#26 - Sociologist: Suggestions for improved efficiency that

[oops27]

Hello,

I can't eliminate C as a contender. This is how I have broken down the stimulus so far:

P1: (Fact) Suggestions for efficiency derived from employers unlikely to be positive.
P2 (Principle) Engage in positive dialogue.
C: Ideas implemented more quickly/efficiently.

I incorrectly eliminated B because I thought that it added a new element (employee's belief that they have participated) to the stimulus and so went out of scope. Could you please explain the difference between B and C? Thanks powerscore!

[James Finch]

Hi Oops,

This is a Strengthen question, so we know there is a logical gap that we need to fill. This stimulus has a relatively straightforward structure, with a couple premises supporting the conclusion, so let's see what we're missing:

P1: Ideas will be met with resistance from employees if originating from employers.

P2: Employers should engage employees

C: Engaging employees will mean ideas implemented quicker

So what we need is a link between engaging employees and the employees implementing the ideas, which the stimulus hints at but does not explicitly say.

Answer choice (B) links the conclusion (quicker implementation) with the second premise (employee engagement), thus helping to strengthen our conclusion and serving as the correct answer choice.

(C), on the other hand, deals with a new element that doesn't exist in the stimulus, ideas coming from a dialogue. The stimulus is talking about ideas emanating from an employer (P1) and tricking the employees into thinking the ideas come from the employees themselves (P2) and the efficient implementation of those ideas (P1 and C). Here we are dealing with a different scope, that of ideas coming out of dialogues, some with the employees, some without, but our scope is ideas coming from employers. So (C) is out of scope and therefore incorrect.

Hope this helps!

[martinbeslu]

I’m still trying to understand why C can be eliminated. Answer C talks about how likely an employee is to implement ideas that derive from a dialogue in which they have participated. It says that employees are MORE likely to implement ideas that derive from a dialogue in which they have participated.
No where is it suggested that the ideas in the dialogue are new ideas generated by the employee. It only says that the positive contributions of the employees to the development of the ideas are emphasized so that the employee feels like they helped generate the idea and feel that it was not derived from only the employer.

The purpose of the dialogue with the employees (from the second premise) is to talk about the ideas that the employer wants to implement and “emphasize the positive contributions of the employee” to the development of the ideas. The stimulus doesn’t say that the dialogue is intended to generate new ideas from employees. Rather, the dialogue is a chance for employees to contribute to the development of the employer’s ideas so that the employee’s response is more “positive”.

Can you please help me better understand what makes this answer choice out of scope.

[Daniel Stern]

Hi Martin:

Premise 2, the second sentence, says the employer should engage in a dialogue with the employees that emphasizes the employees's contributions to the "development of such ideas." The word "such" indicates we're speaking about the same ideas from Premise 1, the first sentence, which are ideas for improved efficiency that derive from employers.

So Premise 2 is not suggesting that the employers actually listen to the employees ideas in the dialogue, but merely that the employers convince the employees that it was the employees's own contributions that led to these new employer ideas about efficiency.

Credited response B links us from P1 and P2 to the conclusion: P1 employer efficiency ideas don't get good response from employees because they resent ideas they didn't come up with; P2 employers should talk with employees to convince them their own contributions led the employer to generate these efficiency ideas. Answer B adds directly that employees like and will implement ideas they believe they helped create. Which brings us to conclusion, last sentence in stimulus, that then the employer's ideas will be better implemented.

C is a shell game answer: We see the employees implementing ideas from dialogues. Our stimulus went from P2 talking about dialogues to Conclusion talking about implementing ideas. C has to be the link, right? NO! C goes far afield. As a prior staff member pointed out, the ideas being implemented in the conclusion are the original employer efficiency ideas, not some new ideas generated by the dialogue. Ideas from the dialogue is a new element.

Further, C goes astray in the second half of the answer choice: We don't know anything about employees tendency to implement idead from a "dialogue in which they have not participated." Huh? What is that? How can there have been a dialogue if they didn't participate?

C is out for those two reasons: odd new element shell game, and then language that just rockets right out of the scope of the stimulus and lands somewhere far away.

I hope that is helpful, good luck in your studies.

Dan

[ShannonOh22]

I'm still unclear on why C is incorrect...B and C essentially say the same thing, with the exception that B stretches the concept more than C does, to include that employers should dupe their employees into thinking they had a part in something they didn't....which isn't what the stimulus indicates. The stimulus advocates for including the employees in the conversation about efficiency improvement ideas, because this will better guarantee their compliance.

C says just that, in Principle form: "Employees are more likely to carry out ideas for improved efficiency that derive from a dialogue in which they have participated than from a dialogue in which they have not participated."

This follows directly from the stimulus, without involving the concept of employee "beliefs", which B includes, seemingly unnecessarily...

I feel like I'm missing something here. Can you please enlighten me? Thank you in advance for the help!

[KelseyWoods]

Hi Shannon!

As others have stated, answer choice (C) is the option that actually adds additional information--the concept that the ideas derive from the dialogue. The stimulus does not discuss the ideas deriving from the dialogue. Instead, the point of the dialogue is to emphasize to the employee that they have made positive contributions to the development of ideas. It's not that the employer has the discussion with the employees and then they come up with ideas to implement. Rather, according to the stimulus, the employer comes up with an idea to implement, and rather than just ordering the employee to do it, the employer has a dialogue with the employee about their positive contributions to the idea before telling them to do it.

So, as in answer choice (B), it's more about the employee believing they contributed to the idea (a belief that comes from the dialogue about their positive contributions to the idea), than it is about the ideas being derived from a dialogue.

Hope this helps!

Best,
Kelsey

[sadao]

Regarding the below from James, isn't this question actually a Strengthen question, as it contains most helps and therefore does not deal in absolutes, as Justify questions do?

Hi Oops,

This is a Justify question, so we know there is a logical gap that we need to fill. This stimulus has a relatively straightforward structure, with a couple premises supporting the conclusion, so let's see what we're missing:

P1: Ideas will be met with resistance from employees if originating from employers.

P2: Employers should engage employees

C: Engaging employees will mean ideas implemented quicker

So what we need is a link between engaging employees and the employees implementing the ideas, which the stimulus hints at but does not explicitly say.

Answer choice (B) links the conclusion (quicker implementation) with the second premise (employee engagement), thus helping to justify our conclusion and serving as the correct answer choice.

(C), on the other hand, deals with a new element that doesn't exist in the stimulus, ideas coming from a dialogue. The stimulus is talking about ideas emanating from an employer (P1) and tricking the employees into thinking the ideas come from the employees themselves (P2) and the efficient implementation of those ideas (P1 and C). Here we are dealing with a different scope, that of ideas coming out of dialogues, some with the employees, some without, but our scope is ideas coming from employers. So (C) is out of scope and therefore incorrect.

Hope this helps!

[Dave Killoran]

Yeah, I'm not sure why he made that comment, it's clearly Strengthen and noted as such in our database. Perhaps he was just moving too fast I'm going to correct it above and then erase this after a day or two. thanks for pointing that out!