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UPSC CSAT Tough Reading Comprehension 18 — When Accountability Discourages Good Decisions

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Sample Questions from UPSC CSAT Tough Reading Comprehension 18 — When Accountability Discourages Good Decisions

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Q1. Which one of the following best expresses the central argument of the passage?

A. Accountability inevitably discourages innovation and should therefore be minimized in institutions dealing with uncertainty.

B. Officials should be evaluated primarily according to outcomes because outcomes provide the clearest evidence of institutional performance.

C. Effective accountability should make authority answerable while evaluating reasoning, risk and learning rather than mechanically punishing undesirable outcomes or rewarding visible compliance.

D. Complex institutions function best when professionals are protected from external scrutiny and allowed to exercise unrestricted discretion.

Q2. Why does the author distinguish between being accountable for a decision and being punished whenever that decision produces an undesirable result?

A. Because undesirable outcomes are generally caused by factors completely outside the control of decision-makers.

B. Because decisions made reasonably under uncertainty can produce bad outcomes, while poorly reasoned decisions can occasionally produce good ones.

C. Because decision-makers should be punished only when their actions violate written rules.

D. Because outcomes provide no useful information about the quality of institutional decisions.

Q3. Which one of the following assumptions is most essential to the author's argument about defensive decision-making?

A. Decision-makers may alter their choices in response to how accountability systems distribute personal blame and professional risk.

B. Innovative policies are generally more effective than conventional policies.

C. Public officials are primarily motivated by protecting their careers rather than serving institutional objectives.

D. Conventional programmes rarely receive meaningful public scrutiny.

Q4. With reference to the passage, consider the following statements: 1. Harm caused by inaction may sometimes be less visible than harm caused by action. 2. Extensive documentation necessarily reveals the actual reasoning behind a decision. 3. Quantitative targets can improve the visibility of performance while distorting behaviour. 4. An institution reporting more errors than another institution must necessarily be less safe. Which of the statements given above are consistent with the passage?

A. 1 and 2 only

B. 1 and 3 only

C. 1, 2 and 3 only

D. 2, 3 and 4 only

Q5. What is the principal purpose of the example involving a regulator deciding whether to approve a product?

A. To demonstrate that regulators should approve potentially beneficial products despite uncertainty.

B. To illustrate how unequal visibility of the consequences of action and inaction can systematically bias decisions.

C. To establish that regulatory delays usually cause greater harm than incorrect approvals.

D. To show that regulators are more accountable than other public officials.

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