Which of the following is a point at issue between Gordon and Linda?

Question

A) Was Zen Park Frantic a market success?
B) Would Zen Park Frantic have been as successful if it had followed the organization's normal procedures?
C) Are team-based product development processes successful in any organizational setting?
D) Is the Hawthorne effect an important concept in explaining the causes of increased productivity?
E) Does the evidence support a move to team-based product development?

Answer 1

Answer: E
Explanation: E) Gordon thinks that the success of the Zen Park Frantic project demonstrates the superiority of the team-focused product development process. Because Linda thinks that any change would have resulted in improved performance, she believes that the evidence isn't strong enough to support a general move to team-based product development. So the speakers disagree about Choice E. Choice A: Linda agrees that it was a success, but she has a different view about the cause. Choice B: Both speakers agree that it would have been worse using normal procedures. Choice C goes too far to be covered by Linda. She is talking about this organization, not all of them. Choice D: Gordon doesn't mention the Hawthorne effect, so we don't know what he thinks about it in general. He probably thinks that it doesn't apply here, but Choice D makes a much broader claim.