Community coalitions, including resident associations advocating for affordable housing or neighborhood partnerships tackling local environmental issu...
GMAT Information and Ideas : (Ideas) Questions
Community coalitions, including resident associations advocating for affordable housing or neighborhood partnerships tackling local environmental issues, represent alliances of advocates who synchronize their activities to accomplish common policy objectives. Such coalitions generally unite organizers from various community groups to create coordinated strategies, combine resources, and deliver unified public communications. Based on recent research into grassroots movements, one policy analyst determines that collaborative decision-making can create difficulties for experienced organizers who are familiar with establishing their own organizational agendas.
Which statement from the research most effectively demonstrates the analyst's determination?
'Partnership work has provided our group with media connections and political networks that we could never have built independently.'
'We continue our coalition participation, but that doesn't require every choice to involve complete consensus - most projects stay under the main guidance of whichever group initially brought them to the coalition.'
'The initial coalition I participated in contained many committed advocates, but we constantly battled over priority-setting and resource distribution since everyone was accustomed to managing their own group, so the alliance ultimately fell apart.'
'Sometimes a group from beyond our coalition will participate with us on particular campaigns, but all joint activities must align with the general community goals our central members have determined.'
Step 1: Decode and Map the Passage
Create Passage Analysis Table
| Text from Passage | Analysis |
|---|---|
| 'Community coalitions, including resident associations advocating for affordable housing or neighborhood partnerships tackling local environmental issues, represent alliances of advocates who synchronize their activities to accomplish common policy objectives.' |
|
| 'Such coalitions generally unite organizers from various community groups to create coordinated strategies, combine resources, and deliver unified public communications.' |
|
| 'Based on recent research into grassroots movements, one policy analyst determines that collaborative decision-making can create difficulties for experienced organizers who are familiar with establishing their own organizational agendas.' |
|
Provide Passage Architecture & Core Elements
Main Point: While community coalitions are designed to unite various groups for common goals, research suggests that collaborative decision-making can create problems for experienced organizers accustomed to independent agenda-setting.
Step 2: Interpret the Question Precisely
What's being asked? Which research statement would most effectively demonstrate the analyst's determination about collaborative decision-making difficulties.
What type of answer do we need? Evidence that supports/illustrates the analyst's specific finding about problems for experienced organizers.
Any limiting keywords? Most effectively demonstrate
Step 3: Prethink the Answer
- The analyst determined that collaborative decision-making can create difficulties for experienced organizers who are familiar with establishing their own organizational agendas
- The right answer should show actual difficulties occurring in collaborative decision-making
- Involve experienced organizers who are used to running their own operations
- Demonstrate problems that arise specifically because these organizers clash when they have to work together instead of independently
'Partnership work has provided our group with media connections and political networks that we could never have built independently.'
✗ Incorrect
- This choice focuses on benefits of partnership work like media connections and political networks
- It demonstrates advantages of collaboration, not difficulties
'We continue our coalition participation, but that doesn't require every choice to involve complete consensus - most projects stay under the main guidance of whichever group initially brought them to the coalition.'
✗ Incorrect
- This describes a coalition that has found ways to work around potential consensus issues
- It shows a functioning solution rather than the difficulties the analyst identified
'The initial coalition I participated in contained many committed advocates, but we constantly battled over priority-setting and resource distribution since everyone was accustomed to managing their own group, so the alliance ultimately fell apart.'
✓ Correct
- This directly demonstrates the analyst's point by describing a coalition that constantly battled over priority-setting and resource distribution
- The key phrase about everyone being accustomed to managing their own group perfectly matches the analyst's point about organizers familiar with establishing their own organizational agendas
- The coalition ultimately fell apart, showing that the difficulties were severe enough to cause complete failure
'Sometimes a group from beyond our coalition will participate with us on particular campaigns, but all joint activities must align with the general community goals our central members have determined.'
✗ Incorrect
- This describes a functioning system where activities align with established community goals
- It shows coordination working successfully, not the difficulties the analyst determined exist