Q9 - A manager cannot extract the best

[mshinners]

Question Type:
Inference/Principle Most Strongly Supported. Not a standard question stem, though!

Stimulus Breakdown:
Delegating responsibility is one of the best ways for a manager to get the best out of her team.

Answer Anticipation:
I honestly have no idea what the correct answer is going to be. To me, it's much more important that I've simplified and understand the situation from the stimulus.

Correct answer:
(C)

Answer choice analysis:
(A) Out of scope. This discussion is about getting employees to do their best, not recognize the use of power.

(B) Out of scope. Prestige? Job security? The first statement (which isn't particularly relevant to the situation, which is really about one of the best methods) discusses these ideas very tangentially, but it doesn't compare their importance.

(C) Interesting answer, and not one I'd pick on my first pass. However, coming back to it and figuring out to whom this applies would eventually lead me to pick it. A manager's job is to get the best out of their employees, and the stimulus tells us this sometimes requires delegation. So managers can be more effective by relinquishing some control through delegation. Since I can rephrase this answer to use the language of the stimulus, I feel comfortable picking it.

(D) Out of scope. The situation is not about what the best decisions are. Rather, it's about one of the best ways of getting the most out of employees.

(E) Out of scope. The situation is about managers, not the business overall.

Takeaway/Pattern:
For answers with principles or abstract language, "translate" the answer choice into the specifics of the argument to make sure you have the right answer.

#officialexplanation