Affirmative Action

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Affirmative Action

by BlueDragon2010 » Tue Feb 25, 2014 1:39 am
Affirmative action is good business. So asserted the National Association of Manufacturers while urging retention of an executive order requiring some federal contractors to set numerical goals for hiring minorities and women. "Diversity in work force participation has produced new ideas in management, product development, and marketing," the association claimed.

The association's argument as it is presented in the passage above would be most strengthened if which of the following were true?

(A) The percentage of minority and women workers in business has increased more slowly than many minority and women's groups would prefer.

(B) Those businesses with the highest percentages of minority and women workers are those that have been the most innovative and profitable.

(C) Disposable income has been rising as fast among minorities and women as among the population as a whole.

(D) The biggest growth in sales in the manufacturing sector has come in industries that market the most innovative products.

(E) Recent improvements in management practices have allowed many manufacturers to experience enormous gains in worker productivity.
Source: — Critical Reasoning |

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by Patrick_GMATFix » Tue Feb 25, 2014 1:56 am
We want to strengthen the conclusion that Affirmative Action is good for business. The right answer needs to make the argument more convincing by supplying new supporting data or by validating the assumptions made. Since the argument makes its claim without offering any concrete data, a good answer would provide proof that ties affirmative action directly to positive business outcomes.

I go over each answer choice in detail in the full solution below (taken from the GMATFix App).

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by Abhishek009 » Tue Feb 25, 2014 9:16 am
BlueDragon2010 wrote:Affirmative action is good business. So asserted the National Association of Manufacturers while urging retention of an executive order requiring some federal contractors to set numerical goals for hiring minorities and women. "Diversity in work force participation has produced new ideas in management, product development, and marketing," the association claimed.
Positive action = Good Business ( NAM )

NAM - Stated it while setting numeric goals for Minorities and Women.

Diversity - New Management Ideas , product Development and Marketing.

The association's argument as it is presented in the passage above would be most strengthened if which of the following were true?

(A) The percentage of minority and women workers in business has increased more slowly than many minority and women's groups would prefer.

Irrelevant and out of scope.

(B) Those businesses with the highest percentages of minority and women workers are those that have been the most innovative and profitable.

Seems to fit into the reasoning applied here .

(C) Disposable income has been rising as fast among minorities and women as among the population as a whole.

Out of scope.

(D) The biggest growth in sales in the manufacturing sector has come in industries that market the most innovative products.

We do not have sufficient information with use to claim that Innovative Companies has contributed to growth of sales.

(E) Recent improvements in management practices have allowed many manufacturers to experience enormous gains in worker productivity.

Out of scope.


hence IMO (B) looks the best among the given alternatives..[/u][/b]
Abhishek

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by Bill@VeritasPrep » Tue Feb 25, 2014 9:35 am
A good example of where understanding the scope of the argument makes finding the right answer easier. NAM argues that affirmative action is good for business because diversity has produced new ideas in management, development, and marketing. How do we support that?

A. The percentage increase being slow or fast has nothing to do with innovative ideas coming from diversity.

B. Perfect. We now have evidence linking minority hiring with innovation and profitability.

C. We aren't concerned with consumer purchasing power.

D. Okay, but are those industries the ones committed to diversity in hiring?

E. Nothing to do with diversity in hiring.
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