Question

Manager: 'Employees who attended our new training program showed a 15 percent increase in productivity. Therefore, we should make the training program mandatory for all employees.' Which of the following, if true, most weakens the manager's argument?

• A. The training program was generally popular among the employees who attended it.
• B. The employees who volunteered for the training were already the most motivated and highest-performing workers.
• C. The training program lasted only two days from start to finish.
• D. Employee productivity in the company is measured once every quarter.

Hint:

Consider whether the people who signed up for the training might already have been different from the rest of the staff in a way that explains their results.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is B

Step 1: Identify the hidden assumption in the manager's argument: that the productivity increase came from the training itself, and not from some trait of the particular employees who chose to attend.
Step 2: Test option A - popularity of the program reflects how attendees felt about it, not why their productivity rose, so it has no bearing on the causal claim.
Step 3: Test option C - the two-day duration is a neutral fact that neither supports nor challenges what caused the productivity gain.
Step 4: Test option D - measuring productivity quarterly is a detail about measurement frequency, unrelated to whether training caused the gain.
Step 5: Test option B - if the volunteers were already the most motivated and highest-performing workers before the training, their higher productivity may simply reflect who they already were, not what the training taught them. This directly attacks the manager's hidden assumption and shows the gain may not repeat if the program is made mandatory for everyone.
Correct option: (2) The employees who volunteered for the training were already the most motivated and highest-performing workers.