Mike Morrell is a production supervisor in Porco Rosso, an aircraft manufacturing firm. After evaluating Mike's managerial capabilities, some members of the senior management feel that average productivity would improve if more workers were assigned to him. However, some managers are skeptical about Mike's ability to handle more workers.
-Which of the following statements, if true, would support the argument favoring increased span of control?
A) Mike's team consists of highly experienced and skilled labor.
B) Porco Rosso recently became the world's leading aircraft manufacturer.
C) Mike is receiving increasing complaints about interpersonal conflicts within the team.
D) Mike's team is highly dependent on his guidance, even on minor issues.
E) When additional workers were assigned to Mike on a previous occasion, it led to unfavorable results.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

As Mike's team consists of highly experienced and skilled labor, Mike's managerial abilities would complement his team's abilities and certainly improve the average productivity. Porco Rosso becoming the leading aircraft manufacturer is simply stating a mere and irrelevant fact. If Mike is receiving increasing complaints about interpersonal conflicts within his team, then he isn't doing a very good job to begin with and hence must not be assigned more workers. If Mike's team is highly dependent on his guidance, his hands are already full and assigning more workers certainly wouldn't be advised. The fact that assigning additional workers to Mike had previously led to unfavorable results indicates that he is incapable of handling more than the present number.

Mike Morrell Is a Production Supervisor in Porco Rosso, an Aircraft