Read the following passage carefully and answer the following questions:…
20252024
Read the following passage carefully and answer the following questions:
Organizations are institutions in which members compete for status and power. They compete for resource of the organization, for example finance to expand their own departments, for career advancement and for power to control the activities of others. In pursuit of these aims, groups are formed and sectional interests emerge. As a result, policy decisions may serve the ends of political and career systems rather than those of the concern. In this way, the goals of the organization may be displaced in favor of sectional interests and individual ambition. These preoccupations sometimes prevent the emergence of organic systems. Many of the electronic firms in the study had recently created research and development departments employing highly qualified and well paid scientists and technicians. Their high pay and expert knowledge were sometimes seen as a threat to the established order of rank, power and privilege. Many senior managers had little knowledge of technicality and possibilities of new developments and electronics. Some felt that close cooperation with the experts in an organic system would reveal their ignorance and show their experience was now redundant.
The theme of the passage is
- A.
Groupism in organizations
- B.
Individual ambitions in organizations
- C.
Frustration of senior managers
- D.
Emergence of sectional interests in organizations
Attempted by 4 students.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: D
Answer: Emergence of sectional interests in organizations
Evidence from the passage: the author states, "In pursuit of these aims, groups are formed and sectional interests emerge." This sentence names the central theme directly.
Members compete for status, power, and resources, which leads to the formation of groups.
These sectional interests and individual ambitions can displace the goals of the organization.
The passage gives an example: technical experts in R&D are seen as a threat by senior managers, illustrating how sectional loyalties and fears affect organizational functioning.
Conclusion: The central theme is the emergence of sectional interests within organizations and their impact on organizational goals; other points in the passage (group formation, individual ambition, managers' frustration) are supporting details or consequences.