Sure Enough Insurance is a large insurance company that has recently

Question

Sure Enough Insurance is a large insurance company that has recently been experiencing financial difficulties. Claims are handled by claims coordinators who determine how much, if at all, Sure Enough must pay a policy holder who has made a claim. The aforementioned financial difficulties are forcing Sure Enough to fire 25% of its claims coordinators. To minimize the potentially harmful effects of these cuts, it is recommended that Sure Enough lay off coordinators whose average time of completing work on their assigned claims is the longest.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously calls into question the argument's conclusion?

A. No insurance payments are made by Sure Enough until a claims coordinator has completed work on the claim.

B. Other departments in Sure Enough Insurance do not have any job vacancies.

C. A significant increase in the amount of time it takes Sure Enough claims coordinators to complete work on claims could result in Sure Enough's loss of business to competitors.

D. Sure Enough's policy is to assign complex and lengthy claims to the most competent coordinators.

E. There is no significant difference between the premiums Sure Enough currently charges and those charged by its competitors.

This is a  CR Butler Question

Data Sufficiency Butler  
  Problem Solving Butler  
  Sentence Correction Butler  
  Reading Comprehension Butler  
  Integrated Reasoning Butler

jack5397 · Answer

IMO - D

Conclusion - To minimize the potentially harmful effects of these cuts, it is recommended that Sure Enough lay off coordinators whose average time of completing work on their assigned claims is the longest.

A - This is supporting the conclusion by stating the process of reimbursement of claims and how delay impacts the process.  - Eliminate

B - Out of scope -   - Eliminate

C - This is supporting the conclusion by stating the process of reimbursement of claims and how delay impacts the process.  - Eliminate

D- Correct

E- Out of scope -   - Eliminate

MS61 · Answer

Conclusion: Goal : To minimize the potentially harmful effects of these cuts, 
Plan - Sure Enough to lay off coordinators whose  average time of completing work on their assigned claims is the longest.

To weaken it we need to identify option that these coordinators are essential for Sure enough/ Long time taken for assessment is beneficial in some way.

Correct answer - D

A. No insurance payments are made by Sure Enough until a claims coordinator has completed work on the claim. -  This is a no impact option. Insurance payment time and time taken for assessment of claim, effect on sure enough is not the required linkage here.

B. Other departments in Sure Enough Insurance do not have any job vacancies. -  We are not concerned with claim coordinators job and vacancy. Goal is to minimize the potentially harmful effects of these cuts on sure enough.
 
C. A significant increase in the amount of time it takes Sure Enough claims coordinators to complete work on claims could result in Sure Enough's loss of business to competitors. -  This seems like a strengthener.

D. Sure Enough's policy is to assign complex and lengthy claims to the most competent coordinators. -  If Complex and lengthy tasks are assigned to most competent coordinators then firing them will create an effect on sure enough. and the reason for taking long time is also justified in the answer option. Correct answer.

E. There is no significant difference between the premiums Sure Enough currently charges and those charged by its competitors. -  Nothing to do with Claim coordinators, Current premium charge is irrelevant to the stated plan and goal.

Bunuel · Answer

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION

Sure Enough Insurance is a large insurance company that has recently been experiencing financial difficulties. Claims are handled by claims coordinators who determine how much, if at all, Sure Enough must pay a policy holder who has made a claim. The aforementioned financial difficulties are forcing Sure Enough to fire 25% of its claims coordinators. To minimize the potentially harmful effects of these cuts, it is recommended that Sure Enough lay off coordinators whose average time of completing work on their assigned claims is the longest.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously calls into question the argument's conclusion?

A. No insurance payments are made by Sure Enough until a claims coordinator has completed work on the claim.

Incorrect.

To solve this Conclusion Weakening question, first break down the argument. The first 3 sentences are premises providing factual data. The last sentence is a recommendation ( it is recommended) so it's the conclusion:

Premise A: Sure Enough Insurance is experiencing financial difficulties
+
Premise B: claims coordinators decide how much to reward a customer
+
Premise C: Sure Enough is about to fire 25% of its claims coordinators
=
Conclusion: it would be best to fire claims coordinators that take the longest to complete claims

Possible assumption: The agents who take longer to work on their claims do so because they are somehow inefficient, and thus are best laid off.

Weakening Data: ?

You are required to find data that weakens the conclusion that the claims coordinators that take the longest to complete claims should be fired. The correct answer could be one that exposes the argument's assumption.

This answer choice neither weakens nor strengthens the argument's conclusion because it makes a statement about the payment process in general and does not refer to the factor of time. Weakening the conclusion requires that you show why the criterion according to which staff will be fired is not the best one and that it could lead to firing the wrong employees.

B. Other departments in Sure Enough Insurance do not have any job vacancies.

Incorrect.

This answer choice neither weakens nor strengthens the argument's conclusion because the argument deals with the issue of which coordinators to fire. No mention is made of transferring employees to other departments.

C. A significant increase in the amount of time it takes Sure Enough claims coordinators to complete work on claims could result in Sure Enough's loss of business to competitors.

Incorrect.

This answer choice strengthens the conclusion, but you are required to weaken it. If business is lost when claims take too long to process, then the idea that coordinators that take longer to finish claims should be fired is supported.

D. Sure Enough's policy is to assign complex and lengthy claims to the most competent coordinators.

This answer choice weakens the conclusion's assumption. the reasoning behind laying off the agents who take longer to complete their analysis is that these agents are inefficient compared to their faster colleagues, and thus laying them off will do the least damage. However, if the most competent workers are given the complex and lengthy tasks to complete, then obviously they will take up more time per task, despite being competent. This, however, does not mean that they should be fired. Therefore, the data in this answer choice definitely weakens the author's conclusion.

E. There is no significant difference between the premiums Sure Enough currently charges and those charged by its competitors.

Incorrect.

To solve this Conclusion Weakening question, first break down the argument. The first 3 sentences are premises providing factual data. The last sentence is a recommendation ( it is recommended) so it's the conclusion:

Premise A: Sure Enough Insurance is experiencing financial difficulties
+
Premise B: claims coordinators decide how much to reward a customer
+
Premise C: Sure Enough is about to fire 25% of its claims coordinators
=
Conclusion: it would be best to fire claims coordinators that take the longest to complete claims

Possible assumption: The agents who take longer to work on their claims do so because they are somehow inefficient, and thus are best laid off.

Weakening Data: ?

You are required to find data that weakens the conclusion that the claims coordinators that take the longest to complete claims should be fired. The correct answer could be one that exposes the argument's assumption.

This answer choice neither weakens nor strengthens the argument's conclusion because the argument does not deal with premiums or competitors. Since no mention is made of these topics, further information about them cannot help us determine which employees to fire.

Sure Enough Insurance is a large insurance company that has recently

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GMAT Critical Reasoning (CR) Questions

Sure Enough Insurance is a large insurance company that has recently

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