A significant number of Unitron Corporation's department heads are due to retire this year. The number of employees other than...

GMAT Critical Reasoning : (CR) Questions

Source: Official Guide

Critical Reasoning

Logically Completes

MEDIUM

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Notes

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A significant number of Unitron Corporation's department heads are due to retire this year. The number of employees other than current department heads who could take on the position of department head is equal to only about half of the expected vacancies. Unitron is not going to hire department heads from outside the company or have current department heads take over more than one department, so some departments will be without department heads next year since Unitron will not ______.

Which of the following most logically completes the argument?

raise the minimum qualifications an employee must have to be promoted to department head

promote any current department heads to higher managerial positions

reduce the responsibilities of each department

have any manager who are currently senior to the department heads appointed as department heads

reduces the average number of employees per department

Solution

Passage Analysis:

Text from Passage	Analysis
A significant number of Unitron Corporation's department heads are due to retire this year.	What it says: Many department heads at Unitron are retiring this year, creating upcoming vacancies What it does: Sets up the problem - establishes that there will be empty leadership positions What it is: Author's factual premise
The number of employees other than current department heads who could take on the position of department head is equal to only about half of the expected vacancies.	What it says: Internal candidates can only fill about 50% of the open department head spots What it does: Shows the gap between available people and needed positions, building on the retirement problem What it is: Author's factual premise Visualization: \(\mathrm{If\ 20\ department\ heads\ retire} \rightarrow \mathrm{Only\ 10\ internal\ employees\ qualified\ to\ replace\ them} \rightarrow \mathrm{10\ positions\ still\ unfilled}\)
Unitron is not going to hire department heads from outside the company or have current department heads take over more than one department	What it says: Company won't use external hiring or have one person manage multiple departments What it does: Eliminates two potential solutions to the staffing gap identified earlier What it is: Author's factual premise about company policy
so some departments will be without department heads next year since Unitron will not _______.	What it says: Because of these limitations, some departments won't have leaders unless Unitron does something specific What it does: Draws a logical conclusion from the previous facts and sets up the blank to be filled What it is: Author's conclusion with missing premise

Argument Flow:

The argument starts with a staffing crisis (retirements), shows why current solutions are inadequate (not enough internal candidates), eliminates other options (no external hiring, no multi-department management), then concludes some departments will lack leadership unless Unitron takes some unspecified action.

Main Conclusion:

Some departments will be without department heads next year unless Unitron takes a specific action (to be identified in the blank).

Logical Structure:

This is a process of elimination argument. We have a problem (retirements), insufficient resources (too few internal candidates), blocked solutions (no external hiring or multi-department heads), leading to an inevitable outcome unless one more option is ruled out. The blank should contain the final solution that Unitron won't pursue, making the shortage unavoidable.

Prethinking:

Question type:

Logically Completes - We need to find what Unitron will NOT do that would logically explain why some departments will be without heads next year.

Precision of Claims

The argument deals with specific organizational activities - retiring department heads, internal promotion capabilities, hiring policies, and departmental management structures. The completion must address what Unitron won't do that could solve the staffing gap.

Strategy

Since this is a 'Logically Completes' question, we need to identify what action Unitron could take but won't take that would prevent departments from being without heads. The argument has already ruled out external hiring and having current heads manage multiple departments. We need to think of other logical solutions that Unitron could pursue but apparently won't, which would explain why the conclusion (some departments without heads) follows logically.

Answer Choices Explained

raise the minimum qualifications an employee must have to be promoted to department head

'raise the minimum qualifications an employee must have to be promoted to department head' - This doesn't make logical sense in context. If Unitron already has a shortage of qualified internal candidates, making the qualifications even stricter would only make the problem worse, not solve it. This wouldn't be a solution that Unitron might consider to address the shortage.

promote any current department heads to higher managerial positions

'promote any current department heads to higher managerial positions' - This actually makes the problem worse rather than solving it. If current department heads get promoted, that creates even more vacancies at the department head level. This doesn't logically complete the argument about why some departments will lack heads.

reduce the responsibilities of each department

'reduce the responsibilities of each department' - This doesn't address the core issue of having enough people to lead departments. Even with reduced responsibilities, departments would still need heads to manage them. This isn't a viable solution to the leadership shortage.

have any manager who are currently senior to the department heads appointed as department heads

'have any manager who are currently senior to the department heads appointed as department heads' - This perfectly completes the logical flow. Senior managers (like VPs or directors) could theoretically step down to fill department head roles. By ruling out this option, we've eliminated the final potential solution, making the conclusion inevitable. This follows the argument's pattern of eliminating possible solutions.

reduces the average number of employees per department

'reduces the average number of employees per department' - This doesn't solve the fundamental problem of needing department heads. Regardless of department size, each department still needs a head to manage it. This doesn't address the leadership gap that the argument is discussing.

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