Morrisons Assessment Tests

Morrisons Situational Judgement Test

1. Question 1 of 10

   You are a people team graduate at Morrisons. Weekly hours returns are due from each team by Friday, and one team’s return reached you on Monday morning. The hours in it are correct. The log you enter it into records the date it was received, and the lateness of returns is reported to the site’s managers each month. Your manager has asked you to get the returns entered today. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Amend the entry in the hours log to show the return arrived on Friday, which leaves the hours themselves exactly as the team submitted them.
   2. Enter the return with Monday's date and raise the lateness with the team's manager yourself, so that he hears it from you before the monthly report reaches him.
   3. Enter the return with Monday's date and say nothing further, since the monthly report will show the lateness in due course and it is not your job to comment on other teams.
   4. Enter the return with the date it actually arrived and tell your manager that this team has now been late twice, so that she can decide whether to raise it with them.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: D. Enter the return with the date it actually arrived and tell your manager that this team has now been late twice, so that she can decide whether to raise it with them.

   Least effective: A. Amend the entry in the hours log to show the return arrived on Friday, which leaves the hours themselves exactly as the team submitted them.

   A: Alters a record to say something that did not happen: the monthly report on lateness is built from exactly this field, and it now describes a Friday that never existed.

   B: Takes on a conversation that is not yours: the entry is honest, and a graduate telling a manager his team is late is a message that carries better from your own manager.

   C: Records correctly and stops there: nothing is untrue, and a repeat offender is left to be discovered by a report a month from now.

   The most effective response is to enter the return with the date it arrived and tell your manager the team has now been late twice: the log says what happened, and the pattern reaches the person who decides what to do about other teams. It beats entering it honestly and raising the lateness with the team’s manager yourself, because that conversation belongs to your own manager and lands better from her. It beats entering it and saying nothing, because a second late return is information somebody should have before the monthly report. The least effective response is amending the entry to show a Friday arrival: the field being changed is the one the lateness report is built from, so the record is made to describe something that did not happen, which is a different kind of wrong from over-stepping or from staying quiet. The principle: a date field is a fact, not a courtesy, and a small correction to it is still a false record.

2. Question 2 of 10

   You are an availability analyst at Morrisons. 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.

3. Question 3 of 10

   You are a commercial graduate at Morrisons. 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.

4. Question 4 of 10

   You are a people team graduate at Morrisons. A team member has told you privately that her line manager has been changing her shifts at short notice for a month, and that she has stopped saying anything because it is not worth the friction. She has asked you not to make a fuss. Repeated short-notice changes are something the people team is meant to look at. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Take it straight to the manager's own manager today with the dates in front of you, since a month of short-notice changes is exactly what the people team exists to pick up.
   2. Suggest she raises it with her manager herself, and offer to help her prepare what she wants to say if she decides to do that.
   3. Explain to her that a month of short-notice changes is something you have to pass on, agree with her how and when it is raised, and raise it so that she is not surprised.
   4. Tell her there is nothing the people team can do without a formal complaint from her, which is not something you have actually checked.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: C. Explain to her that a month of short-notice changes is something you have to pass on, agree with her how and when it is raised, and raise it so that she is not surprised.

   Least effective: D. Tell her there is nothing the people team can do without a formal complaint from her, which is not something you have actually checked.

   A: Escalates over the person who raised it: the conversation happens about her rather than with her, and the next person with a problem watches how this one went.

   B: Leaves the pattern with the one person least able to change it: the offer of help is genuine, and the shifts carry on exactly as they were.

   D: States a limit that does not exist: she stops looking for help on the strength of a rule you invented, and the pattern goes unexamined because of it.

   The most effective response is to explain that a month of short-notice changes has to be passed on, agree with her how and when, and then raise it: it is honest about what you can and cannot promise her, it keeps her in the conversation about her own situation, and the pattern reaches the people who are meant to see it. It beats going straight to the manager’s manager today, because she is the person it happens to and she finds out afterwards. It beats suggesting she raise it herself with your help, because she has already judged that route not worth the friction and nothing changes. The least effective response is telling her the people team can do nothing without a formal complaint: that is a limit you have not checked and it is not true, so she stops looking for help on the strength of it, which is a different kind of wrong from escalating over her head or from under-reaching. The principle: be honest about what you must pass on, and take somebody with you rather than either around them or nowhere at all.

5. Question 5 of 10

   You are a stock control assistant at Morrisons. The same line has run out three Fridays in a row because the level at which it reorders is set too low. You can see what it ought to be, and you have the access to change it. The setting belongs to the planning team, who review these monthly and whose next review is in three weeks. Friday is in two days. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Raise a manual order this week to cover Friday, and wait for the planning team's monthly review to deal with the setting itself in three weeks' time.
   2. Put the three Fridays into the planning team's monthly review paper, so that the setting is considered properly alongside everything else they are looking at.
   3. Send the planning team the three Fridays and the level you think it should be today, ask them to change it before Friday, and raise a manual order as cover meanwhile.
   4. Change the reorder level yourself to the number you can see it should be, since you have the access and the line has now run out three weeks running.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: C. Send the planning team the three Fridays and the level you think it should be today, ask them to change it before Friday, and raise a manual order as cover meanwhile.

