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655-705 Level|   Assumption|      
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Kirkland’s theory of corporate structure can be represented by a trunc 08 Mar 2021, 06:30
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B
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54% (01:39) correct 46% (01:41) wrong based on 738 sessions

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Kirkland’s theory of corporate structure can be represented by a truncated pyramid. There are workers, middle management, and executive management, but no head of the corporation. Instead, all major decisions are made by committee. As a consequence, in Kirkland’s structure, risky, cutting-edge technologies cannot be developed.

Which one of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?


(A) Cutting-edge technologies are typically developed by entrepreneurs, not by big corporations.

(B) Only single individuals will make risky decisions.

(C) An individual is more likely to take a gamble on his own than in a group.

(D) All heads of corporations reached their positions by taking risks.

(E) All cutting-edge technologies involve some risk.
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B
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Bunuel
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Kirkland’s theory of corporate structure can be represented by a trunc 15 Mar 2021, 09:15
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Bunuel
Kirkland’s theory of corporate structure can be represented by a truncated pyramid. There are workers, middle management, and executive management, but no head of the corporation. Instead, all major decisions are made by committee. As a consequence, in Kirkland’s structure, risky, cutting-edge technologies cannot be developed.

Which one of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?


(A) Cutting-edge technologies are typically developed by entrepreneurs, not by big corporations.

(B) Only single individuals will make risky decisions.

(C) An individual is more likely to take a gamble on his own than in a group.

(D) All heads of corporations reached their positions by taking risks.

(E) All cutting-edge technologies involve some risk.
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Official Explanation



The link that allows the conclusion to be drawn is the assumption that only individuals make risky decisions. The answer is (B).

Both (A) and (C) are close second-best choices (a double-detractor pair). Both are supported by the passage, but each understates the scope of the suppressed premise. The argument states that in Kirkland’s model of corporate structure cutting-edge technologies cannot be developed, not that they are less likely to be developed.
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vaibhavnishad
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Kirkland’s theory of corporate structure can be represented by a trunc 09 Mar 2021, 05:58
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I think its B despite the fact that it is an extreme answer but in question also the conclusion is also extreme. And generally in Assumption Based question answers can be extreme. This is a exception of the general Rule we all know.
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Kirkland’s theory of corporate structure can be represented by a trunc 05 Jul 2022, 00:54
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(B) Only single individuals will make risky decisions.

Negate: Single individuals will not make risky decisions. This breaks the conclusion that the committee will not be able to develop risky, cutting edge tech. If single people cannot do this, then how can a committee (that is even less likely) take risk?

(C) An individual is more likely to take a gamble on his own than in a group.

I had a problem with the word Gamble. It really isn't equal to taking risk. But setting that aside, let's use the negation technique.

An individual is less likely to take a gamble on his own than in a group. There could be individuals who vote for taking more risky decisions, but the committee will be dependent on majority's decision. And the majority does not want to take risks. So this does not break the conclusion. It also deviates from talking about organizations that uses Kirkland’s theory of corporate structure .

Let me know what you think.
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Kirkland’s theory of corporate structure can be represented by a trunc 18 Jul 2022, 08:19
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Rainman91
(B) Only single individuals will make risky decisions.

Negate: Single individuals will not make risky decisions. This breaks the conclusion that the committee will not be able to develop risky, cutting edge tech. If single people cannot do this, then how can a committee (that is even less likely) take risk?

(C) An individual is more likely to take a gamble on his own than in a group.

I had a problem with the word Gamble. It really isn't equal to taking risk. But setting that aside, let's use the negation technique.

An individual is less likely to take a gamble on his own than in a group. There could be individuals who vote for taking more risky decisions, but the committee will be dependent on majority's decision. And the majority does not want to take risks. So this does not break the conclusion. It also deviates from talking about organizations that uses Kirkland’s theory of corporate structure .

Let me know what you think.
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Not sure of the way you have negated but i agree with the conclusion you made.
C is more of an irrelevant direction. A gamble can be taken by a group as well if its members are biased, nonetheless gamble might have different intensity depending upon individual/s.
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Kirkland’s theory of corporate structure can be represented by a trunc 27 May 2023, 04:44
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Kirkland’s theory of corporate structure can be represented by a truncated pyramid. There are workers, middle management, and executive management, but no head of the corporation. Instead, all major decisions are made by committee. As a consequence, in Kirkland’s structure, risky, cutting-edge technologies cannot be developed.

Which one of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?


(A) Cutting-edge technologies are typically developed by entrepreneurs, not by big corporations.

A lot of assumptions should be evaluated to parallel to the flaw of the argument
1. Do entrepreneurs make decisions without consulting, or without weighing the others' opinions?
2. Is Kirkland a big corporation(Ignore the side knowledge)?
3. Typically hints that something happens not always, while the conclusion states that Kirkland cannot develop risky technologies.


(B) Only single individuals will make risky decisions.
Literally what we need.

(C) An individual is more likely to take a gamble on his own than in a group.
Again, intention of an incomplete result. More likely means that comparatively higher chances, while we have no base information. Also, gamble is an ambiguous and vague wording.

(D) All heads of corporations reached their positions by taking risks.
Absolutely irrelevant. Heads of corporations may act completely differently after conquering their position.
(E) All cutting-edge technologies involve some risk.
As cutting- edge technologies were separated from risky ones with a comma, we cannot state that those are synonyms, hence they may be two types of technologies. This means that cutting-edge technologies need not to be risky.

Answer B
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Kirkland’s theory of corporate structure can be represented by a trunc 15 Aug 2024, 15:47
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