Executives claim that this division of labor keeps employees focused on the tasks that fit their skills and leads to a better product. Which of the following, if True, would strengthen that claim?
A) During every project, Design department members spend a large amount of time consulting with Marketing department members to learn how the Marketing department will attempt to sell the completed project.
B) When environmental changes that take place after the project has been launched make the project unattractive to customers, the Production department attempts to complete the project according to the original schedule and budget.
C) After a product specification is completed, knowledge of the thinking that went into the product specification is not necessary to complete the project effectively.
D) The team process is based on the process that Appleson's executives used during the era of print-only product development.
E) The reasoning behind the team process is presented to new employees as part of their initial orientation.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

C) The Design department knows what customers want and come up with a plan. Production executes the plan. But do they need to know what customers want in order to execute the plan? If Choice C is True, then the answer is no, they don't. So Choice C strengthens the argument by supporting the notion that the Production department has what they need to do their job effectively. Choice A undermines the argument by suggesting that discussions need to take place that would be unnecessary if the distinction between the Design department and the Marketing department were eliminated. The fact that these discussions are necessary suggests that splitting these functions is inefficient. Choice B undermines the argument by suggesting that Production keeps spending resources on doomed projects. Choice D doesn't matter because this is a new era, and we don't even know how effective the model was in that older era. Choice E doesn't address the wisdom of the process; it doesn't help us decide if this is a good thing to try to do.

Executives Claim That This Division of Labor Keeps Employees Focused