The following characteristics tend to help organizations attract talen

Question

The following characteristics tend to help organizations attract talented employees:

A-1. Most employees included in at least some decisions
A-2. Valuable training provided
A-3. Increased compensation for excellent performance
A-4. A reputation for good teamwork

The following characteristics tend to help organizations retain talented employees:

R-1. High employee job satisfaction and commitment to the organization
R-2. Employees with few alternative job possibilities outside the company that match their skills and talents

Although many of these characteristics associated with attracting and retaining talented employees apply to ballet companies, it is not clear (a) how important each of these characteristics is relative to all of the others, (b) whether a characteristic that tends to attract candidates may also increase employee retention, and (c) how one or more ballet companies manifest one or more of these characteristics.

Score-Quest · Accepted Answer

Question 1:

A-1. Most employees included in at least some decisions:
Manifested. This is evident in Statement 5, where dancers participate with the choreographer in the design process, indicating their inclusion in decision-making.

A-2. Valuable training provided:
Manifested. Statement 5 indicates dancers learn the renowned style and approach of the choreographer, suggesting the provision of valuable training.

A-3. Increased compensation for excellent performance:
Unknown or not manifested. There is no mention of increased compensation based on performance in the provided statements.

Question 2:

a. Importance of each characteristic relative to others:
No evidence presented in Interviews tab. The interviews do not compare the importance of different characteristics.

b. Whether a characteristic that attracts candidates also increases retention:
Evidence presented in Interviews tab. The collaborative atmosphere (Statement 4) and the opportunity to learn from the choreographer (Statement 5) both attract and retain dancers.

c. How the ballet company manifests these characteristics:
Evidence presented in Interviews tab. The interviews provide specific examples of how the ballet company manifests characteristics such as inclusion in decisions, valuable training, and good teamwork.

Question 3:

Option A: No data to suggest true or false
Option B: False as there are 11 dancers from Nation N and 7 from Others as given in the Data Tab
Option C: No data to suggest true or false
Option D: True since the average number of years with the ballet company in question is 4.6 while it is 3 for other European ballet companies as given in the Data Tab
Option E: False as average age at this company is 28.2 compared to 26.1 at other companies as given in the Data Tab

Hope this helps!

GMATNinja · Answer

This is a great question and it gets to the heart of what's going on in some of the toughest DI problems.

In the interview tabs, it doesn't really say directly that employees are included in decisions. But it does says that they work in a "collaborative atmosphere." (Is it really collaboration if you're not involved in ANY decisions?) And it does say that the structure is egalitarian. (If only the higher-ups made decisions, that seems more hierarchical than egalitarian, right?)

So it might not feel great. You're not going to know for sure that you're right. But you have to embrace the ambiguity, decide that the evidence is sufficient (or not), and be decisive. There's really no alternative.

I hope that helps a bit!

MT1302 · Answer

A1 : Most employees included in at least some decisions

Interview Tab ( Point number 4) : Dancers stay with the company because of the  collegial and collaborative atmosphere  among the dancers and the resident choreographer; the cause of this atmosphere is attributed to the company's egalitarian structure.

Interview Tab ( Point number 5) : Dancers stay with the company because they enjoy participating with the resident choreographer in the  design process , as it teaches them this choreographer's renowned style and approach.

Meaning :-

Collegial : happy to work with each other
Collaborative : involving two or more people working together for a special purpose

These employees are happily working with each other and they are a part of design process so it indicates that they must be giving some suggestions to the choreographer and they might be included. So this indicates that their decisions are being respected.
Read point 4 and point 5 together to get a broader picture for this answer.

A2 : Valuable training provided

Interview Tab ( Point number 2) : Dancers come in pursuit of the goal of working with the company's  prestigious resident choreographer.

Interview Tab ( Point number 5) : Dancers stay with the company because they enjoy participating with the resident choreographer in the design process, as it teaches them this choreographer's  renowned style and approach .

The highlighted words indicates about the valuable training provided.

As the choreographer is prestigious (respected; having a good reputation) and is having a renowned style and approach , it means they are being provided valuable training.

tuyaras · Answer

Q1 > I think that  manifested  meaning supposed to be "clearly show" ?

So for A1 : Most employees included in at least some decisions > I think we are just  infer  that they can make some decisions ? Even "participating with the resident choreographer in the design process" may be they just watch and learn ?

PReciSioN · Answer

Agreed. Whether the employees are included in 'decisions' or not seems to be open to interpretation. In question's like these, shouldn't we select a choice when we are quite sure that it is true?  GMATNinja  ,  GMATCoachBen  ,  KarishmaB

kosukhov · Answer

Hi everyone!

For question 1, could anyone explain please how do we infer that MOST employees are included in at least some decisions? Based on what is said in interviews 4 and 5, I see how we can confirm that at least some employees participate in decision-making, but I don't get how we can make a conclusion about MOST of the employees. Is it because it's said that interviews are "representative" samples?

Thanks!

GMATNinja · Answer

Yes, the word "representative" is important here! It tells us that these comments accurately represent the feelings of the population at large. If that population comments on a collaborative atmosphere, an egalitarian structure, and the ability to participate in design, then we can infer that most of the employees are involved in some decision-making.

purplelemonsoda · Answer

GMATNinja   MartyMurray  wanted to request your help please...
For question 2, statement 1, clearly relative importance of characterisitcs is demonstrated because it says that the dancer joins because it enhances their professional profile (so professional growth is number 1), then prestige is number 2 etc
but even before all of that the first filter for dancers is number 3, which is the dancers’ application criteria that they will play principal roles.
isn’t that sufficient evidence of the relative importance ?

