Critical Reasoning

Because no employee wants to be associated with bad news in the eyes of a superior, information about serious problems at lower levels is progressively softened and distorted as it goes up each step in the management hierarchy. The chief executive is, therefore, less well informed about problems at lower levels than are his or her subordinates at those levels.

The conclusion drawn above is based on the assumption that

(A) problems should be solved at the level in the management hierarchy at which they occur
(B) employees should be rewarded for accurately reporting problems to their superiors
(C) problem-solving ability is more important at higher levels than it is at lower levels of the management hierarchy
(D) chief executives obtain information about problems at lower levels from no source other than heir
subordinates
(E) some employees are more concerned about truth than about the way they are perceived by their superiors

I chose option A where as the right answer is D . As it says in the question that problems are softened while they go to the higher management, it means that they should be solved at the proper level of management ?

Am I failing to understand something here ?

Help appreciated.
Ankit

A is irrelevant because it draws the conclusion but the assumption. Same with B and C talk about rewarding system and problem solving ability. The author wants to find the reason behind the information to be distorted from lower management to upper management. Assumption can strengthen the the conclusion.

Put D in, chief get no source from others so that distorted information is valid.

ankit0411 wrote:Because no employee wants to be associated with bad news in the eyes of a superior, information about serious problems at lower levels is progressively softened and distorted as it goes up each step in the management hierarchy. The chief executive is, therefore, less well informed about problems at lower levels than are his or her subordinates at those levels.

The conclusion drawn above is based on the assumption that

(A) problems should be solved at the level in the management hierarchy at which they occur
(B) employees should be rewarded for accurately reporting problems to their superiors
(C) problem-solving ability is more important at higher levels than it is at lower levels of the management hierarchy
(D) chief executives obtain information about problems at lower levels from no source other than heir
subordinates
(E) some employees are more concerned about truth than about the way they are perceived by their superiors

I chose option A where as the right answer is D . As it says in the question that problems are softened while they go to the higher management, it means that they should be solved at the proper level of management ?

Am I failing to understand something here ?

Help appreciated.
Ankit

Hi Ankit,

Here the conclusion is "The chief executive is, therefore, less well informed about problems at lower levels than are his or her subordinates at those levels."
Now unless ,he/she has the single source of information available,he/she would be well informed about the problems.That is why option "D" goes for the best answer.

Hope this helps.