Accor Assessment Tests

Accor Situational Judgement Test

1. Question 1 of 10

   You are an availability analyst at Accor. By four o’clock you owe the trading team a report on what will be short this weekend, and you have also promised a colleague you would rebuild her forecast template today. At two o’clock a site tells you a delivery has been turned away and two hundred cases are sitting on a vehicle with nowhere to go. Only the report has a stated deadline. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Sort the turned-away delivery first, tell the trading team the report will be twenty minutes late and why, and let your colleague know the template moves to tomorrow.
   2. Finish the report for four o'clock as promised and then deal with the vehicle, since the report is the only piece of work today that has a stated deadline attached to it.
   3. Start all three, moving between the report, the vehicle and the template so that everybody sees progress before the end of the afternoon.
   4. Hand the vehicle problem to a colleague on the supply desk without saying what has already been tried, and carry on with the report and the template.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: A. Sort the turned-away delivery first, tell the trading team the report will be twenty minutes late and why, and let your colleague know the template moves to tomorrow.

   Least effective: D. Hand the vehicle problem to a colleague on the supply desk without saying what has already been tried, and carry on with the report and the template.

   B: Treats a stated deadline as the only claim on your time: the report is delivered on the hour and two hundred cases spend the afternoon on a vehicle that could have been redirected.

   C: Splits effort so nothing finishes: the delivery needs a decision in one go, and three part-finished jobs at five o'clock help nobody.

   D: Passes the problem on without owning it: the colleague restarts from nothing while the vehicle waits, and the person who took the call keeps the easier two jobs.

   The most effective response is to sort the turned-away delivery first and tell the trading team the report will be twenty minutes late and why: the vehicle is the only item that gets worse by the hour, twenty minutes is a cost the reader can plan around once they are told, and nothing is dropped silently. It beats finishing the four o’clock report before touching the vehicle, because a stated deadline is not the same as the most urgent thing and two hundred cases are stranded meanwhile. It beats starting all three at once, because the delivery needs one uninterrupted decision and three half-finished jobs serve nobody. The least effective response is handing the vehicle problem to the supply desk without saying what has been tried: the colleague starts from nothing, the vehicle waits longer than under any other response, and the person who owns the problem keeps the two jobs that suit them. The principle: order the work by what degrades, and where something slips, say so to the person waiting for it.

2. Question 2 of 10

   You are a shift supervisor at Accor. A delivery the team has been waiting for since eight o’clock has not arrived, and the transport desk cannot say when it will. Six people are standing available and their shift ends at two. The team leader is asking you for a time, and the work that depends on the delivery has to be finished today or it moves to the weekend. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Tell the team exactly what transport has said and that you do not have a time yet, since guessing helps nobody, and come back to them by eleven with a time or another plan.
   2. Say nothing to the team until transport gives you a time, so that you are not passing on information that might turn out to be wrong an hour later.
   3. Put the team on other work for the morning and mention the delivery only if somebody asks about it, since there is nothing anybody standing here can do about a vehicle that has not arrived.
   4. Tell the team leader the delivery is on its way and will be with them before the shift ends, which is what a team standing about needs to hear this morning.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: A. Tell the team exactly what transport has said and that you do not have a time yet, since guessing helps nobody, and come back to them by eleven with a time or another plan.

   Least effective: D. Tell the team leader the delivery is on its way and will be with them before the shift ends, which is what a team standing about needs to hear this morning.

   B: Treats uncertainty as a reason for silence: six people spend the morning planning around a delivery nobody can promise, and the person who knows that is the one saying nothing.

   C: Manages the shift without informing it: the morning is used sensibly and the team leader still cannot plan the afternoon or the weekend around what you know.

   D: Gives an assurance nothing supports: transport has no time to give, so the comfort lasts until two o'clock and then the weekend plan is made on a promise that was never true.

   The most effective response is to tell the team exactly what transport has said, that there is no time yet, and that you will come back by eleven: it gives six people the real picture, it puts a decision point in the morning rather than at two o’clock, and it commits you to the follow-up rather than to a fact you do not have. It beats saying nothing until transport gives a time, because the morning is spent planning around something nobody can promise. It beats moving the team to other work and mentioning it only if asked, because the team leader is deciding about the afternoon and the weekend without what you know. The least effective response is telling the team leader the delivery is on its way and will arrive before the shift ends: no such assurance exists, and inventing one is a different kind of wrong from withholding or from managing quietly, because the plans made on it are wrong until two o’clock. The principle: when you do not know, say what you do know and when you will know more.

