The Bakers football team has been struggling for form all through the

Question

The Bakers football team has been struggling for form all through the past two years in which it has not even managed to reach the semi-finals of any major football tournament. To arrest this decline, the team management has now decided to reappoint its former coach, Charles Keith, who had been sacked two years back.

Which of the following options gives reason to believe that the team management’s strategy may not work?

(A) Several of the team’s most successful players have left the team in the past two years.

(B) The team has been receiving a lot of negative press for its poor performance in the past two years.

(C) Charles Keith had been sacked two years ago by the team management on account of corruption charges, which couldn’t eventually be proved.

(D) The team that Charles Keith has been coaching for the past two years hasn’t been performing really well either.

(E) The continuous string of poor performances has led to a loss of morale among several of the members of the football team.

DinoPen · Answer

The Bakers football team has been struggling for form all through the past two years in which it has not even managed to reach the semi-finals of any major football tournament. To arrest this decline, the team management has now decided to reappoint its former coach, Charles Keith, who had been sacked two years back.

Which of the following options gives reason to believe that the team management’s strategy may not work?

Argument: Reappoint Coach Keith to have a winning season.

(A) Several of the team’s most successful players have left the team in the past two years.
 It's not about the players; it's about the coach. Thus, out of scope.

(B) The team has been receiving a lot of negative press for its poor performance in the past two years.
 Same reasoning as A.

(C) Charles Keith had been sacked two years ago by the team management on account of corruption charges, which couldn’t eventually be proved.
 This provides no information as to whether Coach Keith can provide a better season for the football team.

(D) The team that Charles Keith has been coaching for the past two years hasn’t been performing really well either.
 Correct. This weakens the notion that even if Coach Keith were to come back, the football program would still be terrible.

(E) The continuous string of poor performances has led to a loss of morale among several of the members of the football team.
 Same Reasoning as A.

Deepakjhamb · Answer

Hi Dino , i think answer should be e ) . Your answer d is based on assumption that coach is incompetent inference , what if other team was incompetent

Also a is ruled out as players have already left has no role in perf improvemnt

but in e its a better option

carouselambra · Answer

IMO D

The Bakers football team has been struggling for form all through the past two years in which it has not even managed to reach the semi-finals of any major football tournament. To arrest this decline, the team management has now decided to reappoint its former coach, Charles Keith, who had been sacked two years back.

Which of the following options gives reason to believe that the team management’s strategy may not work?

Situation : Bakers football team has been struggling for form 
Proposed solution : decided to reappoint its former coach, CK.
Assumption : CK had a good record previously/ something positive about CK that made the management appoint him again

What can we do to weaken the argument? Negate the assumption!

(A) Several of the team’s most successful players have left the team in the past two years.
Irrelevant

(B) The team has been receiving a lot of negative press for its poor performance in the past two years.
Irrelevant

(C) Charles Keith had been sacked two years ago by the team management on account of corruption charges, which couldn’t eventually be proved.
Irrelevant

(D) The team that Charles Keith has been coaching for the past two years hasn’t been performing really well either.
This suffices - if the team that CK was coaching wasn't performing well either, what is the entire point of appointing him again?
Proves that management's strategy may not work afterall.

(E) The continuous string of poor performances has led to a loss of morale among several of the members of the football team.
Trap. 
Cause : poor performances
Effect : loss of morale 
It is NOT vice versa. So, the management needs to fix/improve the poor performances which will have an impact on the morale.

acegmat20 · Answer

(A) Several of the team’s most successful players have left the team in the past two years. --Incorrect; this does nothing to weaken the argument.

(B) The team has been receiving a lot of negative press for its poor performance in the past two years. --Irrelevant

(C) Charles Keith had been sacked two years ago by the team management on account of corruption charges, which couldn’t eventually be proved. --Incorrect; on the contrary this strengthens the argument

(D) The team that Charles Keith has been coaching for the past two years hasn’t been performing really well either. --Correct; this correctly identifies that even if the former coach is hired back that strategy will not work

(E) The continuous string of poor performances has led to a loss of morale among several of the members of the football team. --Irrelevant; this extends the premise

So, the correct choice would be D

Bunuel · Answer

Official Explanation

Answer: A

The argument assumes that the only reason for the decline in the Baker football team’s performance is the sacking of Charles Keith. However, there could be other reasons for this decline as well and to weaken the argument, we need to highlight one such reason, which A does. The cause of the decline may not be the departure of the coach but that of several of its best players. If this were the case, re-hiring the coach will not arrest the decline.

(B) The appointment of the coach is precisely to counter this negative press by improving the performance of the team.

(C) The reason for Charles Keith’s sacking is not our concern.

(D) There could be several reasons for this. Maybe this team is made up of amateurs or is not motivated enough.

(E) Same as B.

CrackverbalGMAT · Answer

The question requires us to find an option that shows that the team’s management strategy may not work, or in other words to weaken the team’s management strategy.

The strategy is to reappoint the team’s former coach, Charles Keith, who had been sacked two years back. The passage also gives the information that the Bakers football team has been struggling for form all through the past two years in which it has not even managed to reach the semi-finals of any major football tournament.

The negative press might very well be turned around by the reappointment of the coach who might help the team to improve its performance, so this option does not provide enough information to show that reappointing the coach will not help to turn the team’s performance around. So, Option B can be eliminated.

Corruption charges do not have any relevance to Keith’s abilities to coach the team. It may very well be that he is a good coach and that he can help the team’s performance to recover. This option does not weaken the team’s management strategy and so, Option C can be eliminated.

There could be other reasons that the team Keith has been coaching has not done well. The team may not have very competent players or may lack resources. This option does not provide information to show that the team’s poor performance is due to Keith’s coaching. So, Option D can be eliminated.

A loss of morale could be dealt with by a competent coach who would help the team improve its performance. This option does not provide information to show that Keith’s reappointment will not help the team. So, Option E can be eliminated.
 
 If several of the teams’ successful players have left the team in the last two years, the team may not have such good players any more and therefore, just the reappointment of a coach may not help the team’s performance. 
The argument rests on the assumption that the reason for the bad performance of the team is the sacking of the coach and reappointing him will help to turn its performance around. 
This option weakens the management strategy of the team by providing another possible reason for the team’s bad performance, which will not be resolved by the reappointment of the coach.
 Therefore, A is the most appropriate option.

Jayanthi Kumar.

TarunKumar1234 · Answer

The Bakers football team has been struggling for form all through the past two years in which it has not even managed to reach the semi-finals of any major football tournament. To arrest this decline, the team management has now decided to reappoint its former coach, Charles Keith, who had been sacked two years back.

Which of the following options gives reason to believe that the team management’s strategy may not work?

Argument: Reappoint Coach Keith to have a winning season.

(A) Several of the team’s most successful players have left the team in the past two years.
It's not about the players; it's about the coach. Thus, out of scope.

(B) The team has been receiving a lot of negative press for its poor performance in the past two years.
Same reasoning as A.

(C) Charles Keith had been sacked two years ago by the team management on account of corruption charges, which couldn’t eventually be proved.
This provides no information as to whether Coach Keith can provide a better season for the football team.

(D) The team that Charles Keith has been coaching for the past two years hasn’t been performing really well either.
Correct. This weakens the notion that even if Coach Keith were to come back, the football program would still be terrible.

(E) The continuous string of poor performances has led to a loss of morale among several of the members of the football team.
Same Reasoning as A.

VerbalBot · Answer

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The Bakers football team has been struggling for form all through the

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