Self-study
Midlevel managers at large corporations are unlikely to suggest reductions in staff in their own departments even when these departments are obviously overstaffed.
Summarize Argument
Notable Assumptions
As we can see from the question stem, the stimulus is not an argument, but a claim. All the wrong answer choices will act as premises, offering us evidence to believe the claim is true. The right answer choice will have either a weakening effect on the claim, or no effect at all.
15.
Each of the following, if █████ ████████ ███ █████ █████ ███████
a
The compensation paid ██ ████████ ████████ ██ ███████ ████ ████ █████████ ████ ████████
This strengthens the argument. It provides a reason for why midlevel managers don’t want a smaller team—they would get paid less!
b
Midlevel managers have ████ ████ ██ ██ ████ █████ ███████████ ███ ████████████
This strengthens the argument. It provides a reason for why midlevel managers don’t want a smaller team—the managers would have more work to do.
c
Staff morale and ████████████ █████ ██████ ████ ███████ ███ ████ ████
This strengthens the argument. It provides a reason for why midlevel managers don’t want a smaller team—staff morale and productivity would decline.
d
Departmental workloads at ████ █████ ████████████ ████████ ███ ████████ █████████████ ███ ██████████████
This strengthens the argument. It provides a reason for why midlevel managers don’t want a smaller team—they are wary of the workload increasing suddenly and having too few unemployees.
e
Many large corporations █████ ████████ ██ █████ █████ ██████████ ██ █ █████ ██ ████████ ██████
This does not affect the argument. The fact that managers may be able to offer staff early retirement to reduce staff does not affect the assertion that they are nevertheless unlikely to suggest a reduction in staff.