3. Question 3 of 10

   You are a customer experience graduate at Accor. A customer you helped last week has been sent a fifty pound voucher as an apology, and has written back to say she does not want it and would rather it went to nobody. The voucher is active and cancelling it means a form and a wait. Nobody else knows it exists. Your team has a small budget that these come from. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Cancel the voucher through the form so the fifty pounds goes back to the team budget, and note on the case what the customer asked for.
   2. Leave the voucher active and unused, since the customer has said she does not want it and it will simply expire without anybody having to fill in a form about it.
   3. Keep the voucher for yourself, since it has already been issued, the customer does not want it, and cancelling it takes longer than the fifty pounds is worth to anybody.
   4. Offer the voucher to the colleague who handled the case before you, as she did most of the work on it and the customer has no use for it.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: A. Cancel the voucher through the form so the fifty pounds goes back to the team budget, and note on the case what the customer asked for.

   Least effective: C. Keep the voucher for yourself, since it has already been issued, the customer does not want it, and cancelling it takes longer than the fifty pounds is worth to anybody.

   B: Leaves money committed to nothing: the budget carries a fifty pound hole for the life of the voucher because a form was not worth the trouble.

   C: Takes a benefit the role forbids: the money belongs to the team budget whatever the customer decided, and the fact that nobody would notice is what makes it a decision rather than an oversight.

   D: Passes on a benefit that was never anybody's to give: it feels generous, and it disposes of company money on the strength of who deserves it.

   The most effective response is to cancel the voucher through the form so the money returns to the team budget, and note what the customer asked for: the customer’s wish is honoured, the budget is whole, and the case shows what happened. It beats leaving it active to expire, because the budget carries the commitment for months for want of a form. It beats offering it to the colleague who did the work, because that hands out company money on the basis of merit. The least effective response is keeping the voucher yourself: it is the team’s money, the customer’s refusal did not make it yours, and the fact that nobody would ever know is the part that makes it a choice rather than a slip, which is a different kind of wrong from being lazy or from being loosely generous. The principle: money that was never yours does not become yours because nobody is watching and the paperwork is tedious.

4. Question 4 of 10

   You are a trading assistant at Accor. In Monday’s meeting a colleague said, in front of the team, that your weekly figures were guesswork and had cost her a decision. You were annoyed and said nothing. You send her those figures every Wednesday and she uses them to set her orders. It is Wednesday morning and the figures are ready. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Send the figures as usual and add a line to the whole team explaining how they are built, so that everybody can see the remark on Monday was unfair.
   2. Send the figures as usual, then ask her for ten minutes to go through how they are built and what the decision needed that they did not give her.
   3. Send the figures as usual and say nothing about Monday, on the basis that raising it now would only make the next meeting more uncomfortable for both of you.
   4. Stop sending her the weekly figures after that meeting and let her ask for them if she still wants them, since she made her view of their value clear enough.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: B. Send the figures as usual, then ask her for ten minutes to go through how they are built and what the decision needed that they did not give her.

   Least effective: D. Stop sending her the weekly figures after that meeting and let her ask for them if she still wants them, since she made her view of their value clear enough.

   A: Answers a private grievance in public: the correction is aimed at an audience rather than at her, and the person it is really about reads it alongside everyone else.

   C: Prioritises harmony over honesty: the working relationship stays polite, the complaint about your work stands unexamined, and it will be repeated.

   D: Withdraws your work from a colleague after a disagreement: her orders go out on nothing, and a complaint about quality is answered by removing the thing entirely.

   The most effective response is to send the figures as usual and then ask her for ten minutes on how they are built and what her decision needed: it keeps the work flowing, it treats the remark as information about a gap rather than as an insult, and it puts the conversation where it belongs, which is between the two of you. It beats adding a public line to the team about how the figures are built, because that answers her in front of an audience and makes the disagreement everybody’s. It beats saying nothing at all, because the complaint stands and the next set of orders is set on the same misunderstanding. The least effective response is stopping the weekly figures after the meeting and making her ask: the work she depends on is withdrawn because of how she spoke to you, which is a different kind of wrong from being defensive in public or being silent. The principle: criticism of your work is answered by improving what the other person needed, never by taking the work away.

