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Question

Difficulty: MediumWeakening Arguments

To reduce operational overhead and improve employee retention, a financial services firm mandated a hybrid work schedule allowing employees to work remotely three days a week. Following the policy's implementation, total energy consumption at the firm's headquarters decreased by 30 percent, and employee turnover dropped by 15 percent. Management concluded that the hybrid policy was directly responsible for the reduction in facility operating costs and the increase in worker retention. Which of the following statements, if true, most seriously undermines the management's conclusion?

  1. Simultaneously with the schedule change, the firm implemented a substantial firm-wide compensation increase and installed an automated energy-management system at headquarters.Answer
  2. B
    Internal surveys conducted six months after the transition indicated that employees experienced less daily stress and appreciated the reduced weekly commuting time.
  3. C
    Several client-facing departments required additional software licenses to facilitate remote communication among team members.
  4. D
    Employees at competing financial institutions who were granted fully remote positions reported higher overall satisfaction than hybrid workers in similar roles.
  5. E
    Management assumed that employees would maintain identical work output regardless of whether they worked from home or from the central office.

Answer

The argument is most seriously weakened by the statement establishing that a firm-wide compensation increase and an automated energy-management system were introduced at the same time as the hybrid policy.
The correct response undermines the conclusion by introducing confounding variables. If a firm-wide salary increase and an automated energy-management system were implemented concurrently with the policy change, those interventions offer a compelling alternative explanation for the drop in turnover and energy usage, thereby severely weakening the claim that the hybrid work policy was the direct cause.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the conclusion and premises of the argument.
Premise: After adopting a hybrid work policy, energy usage dropped by 30% and turnover dropped by 15%. Conclusion: The hybrid work policy directly caused the reductions in operating costs and turnover.
Isolating the causal claim is necessary to determine how to weaken it.
2
Evaluate potential logical vulnerabilities in the causal inference.
The argument assumes correlation equals causation and ignores potential confounding external factors that could independently account for lower energy consumption and lower turnover.
Causal claims can be effectively undermined by introducing alternative explanations for the observed effects.
3
Select the choice that provides a viable alternative cause for the results.
The statement introducing a simultaneous salary raise (explaining lower turnover) and an automated building control system (explaining lower energy consumption) directly weakens the claim that the hybrid schedule was responsible.
Showing that independent simultaneous events account for both reported outcomes severely undermines the proposed causal relationship.

Key Concept

Alternative Causal Explanations in Critical Reasoning
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Topics

Weakening Arguments

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