Admission Tests GMAT Online Practice Questions and Exam Preparation

Admission Tests GMAT Online Questions & Answers

• Question 71:

  It can be inferred that the author sees informal contact between managers and customers as an example of which of the following?

  A. The development of pathways for information and action that bypass traditional avenues of corporate communication
  B. The changes in business conditions that have created a need for new managerial techniques
  C. The extension of managerial authority to external relationships
  D. An outmoded approach to management that needlessly constrains managers from vitiating projects on their own
  E. The effective utilization of official contact points
  A. The development of pathways for information and action that bypass traditional avenues of corporate communication

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  Explanation/Reference:

  Managerial work is undergoing enormous and rapid change. With little precedent to guide them, managers are coping with the fading away of hierarchy and the blurring of clear distinctions of title, task, department, even corporation. Traditional sources of power are being eroded as levels of complexity and interdependence increase. Competitive pressures from recent business downturns are forcing corporations to adopt flexible strategies and structures, including reductions In management staff and increased use of performance-based (rather than longevity-based) rewards. In a more profound change, in a growing number of companies horizontal ties between peers are replacing vertical ties as channels of activity and communication. Companies are asking departmental staff to play a more strategic role, with greater cross-departmental collaboration. Some organizations are forming strategic alliances with customers and outside suppliers that bring external relationships inside, where they can influence company policy. Fundamentally, the new managerial work involves new ways of obtaining and using power. Position, title, and authority are no longer adequate tools when managers have to work cooperatively with other departments and even other companies. The ability of managers to get things done depends more on the number of networks in which they are included than on their rank in a hierarchy. In the past, formal structures and the emphasis on rank were more limiting. For example, access to information and the ability to get informal backing were often confined to the few officially sanctioned contact points between departments or between the company and Its suppliers or customers. Today, official barriers between departments and between companies are disappearing while Informal networks grow in importance. The new corporation has many more channels for action, strategic pathways that ignore the chain of command. These strategic pathways also serve to diffuse power. As the number of ways to combine resources Increases, the ability to command diminishes. Alternative paths of communication and resource access erode the authority of those in the nominal chain of command. In other words, greater speed and flexibility undermine hierarchy. As more and more of the strategic action takes place in these informal networks, the Jobs that focus inward on particular departments decline In power.

• Question 72:

  The Sanpoil, a Native American tribe of the central Plateau west of the Rocky Mountains, sought peace constantly, and not only avoided war and feuds with neighboring peoples and among one another, but also they refused to retaliate if attacked.

  A. and not only avoided war and feuds with neighboring peoples and among one another, but also they refused
  B. and not only avoided war and feuds among neighboring peoples and one another, but also refused
  C. not only to avoid war and feuds with neighboring peoples and one another, but also refusing
  D. not only avoiding war and feuds with neighboring peoples and one another, but also refusing
  E. not only avoiding war and feuds among neighboring peoples and one another, but also refusing
  D. not only avoiding war and feuds with neighboring peoples and one another, but also refusing

• Question 73:

  Although a substantial body of evidence Indicates that flexible and participative work arrangements make possible significant performance advantages over more traditional centralized and hierarchical structures, the proportion of businesses that have so transformed themselves remains quite small. Why, then, do firms that purport to be rationally acting organizations appear to resist the very methods that would best equip them to achieve their stated goals?

  The passage most strongly suggests that most firms aim to

  A. adopt flexible and participative work arrangements
  B. adopt innovative routines and production methods
  C. enhance the centralization and hierarchy of their bureaucratic structures
  D. produce more-marketable goods and services
  E. achieve improved performance
  D. produce more-marketable goods and services

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  Explanation/Reference:

