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Decentralisation

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Decentralisation

by ssgmatter » Sat Apr 03, 2010 7:50 am
Decentralization enables divisions of a large institution
to function autonomously. This always permits more
realistic planning and strongly encourages innovation,
since the people responsible for decision making are
directly involved in implementing the policies they
design. Decentralization also permits the central
administration to focus on institution-wide issues
without being overwhelmed by the details of daily
operations.
The statements above most strongly support which one
of the following?
(A) In large institutions whose divisions do not
function autonomously, planning is not
maximally realistic.
(B) Innovation is not always encouraged in large
centralized institutions.
(C) For large institutions the advantages of
decentralization outweigh its disadvantages.
(D) The central administrations of large institutions
are usually partially responsible for most of the
details of daily operations.

Source-->LSAT
(E) The people directly involved in implementing
policies are always able to make innovative
and realistic policy decisions.
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by aspirant2010 » Sat Apr 03, 2010 10:23 am
Hi,Is the answer C?
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by thephoenix » Sat Apr 03, 2010 10:47 am
imo b
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by harshavardhanc » Sat Apr 03, 2010 10:49 am
IMO A
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by ssgmatter » Sat Apr 03, 2010 9:21 pm
OA is A......But this one is really mad.....any explanations!!!

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by deepak4mba » Sat Apr 03, 2010 10:06 pm
IMO D.

Time :01:15
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by sumanr84 » Sat Apr 03, 2010 11:09 pm
ssgmatter wrote:Decentralization enables divisions of a large institution
to function autonomously. This always permits more
realistic planning and strongly encourages innovation,
since the people responsible for decision making are
directly involved in implementing the policies they
design. Decentralization also permits the central
administration to focus on institution-wide issues
without being overwhelmed by the details of daily
operations.
The statements above most strongly support which one
of the following?
(A) In large institutions whose divisions do not function autonomously, planning is not maximally realistic.
- It uses the term 'not maximally' that holds good with the info at hand.

(B) Innovation is not always encouraged in large centralized institutions.
- Generalization is not always good while handling CRs, there may be exceptions.

(C) For large institutions the advantages of decentralization outweigh its disadvantages.
- Not enough info to come to this conclusion.

(D) The central administrations of large institutions are usually partially responsible for most of the details of daily operations. - No information present to verify this fact

(E) The people directly involved in implementing policies are always able to make innovative
and realistic policy decisions. - Generalization is not always good while handling CRs, too extreme ans
I am on a break !!
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by joseph32 » Mon May 16, 2016 12:13 am
I'm pretty confident that D is correct answer
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by TheGraduate » Tue Oct 11, 2016 11:27 pm
I understand that A is the correct answer.

However I have doubts about D. The stimulus says "Decentralization also permits the central administration to focus on institution-wide issues without being overwhelmed by details of daily operations",
while (D) says :
The central administrations of large institutions
are usually partially responsible for most of the
details of daily operations.




Something that requires clarification at the very outset is the meaning of "usually". As stated in the stimulus, if decentralization permits the central administration to focus on institution-wide issues, then it would mean that under normal circumstances, or "usually", the central administration are overwhelmed by details of daily operations.
I have also noticed that certain fora have discussed that "usually" refers to the question of decentralization vs. centralization. That is, whether usually central administrations are more often centralized or decentralized.

The other issue is the use of the word "partially". What would be the interpretation of that?

Thirdly, as far as the clause "most of the details of daily operations", which I gather might to extreme according to some people, is supported by "overwhelmed by details of daily operations". That is to say that unless most of the details are being handled by the central administration, why would they be overwhelmed? I don't see any reason, without decentralization, why they might not be dealing with most of the details of daily operations.


Another question I have is about choice A.
A) In large institutions whose divisions do not
function autonomously, planning is not
maximally realistic.
Can this me interpreted as:
~(divisions do not function autonomously) --> ~(planning maximally realistic) ....[I have used "~" for logical NOT]
i.e. as an if then conditional statement ?

Or could it be interpreted as: ~(divisions do not function autonomously) & ~(planning maximally realistic)
In certain fora people have treated A as having a hard logical construct.
But such an interpretation does not seem very apparent to me.
Also if we needed logical negative of A,(as might be required in an assumption question) how would we do so?

Finally, The stimulus also says "Decentralization enables divisions of a large institution
to function autonomously. This always permits more realistic planning and strongly encourages innovation, since the people responsible for decision making are directly involved in implementing the policies they design."

i.e Decentralization -->Functions Autonomously
Functions Autonomously --> more realistic planning
However note that functioning autonomously is not the only way to lead to more realistic planning. Functioning autonomously would always lead to more realistic planning but not the only way. There might be other factors at work that might lead to more realistic planning.

Hence A would be called into question!
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by GMATGuruNY » Wed Oct 12, 2016 3:33 am
ssgmatter wrote:Decentralization enables divisions of a large institution
to function autonomously. This always permits more
realistic planning and strongly encourages innovation,
since the people responsible for decision making are
directly involved in implementing the policies they
design. Decentralization also permits the central
administration to focus on institution-wide issues
without being overwhelmed by the details of daily
operations.
The statements above most strongly support which one
of the following?
(A) In large institutions whose divisions do not
function autonomously, planning is not
maximally realistic.
(B) Innovation is not always encouraged in large
centralized institutions.
(C) For large institutions the advantages of
decentralization outweigh its disadvantages.
(D) The central administrations of large institutions
are usually partially responsible for most of the
details of daily operations.
(E) The people directly involved in implementing
policies are always able to make innovative
and realistic policy decisions.
Apply the NEGATION TEST.
When the correct answer choice is negated, the passage will be contradicted.

