Microsoft interview questions for Tang Jun

Not long ago, the CCTV economic channel "Dialogue" held a dialogue with Tang Jun, former President of Microsoft's Chinese company. At the end of the conversation section, Tang Jun moved out a so-called Microsoft interview question that has been widely circulated on the Internet about the ability of new employees to communicate with each other. The title is as follows: Clerk Wang sold a laptop worth 20 thousand RMB to Mr. Li at 10 thousand RMB. As Mr. Wang's manager, you need to write a letter to Mr. Li to pay the 10 thousand yuan back.

There are four answers on site:

Answer 1: Hello, Mr. Li. Sorry. Due to the misoperations of our salesclerk Mr. Wang, we sold your 20 thousand yuan laptop to 10 thousand yuan by mistake, causing economic losses to our company. I hope you can return the price difference of 10 thousand yuan to us. We will give you exquisite gifts to express our thanks. I wish you good health and a happy job. XX Company, XX manager.

Answer 2: Mr. Li, first of all, on behalf of our company and our staff, I am sorry for you. Our errors cause you a lot of trouble. Our salesclerk sold your laptop worth 20 thousand yuan and 10 thousand yuan to you by mistake. However, I think you must be a very high and highly qualified person. When I think every person makes a mistake, our salesperson makes such a mistake, this has caused losses to the company. Then I think you should have a very tolerant mind to forgive the mistakes made by our salesperson. Because of your tolerance, our company and our salesclerk will make the performance better, and then recover this error.

Answer 3: the beginning of the letter is the same as the previous one. It means to apologize and state the facts. Then, let us know that if you do not pay the 10 thousand yuan, Mr. Smith will pay the 10 thousand yuan according to our company's system. But her family is very poor, and she cannot make up for the 10 thousand yuan. But in this case, according to the company's system, she must lose the job. But I am her boss. According to my observation, I think Mr. Wang is a very good young man. She is just an oversight, so can you give her a chance to keep the job from the perspective of respecting the future development of a young person.

Answer 4: Xiao Wang is indeed responsible for her mistakes in her work. However, in order to compensate the company for the losses caused by such mistakes, she returned the 10 thousand yuan she had saved in the past year to the company, and she did not want us to get the 10 thousand yuan back. Because she said this was a mistake in her work and she didn't want to bring you too much trouble. So here I just want to tell you that we have this outstanding employee and we are very proud of her. We are proud to have such an employee. I will return the question to you. That is to say, in such an environment, she has made such a mistake by subsidizing all her salary savings for one year, in addition, her realm is as high as she does not want to interfere with you, or tell you that there is such a thing happening, and she is willing to undertake everything. So how do you face such problems?

「 Feedback 」

In order to better analyze this question, we conducted a feedback survey on the above four kinds of answers, that is, if the respondent is Mr. Li, what kind of feedback will he have after receiving these emails.

Answer 1: I do not want to return the money. After I got the goods, I had completed the purchase and sale, and the mistake that came along was bothering me. However, this exquisite gift has no substantial benefits for me, it actually causes me to suffer. Now we are in a sales relationship, so the most important thing between you and me is the relationship of interests. This situation has lost my interests.

Answer 2: Your good words have satisfied me in self-esteem and vanity, so I will consider returning the money to you.

Answer 3: the previous answer still makes me feel a certain level of hypocrisy. Everyone is on guard for others' suggestions, so although you face him directly, he said a compliment or praise to him. After hearing this, he would be comfortable, but he would not be able to guard him from the bottom of his heart. Therefore, this letter directly places Mr. Li in the position of a highly qualified person. He spoke this in good faith and made me feel that my quality is at least equal to or higher than him. This kind of suggestion is what I would do or what I would like to do. This is the conventional practice of people with this kind of quality.

Answer 4: I would like to use another method to add something equal to or greater than 10 thousand yuan to John. When Mr. Wang does this, he shows how good an employee he is. I will appreciate this practice, but I will apologize to him. On the other hand, I will not directly return the money to him, this will affect his realm.

「 Review of the question 」

According to the survey, 60% of respondents who are willing to pay back the money think that the reason for their willingness to pay back the money is actually that I was caught by the person who wrote the letter. 40% of respondents who are willing to pay back believe that they are willing to pay back the money because I originally wanted to pay back the money, which has little to do with this letter. Can we see that our problem has been solved? Has it truly achieved our goal? Tang Jun believes in his analysis: many people say that I want to solve this problem through legal means, and some others say that I will reward you with a mouse and so on. It is difficult to use this method or I will provide you with free services for two years. Many people want to answer this question in various ways. In fact, this problem is not here at all. The fundamental problem is how to impress him. Readers, have you recognized Tang Jun's analysis? If you are Mr. Wang's manager, will you consider the root problem as "how to impress Mr. Li? Or, if you are the manager of Mr. Wang's manager, you will think of the root problem of your subordinate manager as "how to impress Mr. Li? In turn, if you are Mr. Wang, you will think that the fundamental problem with your manager is "How To impress Mr. Li? If you are Mr. Li, do you think the fundamental problem with this manager is "How To impress Mr. Li? If you are a corporate image planner, do you think the fundamental problem with this manager is "How To impress Mr. Li? Now, like you and me, a bystander will think that the root problem of this manager is "How To impress Mr. Li?

