Q25 - Manager: I recommend that our

[ohthatpatrick]

Question Type:
Inference (most supported)

Stimulus Breakdown:
We currently have software that is hard for some to use. We're considering switching to a new software that is supposedly more flexible and easier to use. At another company where they made this same switch, the employees are officially supposed to be using the new software, but many employees still use the old kind a bunch.

Answer Anticipation:
The tension comes from that final statement: why are many of those employees still stubbornly using the old software? Isn't the new stuff easier and more flexible? What could be the reason they still want to use the old stuff? We have to be careful as we look at answers because it would be natural to speculate, but we need to pick the most conservative, provable answer.

Correct Answer:
E

Answer Choice Analysis:
(A) No support for "as flexible". The new stuff is advertised as more flexible. And if the old stuff were "as flexible", that wouldn't itself offer a reason for the stubborn people to go back to the old stuff.

(B) Some might read this and think that the manager is arguing for sticking with the old software because "familiarity is more important than ease and flexibility". But we have no support for the idea that "familiarity" is why the manager wants to stick with the old software. Since employees who have tried both seem to still want to use the old software, there must be something going on besides familiarity.

(C) Just like (B), this offers an explanation for why you'd go back to the old stuff, but it's speculative. Maybe it's not different capabilities. Maybe it's the color scheme, the short loading time, the background music, etc.

(D) Not necessarily. The new package is supposed to be easier to use, so it may create only one class of employees: those who can use it.

(E) Yes, it seems. This is nowhere NEAR provable, but it has some support. We can say, "at other companies that made the same switch, many employees continued to use the old stuff", which seems to indicate that "at other companies that made the same switch, many employees preferred the older stuff." We don't have much reason to believe that the companies cited are meaningfully similar to the manager's company, other than that the companies are in the same region and that the manager is citing them as part of her concern about implementing the software package at HER company.

Takeaway/Pattern: Tough question, when the answer is pretty speculative (who's to say THIS company's employees will act like those of other companies?) Still, we have more support for E than for anything else. B and C speculate reasons why many workers still prefer to use old vs. new, which makes E a safer claim, since it only addresses that a preference for the old software exists, without speculating the exact reason why the preference exists.

#officialexplanation

[funner567]

I would too like to know why "B" is incorrect...

I can see the understanding to "E"

"B" seems to have piece all the inferences together logically. For example the conclusion is that the manger's company should reconsider the decision to abandon the previous software for a new software that is "advertised as more flexible and easier to use."

This is regurgitated perfectly in answer choice "B".

The only reason i see this being incorrect is because in the premise of how several other companies attempted this but their employees still used the former software.

Then in "B" it states that familiarity, but no where in the premise do we see "familiarity" stated, or is that inferred?

Also i think "B" is just too much of an absolute statement as opposed to "E" where it says "many of the employees"

Can anyone confirm my thoughts?

[maryadkins]

Frustrating one, but yes, your analysis of (B) is good.

(B) brings in familiarity, which is not in the stimulus. We don't know why they're using the old software--maybe because it's actually better. The manager sure seems to think so. It may not be just because it is familiar. Also, the manager is careful to say that the new software is "advertised as" flexible and easy to use, not that it actually is those things.

[pathosj]

I would also like to add on that in (E), there is no guarantee that because employees in other companies prefer to revert to the old software, that the employees of the manager's company would exhibit the same preference.

I chose (B) as well.

[maryadkins]

That's a good point, as well.

This is definitely one of those inference questions where you are choosing the best answer choice, not the one that is 100% provable...

[daniel.g.winter]

I also had it down to B and E but ultimately chose E. As others have said, familiarity is not brought up in the stimulus. In addition, B mentions "flexibility or INITIAL ease of use" whereas the stimulus says "more flexible and easier to use." Maybe I'm being nitpicky, but initial ease of use is not the same as ease of use in general. So that's two strikes against B whereas the only thing wrong with E is that we can't guarantee the employees in the manager's company would act the same way as "several" other companies.

[sangkim2008]

"Many" of the employees would not prefer it. Many is a very broad term (at least one to all). That being said, the manager is an employee in the company, therefore selection E is logically correct.

[pathosj]

My problem with (E) is that it uses information that seems outside of the scope of the stimulus (the preference of other companies) to justify a preference for the manager's company.

Also, "many" covers the range of "more than one to all", not at least one. If the manager is the only one that prefers the software, you can't say that many people like the software.

[maryadkins]

Again, (E) isn't perfect. We do have to make a couple of assumptions to get there. But (B) is clearly worse. Not only does "familiarity" not appear in the stimulus, but it can be read as the opposite of what the manager is saying. His point is that the new software is not any better than the old and should not be replaced. If the issue were merely familiarity, then his argument would make no sense as soon as the employees started to become more familiar with the new software. If anything, he's suggesting that the old software is better, not just more familiar to employees.

[lhermary]

Why is E a better answer then C? C's a stretch, but so is E?

Thanks

[timmydoeslsat]

Answer choice C goes too far by saying that the new software lacks some of the capabilities. We have some support for the idea that this new software is not the cat's meow. We have evidence of this software being put into place and yet people are using the old stuff as much as possible.