5. Question 5 of 10

   You are a duty supervisor at Accor. Two of your team are arguing about who left an area unfinished at the end of last week. You happened to be there and know it was the first of them, who has been telling everybody it was the second. The second is upset and the pair of them are barely speaking. The area has to be covered by both of them again tonight. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Tell the second privately that you know it was not him, and leave the first to work out for himself that the story will not hold.
   2. Speak to the first today about what you saw and what he has been telling people, then bring the two of them together to settle how tonight is covered.
   3. Say nothing about what you saw, since taking sides would make the rest of the week harder and the two of them will sort it out between themselves eventually.
   4. Raise it with both of them in tonight's briefing so that everybody hears the same account and nobody is left with the wrong version of last week.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: B. Speak to the first today about what you saw and what he has been telling people, then bring the two of them together to settle how tonight is covered.

   Least effective: C. Say nothing about what you saw, since taking sides would make the rest of the week harder and the two of them will sort it out between themselves eventually.

   A: Corrects the record for one person only: the accusation is still circulating and the one person who could withdraw it has not been asked to.

   C: Withholds the fact that would end it: the only person who knows what happened stays quiet, and a colleague carries an accusation you could remove in a sentence.

   D: Settles a two-person dispute in front of an audience: the record is corrected and one of them is publicly established as having told a story about the other.

   The most effective response is to speak to the first today about what you saw and what he has been saying, then bring the two of them together to settle tonight’s cover: the person who has to withdraw the accusation is spoken to first and in private, and the shift still gets covered by two people who have to work together. It beats telling only the second, because the story keeps circulating. It beats settling it in the briefing, because that establishes one of them publicly as a liar. The least effective response is saying nothing about what you saw: the only witness stays quiet while a colleague carries an accusation that could be removed in a sentence, which is a different kind of wrong from a partial correction or from a public one. The principle: when you hold the fact that ends a dispute, use it, starting with the person who has to change what they have been saying.

6. Question 6 of 10

   You are a purchasing assistant at Accor. A business customer needs a special order and has asked when it will reach him. The supplier who makes it has quoted seven to ten working days but will not commit to a date until the order is placed. The customer is arranging his own work around the answer and has asked you for a straight one. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Guarantee the customer that the order will be with him a week on Friday, which gives him the single date he has asked you for.
   2. Tell the customer you cannot give a date until the supplier commits, and suggest he plans on the longer end of the range to be safe in the meantime.
   3. Place the order today and tell the customer you will send the date through as soon as it is confirmed, without saying anything now about the range you have been quoted.
   4. Tell him the quoted range, place the order today, and commit to sending him the supplier's confirmed date the moment it comes through.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: D. Tell him the quoted range, place the order today, and commit to sending him the supplier's confirmed date the moment it comes through.

   Least effective: A. Guarantee the customer that the order will be with him a week on Friday, which gives him the single date he has asked you for.

   A: Gives a guarantee nobody has made: the supplier has explicitly refused to commit, and the customer builds his own arrangements on a date that came from you rather than from them.

   B: Passes the uncertainty on undigested: it is honest, and he is left to plan around ten days when a firmer answer is available for the asking.

   C: Withholds the range while the order is placed: he can do nothing with silence, and the seven to ten days would at least let him start planning.

   The most effective response is to tell him the quoted range, place the order today and commit to sending the confirmed date as soon as it arrives: he gets the true picture and something he can plan around, the order starts moving, and the promise you make is one you can keep. It beats telling him to assume the longer end, because the order has not been placed and a firmer answer is close. It beats placing the order silently, because the range itself is useful to him now. The least effective response is guaranteeing a week on Friday: the supplier has refused to commit, so the customer arranges his own work around a date invented at this end, which is a different kind of wrong from being unhelpfully cautious or from being quiet. The principle: give a customer the range and a commitment about when they will know, never a certainty you have been refused.