PriyeshLakar · Answer

GMATNinja  : I read all the reasoning for q1 and based on that even I answered the question correctly but I do have a small doubt. Can someone please help to clarify this?

When are looking at A1 characteristic it is about how to attract an employee but for manifestation we are picking options from the facts i.e. point 4 and point 5 which is for retaining employees. Is this manifestation acceptable? Am I thinking it correctly or too much?

annguyen02 · Answer

The text said that   A researcher collected the following statements, which are representative samples of comments

So in my POV, they were summarized comments and listed randomly by the researcher. There was nothing stated that items were listed in priority/preference.

siddhantvarma · Answer

I'll try to jump in on this. Initially, I had the same thought that A1 characteristics is directly related to attracting new employees whereas the evidence in Data tab, ie point 4 and 5 is related to retaining employees. For these type of doubts, I think the best approach is to go back to what the question is asking and understand what exactly it is asking.

We need to find a characteristic, any characteristic on the Employment tab that indicates it's manifested by the ballet company according to the Data tab. The question doesn't ask us to find a characteristic amongst the same topic, it says "For each of the following characteristics listed" which means we take all the characteristics as characteristics regardless of if they represent attracting a talent or retaining one. If a characteristic is manifested in any of the 5 points in the Interviews tab, we say it's  Manifested , and in all other cases we say  Not Manifested .

The reasoning aligns well with any GMAT question out there, it's very important to carefully read and understand the question STEM and answer exactly what it's askign you to answer.

NushaT · Answer

Can someone help me understand how second statement, A2, is manifested? Thanks.

Bunuel · Answer

A2 is “ valuable training provided. ”

Interview 5 says dancers “enjoy participating with the resident choreographer in the design process, as it  teaches  them this choreographer’s renowned style and approach.” That is explicit on-the-job instruction. The choreographer is prestigious per Interview 2, which makes that instruction  valuable . Hence A2 is manifested.

Hope it helps.

bishal128 · Answer

Given the time limit of 2 minutes per question, the sheer feeling of having to cover all this information feels overwhelming. I don’t know, but I feel that when you’re anxious, time seems to pass more quickly.

MrMaxMan · Answer

Could I get some help with Question 2c regarding the evidence being provided or not?
It asks to determine if evidence is provided that one or more ballet companies manifest one or more of these characteristics.
Is it really as simple as being able to say that the dance studio we are looking at in the question is one of these companies, so if any of the others are true then 2c must have evidence provided for it as well?

Bunuel · Answer

Not automatically. For (c), we need evidence showing  how this particular ballet company actually manifests one of the listed characteristics .

For example, Statement 4 describes a collegial and collaborative atmosphere, which is evidence of  A-4: good teamwork . Statement 5 also shows  A-2: valuable training  through working with the choreographer.

So (c) has evidence, but it must come from these specific examples.

egmat · Answer

Hi MrMaxMan,

Your instinct here is basically right, and it's a smart connection to make. Let me sharpen it just a touch so you know  why  it works.

The key is where your Question 1 answers came from. When you marked A-1 and A-2 as  Manifested , you weren't guessing - you were pointing at specific lines on the  Interviews tab  (Statement 5: dancers participate in the design process and learn the choreographer's renowned style). That's the Interviews tab  showing how this particular company manifests a characteristic .

Now look at what 2c actually asks: does the Interviews tab present evidence for  "how one or more ballet companies manifest one or more of these characteristics" ? Since this company  is  one of those ballet companies, and the Interviews describe  how  it manifests A-1 and A-2, that same evidence answers 2c directly. So yes - the link you spotted is real.

One nuance to keep clean:  it's not automatic  just because  the company is a ballet company. It's automatic because your Q1 "Manifested" calls were  built on the Interviews tab in the first place . The evidence that a characteristic is manifested and the evidence for "how a company manifests it" are the same statements doing double duty. If Q1 had been answered from the Data tab or from thin air, the link wouldn't hold.

Contrast this with  2a  to feel the difference. 2a asks how characteristics rank in  relative importance  - nothing in Statements 1-5 compares or ranks them, so there's  no evidence , even though the company is still a ballet company. That shows the "it's a company" fact alone doesn't carry you; the Interviews have to actually  demonstrate the thing being asked .

So trust your shortcut for 2c - just remember it works because the Interviews statements are the source of both the manifestation and the "how."

Answer: No evidence presented in Interviews tab, Evidence presented in Interviews tab, Evidence presented in Interviews tab

	The ballet company in question pays its dancers more than any other European ballet companies.
	The ballet company in question has fewer dancers from Nation N than it has from other nations.
	Nation N has more prestigious ballet companies than other European nations.
	The ballet company in question tends to have dancers who stay at the company longer, on average, than the dancers at other European ballet companies stay at their companies.
	The ballet company in question tends to have dancers who are younger, on average, than the dancers at other European ballet companies

The following characteristics tend to help organizations attract talen

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards

Evidence presented in Interviews tab	No evidence presented in Interviews tab.
		a
		b
		c

GMAT Multi-Source Reasoning (MSR) Questions

The following characteristics tend to help organizations attract talen

Prep Toolkit

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards