Sales manager: Having spent my entire career in sales, most of that time as a sales manager for a large computer company, I know that natural superstar salespeople are rare. But many salespeople can perform like superstars if they have a good manager. Therefore, companies should _______.
Summary
The speaker starts by noting that natural superstar salespeople are rare. But, if they have a good manager, many regular salespeople can perform like superstars.
Strongly Supported Conclusions
The blank should be filled with a recommendation about what companies should do based on the fact that good managers can help regular salespeople perform like superstars. The speaker would likely recommend that companies should try have salespeople supervised by good managers.
A
devote more effort to training than to evaluating salespeople
Unsupported. We know that managers can improve performance of salespeople. But we don’t know whether this has to do with training. And we don’t know whether evaluation is less important than training.
B
devote more effort to finding good managers than to finding natural superstar salespeople
Strongly supported. Natural superstars are rare, but good managers can make regular salespeople perform like superstars. This is a strong reason for companies to focus more on finding good managers.
C
keep to a minimum the number of salespeople for which a manager is responsible
Unsupported. The stimulus doesn’t provide evidence about the optimum number of people a manager should supervise. We don’t even know whether supervising a lot of people is a bad thing.
D
promote more natural superstar salespeople to management positions
Unsupported. The stimulus doesn’t suggest that natural superstar salespeople will make better managers than regular salespeople.
E
reward superstar performance more than superstar talent
Unsupported. The stimulus doesn’t discuss rewards or what high performers should get.
A
Political failures within the Roman empire during its last years led to conflicts that hampered agricultural production.
B
The areas of the Roman empire that had the greatest climatic instability between 250 A.D. and 550 A.D. did not experience unusual levels of unrest during that period.
C
Poor farming practices led to depleted soil in many parts of Europe during the last years of the Roman empire.
D
During periods when the Roman empire was thriving, Europe consistently experienced weather that was favorable for agriculture.
E
Total food production in Europe was likely greater in the years around 550 A.D. than in the years around 250 A.D.
A
It draws a conclusion about a population from observations of a subgroup that is quite likely to be unrepresentative of that population in certain relevant respects.
B
It takes for granted that most individuals do not vary significantly in the opinions they would express on a given issue if surveyed regarding that issue on different occasions.
C
It relies on the accuracy of a survey made under conditions in which it is probable that most of the responses to that survey did not correctly reflect the opinions of the respondents.
D
It uses evidence about an opinion held by the majority of a population in an attempt to justify a conclusion regarding the opinion of a small part of that population.
E
It takes for granted that the fund-raising letter had some influence on the opinions of most of the people who received it.
Critic: The Gazette-Standard newspaper recently increased its editorial staff to avoid factual errors. But this clearly is not working. Compared to its biggest competitor, the Gazette-Standard currently runs significantly more corrections acknowledging factual errors.
Summarize Argument
The critic concludes that the Gazette-Standard’s increase in editorial staff isn’t working. His evidence is that the Gazette-Standard runs more corrections of factual errors than its competitors.
Notable Assumptions
The critic assumes that the Gazette-Standard runs more corrections of factual errors because more factual errors appear in its pages than those of competing newspapers. This means the critic doesn’t think other newspapers are making as many or more mistakes without correcting them.
A
The Gazette-Standard pays its editorial staff lower salaries than its biggest competitor pays its editorial staff.
We don’t care how much the Gazette-Standard pays its editorial staff. We have no idea how that would affect their quality of work.
B
The Gazette-Standard has been in business considerably longer than has its biggest competitor.
We don’t care how long these newspapers have been in business. We care about the recent editorial changes.
C
The Gazette-Standard more actively follows up reader complaints about errors in the paper than does its biggest competitor.
The Gazette-Standard runs more corrections because it follows up on reader complaints. We therefore can’t conclude the Gazette-Standard actually has more errors than its competitor, who may only follow up on a small portion of reader complaints.
D
The Gazette-Standard’s articles are each checked by more editors than are the articles of its biggest competitor.
If these articles are being checked by more editors, then the newspaper shouldn’t have to keep running so many corrections. This seems to support the author’s argument.
E
The increase in the Gazette-Standard’s editorial staff has been offset by a decrease in the reporting staff at the newspaper.
Less reporters doesn’t mean the newspaper will necessarily have more editorial errors. We have no idea what effect less reporters would have on the newspaper.