7. Question 7 of 10

   You are a trading assistant at Accor. A business customer has asked four times when new pricing will be issued, and each time you have said it is coming. The person who sets it has not given you a date and is not answering messages. The customer says he cannot plan his own ordering without it and is starting to sound as though he does not believe you. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Tell the customer honestly that you do not yet have a date, say what you are doing to get one and by when, and go to the pricing manager's team leader today.
   2. Stop replying until you have something concrete to tell him, since a fifth message that says the same thing as the other four will only make matters worse than they already are.
   3. Tell him the pricing is held up by the person who sets it and that you have chased repeatedly, so that he can see the delay is not something you control.
   4. Promise the customer the new pricing by Friday, since these usually come through within a week or so and a date is what he keeps asking you for.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: A. Tell the customer honestly that you do not yet have a date, say what you are doing to get one and by when, and go to the pricing manager's team leader today.

   Least effective: D. Promise the customer the new pricing by Friday, since these usually come through within a week or so and a date is what he keeps asking you for.

   B: Answers a loss of confidence with silence: the customer is left to conclude that nobody is dealing with it at all, which is worse than a thin answer.

   C: Explains your own position instead of solving his: the customer still cannot plan, and he now knows the business does not answer its own people either.

   D: Gives a date nobody has agreed to: the one thing he still trusts is what you say, and Friday is invented to end a conversation rather than to be met.

   The most effective response is to tell him honestly that you have no date yet, say what you are doing about it and by when, and go to the pricing manager’s team leader today: he gets the truth and a commitment you control, and the blockage finally reaches somebody with the standing to clear it. It beats going quiet until there is something concrete, because silence reads as nobody dealing with it. It beats explaining that the hold-up is with the person who sets pricing, because that tells him about your problems rather than solving his. The least effective response is promising the pricing by Friday: no such date exists, he plans on it, and a fifth assurance that fails is the one that ends his belief in anything you say, which is a different kind of wrong from going silent or from explaining too much. The principle: when the only thing you can offer is honesty and a next step, offer those rather than a date you cannot deliver.

8. Question 8 of 10

   You are a supply chain graduate at Accor. On yesterday’s daily call a senior colleague cut you off twice and said the numbers you present are a waste of everybody’s time. Two other people on the call have since messaged you to say it was unfair. The call happens every morning, and your numbers are the only place the sites’ shortfalls are reported. Today’s call is in an hour. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Go to today's call and present as usual, then ask him afterwards what he needs from the numbers, since the complaint may contain something worth having.
   2. Stop attending the daily call after the way you were spoken to, and send the shortfalls round by email instead so that the information is still available.
   3. Reply to the two colleagues who messaged you, agree that it was unfair, and see whether they will say something on today's call if it happens again.
   4. Cut the numbers back to the two lines he has never objected to, so that today's call is short and there is nothing left for him to complain about.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: A. Go to today's call and present as usual, then ask him afterwards what he needs from the numbers, since the complaint may contain something worth having.

   Least effective: B. Stop attending the daily call after the way you were spoken to, and send the shortfalls round by email instead so that the information is still available.

   B: Withdraws from a meeting after a disagreement: the sites' shortfalls lose the one place they are discussed, and an email nobody opens is the substitute.

   C: Builds a quiet coalition: sympathy is collected, the person concerned is not spoken to, and the call becomes a place where sides are taken.

   D: Removes the content to remove the friction: the shortfalls that go unreported are the ones that cost the sites next week.

   The most effective response is to present as usual and ask him afterwards what he needs from the numbers and what he would cut: the sites keep the only report of their shortfalls, the criticism is treated as possibly containing something useful, and it is discussed with the person who made it. It beats agreeing privately with the two sympathetic colleagues, because that turns a morning call into a matter of sides. It beats cutting the numbers back to what he tolerates, because the lines that disappear are the ones the sites need. The least effective response is leaving the call and sending an email instead: the only forum where shortfalls get discussed loses them, which is a different kind of wrong from seeking allies or from watering the content down. The principle: when your work is attacked in a meeting, keep doing the work and take the criticism to its author.