We do not know if this is due to lack of capabilities. It could be the case that the new software is a lot harder to use.

This argument can be seen as this:

We shouldn't totally get rid of the old system. This new system is claimed to be really great, but there is a company in there area that actually still uses their old system even though they have the new one.

The manager is attempting to show why they should not totally abandon the old system. This allows a soft inference of some people not wanting to use the new system all of the time. The manager certainly deems it important to show what another company experienced. The manager believes it is relevant.

[angelusflos]

Hi Guys,

Maybe won't help people too much, but I think the answer is given in the question. The question states, "Which one of the following is most strongly supported by the manager's statements?" That means you must take the manager's reasoning as valid, which leads directly to E: many employees will not prefer the new software.

The manager asks that the company reconsider adopting the new software. Why? Because most employees at other companies keep using the old software anyway (they prefer the old software).

So, the manager believes they should reconsider adopting the new software because employees will still prefer the old software just like at those other companies.

If you loo at it this way, I think E becomes clear.

[calebrosser]

My two cents.

The manager's recommendation is that the company not throw out the old system in favor of the new system. His reason for this is that other companies have made the switch that he is arguing against, and many of the employees there are using the old system instead of the new system.

If this is his total reasoning:

many employees in a another company prefer to use old system over new system ----> our company should not completely switch to the new system

It seems logical that he sees the same scenario happening to his company, because, what other reason would it be? Nothing else is included in his argumentation that would support his conclusion.

[gplaya123]

I would like to pitch in:

Core is that despite of new software development, some insists on using the older program.

A) Inconsistent. It says newer is more flexible.
B) Wrong because of "more important." The argument never said that what is more important than the other. Because if you chose this answer, you are assuming that the "unfamiliarity" is the factor that caused many workers to keep using the older software. Well argument never said anything about the cause; who knows? Maybe the newer software crashes more.
C)Wrong because of "lack of capability." The argument has never talked about newer version lacking something; if anything, it has more than older version.
D)Wrong because it is committing the exclusivity fallacy: if you chose this answer, you are assuming there are only two kinds of people, one that uses or doesn't. Why should there be only two kinds of people? Why can't there be someone who uses both new and older version alternatively? Just because the stimulus never talked about the "people in the middle" that does not mean they don't exist.
E) Pretty much paraphrase the last sentence: there are people who choose to use the older version "as much as possible," which implies that they prefer the older version over newer version.

[niksethi12]

I feel with all the discussion I should put my two cents in. (E) is not really a stretch.

Many of the people have stated that E requires a lot of assuming, and that E could easily not be true. All of this analysis is not wrong, but that is not really what the question is asking.

It's asking what is most strongly supported by the MANAGER'S statements. The way that I usually go about these is I think that if I were him, what would I say. In this regard, E would not be assuming too much, since if you said the opposite, it would be a complete reversal of his position.

The essence of what he's saying is that he's worried that the employees will prefer the old package to the new. He never specifies why the prefer, just that they could. Thus, E is the only one that really captures his argument.

[christine.defenbaugh]

Awesome discussion going on here guys! This is a particularly tough inference question!

I think angelusflos was really starting to zero in on the issue here. As this is an inference question, we do not normally have a core to deal with. However, in this case, the Manager is making an argument. Let's take a look at that.

Manager Premise: Employees at other companies still use the old software. (In other words, they prefer it.)
Manager Conclusion: We should not switch at our company.
Manager Necessary Assumption: Our employees are similar in their preferences to the employees at other companies!

Now, since this is an inference question, we have to accept the entire stimulus as true. Therefore, we have to accept the Manager's entire argument as true, including any assumptions that are necessary for him to get to his conclusion!

Since we must accept that assumption as true in order to accept the argument, (E) is very strongly supported. A number of you have correctly pointed out that it requires an assumption to get to (E), but it does not requires us to make that assumption. The Manager has already made that assumption for us, and we have to accept it as true.

Does this help clear this question up?

[lissethbayona]

This question has stumped me a few times but christine.defenbaugh's input was especially helpful. Realizing that the manager's argument is in the typical argument through analogy structure definitely makes (E) stick out as the correct answer choice.

I think noticing the argument through analogy structure in any question type is advantageous because it gives us a way to strengthen or weaken the argument. And in this case, it even tells us what is most strongly supported. Thanks for the great discussion!

[vickixu1994]

One of the biggest error in B is the phrase "selecting software". B states that the selection should consider familiarity over flexibility. If this was true, then the manager would suggest that they select the old software instead of the new software. However, in the stimulus the manager does not reject the adoption of the new software, he simply recommends allowing the employees to use both (not get rid of old one entirely).

[andyk531]

Just wanted to add my 2-cents here.

B versus E.. I was stumped, and I ended up choosing B. However, upon review, I realized why E was the better answer. Choice B calls into question familiarity. However, in the Manager's argument it says "while their employees CAN ALL USE THE NEW SOFTWARE, unofficially many continue to use their former software as much as possible."

This tells me that familiarity isn't what's in question (the new employees were familiar with the new), but rather, preference is.

Of course, I'm assuming that if you can use the software then you are familiar with it.... EEK. Okay, maybe that's not a valid explanation. :p