CSJT Problem-Solving & Analytical Thinking 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A supervisor notices that customer complaints have doubled over the past month. Before proposing a solution, what should the supervisor do first?
- Immediately hire additional staff
- Identify the root cause of the increase in complaints (Correct answer)
- Apologize to all complainants
- Reassign current staff to customer service
Correct answer: Identify the root cause of the increase in complaints
Identifying the root cause ensures the solution addresses the actual problem rather than symptoms.
Question 2: A government office receives 200 permit applications per week but can only process 150. Which analytical approach best identifies where the bottleneck occurs?
- Survey applicants about their experience
- Track processing time at each step of the workflow (Correct answer)
- Hire 50 more employees immediately
- Reduce the number of permits issued
Correct answer: Track processing time at each step of the workflow
Tracking processing time at each workflow step pinpoints exactly where delays accumulate.
Question 3: An analyst is given two datasets with conflicting figures for the same metric. What is the most appropriate next step?
- Use the higher figure to be safe
- Use the average of both figures
- Trace each dataset to its source to determine which is more reliable (Correct answer)
- Discard both and collect new data
Correct answer: Trace each dataset to its source to determine which is more reliable
Tracing datasets to their sources allows the analyst to assess data quality and determine which figure is accurate.
Question 4: A team is brainstorming solutions to reduce office supply costs by 20%. One member suggests buying in bulk. What critical factor must be evaluated before accepting this suggestion?
- Whether suppliers offer discounts
- Whether storage space and cash flow can support bulk purchasing (Correct answer)
- Whether employees prefer certain brands
- Whether other agencies use bulk purchasing
Correct answer: Whether storage space and cash flow can support bulk purchasing
Bulk purchasing only saves money if storage capacity exists and upfront costs don't create cash flow problems.
Question 5: Which of the following best demonstrates deductive reasoning in a civil service context?
- Concluding that all employees are dissatisfied because one complained
- Applying a general regulation to determine whether a specific case qualifies (Correct answer)
- Assuming a trend will continue indefinitely based on one month of data
- Guessing at a solution and testing it repeatedly
Correct answer: Applying a general regulation to determine whether a specific case qualifies
Deductive reasoning applies a general rule or principle to reach a specific conclusion about a particular case.
Question 6: A public agency must choose between two vendors. Vendor A costs $10,000 with 95% uptime; Vendor B costs $8,000 with 80% uptime. If downtime costs the agency $500/hour and each vendor averages 100 hours of downtime annually, which vendor is more cost-effective?
- Vendor A, because total annual cost is $10,000
- Vendor B, because total annual cost is $18,000
- Vendor A, because total annual cost is $17,500 (Correct answer)
- Vendor B, because base cost is lower
Correct answer: Vendor A, because total annual cost is $17,500
Vendor A: $10,000 + (5% × 100 hrs × $500) = $10,000 + $2,500 = $12,500; Vendor B: $8,000 + (20% × 100 hrs × $500) = $8,000 + $10,000 = $18,000; Vendor A is more cost-effective.
Question 7: An employee notices that a new procedure is causing delays but is unsure whether the procedure itself or employee unfamiliarity is the cause. What is the best way to analyze this?
- Abandon the new procedure immediately
- Compare performance of experienced versus new users of the procedure over time (Correct answer)
- Ask employees if they like the new procedure
- Revert to the old procedure without analysis
Correct answer: Compare performance of experienced versus new users of the procedure over time
Comparing experienced vs. new users over time separates the learning-curve effect from genuine procedural inefficiency.
CSJT Problem-Solving & Analytical Thinking 2
A supervisor notices that customer complaints have doubled over the past month.
Before proposing a solution, what should the supervisor do first?