  The passage most strongly suggests that most firms aim to adopt flexible and participative work arrangements adopt innovative routines and production methods enhance the centralization and hierarchy of their bureaucratic structures produce more- marketable goods and services achieve improved performance One line of analysis points toward the phenomenon of structural inertia, suggesting that organizations are "imprinted" with the conditions under which they were bom, tending thereafter to ding to long-established routines, production methods, and identities. A second approach fastens on resistance to change among middle managers, who are said to view new work practices as threats to their traditional status and authority. A third approach suggests that because firms have tended to adopt innovations singly, rather than in clusters, the firms often fail to achieve far-reaching organization change. Although each of these perspectives contains a partial truth, each one is limited. Analysis using the concept of structural inertia tends to emphasize the conservative aspects of organizational culture and to neglect inside factors as sources of change. While theories of managerial resistance have stressed the importance of within-firm political processes, they often endow upper level of management with an omniscience and openness to egalitarian practices that upper-level managers do not possess. Finally, the last approach often views new practices as if they exist in a vacuum--as if they are unmedtated by the manner in which they are introduced. An alternative approach builds on developments within industrial sociology. The outcome of workplace change initiatives is shaped in large part by the social and organizational processes that unfold during the implementation of new work practices. In other words, workplace change is not akin to a surgical procedure performed under anesthesia. Rather, it constitutes a negotiated phenomenon In which the language and strategies that particular occupational groups employ can either blur or sharpen the boundaries that exist within the firm. Where workplace change fails to transform existing organizational patterns, the reasons may stem less from the nature of the innovations than from the processes that surround and shape their introduction.

• Question 74:

  The average (arithmetic mean) of the 5 numbers in set *is greater than the median of the 5 numbers in set X, and the average of the 7 numbers in set Yis greater than the median of the 7 numbers In set Y. If the two sets have no numbers in common and If they are combined to form set Z, Is the average of the 12 numbers In set /greater than Hie median of the 12 numbers in set Z?

  (1)

  The average of the numbers in set Kis greater than the average of the numbers in set

  A. (2) The median of the numbers in set Y\s greater than the median of the numbers in set X,
  B. Statement (1) ALONE is sufficient, but statement (2) alone Is not sufficient.
  C. Statement (2) ALONE is sufficient, but statement (1) alone is not sufficient.
  D. BOTH statements TOGETHER are sufficient, but NEITHER statement ALONE is sufficient.
  E. EACH statement ALONE is sufficient.
  F. Statements (1) and (2) TOGETHER are NOT sufficient.
  C. Statement (2) ALONE is sufficient, but statement (1) alone is not sufficient.

• Question 75:

  What is the median of the data set consisting of the 5 integers d, A, 3, 5, and 2 ?

  (1)

  The mean of the data set is 4.

  (2)

  d>3

  A. Statement (1) ALONE Is sufficient, but statement (2) alone is not sufficient
  B. Statement (2) ALONE Is sufficient, but statement (1) atone is not sufficient
  C. BOTH statements TOGETHER are sufficient, but NEITHER statement ALONE is sufficient.
  D. EACH statement ALONE Is sufficient.
  E. Statements (1) and (2) TOGETHER are NOT sufficient
  D. EACH statement ALONE Is sufficient.

• Question 76:

  The passage suggests that all of the following are true of the cell adhesion molecules mentioned in the highSghted text EXCEPT:

  A. Their production is controlled by morphoregutotory genes.
  B. Their chemical structure is varied.
  C. They are attached to the surface of cells.
  D. They Ink cells Into clusters.
  E. They trigger the formation of historegulatory genes.
  A. Their production is controlled by morphoregutotory genes.
  E. They trigger the formation of historegulatory genes.

• Question 77:

  

  A. 1
  B. 2
  C. 4
  D. 6
  E. 8
  E. 8

• Question 78:

  Within liberal political theory, one requirement the state imposes on all its members is that rights being respected, and so its interference with a group might be a legitimate response to practices that violate.

  A. this requirement.
  B. being respected, and so
  C. were to be respected and
  D. are being respected, and so that it
  E. be respected and that
  F. be respected, and so
  E. be respected and that

• Question 79:

  

  A. Statement (1) ALONE is sufficient, but statement (2) alone is not sufficient.
  B. Statement (2) ALONE is sufficient, but statement (1) alone is not sufficient.
  C. BOTH statements TOGETHER are sufficient, but NEITHER statement ALONE is sufficient.
  D. EACH statement ALONE is sufficient.
  E. Statements (1) and (2) TOGETHER are NOT sufficient.
  B. Statement (2) ALONE is sufficient, but statement (1) alone is not sufficient.

• Question 80:

  When new regulations were imposed on businesses selling in the same markets as Acme Inc. and the demographics began to change unfavorably for its main product: there was very little that it could have done different in the short term.

  A. product; there was very little that it could have done different in the short term
  B. product, there was very little they could have done different in the short term
  C. product, so there was very little could be done differently by the firm in the short term
  D. product, there was very little possible in the short term for them to do differently
  E. product, there was very little that the firm could have done differently in the short term
  E. product, there was very little that the firm could have done differently in the short term