9. Question 9 of 10

   You are a supplier quality assistant at Accor. A supplier has emailed you twice asking when a decision will be made about a change they have proposed. The decision belongs to the buyer, who has been in meetings all week and has not replied to either message. The supplier needs to book production time and says he will lose his slot on Friday. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Reply that the decision sits with the buyer and that he has been in meetings all week, so the supplier knows the delay is nothing to do with the quality side of the work.
   2. Reply that you have his question and will come back once the buyer is out of meetings, and chase the buyer once more today.
   3. Reply today with what you do know and say the decision is the buyer's, and put the Friday deadline in front of the buyer now so that he can see what turns on it.
   4. Pass the supplier straight to the buyer's inbox with a one-line note, and leave the two of them to sort the date out between themselves.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: C. Reply today with what you do know and say the decision is the buyer's, and put the Friday deadline in front of the buyer now so that he can see what turns on it.

   Least effective: D. Pass the supplier straight to the buyer's inbox with a one-line note, and leave the two of them to sort the date out between themselves.

   A: Explains the delay instead of moving it: the supplier learns why he is waiting and is no closer to the Friday date that his production slot depends on.

   B: Chases without raising the stakes: the buyer gets a third message that does not mention Friday, which is the one fact that would move him.

   D: Hands the problem on without owning it: the supplier is redirected to the person who has not answered twice already, and nobody has told the buyer that Friday is the date that matters.

   The most effective response is to reply today with what you know, say the decision is the buyer’s and that you will come back by Thursday, and put the Friday deadline in front of the buyer: the supplier gets a person and a date, the buyer gets the one fact that makes this urgent, and you keep the thread rather than dropping it. It beats explaining that the buyer has been in meetings, because that is an account of the delay rather than an attempt to end it. It beats replying that you will come back once the buyer is out of meetings, because a third message that leaves out the production slot gives him no reason to move. The least effective response is passing him straight to the buyer’s inbox and leaving them to it: the supplier is sent to the person who has not answered him twice, and the deadline that makes it urgent is still not in front of anybody, which is a different kind of wrong from explaining too much or writing too little. The principle: when you cannot give the answer, give the timetable, and make sure the person who owns the decision knows what turns on it.

10. Question 10 of 10

    You are a commercial graduate at Accor. You are one of three people scoring proposals from four suppliers, and the scores go in on Friday. A contact at one of them, whom you have dealt with for months, drops by with a hamper and a voucher for a restaurant, saying they are just a thank you for the work so far and nothing to do with the tender. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

    1. Take the hamper for the team to share and leave the voucher, since something shared around the office cannot reasonably be said to have influenced anybody's scoring on Friday.
    2. Decline both, tell him plainly that you cannot accept anything while the tender is live, and tell the person running the tender that the offer was made.
    3. Accept the hamper and the voucher as offered, and thank him for thinking of the team after a long few months of work together.
    4. Decline both politely on the doorstep and say nothing to anybody afterwards, since he took the refusal well and no harm has actually come of it.
    Show the answer

    Most effective: B. Decline both, tell him plainly that you cannot accept anything while the tender is live, and tell the person running the tender that the offer was made.

    Least effective: C. Accept the hamper and the voucher as offered, and thank him for thinking of the team after a long few months of work together.

    A: Splits a gift into an acceptable half: the supplier still leaves having given something to a scorer during a live tender, and the line has moved rather than held.

    C: Takes a benefit the role forbids while holding the pen: whatever was meant by it, one of the four suppliers has given a scorer a present during the scoring.

    D: Keeps a fact the tender's owner needs: the refusal is right and the person responsible for a fair process never learns that an approach was made at all.

    The most effective response is to decline both, say plainly that you cannot accept anything while the tender is live, and tell the person running it that the offer was made: it protects the scoring, it is straightforward with a contact you will keep dealing with, and it puts the approach on the record where the process can account for it. It beats keeping the hamper for the team, because a shared gift is still a gift to a scorer. It beats declining quietly and telling nobody, because the person responsible for a fair tender is the one who has to know. The least effective response is accepting the hamper and the voucher as offered: a supplier being scored this week has given a present to one of the people scoring them, which is a different kind of wrong from mishandling the refusal or from failing to report it. The principle: while you hold the pen, take nothing, and tell the person who owns the process what was offered.