DECISION MAKING PRACTICE EXERCISE

1. Covalence is a Swiss-based organisation that tracks the ethical

reputation of multinational companies, and produces a regularly
updated ranking of such organisations. The criteria that they use in
determining rankings are largely based on the contribution of
multinational enterprises to human development globally, with
particular attention paid to the needs and realities of developing
countries.
For the last couple of years Ryanir, a MNC, operating mainly in textile
industry, seems to have no difficulty in maintaining a high media
presence, but the publication of new ethical survey by Covalence does
not contain good news for the company. Ryanir unfortunately finds itself
well towards the bottom of the pile. On finding itself ranked 503 out of
592 companies surveyed, the CSR department has done some serious
mulling on taking some remedial actions and it has come up with
following solutions.
a. To start a campaign under the slogan Stop Hunting in the areas
around its operating zones especially in the developing countries.
b. To start a project aiming to provide vocational training to the
women, in its operating areas of developing countries.
c. To start a quarterly skill development workshop for all its employees,
globally.

Prioritize the above solutions in ascending order of their
effectiveness in improving companys ranking in ethical survey next
year.
1. CBA
2. BCA
3. ABC
4. All the actions will have an equal impact.



2. MEEGAL is an internet based search engine providing multiple internet
experiences to its users. MEEGALs business policy in very simple terms
is dont be evil. Few years back MEEGAL had entered into China, as in
China it saw enormous potential as a profitable marketplace but after a
much-hyped launch there in 2006, the company is agonized about doing
business there due to Chinese governments policy of state control of
cyberspaces. The problem was triggered when some reports accused
MEEGAL of violating the privacy of its users on the internet. In reply,
MEEGAL is claiming that it is being hit by a sophisticated and targeted
cyber attack originating from Chinese government who were trying to
peek into the email accounts of human right activists. It says that the
Chinese government is trying to maintain internet control to maintain
their grip on power. Chinese people are supporting MEEGAL as many
other companies and many human rights activists have confirmed
themselves being victimized.
In this scenario when the Chinese government is threatening to ban
MEEGALs Chinese search engine meegal.cn, what should be the best
possible strategy for MEEGAL?

a. Maintain the trust of its customers across the globe and pull out from
the Chinese business until the government rethinks its decision.
b. Accept the conditions imposed by Chinese government and wait for
the government to get sedate in its stance, as pulling out might cost
MEEGAL a hefty amount of profit.
c. Negotiate with Chinese government regarding giving some leeway in
cyberspace laws and continue operating in China.
d. Deny the conditions imposed by the government, try to do a rebellion
through a global online mass gathering and put some pressure on
Chinese government.



3. The bridge-building firm, Mabey and Johnson, is the first major British
company to be convicted of foreign bribery. Many of its contracts were
financially supported by the British taxpayer. The UK Company that
designs and manufactures steel bridges used in more than 115 countries
worldwide has been fined 3.5m following its conviction on charges
relating to its historic conduct on contracts undertaken in Jamaica,
Ghana and Iraq. There are some strong reports that, a string of foreign
politicians and officials have received corrupt payments from a British
firm and the management has admitted that it had systematically paid
bribes around the world to win contracts. The company also broke UN
sanctions by illegally paying 363,000 to Saddam Hussein's government
from 2001 2002.
The company is trying to fight these accusations and the board has
decided to change the whole management of the company. Identify the
course of action taken by the new management team, best suited to the
company in present scenario.
a. To fight back against all accusations and to try to reinstate the image
through coming out clear of all charges.
b. To try and settle the matter out of the court with the parties,
claiming the company to be guilty.
c. To accept the mistakes that has been done in the past and iterate its
promise to its customers of providing quality services and
announcing thorough auditing and whistle blowing procedures.
d. To continue with its construction work and expecting the reports to
die down after some time.

4. Om Chowdhury was one of the supervisors in the Fire and safety (F&S)
department of Maqsood Textile Mills. He was distant cousin to Mr.
Bhiwani, General Manager (Personal & Administration). Personal &
administration department was given the responsibility of all personnel
related decisions. It was often rumored that Om had obtained the job
due to his cousin s influence. However, Om was meticulous in the
performance of his duties and didn t give anyone reason for complaint. It
was known that Om was not much given to talking and kept to himself
and to his duties.

