LSAT 70, Logical Reasoning II, Q18

QUESTION TEXT: Psychologists have found that the implementation of…

QUESTION TYPE: Most Strongly Supported

FACTS:

1. Managers usually don’t benefit from flexibility.
2. This might be because most managers already have flexibility.
3. Normal workers benefit from flexibility. They are happier and more productive.
4. The benefits diminish over time, and it’s possible to make schedules too flexible.

ANALYSIS: It’s hard to prephrase “most strongly supported” questions. The best approach is to get a clear idea of the facts, then look at each answer quickly in order to eliminate a few.

When you’re down to 1-2 answers, check them against the stimulus to be sure they’re supported by a combination of facts.

___________

1. This is very tempting. Regular workers benefit, so shouldn’t we expect managers to benefit from flexible schedules, if they didn’t already have them? Maybe. But managers are different from workers. Maybe there’s a reason these managers don’t have flexible schedules – their jobs might require them to be at work during certain hours.

   So we can’t be sure that managers without flexibility would benefit the same way that regular workers do. E is a better answer.

2. This contradicts the argument. It’s a warranted assumption that most workers are not managers, so we can expect flexibility to improve the overall morale of the workforce.
3. Hard to say. Fact 3 doesn’t say how much productivity improves. And fact 4 says that the improvement is worse over the long run.
4. If you picked this, you probably misread fact 2. Managers already have flexibility. That’s
   why further flexibility doesn’t help them. But managers may benefit from the flexibility they already have.
5. CORRECT. If we assume that the typical worker is not a manager (a reasonable assumption), then managers are not a good indicator of how the typical worker will benefit from flexibility.

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