LR Drill Set 4, Question 11
Management Consultant: Executives cannot produce a change in(70 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(9 more words not shown)
- AExecutives cannot produce(16 more words not shown)
- BIf an executive(20 more words not shown)
- CA corporate staff(23 more words not shown)
- DThe staff of(22 more words not shown)
- EAt least some(16 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
The executive can't change the culture alone. The staff has to be willing to help, and that willingness requires trust.
Follow those two requirements together. If the staff doesn't trust the executive's judgment, it won't be willing to implement the change. Without that willingness, the executive won't produce the change. Trust is therefore required for the outcome at the end of the chain.
Then we get a way to build that trust: convey respect and admiration for the staff's work. I can see why knowing what employees do would help an executive show credible respect. That's different from arriving, issuing orders, and revealing no understanding of the work.
But the passage calls this “one way.”
Maybe an executive can earn trust through a different route. We can't quietly turn one method of earning trust into the only method. Nor should we treat trust as a guarantee that the staff will do everything the executive asks.
What we’re looking for
For the inference question, the clearest prediction is the link we made at the start: no trust, no successful cultural change. Keep that requirement separate from the particular method the passage gives for earning trust.
Working the answers
- A
Knowing the staff well is required for conveying the respect described here. But conveying that respect is only one way to earn trust. There could be other ways. A incorrectly makes a requirement for one route into a requirement for every successful cultural change.
- B
Conveying respect can produce trust, but trust doesn't guarantee willingness to implement a particular change. Staff members could trust the executive's judgment and still have other reasons to resist. The passage says willingness requires trust; it doesn't say trust is all that willingness requires. B goes one step further than the given relationships allow.
- C
This makes conveying respect necessary for staff willingness. Again, the passage gives it as one way to produce the trust that willingness requires. If staff members come to trust the executive through another route, they could be willing without that particular method. We must preserve the difference between a way and the only way.
- DCorrect
Successful cultural change requires willing staff, and willing staff must trust the executive's judgment. Therefore, successful change requires that trust. D joins the first two requirements without turning either one into a guarantee. An executive could have the staff's trust and still fail, but couldn't succeed without it under these statements.
- E
Knowing the staff is a requirement for conveying respect, not a guarantee that the executive will convey it. An executive might know employees well and still treat their work dismissively. We can't jump from knowledge to trust without establishing the step the passage says can produce trust. E's claim that at least some people will trust the executive isn't assured.
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