All F&S supervisors reported to Mr. Rabindra, the shop-floor manager. The mill
operated on a three-shift basis and Rabindra allocated the supervisors to
different shifts. They were required to be present at all times during the shift
operation and carry out scheduled checks on of machinery and fire fighting
equipments. For some reasons, Om was allocated the night shifts more often
than other supervisors. Om accepted these allocations without any objection,
while it was known that other supervisors would often plead and bargain with
Rabindra to be allocated the day shifts.

During the night shift, keeping awake and remaining mentally alert were some
of the major challenges f ace by the supervisors.Of late, Rabindra observed
signs of indifference from Om. On two occasions, he found Om absent from his
cabin. Rabindra heard from others that Om was often found in different part of
shop floor employees. Rabindra called him to his office and reminded Om
office responsibilities. Om did not counter Rabindra. He promised that he
would not be lax in his duties again Rabindra also broached the subject with
Mr. Bhiwani. Mr. Bhiwani called Om to his office and talked on a very personal
basis. He reminded Om that their family relations made it uncomfortable to all
concerned. Om nodded and agreed to do better. Soon his performance
became that of a model supervisor. It was often found he went beyond his
official duties to sort out problems of employees.

After three month later, Rabindra happened to visit the plan during night. As
he looked into F&S office, he found Om playing solitaries on the office
computer. Mr. Rabindra immediately fired Om. The next morning Mr. Bhiwani
called Mr. Rabindra and asked how he can fire an employee. He suggested that
Mr. Rabindra reconsider Om s dismissal. This decision has already been made.
There will be no turning back, replied Rabindra.

Q1. The options below give combinations of possible root cause of the problem
and the justifications thereof. Given the details in the case, which one can
inferred to be the best option?
a. Hiring of Om. Reason: That ensured Om was perpetually casual towards his
duties.
b. Om favouring to work during night shift. Reason: Absence of Rabindra
ensured that Om could relax.
c. Rabindras bias against Om. Reason: Rabindra had been assigning too many
night shifts to Om while for other supervisors he was lenient.
d. Rabindra jumping to conclusions. Reason: He should have investigated
whether Om had carried out his duties.
E. Rabindras firing of Om. Reason: It led to clash between Rabindra and Mr.
Bhiwani.
Q2. The details of the entire episode have become common knowledge among
all the employees of the company. Out of options below, which one presents
the best way for the top management to resolve the issue so as to benefit the
organization as a whole?
a. Revoke Rabindra s order. It can be communicated to others that firing A. was
too severe a punishment for such a small incident of indiscipline.
b. Ask Om for clarification. It can be communicated that since Om had clarified
regarding his duties, the order has been taken back.
c. Declare Rabindra's order as void. Reiterate officially the disciplinary
processes that need to be followed by managers along with their scope of
authority.
d. Ask feedback from other employees on the shop floor regarding Om s
performance. This can be used to revoke Rabindras order.
e. Take the feedback of other F&S supervisors as to the work involved during
night shift. This would better explain Oms behaviour.

Q3. Out of options below, which one best summarizes the learning from
solitaire incident?
a. Managers often do not take any responsibility towards training juniors.
b. People tend to become relaxed during night shift and required surprise
checks to keep them on their toes.
c. Certain roles would have different ways of carrying out their duties.
d. Having relatives in the same organization can be a source of potential
problems.
e. Managers tend to allocate silent people to different positions.
Q4. Of the options below, which could have been a better response from Mr.
Ravindra when he saw Om playing?
a. He should have clarified about his authority to fire employees.
b. He should have informed Mr. Bhiwani about the incident and asked him to
take necessary action.
c. He should have asked the employees of the shift regarding Oms
performance of his duties.
d. He should have checked if Om had done his duties or not.
e. He should have checked the production levels in the shift to see if he was as
required.

