Study the following information carefully and answer the questions given below.

Eight employees—P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, and W—work in a corporate firm. Each of them holds a different designation: Managing Director (MD), Executive Director (ED), Director, Vice President (VP), Associate, Analyst, Senior Officer, and Officer, though not necessarily in that order. The hierarchical order of these designations is in decreasing order of seniority, where the Managing Director (MD) is the senior-most position and the Officer is the junior-most position.
There are exactly three designations between U and T, who is just junior to V. At most one person is junior to W. S is junior to Q and just senior to R. P is senior to both Q and U.

Which of the following is the designation of Q?

The correct answer is ED (Executive Director).

Step-by-Step Explanation:

1. Understand the Hierarchy:

The 8 designations in decreasing order of seniority (from 1 = senior-most to 8 = junior-most) are:

1. Managing Director (MD)

2. Executive Director (ED)

3. Director

4. Vice President (VP)

5. Associate

6. Analyst

7. Senior Officer

8. Officer

2. Analyze the Given Clues:

• Clue 1: "At most one person is junior to W."
This means W can either be at position 8 (junior-most, Officer) or position 7 (Senior Officer).

• Clue 2: "There are exactly three designations between U and T, who is just junior to V."
This means V is immediately above T (V is senior to T by 1 position), and there are 3 positions between U and T.

• Clue 3: "S is junior to Q and just senior to R."
This means S is immediately above R (S is senior to R by 1 position), and Q is senior to S (Q ... S, R).

• Clue 4: "P is senior to both Q and U."
So the order from top to bottom relative to P, Q, S, R is P → Q → S → R.

3. Deduce the Positions:

Since P is senior to Q, S, R, and U, P must be very high up, and U also needs 3 positions between itself and T.

Let's place U and T/V:

If U is at Position 3 (Director):

Then 3 designations between U and T means T must be at Position 7 (Senior Officer).

Since T is just junior to V, V must be at Position 6 (Analyst).

Now, W must be at Position 8 (Officer) since "at most one person is junior to W" (here 0 people are junior to W).

Remaining positions for P, Q, S, R are 1, 2, 4, 5.

Since P is senior to Q, and Q is senior to S, and S is just senior to R (occupying adjacent slots 4 and 5):

• Position 1: P (Managing Director)

• Position 2: Q (Executive Director)

• Position 3: U (Director)

• Position 4: S (Vice President)

• Position 5: R (Associate)

• Position 6: V (Analyst)

• Position 7: T (Senior Officer)

• Position 8: W (Officer)

4. Verification of the Arrangement:

• Seniority order: MD (1), ED (2), Director (3), VP (4), Associate (5), Analyst (6), Senior Officer (7), Officer (8).

• U (3) and T (7) have exactly 3 designations between them (4, 5, 6). (Satisfied)

• T (7) is just junior to V (6). (Satisfied)

• W is at 8, so 0 people are junior to W (At most one person junior to W). (Satisfied)

• S (4) is just senior to R (5), and Q (2) is senior to S (4). (Satisfied)

• P (1) is senior to Q (2) and U (3). (Satisfied)

Therefore, Q holds the designation of Executive Director (ED).