CAT 2002 — VARC Question 30
Fill the gaps in the passage below with the most appropriate word from the options given for each gap. The right words are the ones used by the author. Be guided by the author's overall style and meaning when you choose the answers.
In a large company, ______1______ people is about as common as using a gun or a switch-blade to ______2_______ an argument. As a result, most managers have little or no experience of firing people, and they find it emotionally automatic, as result, they often delay the act interminably, much as an unhappy spouse will prolong a bad marriage. And when the firing is done, it's often done clumsily, with far worse side effects than are necessary.
Do the world-class software organizations have a different way of firing people? No. But they do the deed swiftly, humanely, and professionally.
The key point here is to view the fired employee as a "failed product" and to ask how the process ______3_______ such a phenomenon in the first place.
2
Answer & solution
resolve
- B
thwart
- C
defeat
- D
close
Thwart means ‘frustrate, ruin, or stop’. Where it means ‘stop’, it may still be applicable. ‘Close’ an argument is also an option. ‘Defeat (option 3)’ can be easily eliminated. The best alternative here is ‘resolve’. But resolve fits in best with the sentence as one resolves or solves an argument.
Hence, the correct answer is option 1.