   Least effective: D. Change the reorder level yourself to the number you can see it should be, since you have the access and the line has now run out three weeks running.

   A: Treats the symptom and leaves the cause: this Friday is covered and two more will run out before anybody looks at the number behind it.

   B: Files an urgent item at the routine speed: the paper is read in three weeks and the line runs out twice more in the meantime.

   D: Breaches another team's control of their own settings: the number may well be right, and it is changed underneath the people who are accountable for it.

   The most effective response is to send the planning team the three Fridays and your proposed level, ask for the change before Friday, and raise a manual order as cover: the immediate gap is covered, the cause goes to the people who own it with the evidence attached, and the timescale asked for matches the problem rather than the calendar. It beats raising a manual order and waiting for the monthly review, because two more Fridays fail first. It beats writing it into the review paper, because that treats a repeating failure at the speed of a routine agenda. The least effective response is changing the reorder level yourself: the number may be exactly right and it is altered underneath the team accountable for it, which is a different kind of wrong from being too slow or from filing it in the wrong place. The principle: bring the evidence and the urgency to whoever owns the setting, rather than exercising an access you happen to hold.

6. Question 6 of 10

   You are a duty supervisor at Morrisons. 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.

7. Question 7 of 10

   You are a commercial finance assistant at Morrisons. A promotion that a manager championed has come in well below what she forecast, and you have the numbers. She is presenting the quarter to her own director on Thursday and does not know yet. You produced the figures and understand why the gap arose. Your own manager has asked you to make sure she has them. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Send her the figures today with no commentary, since the numbers speak for themselves and it is not your place to interpret somebody else's promotion for her.
   2. Put the figures in Thursday's pack and send her a heads-up today that the promotion number is below forecast, so that she is not surprised in the room.
   3. Ask your manager to give her the figures, as bad news about a promotion she championed lands better from somebody at her own level.
   4. Go to her today with the figures and your explanation of the gap, and offer to help her prepare how it is presented on Thursday.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: D. Go to her today with the figures and your explanation of the gap, and offer to help her prepare how it is presented on Thursday.

   Least effective: C. Ask your manager to give her the figures, as bad news about a promotion she championed lands better from somebody at her own level.

   A: Delivers data instead of information: she has two days to work out what happened, and you already know.

   B: Warns without explaining: she knows a bad number is coming and still has to work out why it happened, hours before she presents it.

   C: Hands the message on rather than delivering it: your manager has to explain a gap you understand and she does not, and two of the days before Thursday go on arranging that.

   The most effective response is to go to her today with the figures and your explanation, and offer to help with how it is presented: she gets the news with two days to use it, from the person who can explain it, and the offer of help makes it a working problem rather than a verdict. It beats sending the numbers with no commentary, because she then spends two days working out what you already know. It beats a heads-up today with the figures left to Thursday’s pack, because the explanation is the part she cannot supply herself and only you have it. The least effective response is asking your manager to deliver it: the explanation sits with you and the message with somebody else, and the arranging eats the time she needs, which is a different kind of wrong from being too spare or from mistiming it. The principle: bad news is delivered early, by the person who can explain it, with help attached.

8. Question 8 of 10

   You are a supply chain graduate at Morrisons. An escalation about a missed delivery has taken your whole afternoon: four people want updates, the site is ringing every twenty minutes, and you have not eaten. You are due to leave at five and the delivery is now expected at six. You are the only person who has the full picture of what has happened today. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Stay until the delivery arrives at six whatever happens, since you have carried it all afternoon and handing it over now would mean explaining the whole day to somebody else.
   2. Send the four people chasing you a short update at five saying where the delivery stands and that you are back at seven tomorrow.
   3. Hand the escalation to a colleague at five with a quick verbal summary as you leave, and point him at the message trail.
   4. Write a short handover with the times, the promises and what happens at six and give it to the evening cover, so that the picture survives your leaving, then eat.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: D. Write a short handover with the times, the promises and what happens at six and give it to the evening cover, so that the picture survives your leaving, then eat.

   Least effective: C. Hand the escalation to a colleague at five with a quick verbal summary as you leave, and point him at the message trail.

   A: Treats the handover as a cost rather than the job: an hour of explanation is exactly what the evening shift needs, and going on alone when tired is how the last hour goes wrong.

   B: Updates the audience and leaves the job: four people know where things stand, and nobody is holding the six o'clock arrival.

   C: Passes on a live problem without what it is made of: the only person who knows the day leaves at five, and the colleague meets the six o'clock delivery with a message trail.

