Work Strengths Test Question 60 – Protecting long-term capability during spending reductions
Read the scenario and rate every action independently. More than one action can receive the same rating.
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Scenario
A spending review requires your group to reduce costs by 12% while demand for its main services is rising. Several small programmes are politically visible, and a replacement for an ageing core system is expensive but increasingly important to service resilience. Directors have proposed separate savings within their own areas. Taken together, the proposals meet the target but leave major dependencies and transition risks unaddressed.
Rate the actions
For each action, choose Counterproductive, Ineffective, Fairly Effective or Effective.
Action A
Redesign the savings package around essential outcomes, service resilience and transition risk, with explicit choices about what ends.
Rate this action:
CounterproductiveIneffectiveFairly EffectiveEffective
Action B
Require every directorate to reduce its budget by 12% and hold directors accountable for managing the local consequences.
Rate this action:
CounterproductiveIneffectiveFairly EffectiveEffective
Action C
Secure immediate efficiency savings first and return later for the structural choices once the spending position is clearer.
Rate this action:
CounterproductiveIneffectiveFairly EffectiveEffective
Action D
Defer the core system replacement because its benefits are less visible than the public-facing programmes.
Rate this action:
CounterproductiveIneffectiveFairly EffectiveEffective
Click to reveal the answer
- Action A: Effective
- Action B: Ineffective
- Action C: Fairly Effective
- Action D: Counterproductive
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