As part of the research on how to motivate

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As part of the research on how to motivate

by guerrero » Sat Oct 12, 2013 3:29 pm
As part of the research on how to motivate its employees, Alltech has conducted an experiment in which some of its managers, after successfully completing a project, received not only their regular financial bonuses but also letters of appreciation personally signed by the heads of their departments. Those employees were more effective at conducting their next projects both as to time and quality. Therefore, if personal letters of appreciation became a regular practice, the overall productivity of Alltech`s managers would increase.

Which of the following is the assumption on which the argument depends?

(A)Receiving personal feedback from higher management throughout the project would also help increase employees` productivity.

(B)Most employees who participated in the experiment claimed that financial incentives are not the most important factor that motivates them to succeed.

(C)Some projects are significantly more challenging to accomplish than others are.

(D)All employees who received personal letters of appreciation showed better results in their subsequent projects.

(E)Receiving such letters regularly would not lessen their impact on the employees.

why is "B" wrong ?
Source: — Critical Reasoning |

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by rakeshd347 » Sat Oct 12, 2013 4:12 pm
guerrero wrote:As part of the research on how to motivate its employees, Alltech has conducted an experiment in which some of its managers, after successfully completing a project, received not only their regular financial bonuses but also letters of appreciation personally signed by the heads of their departments. Those employees were more effective at conducting their next projects both as to time and quality. Therefore, if personal letters of appreciation became a regular practice, the overall productivity of Alltech`s managers would increase.

Which of the following is the assumption on which the argument depends?

(A)Receiving personal feedback from higher management throughout the project would also help increase employees` productivity.

(B)Most employees who participated in the experiment claimed that financial incentives are not the most important factor that motivates them to succeed.

(C)Some projects are significantly more challenging to accomplish than others are.

(D)All employees who received personal letters of appreciation showed better results in their subsequent projects.

(E)Receiving such letters regularly would not lessen their impact on the employees.

why is "B" wrong ?
I think E should be the answer. I could think this one before going to the answer choices.
B is wrong for two reasons. This is an assumption question and B makes suggestions. If you negate B then you will get....Not Most employees who participated in the experiment claimed that financial incentives are not the most important factor that motivates them to succeed....this doesn't destroy the argument so this can't be the assumption.

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by vinay1983 » Sat Oct 12, 2013 5:52 pm
I would say E, since if such things reduced the hold of the company or management over the employees, then boy, isn't the company in trouble. Employees will take them for granted.

B-See the prompt tells us"some employees" and "B" tells us "most employees", technically you cannot compare them when there is no information about the numbers. Also avoid "superlative" words.It says money is not the "most" important aspect, well then something else might be, maybe trips, holidays, weekly offs, parties etc etc, so incorrect
You can, for example never foretell what any one man will do, but you can say with precision what an average number will be up to!

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by theCodeToGMAT » Sat Oct 12, 2013 9:48 pm
Is it [spoiler]{D}[/spoiler]?
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by vinay1983 » Sun Oct 13, 2013 8:21 am
theCodeToGMAT wrote:Is it [spoiler]{D}[/spoiler]?
Rahul go through the question again.You might get it.
You can, for example never foretell what any one man will do, but you can say with precision what an average number will be up to!

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by theCodeToGMAT » Sun Oct 13, 2013 8:57 am
vinay1983 wrote:
theCodeToGMAT wrote:Is it [spoiler]{D}[/spoiler]?
Rahul go through the question again.You might get it.
Even though the answer choice {E} is the best assumption which could yield such a conclusion, I was stuck between {D} & {E}

If we negate both

{D} NO employees who received personal letters of appreciation showed better results in their subsequent projects


{E} - Receiving such letters regularly would lessen their impact on the employees.

I thought {D} is better of both.

What are your thoughts on this?
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