This Paper has 48 answerable questions with 0 answered.
| Roll No………… | |
| Time allowed : 3 hours | Maximum marks : 100 |
| Total number of questions : 8 | Total number of printed pages : 4 |
| PART — A |
| (Answer Question No.1 which is compulsory and any two of the rest from this part.) |
| 1. | (a) | Choose the most appropriate answer from the given options in respect of the following : | ||||||||||||
| (i) | E–business could be conducted in many different formats. The correct statement regarding e–business is –
| (0) | ||||||||||||
| (ii) | Client–server computing is a key aspect of enterprise networking. The accurate statement in describing client–server computing is —
| (0) | ||||||||||||
| (iii) | In order to minimise the expectation gap, it is important to understand different types of expectations users may have about information systems. The true statement in describing user expectations and the expectation gap is —
| (0) | ||||||||||||
| (iv) | The action which is considered to be a systems maintenance activity as opposed to an enhancement activity is —
| (0) | ||||||||||||
| (v) | The correct statement in describing the wireless web is —
| (0) | ||||||||||||
| (1 mark each) | ||||||||||||||
| (b) | State, with reasons in brief, whether the following statements are correct or incorrect : | |||||||||||||
| (i) | Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is a business management system that combines all aspects of the business. | (0) | ||||||||||||
| (ii) | Electronic funds transfer (EFT) adds another dimension to electronic data interchange (EDI). | (0) | ||||||||||||
| (iii) | Firewall is a group of computer programmes that encrypts data for security purposes. | (0) | ||||||||||||
| (iv) | Microwave is one of the most common types of cableless channels used to send data and information through the air without wire or cable. | (0) | ||||||||||||
| (2 marks each) | ||||||||||||||
| (c) | South–North Leathers Ltd. (SNLL) is in leather production and distribution business. The company has two factories and four regional offices. The company is selling its products in domestic as well as international markets. The company’s turnover was Rs.300 crore in 2007-08 with a net profit of Rs.30 crore. The management of the company has gone in for computerisation in recent years. As part of the computerisation, all regional offices and factories are linked through an intranet with the main server located at Delhi. All employees of the company can communicate with each other through an internal mailing system. The enquiries made by Srinivas, Chief Operating Officer (COO) have revealed that every e–mail is followed by a hard copy of the same and hence the COO wants to reduce the expenses on the hard copies. The COO has asked you, as a manager of SNLL, to prepare a circular to all employees of the company highlighting the efficacy of e-mail messages and the urgent need for avoiding hard copies. You are required to prepare the circular. | (0) | ||||||||||||
| (7 marks ) | ||||||||||||||
| 2. | (a) | Rentokil India Pvt. Ltd. is a company providing pest control services all over India through its network of branches. All the business transactions are done online including fund transfers. You have been hired as a security consultant responsible for protecting data from accidental or intentional misuse by insiders and outsiders including employees/hackers, etc. List out certain steps you would suggest for providing a viable solution to the company with its head office in Chennai. | (0) | |||||||||||
| (8 marks ) | ||||||||||||||
| (b) | Performance criteria establishes some kind of quantitative parameters to judge the performance of any system. Explain the performance criteria used to measure the quality of system response to the user demands. | (0) | ||||||||||||
| (4 marks ) | ||||||||||||||
| (c) | "By linking Corporate Information Management System (CIMS) to corporate strategy, an enterprise can achieve even its global strategy. For this, CIMS has to be integrated with global information system." In the light of this statement, highlight three important key issues to be addressed while linking global information system with corporate strategy and CIMS. | (0) | ||||||||||||
| (3 marks ) | ||||||||||||||
| 3. | (a) | Elegance Ltd. manufactures sports shoes. It has a unique brand name and logo and promotes its shoes with the slogan ‘Wear Elegance to Win’. The company successfully sold 5 lakh pairs of shoes worldwide last year with a net profit of Rs.2 crore. Although, the company is successful, the Board of Elegance Ltd. is always looking for methods of gaining additional competitive advantage. The market research department has identified a small but growing demand for sports shoes which are personalised to the individual wearer. Customers would like the facility to change certain aspects of the shoes such as sole and trim colour, depth of the sole and pattern on the top of the shoe through the web. The manufacturing system at Elegance Ltd. can be amended relatively easily to provide this degree of tailoring to individual shoes. The Board has therefore decided to conduct a trial to determine whether or not the facility for customers to order shoes via the company’s website should be introduced. | (0) | |||||||||||
| (6 marks ) | ||||||||||||||
| (b) | Distinguish between any three of the following : | |||||||||||||
| (i) | ‘E–commerce’ and ‘M–commerce’. | (0) | ||||||||||||
| (ii) | ‘Enterprise resource planning’ (ERP) and ‘business process re–engineering’ (BPR). | (0) | ||||||||||||
| (iii) | ‘Routers’ and ‘gateways’. | (0) | ||||||||||||
| (iv) | ‘Broadband communication channels’ and ‘baseband communication channels’. | (0) | ||||||||||||
| (3 marks each) | ||||||||||||||
| 4. | (a) | "Back–up is a form of insurance." Do you agree with the statement ? Support your answer with reasons. | (0) | |||||||||||
| (4 marks ) | ||||||||||||||
| (b) | Write the full form of the following : | |||||||||||||
| (i) | ATM | (0) | ||||||||||||
| (ii) | VPN | (0) | ||||||||||||
| (iii) | ISDN | (0) | ||||||||||||
| (iv) | URL. | (0) | ||||||||||||
| (2 marks ) | ||||||||||||||