5. Sayan, a recent MBA graduate with specialization in sales and marketing,
applied for the position of sales manager in a firm producing industrial
fabrication tools. The management of the company took pride in its non-
discriminatory recruitment policy. In offering Sayan the position, the
management made it clear that an indispensable feature of the job
involved entertaining purchasing agents and that a certain amount of
social drinking was necessary. Sayan assured them that he was a
moderate drinker with no moral or religious prejudices against drinking.
During the following two years, Sayan became a successful manager and
on two occasions received awards for achieving the highest sales for the
quarter. However, he found that he was encountering a problem
resulting from the necessity of entertaining customers at least two or
three times a week. The problem was that he felt that he was becoming
an alcoholic, since he had recently been overindulging even when not
entertaining customers. The problem became progressively worse until
he found himself in a constantly inebriated condition and unable to work
without resorting to drinking at work. On reporting about his problem to
the management, Sayan was sent at company expense to an alcoholic
rehabilitation centre, from which he was discharged after six weeks of
rest and recuperation. However, within two months of resuming duties,
Sayan was arrested in a local pub and charged with drunkenness and
assault. The victim of his assault was a customer whom he had taken to
the pub to discuss a sale. The management viewed the incident
extremely negatively and fired Sayan. Shortly thereafter, a lawyer
representing Sayan informed the management
that Sayan intended to bring legal action against the company. Sayan felt
the company was liable since his ale alcoholism was a result of his
employment. He commended that drinking was a requirement of his job,
and therefore alcoholism represented an occupational hazard. The
management decided to form a committee to discuss the matter and
recommend a course of action. The course of action should be such so as
to prevent a recurrence of such a situation.

q1. As the management decides this situation, it also has to appoint a
replacement for Sayan. The management is exploring following options
so that
such a fiasco is not repeated:
a. do not go to business schools. Hire an experienced sales manager
from the market, and attract him or her by offering a higher
remuneration package.
b. State the requirements of job, including the necessity of social
drinking, explicitly in the employment offer letter. A signed copy of the
employment offer letter would indicate that the employee has accepted
the terms of the employment with complete knowledge of job-details.
c. Social drinking does not imply that a person has to drink excessively.
Therefore select only mature persons, those who are high in self-
esteem, who do not give in to social pressures and who know how to
exert self-control.
d. Provide guidance to all sales managers -both experienced as well as
newly
appointedon how to behave during social occasions. This will be
helpful to
those who are otherwise moderate drinkers, but end up drinking beyond
their capacity because of suggestions by peers and friends.
e. Test for the validity of claims of being moderate drinkers during the
selection process itself. This will screen out persons who only claim to be
drinkers but to obtain the job.
From managements point of view, the options
in the descending order of ease of implementation
would be
one. A + B, C, D + E
2. C + D, B + E, A + E
3. C + E, B + D, B + E
4. B + E, B + D, A + B
5. A + B, B + D, B + E

q2. Assuming that the management has no constraints in implementing
changes in policy, the following possible recommendations can be made
confidently about the companys recruitment and selection policy.
a. All that is required to sell the product is to entertain the purchase officers.
The company should predominantly be hiring college graduates, that too those
who know how to interact socially.
b. The firm would be better off by hiring sales managers from the market
rather than those fresh out of business schools.
c. The firm should have only one sales manager. The sales manager should
know about the technical details of the product and its pricing and should have
the authority to offer price discounts to clients. At the next level, the firm
should have a team of sales representatives, who would be responsible for
developing contacts and reporting back to the sales manager for follow-up.
d. The firm should have an intense induction period where the newly
appointed employees are trained in managerial aspects of the job and
provided training in social skills, including how to manage drinks.
e. People passing out of MBA colleges and without work-experience are as
good as high school kids. The firm should avoid them at all costs, as they would
often end up as a liability to the firm.
The options that make good business sense and represent the choices for the
management in increasing order of alignment with respect to its policy of non-
discrimination are
1. A, B, C, E
2. A, C, B, D
3. A, E, C, D
4. A, C, E, D
5. A, B, E, D

q3. From Sayans perspective, which option allows him to salvage his career
prospects?
1. Make an offer to withdraw the case in return for a job back in the company.
Thus, the company would be saved from any protracted legal battle in the
Indian legal system and Sayan would be gainfully employed.
2. Ask for a job in manufacturing since it does not involve drinking. He had
proved his competence while being a sales manager, and he can prove his
competence in manufacturing also.
3. Obtain documentation from the firm that highlights his performance and
experience, abstain from legal action against the firm, have a settlement
outside the legal system and take a job in a totally different company.
4. Obtain certificates from the company that reflect his performance on the
job. Ask for help from the management in getting a job in the sister concern of
the firm.
5. Proceed with the court case. There is a possibility of his winning a
substantial compensation. After that, he can start looking for a new job.

