Majority of the most productive employees

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In the past, the majority of the most productive employees at
National Machine's corporate ofices have worked a trial schedule
of nine hours a day, four days a wek, and four hours on Friday. As
a result of this trend, and in an in an effort to further increase
productivity, the cheif executive of National Machine plans to
institute the same work hurs for all employees at the company's
corporate offices. After this plan is implemented, general
productivity among employees at the company corporate offices
should increase accordingly.

Which of the followings, if true, most weakens the above
argument?

A. Late afternoon hours are, generally, the least producrive hours
worked by employees at National Machine's corporate offices.
B. The employees who have worked the referenced schedule for
the past year voluntered to do so
C. National Machine's are paid based on productivity and hours worked,
rather than solely on hours worked
D. The National Machine corporate employes who have been working
the referebced shedule for the past year voluntred to do so and they
are among the most motivated employees in the company
E. The National Machine corporate employees who voluntered to work
the referenced schedule for the past year have generaly liked that
schedule better than the usual schedule followed by the remainder of
corporate employees.

IMO
D

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by ashokkadam » Sun Nov 07, 2010 8:23 am
Yup D should be the answer!!
gmatdriller wrote:In the past, the majority of the most productive employees at
National Machine's corporate ofices have worked a trial schedule
of nine hours a day, four days a wek, and four hours on Friday. As
a result of this trend, and in an in an effort to further increase
productivity, the cheif executive of National Machine plans to
institute the same work hurs for all employees at the company's
corporate offices. After this plan is implemented, general
productivity among employees at the company corporate offices
should increase accordingly.

Which of the followings, if true, most weakens the above
argument?

A. Late afternoon hours are, generally, the least producrive hours
worked by employees at National Machine's corporate offices.
B. The employees who have worked the referenced schedule for
the past year voluntered to do so
C. National Machine's are paid based on productivity and hours worked,
rather than solely on hours worked
D. The National Machine corporate employes who have been working
the referebced shedule for the past year voluntred to do so and they
are among the most motivated employees in the company
E. The National Machine corporate employees who voluntered to work
the referenced schedule for the past year have generaly liked that
schedule better than the usual schedule followed by the remainder of
corporate employees.

IMO
D
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by David@VeritasPrep » Wed Nov 10, 2010 4:44 pm
This reminds me of an official question about employees working from home.

This question gives you limited evidence of a group of employees that have succeeded with the different work hours. The conclusion is that in general productivity would increase with the different work hours.

In order to weaken this you want some reason why the evidence of the limited group of employees would not translate to the general population.

Choice D tells us that the employees in the early group are the most motivated. So this is the correct answer.
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by Ravish » Wed Nov 10, 2010 6:51 pm
Can someone explain why E is not the correct answer?

I'm not saying D is incorrect, I was debating between D & E but could not pick one over the other because both seemed to imply the same thing.

D said the employees volunteered and were more motivated so I agree that it weakens the argument in that, the remaining employees would show no increase in productivity even after being shifted to the new working hours.

E states that same thing about volunteering but also states that the employees selected preferred this schedule over the other employees who continue to work the normal schedule. How does that not imply what D does? If the remaining employees prefer the regular schedule over the revised one, won't that also weaken the conclusion?

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by David@VeritasPrep » Wed Nov 10, 2010 8:26 pm
Ravish -

I think that you have perhaps read too much into choice E. It does not say that these employees that volunteered for the different schedule preferred it MORE than other employees, rather it says "The employees who volunteered to work the referenced schedule for the past year have generally liked that schedule better than the usual schedule followed by the remainder of corporate employees."

So the people on the schedule like it better as compared to the other schedule. Perhaps those who have not yet tried it will like it better too. So D provides a solid reason to except that the employees who volunteered are special and the result will not hold. E does not actually do this.

Does that help explain it?
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