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ritula
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In recent years, unions have begun to include in their Updated on: 05 Jun 2008, 21:08
Originally posted by ritula on 05 Jun 2008, 07:25.
Last edited by ritula on 05 Jun 2008, 21:08, edited 1 time in total.
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In recent years, unions have begun to include in their demands at the collective bargaining table requests for contract provisions which give labor an active voice in determining the goals of a corporation. Although it cannot be denied that labor leaders are highly skilled administrators, it must be recognized that their primary loyalty is and must remain to their membership, not to the corporation. Thus, labor participation in corporate management decisions makes about as much sense as allowing inmates to make decisions about prison security.
Which of the following represents the best continuation of the passage?

The author's reasoning leads to the further conclusion that

1. the authority of corporate managers would be symbolically undermined if labor leaders were allowed to participate in corporate planning.

2. workers have virtually no idea of how to run a large corporation

3. workers would not derive any benefit from hearing the goals of corporate management explained to them at semiannual meetings

4. the efficiency of workers would be lowered if they were to divide their time between production line duties and management responsibilities

5. allowing labor a voice in corporate decisions would involve labor representatives in a conflict of interest



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In recent years, unions have begun to include in their Updated on: 05 Jun 2008, 07:31
Originally posted by abhijit_sen on 05 Jun 2008, 07:29.
Last edited by abhijit_sen on 05 Jun 2008, 07:31, edited 1 time in total.
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E
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ritula
In recent years, unions have begun to include in their demands at the collective bargaining table requests for contract provisions which give labor an active voice in determining the goals of a corporation. Although it cannot be denied that labor leaders are highly skilled administrators, it must be recognized that their primary loyalty is and must remain to their membership, not to the corporation. Thus, labor participation in corporate management decisions makes about as much sense as allowing inmates to make decisions about prison security.
Which of the following represents the best continuation of the passage?

The author's reasoning leads to the further conclusion that

1. the authority of corporate managers would be symbolically undermined if labor leaders were allowed to participate in corporate planning.

2. workers have virtually no idea of how to run a large corporation

3. workers would not derive any benefit from hearing the goals of corporate management explained to them at semiannual meetings

4. the efficiency of workers would be lowered if they were to divide their time between production line duties and management responsibilities

5. allowing labor a voice in corporate decisions would involve labor representatives in a conflict of interest
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is it E?
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In recent years, unions have begun to include in their 05 Jun 2008, 07:48
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I think it's A.

See my reasoning in blue near each answer.

ritula
In recent years, unions have begun to include in their demands at the collective bargaining table requests for contract provisions which give labor an active voice in determining the goals of a corporation. Although it cannot be denied that labor leaders are highly skilled administrators, it must be recognized that their primary loyalty is and must remain to their membership, not to the corporation. Thus, labor participation in corporate management decisions makes about as much sense as allowing inmates to make decisions about prison security.
Which of the following represents the best continuation of the passage?

The author's reasoning leads to the further conclusion that

1. the authority of corporate managers would be symbolically undermined if labor leaders were allowed to participate in corporate planning.

Just like the authority of the prison admins/guards would be undermined if the inmates were allowed to be involved in security, the corporate managers would be undermined if unions had a voice. Remember, you don't have to agree with the statement or conclusion, but you do have to be able to extend the logic in the stem to the answer...even if you believe the underlying premise to be flawed. ;) IMO, labor unions want the company to stay profitable and employed or their workers will be laid off on a massive scale.

2. workers have virtually no idea of how to run a large corporation

This goes against the statement that union leaders (i.e., also workers to an extent) are highly skilled. Furthermore, it goes against the analogy of inmates helping determine security. That has nothing to do with skill...it has everything to do with authority to manage prison security.

3. workers would not derive any benefit from hearing the goals of corporate management explained to them at semiannual meetings

way out of scope for what the stem actually discusses so this would be a leap of logic from what is actually stated.

4. the efficiency of workers would be lowered if they were to divide their time between production line duties and management responsibilities

Off topic and out of scope with the stem. Again, compared to the inmate exmaple, keeping with that logic, efficiency has nothing to do with who gets a voice. As you read the #4 & #5 choices, it is easy to forget the details of the passage itself because we just read 3 other answers not part of the actual stem. It might be a good idea to go back and either re-read the stem or at least skim it before reading #4 & #5.

