# Measuring Organisational Performance: answers and explanations

Cambridge IELTS 3, Test 4, Reading Passage 3

Source: Passage, questions and answer key from Cambridge IELTS 3, Test 4, Reading Passage 3. © Cambridge University Press & Assessment. Used for educational practice. Explanations and evidence notes are written by Testmigo.

## Answer key

| Q | Answer | Proof |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 28 | A | To what extent will the quality of his organisation suffer if he does so? ... such short-term increases are obtained only at a substantial and serious cost to the organisation. |
| 29 | C | Each division was organised in exactly the same way |
| 30 | C | Beforehand, several months were devoted to planning, and there was also a training period of approximately six months. |
| 31 | supervision | an attempt was made to change the supervision so that the decision levels were pushed down ... the programme called for modifying the supervision so as to increase the closeness of supervision |
| 32 | productivity | Productivity was measured continuously and computed weekly throughout the year. |
| 33 | reduced | decision levels were pushed down and detailed supervision of the workers reduced. |
| 34 | leadership | supervisors and assistant supervisors of these two divisions were trained in group methods of leadership |
| 35 | overstaffed | This showed that these divisions were overstaffed by about 30%. |
| 36 | reduced | The general manager then ordered the managers of these two divisions to cut staff by 25%. |
| 37 | C | Figure 1 shows the changes in salary costs per unit of work, which reflect the change in productivity that occurred in the divisions. |
| 38 | D | Figure 2 shows that when more general supervision and increased participation were provided, the employees' feeling of responsibility to see that the work got done increased. |
| 39 | G | As Figure 3 shows, the employees in the participative programme at the end of the year felt that their manager and assistant manager were 'closer to them' |
| 40 | F | as Figure 4 shows, employees in the participative programme felt that their supervisors were more likely to 'pull' for them |

## Why these answers are right

**28. A.** The question asks what the study was meant to find out. It was "designed to answer" how far a manager can boost short-term earnings by exploiting staff and how much "the quality of his organisation" would suffer, which means testing whether higher productivity is worth any cost, so A fits.

**29. C.** You need a true statement about the four divisions. The passage says "Each division was organised in exactly the same way" and used the same technology and work, so C, identical patterns of organization, is right. The 500 clerks were the total across all four divisions, not each one.

**30. C.** The question asks what happened before the experiment. The passage says "Beforehand, several months were devoted to planning" plus about six months of training, so the staff spent months preparing, which matches C. Option A is wrong because no attempt was made to fit divisions to programs.

The why and the trap for questions 31 onwards are free with an account on the [answers page](https://testmigo.com/ielts/reading/measuring-organisational-performance/answers).

[Practice Measuring Organisational Performance](https://testmigo.com/ielts/reading/measuring-organisational-performance)