According to our studies, most employees in the retail clothing indust

Question

According to our studies, most employees in the retail clothing industry move from retailer to retailer, changing companies and locations a few times in the course of their careers. However, FineThreads, Inc. is known globally for our ability to keep the best retail associates and back-office staff. FineThreads attributes our success in keeping the finest employees to our casual corporate structure. Our hierarchy is flat; we have an open-door policy and all employees have accountability to each other.

Identify the statement that most strengthens and the statement that most weakens FineThreads' explanation of its success in retaining employees.

zhchowdhury · Answer

Strengthen - B
Weaken - D

Catman · Answer

Options 3. Weaken and 5. Strengthen

1.  Many of FineThreads' management-level employees have previously worked at, at most, one other retail clothing company.  This statement neither strengthen not weakens the author's argument. Management employees previously in other companies have no relation that employees now will switch the job or not.

2.  A hierarchal work environment tends to thwart the cooperative exchange of ideas that retail clothing employees enjoy.  In non- hierarchal work environment, employees may have cooperative exchange of ideas, but it will lead to job satisfaction or not switching jobs we can't conclude.

3.  Some people employed in the retail clothing industry quickly tire of their positions because of the level of physical activity associated with their jobs . They may change the position in the same company and continue working or they may change their jobs so it may or may not strengthen the author's argument.

4.  In a nonhierarchical work environment, people do not discuss their dissatisfaction with their jobs. 
If people are not satisfied in the non-hierarchical work environment, then they may move to the companies with hierarchical work environment. Since fine threads follows non-hierarchical work environment, this means switching of jobs and weakening the author's argument.

5.  The cost of living near most FineThreads retail stores is much lower than it is in areas in which competitors have their stores . If cost of living near most Fine threads retail stores is lower than the employee may continue to work of Fine threads and move to other companies. The cost of living may outweigh the increase in the salary by switching the jobs.

ktzsikka · Answer

Given,
most employees change companies and locations a few times in the course of their careers.
 However, FineThreads, Inc. is known globally for its ability to keep the best  
FineThreads attributes - keeping the finest employees to casual corporate structure; flat hierarchy; open-door policy and all employees accountable.

Many of FineThreads' management-level employees have previously worked at, at most, one other retail clothing company.  (Already given in the passage that this is a regular practice of this industry)  
 
 A hierarchal work environment tends to thwart the cooperative exchange of ideas that retail clothing employees enjoy.  Strengthener    (This shows that flat hierarchy facilitates the exchange of ideas that employees enjoy.)

Some people employed in the retail clothing industry quickly tire of their positions because of the level of physical activity associated with their jobs.  (out of scope)

In a nonhierarchical work environment, people do not discuss their dissatisfaction with their jobs.  Weakener   (This shows that although employees stay with the company but is not due to the company's stated reasons. They stay back because they can't discuss their dissatisfaction about their jobs) 
 
The cost of living near most FineThreads retail stores is much lower than it is in areas in which competitors have their stores.  (mild strengthener but not a necessary statement)

akash2703 · Answer

Weaken statement -

1. Many of FineThreads' management-level employees have previously worked at, at most, one other retail clothing company.

- This statement introduces an external factor, which says that it is not the company but the employees themselves, who usually stay for long in the company. Hence it weakens the companies' conclusion or statement.

Strengthen statement -

2. A hierarchal work environment tends to thwart the cooperative exchange of ideas that retail clothing employees enjoy.
 This shows that the hierarchy contributes to the retainment of the employees, and in turn strengthens the companies' claims as the company said that  Our hierarchy is flat

Neither weakening/strengthen- 
3. Some people employed in the retail clothing industry quickly tire of their positions because of the level of physical activity associated with their jobs.
 - Nothing is given in the paragraph that how much physical activity is done at the Finethreads. 
4. In a nonhierarchical work environment, people do not discuss their dissatisfaction with their jobs.
 The fact that the employees don't discuss their dissatisfaction can't really depict their decisions to move out of the company. Nothing is given in the passage. 
5. The cost of living near most FineThreads retail stores is much lower than it is in areas in which competitors have their stores.
 Is that the reason why the employees change companies? We can't really say because it is out of scope.

800gal · Answer

According to our studies, most employees in the retail clothing industry move from retailer to retailer, changing companies and locations a few times in the course of their careers. However, FineThreads, Inc. is known globally for our ability to keep the best retail associates and back-office staff. FineThreads attributes our success in keeping the finest employees to our casual corporate structure. Our hierarchy is flat; we have an open-door policy and all employees have accountability to each other.

--
Fine threads' explanation of their success is that it is caused by their casual corporate structure. Therefore since this is essentially critical reasoning let's MAP out the Premises and Conclusions.
P1: Most employees in r. industry move from retailer to retailer, changing companies and locations a few times in their careers.

P2: However (change in direction), FineThreads Inc known globally for keeping the best employees and back office staff.

C: This success is due to their casual corporate structure.

P3: Their hierarchy is flat (open door policy and employees being accountable to each other)

The underlying assumption of this argument would be that FineThreads' Inc keeps their employees better than others DUE TO the casual corporate structure.

To weaken this assumption would give us the right W answer choice.
To strengthen this assumption would give us the right S answer choice.

