Response #4 is the worst response due to its passive nature.

*Although we mark response #1 as the best response, the choice between response #1 and #2 should be based on the information you have gathered on the company you are applying to, as sometimes the company may indicate a preference for one or another style. For instance, in this scenario, the organisation you are applying to may place more emphasis on autonomy than collaboration and would therefore opt for response #2 as it shows independence. It is therefore important you consider the organisation’s values when answering SJT questions.