In an experiment undertaken by the management of a company to

Question

In an experiment undertaken by the management of a company to determine how to best motivate its employees, certain employees were sent weekly e-mails appreciating their work for two months. At the end of the two months, it was found in a survey conducted on all the employees that the ones not sent the e-mails on average reported less satisfaction from their work than the ones sent the mails. Therefore, in the long run, to keep the morale and productivity of its employees high, a company should appreciate the work of its employees on a regular basis.

Which of the following is an assumption on which the argument relies?

A. In the long run, the employees of a company that critically evaluates the work of its employees are less motivated than those of a company that only appreciates the work of its employees.

B. Eventually, the employees of a company that engages in regular appreciation of its employees’ work will understand the intention behind the appreciation coming their way

C. There are no other ways to motivate the employees than to regularly appreciate their work

D. Employees whose morale is low cannot generate productive work regularly

E. In the long run, regular appreciation of their work will not make the employees casual in their attitude towards work

Rabab36 · Answer

option d
correct

negate it 
affects the conclusion

GokDoubleG · Answer

The answer is D. There is no evidence that prooves that employees need to be motivated to be productive.

GMMATChaser · Answer

Premise + Assumption = Conclusion
Premise: appreciating employee's work -> increases satisfaction
Conclusion: appreciate employee's work -> keep the morale and productivity of its employees high

appreciating employee's work regularly + _________ = keep the morale and productivity of its employees high

A:) Employee evaluate work critically :- false
B:) Employee will understand intention :- false
C:) No other ways to motivate :- false
D:) Employee with low morale ~ no productivity :- True
E:) Appreciation ~ not employee's casual attitude :- false

KZYN · Answer

Can somebody please explain why the official answer is E? and not D

swap29 · Answer

Hi Bunuel - Request you to please explain as to why E is the correct answer and not D? D seems equally good choice

AbhishekP220108 · Answer

swap29 If in the long run regular appreciation will make the employees casual in their attitude towards work then the conclusion breaks that we shouldnt appreciate, where as option D only talks about the employees whose morale is already low can generate they can generate productive work regularly, then sending appreciation mail should or shouldnt affect the morale.

swap29

Hi Bunuel - Request you to please explain as to why E is the correct answer and not D? D seems equally good choice

arushi118 · Answer

If we negate D: Employees whose morale is low can generate productive work regularly - this does not break the conclusion. (because of the word "can")
But if we negate E: In the long run, regular appreciation of their work will make the employees casual in their attitude towards work -- this breaks the conclusion that in the long run to keep morale and productivity high, company should regularly appreciate the work of its employees.

ParamjitDasGMAT · Answer

Hi  swap29 ,

I am happy to help.

Aside from the grammatical errors in the question, the main gap/missing link is conflating    what worked for 2 weeks/ 2 months (short-term)     with   what will work in the long run  . This is what option (E) addresses - we know that the productivity was high in the short-term, but whether it will remain so in the  long-term  is questionable.

Option (D) also doesn't work because the passage mentions:

Less satisfaction  doesn't equal  zero productivity  . Also, how the "thank you" emails affected the "  morale  " of the employees is a bit unclear. Since (D) has a couple of problems, it can be eliminated.

Hope this helps. Let me know if anything is unclear.

In an experiment undertaken by the management of a company to

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