「 Troubleshooting 」

Now, we are faced with a problem. We need to find a solution to the problem. This solution should help us to get rid of prejudice and find the true problem more effectively and quickly. We may wish to find a solution based on this case. "The problem is the difference between what you expect and what you feel. (Geral. "We know that when we look at a problem, no matter what it is, we cannot break away from our own subjective experience. Then, how to find the true location of the problem and finally solve the problem will have a variety of relationships with the personal experience. No matter what impact this experience will ultimately have on the results, it will bring a one-sided view of the problem. Experience needs to be accumulated, and experience also needs to be accumulated. However, we don't have much time to think about every basic problem from the beginning, this is as if we do not need to accept and understand the universal gravitation when 6 billion people around the world are waiting for the fall of apple under the apple tree. More than 20 years ago, two Americans published a booklet titled "The real location of a problem found", which claims that "It is a new way of thinking to analyze problems, let you easily solve the problem ". The author believes that if you assume the role of a problem solver, you should try to answer the question at the beginning of the game: Who has the question? Then, I asked every different group of people who answered this question: what is the nature of your question? We may analyze this so-called Microsoft interview question according to the book below.

First, we need to clarify what the problem is. Who has encountered this problem? Although the previous four answers are different, one thing is the same-that is, Mr. Smith is the person with questions. Let us assume that we are our customers from the perspectives of Mr. Smith, Mr. Wang's manager, general manager of the company, Mr. Li, corporate image planners, and ordinary onlookers, we may get a different answer from zookeeper.

A possible solution to a problem that people have concerns or feel

John

1. Make the company lose 10 thousand yuan 1. Find a solution to recover the wrong money

2. Will be criticized by the leaders. 2. Take the initiative to take responsibility, indicating that you will not commit crimes again.

3. may need to lose money 3. cry to the leaders to minimize the amount of money lost

4. may lose my work 4. Get the sympathy of my colleagues and ask them to help others.

5. lose confidence in your work 5. Quit or work harder

Mr. Wang's manager

1. Make the company lose 10 thousand yuan 1. Investigate the truth about the incident, recover the wrong money or make Mr. Smith lose money

2. will be held responsible for the subordinate's dereliction of duty. 2. Report to the superior and handle the incident seriously.

3. Re-evaluation of Mr. Wang's ability to work 3. Deduction or dismissal of Mr. Wang's Performance Evaluation

General Manager

1. The company lost 10 thousand RMB. 1. Instruct the lower-level manager to handle the problem.

2. An employee at the bottom layer has done something wrong. 2. Understand the truth and check the processing capability of the lower-level managers.

3. Employees of middle-level cadres have experienced an accident 3. Emphasize the cultivation of employees' sense of responsibility at company meetings

4. The incident will affect the company image and employees' sentiment. 4. There are two distinct public and private aspects: emotional investment, system and human feelings. At the same time, appease employees' emotions

5. serious defects in the sales process 5. Check work procedures and instruct relevant personnel to improve

Mr. Li

1. pingbai saves 10 thousand yuan 1. leeching

2. The fight between conscience and selfishness leads to a guilty conscience. 2. Actively pay back the money or persuade yourself that this is your good luck.

3. Worry about the troubles that will be brought in the future. 3. Think about the countermeasures that will be involved with computer companies in advance.

4. Worry about the after-sales quality of the notebook 4. Contact other manufacturers to request services, or find a knowledgeable friend

Corporate image Planners

1. There is an accident in the company's counter service. 1. Do not let others or competitors know.

2. Damaged corporate image 2. Use surprising tactics to improve the company's image

Ordinary onlookers

1. Don't worry about yourself. Gao hangs up. 1. You are not interested in this incident.

2. Envy Mr. Li for unexpected gains 2. Try luck at some other counters

3. have doubts about the company's service process 3. Never go to the company to buy things again

4. Want to know the details of the solution for the incident 4. Follow the incident and follow the formal handling method of the company

5. Have a great deal of curiosity about Mr. Wang, Mr. Li, the company, and the sold laptop. 5. collect more information and communicate with the client.

The above table only lists the possibility of a solution for every concern or problem. In fact, there will be more solutions, but this is enough to prove our observation. That is to say, for different people out of different concerns, it will inevitably lead to a variety of different solutions.

Next, let's look at what is the real problem. The background of the case is clear. In the Microsoft interview room, the interviewer sat in front of you and followed the story, sitting on your coffee cup allows you to think about the answer. At this time, you may suddenly think that this problem is only to examine your ability to handle such problems and determine which type of job is most suitable for you. At this moment, it is no longer the people who have problems in the huge form above. The question you need to solve is: what abilities do the interviewer really want to evaluate? What kind of personality does Microsoft accept for this position? What kind of abilities do I need most in my desired position? So how can I answer this question based on these skills? Will my answer give the interviewer a good impression? And so on.

After some thinking, we can quickly find out the real problems we face from the information exposed by the houses in the interview room. Think differently. If we switch the environment to the recording site in the dialog column, and if you are an audience, your problem may become: what is the connection between the "communication" question mentioned in the conversation and this question? How can I show my "communication" skills as the manager of Mr. Wang who has been assessed? Will there be a delicious lunch while we are sitting in this live room? The smile on the host's lips is really touching. What kind of answers should I use to make her smile? And so on. The analysis of various problems helps us better understand the more essential purpose of the Dialogue Topic Tang Jun. Then our real problems have already been found in the reader's mind.

Let us assume that we have found the real problem. Before solving the problem, we also need to find out who is the victim, the Creator, and the perpetrators of the problem.

After the previous analysis, although we have been able to accept the question of "recovering the 10 thousand yuan from Mr. Li", it is not entirely a real key issue, in addition, the focus in solving this problem is not exactly what Tang Jun calls "how to impress Mr. Li ", here, we may still wish to take "recovering the $10 thousand from Mr. Li" as a problem to be solved, and assume that we are the manager of Mr. Wang. Apparently, at least Mr. Wang, Mr. Li, I, and my general manager are involved in this issue. At this time, we may wish to stop and consider the different perspectives of these personnel on the issue of "recovering the 10 thousand yuan from Mr. Li. Maybe Mr. Li still does not know that he only spent 10 thousand yuan and bought a notebook worth 20 thousand yuan. In this process, as the manager of Mr. Wang, we need to consider: Does Mr. Wang regard this problem as his own? Can she solve her own problems well? Is Mr. Li in trouble? If he is not in trouble, how can he feel the trouble? I have to change my mind to reflect on myself. Have I done anything wrong on this issue and need to correct it?

The problem stakeholders are also related to the source of the problem. On the other hand, the problem stakeholders decide whether they really need to solve the problem. Consider the source of the problem, just as we considered in Microsoft's interview room. When solving the problem, it is very likely that the problem is actually solved. I remember that we modified the product again for the special setting value of a customer's electrical parameters, because the sales contract we signed with the customer clearly states that we must meet the technical requirements of the customer, and this technical requirement is exactly a bottleneck of our products. After we spent a lot of manpower and material resources, we still did not solve this problem. The customer urged the delivery call one after another and finally asked the customer about the electrical parameters, "In fact, we cannot use that parameter. You only need to set it to your default value ".

Here we repeat another motto: We never have enough time to do it well, but we always have enough time to do it again. In other words, we never have enough time to consider whether we really need it, but we always have enough time to regret it.

「 Is your light on ?」

At this point, readers and friends have already understood Mr. Tang's tactics on the so-called interview question, in order to "prove the importance of communication ", however, it ignores the sensitivity and responsibility of the company supervisor to solve the problem. If you are a senior manager candidate, will you expand from the question of "Recovering 10 thousand yuan from Mr. Li" to the question of "vigorously improving enterprises' institutional specifications, strict discipline, heavy human feelings, and abiding by contracts? In your eyes, does the mistake of Mr. Wang happen to be an excellent opportunity to improve your corporate image? In American Donald. Gales and Geral. Is your light on? -- The true location of the problem is well interpreted. In terms of satisfying people's needs, the "Exploration needs" co-authored by the two of them will fundamentally clarify the ambiguity of people's needs. In fact, there are a variety of solutions to the problem, no matter what kind of solution will bring new problems, and as a bystander, maybe we can just say, as the book tells the driver, "is your light on?" In that way, when Mr. Wang sold the goods, he reminded her that "has the price of the notebook been reviewed ?", Or remind Mr. Li, "is the amount of your laptop wrong ?". After understanding all this, you can ask Mr. TANG at the conversation:

As the president of the company, which of the following is more valuable if you feel that the loss of 10 thousand yuan and an excellent company image promotion?