Passage:
Decentralization enables divisions of a large institution to function autonomously and permits MORE realistic planning.
Implication:
Institutions that do NOT function autonomously have LESS realistic planning.
A, negated:
In large institutions whose divisions do not function autonomously, planning is maximally realistic.
This negation contradicts the passage's contention that institutions that do not function autonomously have LESS REALISTIC PLANNING.
Thus, A is the correct inference: the answer choice that MUST BE TRUE, given the information in the passage.

The correct answer is A.

D, negated:
The central administrations of large institutions are not usually partially responsible for most of the details of daily operations.
This negation implies that large institutions are typically decentralized.
But the passage does not discuss the FREQUENCY of decentralization.
It discusses only the BENEFITS of decentralization.
Since the negation of D does not contradict the passage, eliminate D.
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by sagarock » Wed Oct 12, 2016 5:33 am
mitch sir,this is must be true question.can we apply negation test here and why/kindly clear my doubt
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by GMATGuruNY » Thu Oct 13, 2016 7:58 am
sagarock wrote:mitch sir,this is must be true question.can we apply negation test here and why/kindly clear my doubt
The statements above most strongly support which one of the following?
Here, the correct answer choice must be supported by the passage.
An answer choice that must be supported by the passage is an INFERENCE.
An inference is a statement that MUST BE TRUE, given the information in the passage.
The negation test can be applied to any answer choice that must be true.
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by TheGraduate » Sat Oct 15, 2016 4:32 am
GMATGuruNY wrote: Apply the NEGATION TEST.
When the correct answer choice is negated, the passage will be contradicted.

Passage:
Decentralization enables divisions of a large institution to function autonomously and permits MORE realistic planning.
Implication:
Institutions that do NOT function autonomously have LESS realistic planning.
A, negated:
In large institutions whose divisions do not function autonomously, planning is maximally realistic.
This negation contradicts the passage's contention that institutions that do not function autonomously have LESS REALISTIC PLANNING.
Thus, A is the correct inference: the answer choice that MUST BE TRUE, given the information in the passage.

The correct answer is A.

D, negated:
The central administrations of large institutions are not usually partially responsible for most of the details of daily operations.
This negation implies that large institutions are typically decentralized.
But the passage does not discuss the FREQUENCY of decentralization.
It discusses only the BENEFITS of decentralization.
Since the negation of D does not contradict the passage, eliminate D.
Thanks for the very succinct analysis of choice D.

However, I'm still not convinced with the analysis of choice A.

The stimulus says:
"Decentralization enables divisions of a large institution to function autonomously. This always permits more realistic planning and strongly encourages innovation, since the people responsible for decision making are directly involved in implementing the policies they design. "


Even negated A ,
"In large institutions whose divisions do not function autonomously, planning is maximally realistic", in my opinion does not invalidate the conclusion.
This negation contradicts the passage's contention that institutions that do not function autonomously have LESS REALISTIC PLANNING.
The above, in my opinion, cannot be inferred from the passage.
Decentralization -->Functions Autonomously
Functions Autonomously --> more realistic planning & encourages innovation

Functioning autonomously is not the only way to lead to more realistic planning. Functioning autonomously would always lead to more realistic planning but not the only way. There might be other factors at work that might lead to more realistic planning.

~Functions Autonomously --x-> ~(more realistic planning)OR ~(encourages innovation) ...[CANNOT BE INFERRED due to the FORMAL LOGIC embedded in the language used in the stimulus.]

Should we not go only by formal interpretation of the language provided in the stimulus?

Please comment.
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by GMATGuruNY » Mon Oct 17, 2016 3:24 am
TheGraduate wrote: The stimulus says:
"Decentralization enables divisions of a large institution to function autonomously. This always permits more realistic planning."
more realistic than WHAT?
The phrase in blue conveys the following comparison:
Planning in an institution whose divisions function autonomously is MORE REALISTIC than planning in an institution whose divisions do NOT function autonomously.
Since A>B implies that B<A, we get:
Planning in an institution whose divisions do not function autonomously is LESS REALISTIC than planning in an institution whose divisions function autonomously.
Even negated A ,
"In large institutions whose divisions do not function autonomously, planning is maximally realistic", in my opinion does not invalidate the conclusion.
According to the passage, autonomy permits MORE REALISTIC planning.
Implication:
In an institution WITHOUT autonomy, the realistic-ness of planning has NOT been maximized.
Thus, the negation of A (which states that planning is maximally realistic) contradicts the passage (which states that planning can be made more realistic).
Since the negation of A contradicts the passage, A is the correct inference.
Should we not go only by formal interpretation of the language provided in the stimulus?

Please comment.
The GMAT is not a test of formal logic.
The rules of formal logic are far more relevant to the LSAT than to the GMAT.
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by RBBmba@2014 » Fri Oct 28, 2016 8:48 pm
Hi Verbal Experts,
Can you please shed some light on why E is wrong ?
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