| (c) | Write short notes on any three of the following : | |||||||||||||
| (i) | Software documentation. | (0) | ||||||||||||
| (ii) | Object–oriented client/server internet (OCSI) model. | (0) | ||||||||||||
| (iii) | Security standards for the internet. | (0) | ||||||||||||
| (iv) | E–governance. | (0) | ||||||||||||
| (3 marks each) | ||||||||||||||
| PART — B |
| (Answer Question No.5 which is compulsory and any two of the rest from this part.) |
| 5. | (a) | State, with reasons in brief, whether the following statements are correct or incorrect : | ||||||||||||
| (i) | Persuasion is gentler than influencing. | (0) | ||||||||||||
| (ii) | Though education has emphasised verbal communication, all people effectively use body language. | (0) | ||||||||||||
| (iii) | Non–directive counselling will not contribute to the quality of inter–personal relationships because the manager will not be able to help the other person in solving his or her own problem. | (0) | ||||||||||||
| (iv) | Strategic advertising has positive influence on public opinion about the company and is called general promotional publicity. | (0) | ||||||||||||
| (v) | Employees’ unresolved problems cost industries crores of rupees in absenteeism, lost productivity and decreased efficiency. | (0) | ||||||||||||
| (2 marks each) | ||||||||||||||
| (b) | You are a Finance Manager of a small sized company. A number of times, you have asked your company’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Priya, to provide guidelines about workplace computer use in response to the amount of non–work related web–surfing the employees have been doing since everyone got new computers two years ago. You have been away at a course on workplace ethics for the past two days. You came in to work today to find that your screen–saver had been changed to a very objectionable image. You also find a sharp note from Priya, asking you to explain this lack of professionalism. Write a suitable reply to Priya explaining that you did not download the image and that you think you have been the victim of either a practical joke or a malicious attempt to turn your CEO against you. Be careful; you don’t want to make any allegations you cannot support. You may create whatever information you consider necessary. | (0) | ||||||||||||
| (8 marks ) | ||||||||||||||
| (c) | Suggest a circumstance each where you will be using mainly your left brain thinking and where you will be using mainly your right brain thinking. | (0) | ||||||||||||
| (2 marks ) | ||||||||||||||
| 6. | (a) | Dainy Exports Ltd. has received an export order of Rs.1 crore and the same is to be executed in a month. This has necessitated asking the workers to work overtime for the next one month. But HR/Personnel Manager is not in favour of overtime working. Instead he has suggested outsourcing the production for this order. You, as a Company Secretary, prepare a brief note for consideration of the Managing Director explaining as to how you propose to resolve this problem. | (0) | |||||||||||
| (8 marks ) | ||||||||||||||
| (b) | "A strong ‘corporate image’ is a valuable asset for any organisation. The factors that make up this image in the eyes of its external and internal public are numerous and vary from organisation to organisation." In the light of this statement, discuss the factors that make up the corporate image and their importance. | (0) | ||||||||||||
| (7 marks ) | ||||||||||||||
| 7. | (a) | Indicate whether the following moves/decisions/changes are radical innovations or incremental innovations : | ||||||||||||
| (i) | A pharmaceutical company decides to outsource 75% of its research and development work. | (0) | ||||||||||||
| (ii) | A project management company introduces programme evaluation and review technique (PERT) and critical path method (CPM) for projects implementation. | (0) | ||||||||||||
| (iii) | A bus transport company moves from being owned by government to private ownership. | (0) | ||||||||||||
| (iv) | An insurance company adopts performance linked incentives scheme for its employees. | (0) | ||||||||||||
| (v) | An established company removes several layers from its structure and empowers each front line employee. | (0) | ||||||||||||
| (1 mark each) | ||||||||||||||
| (b) | Devgan, a consultant, was asked to quote a fee for conducting a staff development programme for a bank. He wanted this consultancy assignment, but felt he was in danger of losing it if he quoted too high a figure. He was not sure of the extent to which the bank would be prepared to negotiate. He had sought your advice on how to proceed further. Help him with the kite-flying technique of presenting proposals. | (0) | ||||||||||||
| (5 marks ) | ||||||||||||||
| (c) | "A press release requires its own particular writing skill. It needs to be concise, factual, explanatory and totally free of superlatives or self–praise. A press release is not a short article, nor is a kind of advertisement." In the light of this statement, discuss the characteristics of an effective press release. | (0) | ||||||||||||
| (5 marks ) | ||||||||||||||
| 8. | (a) | Anil booked a conference room in a hotel for an important meeting of company’s branch heads from all over the city. He arrived 15 minutes before the meeting was scheduled to start, only to find that the hotel had overlooked his reservation and no conference room was available. Anil’s possible reaction upon the hotel manager apologising for the blunder may be any one of the following :
Identify the negotiation style used by Anil in each of the above scenarios. | (0) | |||||||||||
| (4 marks ) | ||||||||||||||
| (b) | "Creativity is expressed by people in all walks of life. A lack of creative capacity can seriously undermine managerial effectiveness." Critically examine the statement and highlight the factors responsible for lack of creative capacity. | (0) | ||||||||||||
| (5 marks ) | ||||||||||||||
| (c) | Write short notes on any two of the following : | |||||||||||||
| (i) | Features of a good speech. | (0) | ||||||||||||
| (ii) | Structure of proposals | (0) | ||||||||||||
| (iii) | Gateways to effective interpersonal communication. | (0) | ||||||||||||
| (3 marks each) | ||||||||||||||