a) 1 b) 2 c) 3 d) 4 e) 5

6. Bhola, an avid nature lover, wanted to be an entrepreneur. He dreamt of
establishing a chain of huts in Chatpur region to cater to tourists, who
came attracted by the beauty and splendour of the Himalayas. However,
he was appalled by current degradation of the Himalayan environment.
He remembered the early times when everything was so green, clean
and peaceful. Now, greenery was replaced by buildings, peace was
shattered by honking of vehicles and flocking of tourists, and cleanliness
was replaced by heaps of plastics. Bhola had a strong sense of right and
wrong. On speaking to few locals about the issue, he realized that the
locals were aware of these issues. However, they pointed out the
benefits of development: pucca houses for locals, higher disposable
income and with that, ability to send their children to better schools and
colleges, better road connectivity, and access to latest technology in
agriculture. Most locals wanted the development to continue. Saddened
by the lack of support from the locals, Bhola took up the issue with the
government. He met the chief minister of the state to find out if
government could regulate the developmental activities to prevent
environmental degradation. However, the chief minister told Bhola that
such an action would slow down the economic progress. That also
meant loss of substantial tax revenues for the government. Bhola
needed to resolve the dilemma. Bhola always wanted to be an
entrepreneur, who could contribute to the society and earn money as
well. However, his business would also be responsible for destroying
environment. If he did not set up us business, he would not be able to
earn money and contribute to the society. After mulling over the issues,
he went to his mentor "Guruji". Guruji realized that it was really a
difficult puzzle: if one saves the environment, there seems to be no
development and if the people and the government sought
development, the environment and hence future of this planet and
human beings was at stake. After careful thought, he felt that dilemma
could be resolved. He fixed up a meeting with Bhola to answer Bhola's
queries.
q1. Should Bhola still think of doing business?
(1) Yes, where there is a will, there is a way.
(2) No, saving the Earth for our children is more important than earning
money.
(3) Yes, Bhola should do business while ensuring no environmental
damage is done
(4) Yes, but only if the government puts strict environment regulations in
place.
(5) Bhola should stop thinking about such a dilemma.

q2. Bhola wanted to advise the government about the new tourism
policy. Bhola had developed a few alternatives as given below. Choose
the best alternative.
(1) Stop environmental degradation by stopping the developmental
activities.
(2) Forget about the environment: think about the people, as they are
the vote banks for politician to come back to power.
(3) Suggest that the government should try to promote eco-tourism,
which would be controlled and regulated by the government, as the
government could think about the welfare of majority of stakeholders.
(4) Suggest that the government should promote eco-tourism with
public private partnership with the involvement of NGOs, so that there
are checks and balances for inefficiencies and promotion for synergetic
efforts between government and private entrepreneurs.
(5) Involvement of impartial entities like NGOs who would provide a fair
assessment of the policies.

q3. Bhola wished he was heading the government. He had listed down
five concrete measures he would take if he were to head the
government. Choose the best alternative.
(1) Charge environmental cess from all businesses operating out of
Himalayas.
(2) Charge cess from anyone who pollutes the environment, it be citizens
or industries and reward those who have contributed to afforestation
the most.
(3) All profit making organizations have to take responsibility of
afforestation proportionate to their profitability.
(4) Think about maximising the revenues and forget about the
environment.
(5) Institute a Green Valley Reward, which would be given to businesses
highly active in afforestation efforts.

q4. Visualising he was heading the state government, Bhola thought of a
likely problematic situation. Five years have passed. In these five years,
Bhola has initiated a lot of pro-environment steps, including making
people aware of the fact that it was this pristine environment that
brought in tourists in the first place. Now he faced state elections. The
opposition accused him of stopping development and causing
unemployment under the guise of environment protection. If Bhola
were to consider this accusation as a short-term battle, which option
would Guruji suggest to Bhola to score a quick win?