   The most effective response is to write a short handover with the times, the promises and what happens at six, give it to the evening cover and take twenty minutes: the picture survives your leaving, the people waiting keep getting answers, and you stop working on empty. It beats staying until six regardless, because a tired person carrying it alone is how the last hour goes wrong, and the handover has to be written anyway. It beats sending the four chasers a closing update, because it tells them where things stand and leaves the six o’clock arrival to nobody. The least effective response is handing it to a colleague with a verbal summary on the way out: the whole afternoon exists only in your head and the messages, and he meets a six o’clock delivery without it, which is a different kind of wrong from overworking or from deflecting. The principle: under pressure, the way to put something down is to write down what the next person needs.

9. Question 9 of 10

   You are a stock control assistant at Morrisons. A pallet of goods has arrived without its quality release, which has to be on the system before anything can be booked in. The supplier says the paperwork will follow tomorrow. The site needs the goods this afternoon, and your system access lets you book stock in without the release attached. Your supervisor is on a call for the next hour. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

   1. Book the pallet in without the release, since the paperwork is coming tomorrow and the site needs the goods this afternoon rather than in the morning.
   2. Turn the pallet away and tell the supplier to bring it back when the release is in the system, since the rule is clear and the vehicle is still on site.
   3. Hold the pallet where it is and ask the supplier to send the release now by email, so that your supervisor can weigh the site's deadline the moment her call ends.
   4. Leave the pallet in the receiving area unbooked and pick it up tomorrow when the paperwork arrives, without telling the site that their goods are on hold.
   Show the answer

   Most effective: C. Hold the pallet where it is and ask the supplier to send the release now by email, so that your supervisor can weigh the site's deadline the moment her call ends.

   Least effective: A. Book the pallet in without the release, since the paperwork is coming tomorrow and the site needs the goods this afternoon rather than in the morning.

   A: Breaches a stated control: the release exists so that nothing reaches the site unchecked, and the access that makes it easy to skip is not a reason to skip it.

   B: Applies the rule without solving the problem: the goods leave the area, the site still needs them this afternoon, and nobody has tried the hour that was actually available.

   D: Hides a delay somebody is planning against: the site expects the goods this afternoon and finds out they are not coming only when they do not arrive.

   The most effective response is to hold the pallet, ask the supplier to send the release now, and put the site’s deadline to your supervisor as soon as her call ends: it keeps the control intact, it uses the hour rather than spending it, and the person who can authorise an exception hears about it while there is still time to make one. It beats turning the pallet away, because the vehicle leaving makes the afternoon impossible and nobody has yet asked the supplier for the one document that would fix it. It beats leaving the pallet unbooked and saying nothing until tomorrow, because the site is planning around goods that are not coming. The least effective response is booking the pallet in without the release: the check that stops unverified goods reaching a site is stepped around because your access happens to allow it, which is a different kind of wrong from being rigid or being quiet. The principle: a control you personally can bypass is still a control, and the way round it is an exception somebody authorises, not one you take.

10. Question 10 of 10

    You are a service recovery assistant at Morrisons. You have to tell your team on Monday that all case notes now have to be written up before the end of each shift. The change was made because the evening team’s notes have repeatedly been missing, which everybody privately knows. The new rule applies to all three shifts. You are the person announcing it. Which response below would be most effective, and which would be least effective?

    1. Announce the change and explain that the evening team's unwritten cases are the reason for it, and that everybody else is caught only incidentally.
    2. Announce the change, explain what problem it solves for cases handed between shifts, and say how it will be reviewed if it turns out to be unworkable.
    3. Announce the change without explaining why, since the reason involves one shift's performance and there is nothing to gain from getting into that on a Monday morning.
    4. Announce the change and say it has come down from above, so that the team direct any objections to the people who actually decided it rather than to you.
    Show the answer

    Most effective: B. Announce the change, explain what problem it solves for cases handed between shifts, and say how it will be reviewed if it turns out to be unworkable.

    Least effective: A. Announce the change and explain that the evening team's unwritten cases are the reason for it, and that everybody else is caught only incidentally.

    A: Blames a named group in an announcement: the rule is delivered as a punishment for one shift, and every one of them hears it from a colleague in front of the others.

    C: Withholds the reason to avoid the awkwardness: a rule with no explanation is followed for a week and then quietly dropped.

    D: Disowns a message you are delivering: the rule arrives with nobody behind it, which is the surest way to make sure it is not followed.

    The most effective response is to announce the change, explain what problem it solves for cases handed between shifts, and say how it will be reviewed: the reason is honest without being about anybody in particular, the rule is owned by the person delivering it, and there is a route if it proves unworkable. It beats announcing it with no explanation, because an unexplained rule lasts a week. It beats saying it came down from above, because a message nobody stands behind is not followed. The least effective response is explaining that it is the evening team’s fault: people hear their own shift named in front of everybody, which is a different kind of wrong from being unhelpfully brief or from disowning the message. The principle: explain a change by the problem it solves, never by the people it is aimed at.