Two years ago, the human resources department at Harrison's

Question

Two years ago, the human resources department at Harrison's Technologies had 175 sexual harassment cases open, a number that at that time led all companies in the sector. At that time, a typical claim took six months to process and clear. In response to this high number, the CEO's Advisory Team published a comprehensive set of guidelines for training employees in the identification and avoidance of behaviors that could constitute sexual harassment. At this writing, the human resources department has only sixty sexual harassment cases open. Clearly, the guidelines published by the CEO's Advisory Team were effective in reducing the occurrence of new sexual harassment claims at Harrison's Technologies.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the conclusion above?

(A) Two of the six members of the CEO's Advisory Team were found guilty of sexually harassing members of the secretarial staff

(B) New paperwork and procedure, also introduced two years ago, has allowed the human resources department at Harrison's Technologies to process and close almost all new claims of sexual harassment in less than one month.

(C) The human resources department at Anthony Information Industries, a principal rival of Harrison's with a similar number of employees, opened no new sexual harassment claims in the past year.

(D) Independent consultants using scientifically designed surveys have found that the majority of current employees at Harrison's Technologies are not properly educated on exactly what behaviors constitute sexual harassment.

(E) The majority of sexual harassment claims lead to the termination of employees found guilty; new employees hired to fill these positions need to be trained in the guidelines.

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HadjiMurad · Answer

I think the answer is B.
 Conclusion here:  guidelines published by the CEO's Advisory Team were effective in reducing the occurrence of new sexual harassment claims at Harrison's Technologies.
 Info about this guiltiness:  the CEO's Advisory Team published a comprehensive set of guidelines for training employees in the identification and avoidance of behaviors that could constitute sexual harassment (SH).
A.  2 members found guilty of sexual harassment  - don't sure it's help to reduce SH cases.
 B .  New procedure that close all new cases in a month  - definitely help us to reduce SH cases.
C.  Another company opened 0 new SH cases  - we don't care, not help to reduce. 
D.  Survey found that employees not educated enough  - don't help us to reduce SH cases, but rather the opposite.
E. New employees hired because old ones were guilty  - no reduce of SH cases for sure.

Dereno · Answer

Two years ago, Harrison’s technologies had 175 sexual harassment SH cases, which is high among all companies. Usually a process takes 6 months. In order to combat it, the CEOs ADVISORY Team prepared a comprehensive guidelines for training employees in the identification and avoidance of behaviors that could constitute sexual harassment. The number of cases is reduced to 60 SH cases.

The conclusion is : Clearly, the guidelines published by the CEO's Advisory Team  were effective in reducing the occurrence  of new sexual harassment claims at Harrison's Technologies. we need to weaken this conclusion.

If we want to weaken this conclusion. Then some other factor must be the reason behind the reduction of SH cases. Let’s look into the options.

(A) Two of the six members of the CEO's Advisory Team were found guilty of sexually harassing members of the secretarial staff.

This is irrelevant to the argument logic.

(B)  New paperwork and procedure, also introduced two years ago, has allowed the human resources department at Harrison's Technologies to process and close almost all new claims of sexual harassment in less than one month.

This strongly weakens the conclusion. The new paper work introduced 2 yrs ago has allowed to process and close new claims within one month, which previously had taken 6 months.

(C) The human resources department at Anthony Information Industries, a principal rival of Harrison's with a similar number of employees, opened no new sexual harassment claims in the past year.

Comparison between a different industry doesn’t add value to weakening the conclusion.

(D) Independent consultants using scientifically designed surveys have found that the majority of current employees at Harrison's Technologies are not properly educated on exactly what behaviors constitute sexual harassment.

This option speaks about the lacunae in training, and not about reduction in case numbers. Hence, eliminated.

(E) The majority of sexual harassment claims lead to the termination of employees found guilty; new employees hired to fill these positions need to be trained in the guidelines.

This speaks about the termination of employees and not about reduction in claim case numbers. Hence, out of scope.

Option B

Bunuel · Answer

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION

The credited answer is (B). If the time to process these claims went down from six months to one month, this means that, even if the number of new claims remained constant, approximately 1/6 as many claims should be open at any one time. In fact, 60 is considerably more than one sixth of 175, so this suggests that perhaps the number of new claims has increase --- directly opposing the conclusion. This is a very effective weakener.

The fact that 2 of 6 members on the Advisory Team were accused of sexual harassment is hardly a vote of confidence for what these folks are trying to accomplish, but it is only suggestive --- it doesn't necessarily mean that the overall number of claims went up. It doesn't directly imply anything to contradict the claim. Choice (A) is incorrect.

The folks over at Anthony Information Industries had no claims. Why that might be, we have no idea, and so we have no idea what, if anything, it might imply for Harrison's Technologies. Choice (C) is incorrect.

If the employees at Harrison's Technologies are not clear on precisely what behaviors constitute sexual harassment, that could suggest a rise in claims, and it would seem that the guidelines didn't educate them properly. Then again, what if their confusion is such that they classify many more behaviors as sexual harassment than legally they should? In that case, the employees might think almost anything constitutes sexual harassment, so they would be super-careful and afraid to do anything, and there would be fewer claims. And how did the guidelines affect their understanding? If the guidelines were much stricter than the law, then it would encourage this kind of super-careful behavior in employees, producing the kind of incorrect understanding that actually would reduce claims. We could interpret this either way, so it's not a clear weakener. Choice (D) is incorrect.

If folks found guilty were terminated, this could be an alternate explanation for why the number of new claims dropped. But, do we know that the newly hired folks are, on average better? If they are better, is it because the published guidelines were effective in training them? It's not clear whether this definitively weakens the argument.

Choice (E) is incorrect.

Two years ago, the human resources department at Harrison's

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Two years ago, the human resources department at Harrison's

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