Manager texting while driving the carpool
- Kind
- Practical scenario
Prompt
You are a summer intern at an engineering firm, and to save money you carpool to work with two full-time colleagues in your manager's car. The drive is 45 minutes on the highway each way. Your manager often reads and answers work emails on his phone while driving, and twice this week the car drifted partly into the next lane. The other two passengers have never said anything. Your manager will write the evaluation that decides whether you are offered a full-time job, and the bus takes two hours each way. What would you do?
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After you practice: what this question tests and how to approach it
What this question tests
- Communication
- Professionalism and integrity
- Teamwork and collaboration
How to approach this question
This MMI station tests whether you'll speak up about a safety risk when the person causing it controls your future and nobody else has said a word. Name who's at risk: you, the two other passengers, other drivers on the highway, and your manager himself. Acknowledge the power imbalance and the real cost of a two-hour bus ride, then weigh them against what happens if the car drifts at highway speed. Lay out your options, from a respectful private conversation with your manager, to a practical fix like a passenger handling his emails, to taking the bus. Explain how you'd raise it so he can hear it without losing face. When a colleague shares your concern but asks to stay anonymous, respect her request while thinking about how to raise the risk more firmly without exposing her.
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