Logical Reasoning

PT140 · S2 · Q18 Psychologists have found that

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Psychologists have found that the implementation of policies allowing work schedules to be tailored to individuals' needs does not typically increase managers' job satisfaction or their efficiency—although this may be because most managers already have the autonomy to adjust their own schedules.

Information

causal + contrast (do /don't increase)

Implementing more flexible scheduling doesn't usually increase managers' happiness or efficiency, but it does increase happiness / productivity / attendance by nonmanagerial employees.

limits on causality

Over time the benefits dissipate, and if the schedules are too flexible, the benefits basically disappear.

Evaluate

Our goal is to think about how we can combine at least two of the facts we were given, but it's hard to see any obvious way we should be combining these.

There seems to be a tenuous benefit to flexible schedules, but it primarily applies to nonmanagerial employees in the short term, with schedules that are less than totally flexible.

Goal

Let's just look for the most supportable answer we can find.

18.

Which one of the following statements is most supported by the information above?

  1. Implementing flexible schedules would be

    Too Strong: would be

    The passage tentatively speculates that the reason flexible scheduling doesn't usually increase managers' job satisfaction or efficiency is because they already have the autonomy to adjust their own schedules. But it says that may be the reason. This answer is acting like it definitely is the reason, and so if you found managers to whom it didn't apply (i.e. they don't already have scheduling autonomy), then flexible schedules would be sure to work.

    15% picked this

  2. Flexible-schedule policies should be expected

    Out of Scope: overall morale

    Nothing in the paragraph talks about the effect of flexible scheduling on "overall morale", so we have no way to speculate whether flexible scheduling would / wouldn't improve overall morale.

    18% picked this

  3. Flexible schedules should be expected

    Opposite, if anything

    The final sentence says that the benefits of flexible scheduling dissipate somewhat over time, so it's too strong (if not contradicted) that flexible schedules would substantially improve productivity and satisfaction in the long run.

    4% picked this

  4. There is little correlation between

    Too Strong: little correlation

    The paragraph makes it seem like implementing flexible scheduling might not increase managers' job satisfaction because they already have the autonomy to adjust their own schedules. So there might be a big correlation between satisfaction and flexible scheduling, and since the managers already have flexibility, they already have satisfaction.

    9% picked this

  5. Correct

    The typical benefits of flexible-schedule

    Why this is right

    This just finds a complicated way of talking about the contrast described, in terms of the causal impact of flexible scheduling. Flexible scheduling increases job satisfaction among nonmanagerial employees, but it typically doesn't increases job satisfaction among managers. So if we just observed the effect of flexible scheduling policies on managers, we would see "usually doesn't increase job satisfaction". Yet it would be an unreliable inference to think "flexible scheduling typically does not increase job satisfaction" because it typically does! We might have worried about whether it's fair to call the reaction of flexible scheduling of nonmanagerial employees the "typical" benefit. Why should we call their reaction to it the typical reaction? Why isn't the managerial reaction to it the typical one? This is probably just a common sense "numbers game" that LSAC had in mind. Are there more managers or nonmanagerial employees in the world? Obviously, there are more non-manager employees. So since flexible scheduling increases their job satisfaction and since most employees are non-managerial, it's fair to call the experience of nonmanagerial employees the 'typical' experience.

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

    54% picked this

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