Correctly measuring the productivity of service workers is complex. Consider, for example, postal workers: they
are often said to be more productive if more letters are delivered per postal worker. But is this really true? What
if more letters are lost or delayed per worker at the same time that more are delivered?
The objection implied above to the productivity measure described is based on doubts about the truth of which
of the following statements?
(A) Postal workers are representative of service workers in general.
(B) The delivery of letters is the primary activity of the postal service.
(C) Productivity should be ascribed to categories of workers, not to individuals.
(D) The quality of services rendered can appropriately be ignored in computing productivity.
(E) The number of letters delivered is relevant to measuring the productivity of postal workers.
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[email protected]
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Opposing conclusion: If MORE LETTERS are delivered, then postal workers are MORE PRODUCTIVE.[email protected] wrote:Correctly measuring the productivity of service workers is complex. Consider, for example, postal workers: they are often said to be more productive if more letters are delivered per postal worker. But is this really true? What if more letters are lost or delayed per worker at the same time that more are delivered?
The objection implied above to the productivity measure described is based on doubts about the truth of which
of the following statements?
(A) Postal workers are representative of service workers in general.
(B) The delivery of letters is the primary activity of the postal service.
(C) Productivity should be ascribed to categories of workers, not to individuals.
(D) The quality of services rendered can appropriately be ignored in computing productivity.
(E) The number of letters delivered is relevant to measuring the productivity of postal workers.
The opposition believes that the QUANTITY of work produced is sufficient to determine the level of productivity.
Doubt expressed by the passage: What if more letters are LOST than are DELIVERED?
In other words, if workers get more things wrong than they get right, should they still be considered productive?
Thus, the passage doubts the truth of D: that the QUALITY of services rendered can appropriately be ignored in computing productivity.
The correct answer is D.
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The statement in option D is not very clear. Could you please elaborate the meaning of the D option. Rest are clear.
OA is D.
OA is D.
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[email protected] wrote:The statement in option D is not very clear. Could you please elaborate the meaning of the D option. Rest are clear.
OA is D.
(D) The quality of services rendered can appropriately be ignored in computing productivity. (quality of services in this case means delivering letters without delays or losses. So, this sentence essentially is saying that quality does not matter in calculating the productivity. But, the author doubts this and raises the same doubt above. hope this helps. )
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Hi GMATGuruNY - Got this one. But would like to confirm whether my understanding is correct on why EXACTLY option B is WRONG.GMATGuruNY wrote:Opposing conclusion: If MORE LETTERS are delivered, then postal workers are MORE PRODUCTIVE.[email protected] wrote:Correctly measuring the productivity of service workers is complex. Consider, for example, postal workers: they are often said to be more productive if more letters are delivered per postal worker. But is this really true? What if more letters are lost or delayed per worker at the same time that more are delivered?
The objection implied above to the productivity measure described is based on doubts about the truth of which
of the following statements?
(A) Postal workers are representative of service workers in general.
(B) The delivery of letters is the primary activity of the postal service.
(C) Productivity should be ascribed to categories of workers, not to individuals.
(D) The quality of services rendered can appropriately be ignored in computing productivity.
(E) The number of letters delivered is relevant to measuring the productivity of postal workers.
The opposition believes that the QUANTITY of work produced is sufficient to determine the level of productivity.
Doubt expressed by the passage: What if more letters are LOST than are DELIVERED?
In other words, if workers get more things wrong than they get right, should they still be considered productive?
Thus, the passage doubts the truth of D: that the QUALITY of services rendered can appropriately be ignored in computing productivity.
The correct answer is D.
(1) In B, it talks about what is primary activity of the postal service. But as for our passage, it's NOT really relevant, I think. We're more concerned about the PRODUCTIVITY MEASUREMENT than the primary activity (of service/postal workers).
(2) Moreover,I guess, option B limits the scope of the passage to POSTAL workers ONLY -- this is also wrong.
Could you please share your thoughts on my above TWO concerns ?
P.S: Btw, what sort of CR question it is ? I mean, which category -- ASSUMPTION ?
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Correct.RBBmba@2014 wrote:
Hi GMATGuruNY - Got this one. But would like to confirm whether my understanding is correct on why EXACTLY option B is WRONG.
(1) In B, it talks about what is primary activity of the postal service. But as for our passage, it's NOT really relevant, I think. We're more concerned about the PRODUCTIVITY MEASUREMENT than the primary activity (of service/postal workers).
(2) Moreover,I guess, option B limits the scope of the passage to POSTAL workers ONLY -- this is also wrong.
I wouldn't use this line of reasoning, since the passage cites the case of postal workers to evaluate a conclusion about productivity.
This is an assumption CR.P.S: Btw, what sort of CR question it is ? I mean, which category -- ASSUMPTION ?
The correct answer is WHAT MUST BE TRUE to conclude that postal workers are more productive if more letters are delivered per postal worker.
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RBBmba@2014
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Hi GMATGuruNY - how frequent is this type (re to some extent INDIRECT question stem) of ASSUMPTION CR on GMAT ?
Do we have any other such instances ?
Also,option E cites an EXTREME case, I think and we should do away with such EXTREME cases, generally. Right ?
Do we have any other such instances ?
Also,option E cites an EXTREME case, I think and we should do away with such EXTREME cases, generally. Right ?
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Hi GMATGuruNY - could you please share your feedback on my concerns above ?
Look forward to hear from you. Much thanks in advance!
Look forward to hear from you. Much thanks in advance!
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Offhand, I can't cite an assumption CR with a similarly worded question stem.RBBmba@2014 wrote:Hi GMATGuruNY - how frequent is this type (re to some extent INDIRECT question stem) of ASSUMPTION CR on GMAT ?
Do we have any other such instances ?
When evaluating an assumption CR, we should be skeptical of answer choices with extreme wording.Also,option E cites an EXTREME case, I think and we should do away with such EXTREME cases, generally. Right ?
But E does not include such wording.
To deem something relevant hardly seems extreme.
E: The number of letters delivered is relevant to measuring the productivity of postal workers.
This option is incorrect because the passage does NOT doubt the relevance of the number of letters delivered.
It merely states that other factors -- such as the number of letters lost or delayed -- should also be considered when measuring productivity.
Eliminate E.
An extreme version of E would be as follows:
Nothing is more relevant to measuring the productivity of workers than the number of letters delivered.
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