(1) Accuse the opposition of having vested interests as the opposition
leaders were denied licences for opening new hotels.
(2) Point out the improvement in environment since the implementation
of pro-environment policies.
(3) Compare the unemployment levels since the implementation of the
pro environment policies and if they are less, accuse the opposition of
making baseless charges.
(4) Point out that this government had initiated a regular cleaning-up
drive and the opposition did not consider the data regarding the people
who were employed in that drive.
(5) Call the charges as baseless accusations being used to malign the
good work he had done.

q5. Some environmentalists tired of waiting for green economics to
catch up with the society at large. have adopted their own strategies for
tipping the financial calculation in favour of the land. In the forest
surrounding Vancouver, where trees are being felled for paper to print
philosophy books (well, maybe one or two, but its worth it), groups
have used metal spikes hidden in trees to prevent the chainsaws from
operating safely, pushing up the price of harvesting the trees. In
Phoenix, Arizona, where mountain nature reserves have been
encroached on by new houses, hooded vigilantes have burnt down the
new residences .The arsonists, according to the local paper, pray before
they burn down a house that no one will get hurt, thinking primarily of
the fire- fighters the new houses are burned while still empty. We
dont pray for ourselves not to get caught thats Gods will. one is
quoted as saying.
As per the activists, all aforementioned activities seem clearly very
principled. However, is it ethical?
(1) Yes, arsonists are right.
(2) No, they have no justification for damaging other peoples Property.
(3) No, as it is not taken up in a peaceful manner.
(4) No, as the activities are not carried out in a legal manner.
(5) Stop thinking about ethics altogether as ethical issues are difficult to
resolve

7. Dr. Puneet worried about the test results of his patient, Ms. Benita. Ms.
Benita was an old rich widow with no dependents. The results indicate
that Ms. Benita has the potentially fatal Lymphanigioleiomyomatosis
(LAM) disease. LAM is rare and difficult to diagnose. People with LAM
often need oxygen and lung transplants as the disease continues its
course. According to the test results, Ms. Benita might have got it.

Dr. Puneet explained the situation to Ms. Benita carefully. Without
naming the disease, he explained that the disease was progressive and
would need treatment using drugs that were still at the experimental
stage. Even then, the chance of success was not too bright. If the
treatment was unsuccessful, then they would have to get ready for a
lung transplant. The lung transplant itself was a risky course of
treatment. Even if successful, she would require constant medical
support and treatment. Ms. Benita looked blank. She asks Dr. Puneet for
his advice about the course of action. He nods gravely, Im afraid, Ms.
Benita, I think there is only one course we can take. What should be Dr.
Puneets advice?
(1) Tell Ms. Benita the details of the disease.
(2) Conduct another test to confirm the diagnosis.
(3) Leave the matter: Anyway, the outcome cannot be changed.
(4) Treat Ms. Benita without telling her about the disease.
(5) Propose that Ms. Benita go ahead with the experimental drugs.

8. Incorporation A, reluctant to retrench a large section of its employees,
offered them "enhanced" perquisites as against "a 3.52% increase" in
their Provident Fund, while their leading competitors did both. Yet, few
opted for the latter option.
Which of the following explains the inherent paradox?

A. Organisation ethos
B. Better job satisfaction
C. Specious product
D. Fealty
E. Brand image

9. Seema was a finance manager in an MNC and felt that gender
discrimination at the workplace hampered her career growth.
Frustrated, she quit the job and started a company. While starting her
company, While starting her company, Seema decided that she would
have equal proportion of males and females. Over the last six years,
Seema emerged as a very successful entrepreneur and expanded her
business to eight locations in the country. However, Seema recently
started faving an ethical dilemma because she realized that female
employees were not willing to travel across cities and work late hours, as
the work required them to do so. Male employees did not hesitate
undertaking such work. Seema started to feel the pressure of reducing
the proportion of female employees. On the other hand, she is aware
that equal representation was one of the strongest reasons for her to
have founded the company.

What should she do as a conscientionus female entrepreneur?

a. See if unwilling female employees could be given assignments which
do not require travel and involve less overtime.
b. Reduce the number of female employees, as it is a business
requirement. She should not let anything affect her business.
c. Let the status quo continue.
d. Henceforth, hire only male employees.
e. She should close the business.

10. You, a recruitment manager, are interviewing Mayank, a hard- working
young man, who has problems in speaking fluent English. He has studied
in vernacular medium schools and colleges. Amongst the following
options, what would you choose to do, if your company has vacancies?

A. I would hire him at all costs.
B. I would hire him for the job he is good at, and provide training in
other areas.
C. I would hire him for production or finance job but not for marketing
job, which requires good communication skills.
D. I would ask him to improve his communication skills and come back
again.
E. I would not hire him as he might be a burden on organisation because
of his poor communication skills.

