Decision makers tend to have distinctive styles. One such style is for

Decision makers tend to have distinctive styles. One such style is for the decision maker to seek the widest possible input from advisers and to explore alternatives while making up his or her mind. In fact, decision makers of this sort will often argue vigorously for a particular idea, emphasizing its strong points and downplaying its weaknesses, not because they actually believe in the idea but because they want to see if their real reservations about it are idiosyncratic or are held independently by their advisers.

Which one of the following is most strongly supported by the statement above?


Explanation:
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(A) If certain decision makers’ statements are quoted accurately and at length, the content of the quote could nonetheless be greatly at variance with the decision eventually make. ---> This option looks better. As mentioned, decision makers are presenting their views (which they may not really believe in) to get others’ reaction. It’s not written that whichever idea they present before others is the one that finally gets implemented. It may or may not be. The option just expresses a possibility (...could nonetheless...); it’s not saying for sure that the idea presented is actually the idea implemented.

(B) Certain decision makers do not know which ideas they do not really believe in until after they have presented a variety of ideas to their advisers. ---> We cannot say this after reading the excerpt. We might say that decision makers at least know what they believe in. Decision makers are just trying to know whether the idea that they vouch for is totally different from others or not.

@ ritula: Though it’s mentioned that they take input from advisors, it’s also mentioned that they put forth their ideas to advisors (last sentence of excerpt: ...independently by their advisers) to get their reactions in order to know whether their (decision makers) views are idiosyncratic or not.

(C) If certain decision makers dismiss an idea out of hand, it must be because its weaknesses are more pronounced than any strong points it may have. ---> Though, the second part may be right, the first part is wrong. Decision makers are not dismissing any idea out of hand; everything goes through a discussion process. Hence, discard it.

(D) Certain decision makers proceed in a way that makes it likely that they will frequently decide in favor of ideas in which they do not believe. ---> This is not mentioned/suggested anywhere in the excerpt. They may take up an idea in which they do not believe in just to get others’ viewpoint but this does not mean that they will likely decide in favour of such ideas.

(E) If certain decision makers’ advisers know the actual beliefs of those they advise, those advisers will give better advice than they would if they did not know those beliefs. ---> This is not mentioned/suggested anywhere in the excerpt. Red Herring.
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My choice is option A. Good question. +1.

Hope that helps.


Regards,
Technext

I chose A but not felt confident of my choice but nothing seemed relevant than A

if the decisionmakers dicuss the ideas which they dont't actually believe in just to see how know his advisers stancethen obviously the decision makers quotes will be differ from the actual decision this was emphasised in the statement A.

so my choice is A

IMO B
its a tough one
main point/conclusion is
..."not because they(decision makers) actually believe in the idea but because they want to see if their real reserva-tions about it are idiosyncratic or are held independently by their advisers."

Really tough one.I dnt think it shld be B. bcos the ideas are not presented to the advisers, but are actually taken (see highlited area)well coming back to the right coices, Im not able 2 decide b/w C and D
@priyankur, wht is the source and in which difficulty level is it mentioned?

A real tough cookie.

I am confused between B & D.

I think D is the most probable choice, because B talks about the belief of a decision maker. A decision maker may have an opinion or belief about a particular decision but before acting on it he/she will be counselled by the advisers. Since this option talks about the belief of a DM i don't think this should be the answer.

Option D tells us that he downplays the disadvantages of a particular decision and emphasizes the strong points of it, which tells us that he approaches a decision by looking at the positive aspects of it/

Option C didn't fit, cos the DM doesn't want to dismiss an idea without consulting his advisers, he is of the opinion that his reservations may be idiosyncratic.

I chose A.

B - decision makers do believe in ideas, but they want to explore whether it is idiosyncratic with advisers.
C - decision makers do not dismiss idea plainly on the basis of pronounced weaknesses. They discuss in detail with advisors before taking decision.
D - This may be true. But, not always true.
E - not really.

man I chose A too, but it was because the other ones felt a bit off nothing to distinct. Whats OA

One more point, in this question you would want to find out an answer that is "necessarily" true and totally airtight, and not an answer that could/might be true because the genre of the question is "Must be true". All other possibilities apart from A are questionable as Tommy Wallach has pointed out, and A is the only one that can always be inferred absolutely.


Regards,
Subhash

should one expect to see a question like this in the gmat exam??