Which of the following, if true, most strongly suggests that the failu

QUESTION

Which of the following, if true, most strongly suggests that the failures attributed to leadership were also caused by failures in organizing?

A) Most of the conflicts between team members concerned questions of roles and determining who had the authority to make decisions.
B) The market research was delayed because the firms hired to conduct customer interviews backed out of the project after the market research began.
C) The reports of conflicts among team members were exaggerated in order to make the project leaders seem less competent.
D) The failure to locate an alternative component provider is very similar to other failures that have appeared in past projects.
E) Even the most successful projects encounter some problems related to each of the main management functions.

ANSWER

Answer: A
Explanation: A) The leadership problems included conflicts, but if Choice A is true, then those conflicts were caused by failures of organizing. That doesn’t mean that leadership played no role here, but if Choice A is true, then problems of organizing contributed, too. Choice B makes the planning problems sound as though they were influenced by controlling problems. Choice C makes the leadership problem sound not as bad as they thought but doesn’t tell us that those problems were caused by something else. Choice D makes the controlling problems sound as if they involved a failure to plan. Choice E says that some problems are expected, but this doesn’t place the blame on organizing instead of leadership.