11. The city of Nagar has a population of 10 million, 2 millions amongst
whom were rich, 3 million poor and 5 million belonged to the middle
class. Saundarya Cosmetics manufactured and sold beauty product to
rich class at a premium price. Its products were very popular with
customers.Many people from middle and poor segments of population
aspired to buy these products but could not afford because of high
prices. Of late, sales growth was stagnating in the rich segment. Which
of the following is the best option for Saundarya Cosmetics to maximize
long-term profits?
A. Sell the same products at lower prices to middle and poor classes.
B. Sell similar products, of different quality standards with different
brand names, to middle classes and poor classes.
C. Sell its products under different brand names to middle and poor
classes.
D. Continue to target rich only and hope that todays middle class would
be tomorrows rich class.
E. Target middle class as it is the largest segment and forget about the
rich.

12. A database software manufacturing company found out that a product
it has launched recently had a few bugs. The product has already been
bought by more than a million customers. The company realized that
bugs could cost its customers significantly. However, if it informs the
customers about the bug, it feared losing credibility. What would be the
most ethical option for the company?
A. Apologize and fix up the bug for all customers even if it has to incur
losses.
B. Do not tell customers about bugs and remove only when customers
face problems, even if it means losses for the customers.
C. Keep silent and do nothing.
D. Keep silent but introduce and improved product that is bug-free at
the earliest.
E. Take the product off the mark and apologize to customers.

13. The number of aircraft collisions on the ground is increasing because of
the substantial increase in the number of flights operated by the airlines.
Many of the fatalities that occur in such collisions are caused not by the
collision itself, but by an inherent flaw in the cabin design of most
aircraft, in which seats, by restricting access to emergency exits, impede
escape. Therefore, to reduce the total number of fatalities that result
annually from such collisions, the airlines should be required to remove
all seats that restrict access to emergency exits.

Which one of the following proposals, if implemented together with the
proposal made in the passage, would improve the prospects for
achieving the stated objective of reducing fatalities?
(A) The airlines should be required, when buying new planes, to buy only
planes with unrestricted access to emergency exits.
(B) The airlines should not be permitted to increase further the number
of flights in order to offset the decrease in the number of seats on each
aircraft.
(C) Airport authorities should be required to streamline their passenger
check-in procedures to accommodate the increased number of
passengers served by the airlines.
(D) Airport authorities should be required to refine security precautions
by making them less conspicuous without making them less effective.
(E) The airlines should not be allowed to increase the ticket price for
each passenger to offset the decrease in the number of seats on each
aircraft.

14. ANRUT is an MNC operating mainly in textile business. The company has
a very diverse workforce in numbers but to its credit, the company has
put a very strong ethnic diversity program in place that is intended to
encourage respect for racial and ethnic diversity in all its operating units.
Sumeet is a newly appointed manager in the company, fresh from a very
well known management institution in India. He is looking after sales
division of companys Singapore unit. Sumeet has just been into this
company for 3 months so currently he has been given an advisor so that
he can understand the business scenario of ANRUT in Singapore.
Ramesh is Sumeets advisor and he has been in this company for last 21
years. As Ramesh is much older, Sumeet treats him like his father but
last week while passing Rameshs cubicle Sumeet overheard him
cracking racially abusive jokes. This made him badly upset and he is not
able to decide what should be his action regarding that incident.

a. Ignore it- it was only a joke.
b. Call Ramesh into his office and reprimand him in private.
c. Reprimand Ramesh in front of all office employees and make it a
lesson for others.
d. Call Ramesh into his office and suggest him to go through a diversity-
training program.

15. Abhinav is a sales executive in a consumer goods company. Shalini is his
wife and she is a HR manager in the same company. They have been
married for last 2 years. Since they both are in senior positions in their
respective departments, they have a very stressful job schedule. One
night after returning home, they get into an argument over a petty issue
but soon that argument escalates into a shouting match. Both are upset
and in the heat of anger both start making personal attacks that they
both do not really mean. What is the best thing to do in such situation?
a. Just stop the argument and go silent-no matter what your partner
says.
b. Take a 20 min break and then continue the discussion.
c. Say you are sorry and ask your partner to apologize too.
d. Stop for a moment, collect your thoughts and then state your side of
the case as precisely as you can.