PrepTest 103, Section 1, Question 4
In order to increase production, ABC Company should(34 more words not shown)
The argument depends on the(2 more words not shown)
- Athe employees who(12 more words not shown)
- Ban increase in(11 more words not shown)
- Cflextime schedules tend(8 more words not shown)
- Demployees are most(12 more words not shown)
- Ecompanies that are(10 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Choosing their own starting and finishing times might let employees work when they're at their best. I can see how flextime could help production. But employees might also enjoy the flexibility and get exactly the same amount of work done.
ABC wants to increase production. The evidence tells us about morale. Those aren't the same thing, and we need a connection between them before the evidence supports this recommendation. Being able to start later could make someone happier without making that person any more productive.
What we’re looking for
The question asks for an assumption the argument requires. We don't need a promise that every happy worker always produces more. We need the possibility that the morale improvement can help ABC achieve the goal used to justify flextime: greater production.
Working the answers
- A
The workers who want flextime don't have to be ABC's most productive workers. Suppose they are currently less productive, and the morale boost helps them improve. The recommendation could still make sense. Ranking these employees against everyone else isn't required.
- BCorrect
This supplies the missing connection. Increased morale must at least be capable of leading to increased production at ABC. If a morale improvement couldn't help production, then the study's morale finding wouldn't support flextime as a way to increase production. Notice how limited “could” is: the argument needs a possible route to its goal, not a guarantee that the plan succeeds in every case.
- C
Fewer late arrivals or absences could give us another reason to like flextime. But the argument doesn't require that benefit. Imagine attendance is already excellent and employees' improved morale helps them do more during their workdays. Flextime could still serve the stated goal without reducing lateness or absences. Something that might help the argument isn't necessarily an assumption it needs.
- D
The argument doesn't require employees to be most productive when everyone is present. Some workers might do their best work during quiet hours when fewer coworkers are around. That would fit the recommendation perfectly well. This claim could instead raise a coordination concern, depending on how schedules change, but it isn't the missing morale-to-production connection.
- E
ABC's competitors don't have to use flextime for it to help ABC. The company might be the first in its industry to try a useful policy. And copying a competitor wouldn't by itself establish that happier ABC employees would produce more.
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