Sociologist: Suggestions for improved

Answer choices

1. A

   Weak Conclusion/Premise Match1% picked this

   Employees are more likely to accept suggestions for improved efficiency when these suggestions are not

   This principle seems somewhat relevant but helps us to establish that employees are more likely to accept suggestions. We're trying to justify that "ideas will be implemented more quickly and effectively" or that "employers should do this". The idea of employees' accepting suggestions seems in the same conversation, but not directly using the right language. Similarly, it feels like the plan being recommended would involve "suggestions less obviously directed at employees", but the language of the premise is "more likely to elicit positive response" or "emphasizes positive contributions of employee".

   1%
2. B

   Correct67% picked this

   Employees are more likely to carry out ideas for improved efficiency that they believe they

   Why this is right

   This connects the plan to the supposed result. The plan is supposed to emphasize employees' contributions (which we can assume would make one think, "Hey, I helped!"). The result is supposed to be that the employer's ideas will be implemented more quickly. The author was Assuming a Difference about this plan: - a plan in which employees don't feel like they generated suggestions will not get ideas implemented as quickly/effectively as would my alternative plan that does make the employees feel like they generated some of the ideas

   Skill tested: Principle-Strengthen · how this choice captures the argument's function is the move to repeat next time.

   67%
3. C

   Not as Good as (B)25% picked this

   Employees are more likely to implement ideas for improved efficiency that derive from a dialogue in which they have participated than from a dialogue

   This answer seems fiendishly mean. It has the same structure as (B), but this answer hinges on an idea that isn't a clear difference between the two plans being considered, whereas (B) hinged on an idea that was a clear difference. There were two plans being compared: employer gives suggestions employer engages employees in a dialogue Since the first plan didn't involve "a dialogue", we can't use this answer choice to compare the suggested plan to the alternative plan. It does, however, somewhat strengthen the idea that there's a connection between participating in a dialogue and being more likely to implement ideas. But, for (B), it was established that there was a difference between the suggested plan and the alternative plan in terms of whether or not employees would have felt like they had participated in generating the suggestions. So (B) has a more powerful effect in filtering between the two plans.

   25%
4. D

   Weak Conclusion Match4% picked this

   Employees are more likely to generate good ideas for improved efficiency when they do not feel resentment about the process that

   This principle would allow one to conclude that "employees are more likely to generate good ideas", but the language we're looking to support is "employers should do it" or "employer's ideas will be implemented more quickly/effectively".

   4%
5. E

   Out of Scope: resenting employers2% picked this

   Employees are more likely to resent employers who attempt to implement the employers’ rather than the employees’

   We only talked about employees resenting suggestions that they didn't come up with. This answer does reinforce that idea, but we don't need to be convinced that employees will resent their employers as well. We need to be convinced that engaging employees in a dialogue will lead to better implementation of the employers' ideas. If anything, this answer seems to undermine that concept by making it seem like if there IS a group dialogue, the employees will be insisting on their ideas being implemented, not the employers' ideas.

   2%