5. allowing labor a voice in corporate decisions would involve labor representatives in a conflict of interest

While this might be plausible and even true on a certain level, it has nothing to do with what the stem says. The inmate analolgy really helped me focus on the idea conveyed by the stem. Inmates would not be in a conflict of interest because they have no loyalty to the prison, so concluding anything about a conflict of interest is off topic and out of scope.

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In recent years, unions have begun to include in their 05 Jun 2008, 08:51
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E for me. The author stated that labor representatives' participation is not a practice because unions leaders have to protect employees' interests not management's ones and not to manage the corporations. If leaders nevertheless become a part of top management they will be in conflict bitween interests of union members [who want to raise their wage, for example] and those of firms shareholders and top execs [who cut wages to increase a margin].
It's probably not a true but continuation of reasoning. Let's see OA.
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In recent years, unions have begun to include in their 05 Jun 2008, 09:02
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You state "if leaders nevertheless become a part of top management..." The stem doesn't say anything about that. This question discusses giving the leaders a say, not a position in top management. For this reason, I believe this answer goes beyond the scope of the question and makes a leap unsupported by the stem.

BARFER -> Can you tell me why you believe A is wrong?

barfer
E for me. The author stated that labor representatives' participation is not a practice because unions leaders have to protect employees' interests not management's ones and not to manage the corporations. If leaders nevertheless become a part of top management they will be in conflict bitween interests of union members [who want to raise their wage, for example] and those of firms shareholders and top execs [who cut wages to increase a margin].
It's probably not a true but continuation of reasoning. Let's see OA.
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In recent years, unions have begun to include in their 05 Jun 2008, 11:24
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Going for E. The analogy presented in the last statement of the argument would best be followed up by E which clearly points to a conflict of interest displayed in the analogy.
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In recent years, unions have begun to include in their 05 Jun 2008, 12:02
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ritula
In recent years, unions have begun to include in their demands at the collective bargaining table requests for contract provisions which give labor an active voice in determining the goals of a corporation. Although it cannot be denied that labor leaders are highly skilled administrators, it must be recognized that their primary loyalty is and must remain to their membership, not to the corporation. Thus, labor participation in corporate management decisions makes about as much sense as allowing inmates to make decisions about prison security.
Which of the following represents the best continuation of the passage?

The author's reasoning leads to the further conclusion that

1. the authority of corporate managers would be symbolically undermined if labor leaders were allowed to participate in corporate planning.

2. workers have virtually no idea of how to run a large corporation

3. workers would not derive any benefit from hearing the goals of corporate management explained to them at semiannual meetings

4. the efficiency of workers would be lowered if they were to divide their time between production line duties and management responsibilities

5. allowing labor a voice in corporate decisions would involve labor representatives in a conflict of interest
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BCD all do not make any sense.

I believe A is backwards in terms of which group the psg is focusing on.


E is correct b/c it talkes about labor leaders
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In recent years, unions have begun to include in their 05 Jun 2008, 12:13
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E for me

Thus, labor participation in corporate management decisions makes about as much sense as
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allowing inmates to make decisions about prison security
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.-> this clearly indicates the conflict of interest which is captured in E.
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In recent years, unions have begun to include in their 05 Jun 2008, 12:31
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Enough suspence....what's the OA? lol
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ritula
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In recent years, unions have begun to include in their 05 Jun 2008, 21:12
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Thanks all for interesting discussion. well ...OA is E.
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In recent years, unions have begun to include in their 06 Jun 2008, 05:51
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The OA doesn't make sense in my opinion. If it does make sense, then the example of prison inmates in the stem doesn't make any sense. If there is a conflict of interest, that implies that the person with the conflict owes a duty. The prison inmates owe no duty to the prison authorities. They certainly have an interest in their own escaping (if they were to get a say in security procedures of the prison). If they were to get a voice in prison security, they have no interest in making security better, so who could that be a conflict?

What it would do is undermine that prison authorities. I can see where the OA is seeing a conflict of interest, but it doesn't seem like the best answer to me. IMO.



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This topic has been closed and archived due to inactivity or violation of community quality standards. No more replies are possible here.
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