Let's Go!
--

WEAKEN: W   STRENGTHEN: S

A. Many of FineThreads' management-level employees have previously worked at, at most, one other retail clothing company.
  
If many of their employees have worked at at most ONE company before FineThreads Inc, all this choice shows is that these employees haven't changed a lot of jobs in their careers as most retail employees do.

This cannot point to FineThreads Inc retaining the employees or that their casual corporate structure is the reason they can do it.

B. A hierarchal work environment tends to thwart the cooperative exchange of ideas that retail clothing employees enjoy. S 
    CORRECT  
We know FineThreads Inc follows a non hierarchal work environment. IF a hierarchal work environment thwarts something that employees enjoy, then what probably keeps these employees with a company is a NON HIERARCHAL ENVIRONMENT. This answer STRENGTHENS the assumption that the non hierarchal environment is the reason FineThreads Inc retains their employees better than others.

C. Some people employed in the retail clothing industry quickly tire of their positions because of the level of physical activity associated with their jobs. 
 
This does nothing to the conclusion of the argument, as the flat hierarchy isn't addressed. Also we do not know whether FineThreads Inc has less physical activity with their jobs in relation to other companies, so this again doesn't show us why FineThreads Inc retain employees better.

D. In a nonhierarchical work environment, people do not discuss their dissatisfaction with their jobs.
  
We know FineThreads Inc is nonhierarchal. So they must not discuss their dissatisfaction with their jobs. Does this stop them from leaving the company? What if the dissatisfaction is hidden? This doesn't address why they can retain their employees.

E. The cost of living near most FineThreads retail stores is much lower than it is in areas in which competitors have their stores. W
     CORRECT  
This option gives another reason as to why employees stay with FineThreads INC, if the rents are lower near their place of work, then clearly THAT could be the reason why employees choose Finethreads Inc over other employers. 
This undermines the assumption that the casual structure of the company is the ONLY reason why FineThreads Inc retains their employees.

yashikaaggarwal · Answer

1. Many of FineThreads' management-level employees have previously worked at, at most, one other retail clothing company. (it neither strengthen why the company is able to retain employees nor weaken. It doesn't strengthen as the employees have been at other companies as well, and it doesn't weaken as they are currently retained at Fine thread company)

2. A hierarchal work environment tends to thwart the cooperative exchange of ideas that retail clothing employees enjoy. (since fine thread doesn't have any hierarchy, which retail company employees enjoy, the employees will be retained at the company to continue sharing their ideas) (Strengthening)

3. Some people employed in the retail clothing industry quickly tire of their positions because of the level of physical activity associated with their jobs. (positions are neither mentioned, nor is the focal point in the passage) (out of context)

4. In a non-hierarchical work environment, people do not discuss their dissatisfaction with their jobs. (since the company do not have any hierarchy the employees do not share their dissatisfaction and might end up leaving) (weakening)

5. The cost of living near most FineThreads retail stores is much lower than it is in areas in which competitors have their stores. (cost of living is not mentioned anywhere in the passage, nor it directly effects the retaining capacity of Fine thread) (out of context)

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Hello everyone!

OA of this question is posted, it is:

Strengthen : A hierarchal work environment tends to thwart the cooperative exchange of ideas that retail clothing employees enjoy.
 Weaken : The cost of living near most FineThreads retail stores is much lower than it is in areas in which competitors have their stores.

Only  800gal  got it right, I will post the Exp.

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Official Explanation

Strengthen

Answer  (B)  supports a connection between hierarchical work environment and employee dissatisfaction, so it consequently supports FineThreads' assertion that a non-hierarchical corporate structure contributes to employee satisfaction. It follows that satisfied employees will not leave the company for which they work.

Weaken

Answer  (E)  brings up an alternate explanation for why a FineThreads employee might stay at his/her job. It basically says it costs less to live near FineThreads locations, so that could be the reason employees don't go to other retail clothing employers. Thus, it weakens FineThreads' assertion that it's because of its non-hierarchical corporate structure.

(A)  is incorrect because the previous experience of employees at any level doesn't hurt or help this argument.

(C)  is incorrect because the fact that some employees tire of their jobs is irrelevant to whether the non-hierarchical structure is the reason FineThreads retains a lot of its employees.

(D)  is incorrect because it does not explain why the employees stay at their current job.

Bhavita. · Answer

Here we need to weaken the conclusion i.e FineThreads' explanation of its success (attributes sertian factors to success) in retaining employees... out of which one of the attribute is its non hierarchical structure. So any new info about the non hierarchical structure explaining the potential reason that can result in loss of customers will actually weaken this. Then how is statement D not a correct weakner. Could you please explain

egmat · Answer

Hi Bhavita,

What do we need to weaken -  The explanation given by FineThreads.
As per FineThreads, they are able to have the finest employees because of the flat hierarchy.

So,  a correct weakener should convey that the reason behind the finest employees working with Finethreads is not its flat hierarchy, but something else.

Choice D conveys that in such a work environment, people do not discuss their dissatisfaction with their jobs.
Ok, so can it be the reason because of which the finest employees work with Finethreads? We cannot say that right.

Hence, choice D cannot weaken the explanation given by Finethreads.

Choice E, on the other hand, gives us an alternative reason and hence is the correct weakener.

Hope that helps.

Regards,
Kanupriya

According to our studies, most employees in the retail clothing indust

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