Question

(Questions 115 to 117): The year 2004 was a great year for Top-Cloth cotton mill. Manufacturing towels for the export market and employing more than 2000 workers, the company had an impressive growth in sales and profits. The Chairman felt that employees were entitled to a share in the profits, and it was proposed that the employee mess be air-conditioned. The proposal was discussed in a meeting attended by, among other senior officials, the marketing director, the personnel director and the finance director. The proposal was based on the fact that the shop floor of the mill often had temperatures in excess of 40 degrees C with a relative humidity of 99%. The air-conditioned mess would represent management's appreciation of the employees' hard work.

At the end of 2005, management reviewed the mill's performance. Profits were higher, and employee attrition was negligible. The Chairman decided that employees deserved additional recognition for their fine work. Since the mess had already been air-conditioned, the Chairman wanted to know if the employees appreciated this sort of action. In the course of discussion, the Chairman asked the personnel director to send a questionnaire to a sample of fifty employees and obtain their reaction to the air-conditioned mess. The management agreed to decide only after obtaining the feedback from the employees.

The personnel director mailed a simple form to fifty employees, asking them for the following information: "Please state your reaction to the air-conditioned mess." Of the fifty forms mailed, forty-six were returned. The answers received were as follows:

Reaction	Frequency
"I did not know it was air-conditioned."	16
"I never eat there"	8
"If management can spend money like that, they should pay us more"	6
"I wish the entire mill was air-conditioned."	8
"The mess is for management employees."	4
"It is OK."	2
Miscellaneous comments	2

116. Management of Top-Cloth cotton mill considers itself to be socially conscious, and its decisions are often re-examined for their social relevance and their impact on society. In view of this consideration, what could have been considered before deciding on profit sharing?
A. communicating management's intentions via employee newsletters
B. taking employees' inputs in designing the cafeteria's interiors and installation of air-conditioning
C. considering employees' views on different ways of sharing excess profits
D. investing in capacity expansion to take care of the booming export market
E. dividing the profits equally among the workers and shareholders
The options in decreasing order of their impact on society:

• A. B, C, E, D, A
• B. D, E, C, B, A
• C. C, B, A, D, E
• D. E, D, C, B, A

Hint:

Rank each action by how many people it reaches and how directly it changes real economic outcomes, such as money or jobs, versus just comfort or one-way communication.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is D

Step 1: Understanding the Question.
We must rank five possible actions, A to E, from the one with the biggest impact on society to the one with the smallest, judging by how directly and broadly each action affects people connected to the mill, not just how it feels to management.

Step 2: Key Formula or Approach.
Rank each action by two things: how many people it touches, a few employees, all employees, or the wider group of workers and shareholders, and how directly it changes real economic outcomes such as money and jobs versus just being a communication or interior-design gesture. Broader reach plus a bigger economic effect means a bigger social impact.

Step 3: Detailed Explanation.
Option E, dividing profits equally among workers and shareholders, is a direct financial redistribution that reaches every worker and every shareholder, changing real income for a large group connected to the company. This is the broadest, most concrete social effect, so it ranks first.
Option D, investing in capacity expansion for the export market, affects jobs, supplier income and the local economy around the mill on a large scale, though it is one step removed from putting money directly into people's hands. This ranks second.
Option C, asking employees for their views on how to share the profit, involves employees directly in a decision about their own economic benefit, real social weight, but it reaches a narrower group, the mill's own employees, than D's wider economic ripple effect. This ranks third.
Option B, taking employee input on cafeteria design and air-conditioning, is still a form of consultation, but about the interior comfort of a facility, a much smaller stake than a share of profits. This ranks fourth.
Option A, communicating management's intentions through newsletters, is only a one-way flow of information with no real change in outcomes for anyone, so it has the smallest social impact and ranks last.
So, from biggest to smallest impact: E, D, C, B, A.

Step 4: Final Answer.
The decreasing order of social impact is E, D, C, B, A.\[ \boxed{\text{E, D, C, B, A}} \]