CCS NIAM PGDM (Agri-Business Management) selection · India · CCS National Institute of Agricultural Marketing, Jaipur
Original practice questions written to the published syllabus · not past papersSpeaking, listening and writing well at work, from a business letter to a thesis. It is also what the English and communication sections of agricultural entrance and banking recruitment examinations test.
In the exams: agricultural master's entrance examinations, communicative ability (heavy); descriptive English papers in agricultural development bank officer recruitment; English sections of agricultural field officer recruitment in banking
How our questions for CCS NIAM PGDM selection spread across the units of Business Communication. Difficulty: 0 easy, 19 medium, 8 hard.
| Meetings | 7 | |
| Social media, blogs and podcasts | 5 | |
| Presentations | 5 | |
| Listening | 4 | |
| Business letters and e-mail | 2 | |
| Technical writing: theses, papers and reports | 2 | |
| Non-verbal communication | 1 | |
| Cross-cultural communication | 1 |
Choose an answer, then open the working. Each explanation says why the right answer is right and why the others are not.
In a tense meeting, a union representative states the workers' demand. Before replying, the plant manager summarises the demand and the reasons behind it until the representative agrees the summary is right. The main communication benefit is that it
A. confirms shared understanding and lowers the other side's defensiveness before the manager states a position
Summarising the other side to their satisfaction checks understanding and shows respect, which reduces defensiveness. It does not imply agreement: understanding a position is not accepting it. It is not a tactic for shifting burdens or for avoiding a position, which the manager still has to state.
Which question is the best open question for a field officer starting to understand why farmers in a village have stopped selling to the company's collection centre?
A. What has changed for you in selling your produce this season?
An open question (what, how, tell me) invites farmers to explain in their own terms and can reveal causes the officer has not thought of. The price and payment questions are closed and assume a cause; the last is a leading question that pushes the answer.
Under Coombs' situational crisis communication theory, which situation falls in the preventable cluster, where stakeholders attribute the most responsibility to the firm?
D. Contaminated product released because managers knowingly skipped required safety tests
SCCT places organisational misdeeds and human-error harms in the preventable cluster, with the strongest attributed responsibility. Tampering, rumours and natural disasters are in the victim cluster, where the organisation is itself seen as a victim.
Which element is prepared BEFORE a crisis as part of a crisis communication plan?
D. Adaptable holding statements, with a named and trained spokesperson
Plans contain holding statements, contact lists, approval routes and a trained spokesperson, so the firm can respond fast and with one voice. The cause and compensation cannot be known in advance; many voices create inconsistency; 'no comment' is read as guilt.
A journalist asks an agribusiness spokesperson during a pesticide-poisoning incident: 'Isn't it true your company cares only about profit?' Which reply follows standard media-interview guidance?
C. Acknowledge the concern briefly, then bridge to the key message about what the company is doing for those affected
Interview guidance is to acknowledge a hostile question without repeating its loaded words, then bridge to a prepared key message, and never to speculate. Walking out looks evasive; accepting the loaded framing becomes the headline; speculation can be wrong and is quoted as fact.
A speaker has a 20-minute slot, of which 5 minutes are reserved for questions, and speaks at about 140 words a minute. About how many words of spoken content should the talk contain?
B. 2,100
Speaking time = 20 - 5 = 15 minutes; 15 x 140 = 2,100 words. 2,800 uses the whole 20 minutes and leaves no time for questions; 700 uses only the 5-minute question period; 3,500 adds the minutes (20 + 5) instead of subtracting.
Bruce Tuckman's stages of group development, in order, are
A. forming, storming, norming, performing, adjourning
Tuckman's sequence is forming, storming, norming, performing, with adjourning added later. The other orders swap stages; conflict (storming) normally comes before the group settles its norms.
A board approves a risky export deal in one meeting. Members later admit that they had doubts but stayed silent because everyone else seemed sure and the chairman favoured it. This is
A. groupthink
Irving Janis's groupthink is the drive for agreement that suppresses dissent, with self-censorship and pressure from a strong leader. Social loafing is reduced effort in groups; the halo effect is judging by one trait; the grapevine is informal communication.
In the Thomas-Kilmann model, a manager who gives way to a supplier's demand on a minor issue to preserve a long-term relationship is using the mode that is
D. accommodating: low assertiveness, high cooperativeness
Accommodating yields to the other party's concerns (low assertive, high cooperative), useful when the issue matters more to them and the relationship matters to you. Competing pushes one's own concerns, avoiding sidesteps the issue, and collaborating seeks a solution that fully meets both sides.
A company's text-message advisories on pest outbreaks reach many farmers, but few women farmers act on them. Which response is most consistent with good rural communication practice?
C. Find out how women get information, then reach them directly through channels, times and formats they use
Women farmers often have less access to phones, literacy or meetings, so communication must start from how they actually get information (voice messages, women's groups, meeting times that fit their work). More of the same, relying on male relatives and longer print all ignore the access barrier.
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