In a social science dispute about workplace productivity, an author challenges the view that remote work outcomes can be explained primarily by individual self-discipline. The author argues that productivity is shaped by organizational design: clarity of goals, feedback rhythms, and the availability of informal help channels. The author recognizes a competing explanation found in popular management writing: remote work allegedly succeeds or fails because home environments vary widely, with distractions and caregiving responsibilities overwhelming even well-designed workflows. The author does not deny such variation but reframes it as a reason to study organizational buffering—how teams adapt expectations, redistribute tasks, and formalize support—rather than treating home context as an endpoint explanation. The author concludes that focusing only on individual discipline or household distraction obscures the institutional choices that can mitigate both.
Which position does the author consider but ultimately challenge or qualify?
- Productivity in remote work is largely determined by organizational design features such as goals, feedback, and help channels.
- Because home environments differ in distractions and caregiving burdens, remote work outcomes are primarily explained by household context. (correct answer)
- Teams can buffer household variation by adapting expectations, redistributing tasks, and formalizing support mechanisms.
- Exclusive focus on either individual discipline or household distraction can obscure institutional choices that mitigate both.
Explanation: This question tests the ability to identify counterarguments in a CARS passage about remote work productivity. Counterarguments are alternative explanations or positions that the author considers but ultimately challenges or qualifies. The passage presents a competing explanation from popular management writing that attributes remote work success or failure primarily to home environment variations, with distractions and caregiving responsibilities overwhelming workflows. Choice B correctly identifies this counterargument that remote work outcomes are primarily explained by household context and its varying distractions and burdens. Choice A represents the author's own position about organizational design, while Choices C and D describe the author's responses to the counterargument. When identifying counterarguments, look for alternative explanations that the author explicitly attributes to other sources before reframing or challenging them.