Events & Promotions
|
|
GMAT Club Daily Prep
Thank you for using the timer - this advanced tool can estimate your performance and suggest more practice questions. We have subscribed you to Daily Prep Questions via email.
Customized
for You
Track
Your Progress
Practice
Pays
Not interested in getting valuable practice questions and articles delivered to your email? No problem, unsubscribe here.
Nov 2007:30 AM PST
-08:30 AM PST
Learn what truly sets the UC Riverside MBA apart and how it helps in your professional growth
Nov 2211:00 AM IST
-01:00 PM IST
Do RC/MSR passages scare you? e-GMAT is conducting a masterclass to help you learn – Learn effective reading strategies Tackle difficult RC & MSR with confidence Excel in timed test environment- Nov 23
11:00 AM IST
-01:00 PM IST
Attend this free GMAT Algebra Webinar and learn how to master the most challenging Inequalities and Absolute Value problems with ease. 
Nov 2510:00 AM EST
-11:00 AM EST
Prefer video-based learning? The Target Test Prep OnDemand course is a one-of-a-kind video masterclass featuring 400 hours of lecture-style teaching by Scott Woodbury-Stewart, founder of Target Test Prep and one of the most accomplished GMAT instructors.
20 Jul 2018, 11:46
Kudos
Bookmarks
Quote:
DogGoesWoof
The key to distinguishing between these two choices is the meaning of these words:
- Resource, especially in a business management context, commonly means money to be spent.
- Cost commonly means an amount of money to be spent.
- Effort is not a synonym for money, cost, or resources. It most commonly refers to work being put in by people.
When describing the "OH! NO!" system in paragraph 2, the author describes how Ohno continuously denied managers "the resources needed for production," all "in an effort to find the minimum resource requirement." Since the system's objective is to minimize the resources required for production, we infer that the primary advantage to companies is the same: production at the lowest possible level of resources.
Quote:
Under the "OH! NO!" system, a.k.a. "management by stress," the resources provided to department managers repeatedly shrank, until the production process was at the verge of breakdown. The author even tells us that the range of responsibilities given to Japanese workers was "far wider than their span of control." Under such a system, we can infer that workers would be expending more effort in order to make up for their minimized level of resources. This is why Choice (B) is wrong. It doesn't match the picture of a high-stress, low-resource environment presented by the author.
Quote:
Choice (C) doesn't use the phrase "production resources." However, since we know that "resource" acts as a synonym for "money," the two phrases are basically interchangeable in this context. We keep (C) because the "OH! NO!" system was designed to find the minimum resource requirement for production (i.e. the lowest production cost).
And man, this question makes me want to crack awful Dad jokes. Bad example: I hope this explanation makes you go "OH! YEAH!"
Ugh, that was awful. Can I give myself negative kudos?
09 Aug 2018, 07:59
Kudos
Bookmarks
mihirbhalla
mihirbhalla
In the first paragraph, the author introduces "unionism" in Japan, the role of unionism in companies, the internal workings of unionism and compares it with the unionism in United States.
In the second paragraph, the author talks about the effects of unionism on workers, foremen and how the management took advantage of unionism to squeeze worker productivity etc.
The above stated summary matches with primary purpose as stated in option B
19 Jan 2019, 01:46
Kudos
Bookmarks
teaserbae
Hi teaserbae,
Para 1- state of unions in Japanese auto- did not do much good for workers; similar way of unions did not succeed in USA
Para 2- the truth of the Japanese model; overworked workers ; "management by stress."
3. The author of the passage mentions the "OH! NO!" system primarily in order to
The Japanese model was often invoked as one in which authority decentralized to the shop floor empowered production workers to make key decisions.
What these claims failed to recognize was that the actual delegation of authority was to the foreman, not the workers. ---> This qualifies the claim made in the first statement of the second paragraph.
So, in reality, workers WERE NOT empowered to make key decisions
Rather than being proactive, Japanese workers were forced to be reactive, the range of their responsibilities being far wider than their span of control.--> This tells us about the true state of affairs of the workers in Japan's auto industry.
For example, the founder of one production system, Taichi Ohno, routinely gave department managers only 90 percent of the resources needed for production.As soon as workers could meet production goals without working overtime, 10 percent of remaining resources would be removed. Because the "OH! NO!" system continually pushed the production process to the verge of breakdown in an effort to find the minimum resource requirement, critics described it as "management by stress." --> an example of how random stressful situations were thrown at Japanese workers
(A) indicate a way in which the United States industry has become more like the Japanese auto industry - Incorrect - we are never told that such a system exists in US auto industry
(B) challenge a particular misconception about worker empowerment in the Japanese auto industry - Correct
(C) illustrate the kinds of problem-solving techniques encouraged by company unions in Japan - Incorrect - we are never told that OH NO system was encouraged by unions themselves but it seems that this system was forced onto them by the management
(D) suggest an effective way of minimizing production costs in auto manufacturing - Incorrect
(E) provide an example of the responsibilities assumed by a foreman in the Japanese auto industry - Incorrect
Hope this helps!!
