Motivating Employees under Adverse Conditions: reading answers and analysis
How managers can keep staff motivated when an organisation is shrinking. After the problem (the best people leave and morale falls), six Key Points cover matching people to jobs, setting goals, keeping targets believable, personalising rewards, linking rewards to results and making the reward system fair.
The headings (14-18) cover Key Points Two to Six in order. The YES / NO / NOT GIVEN statements (19-24) run from the opening section to Key Point Five, in order. The group matching (25-27) uses Key Point Two and the study in Key Point Six.
Answer key and self-check
Type what you wrote and hit mark. Hide the key first if you haven't done the passage yet. Every question number jumps to its explanation.
How to attack this block: Four headings are about targets or rewards, so pin down each paragraph's exact angle. One sets goals with feedback, one makes goals believable, one personalises rewards, one ties rewards to results, and one makes the system fair. Key Point Five's openness about pay serves motivation, not fairness.
Question 14
Answer: viiKey Point Two, first sentence
Which heading fits Key Point Two?
managers should ensure that all employees have specific goals and receive comments on how well they are doing in those goals
Question says → Passage says
Establish targetshave specific goals / goal-setting theory
give feedbackreceive comments on how well they are doing
Why: The first sentence carries both halves of heading vii: set goals and comment on progress. The rest of the paragraph is about who sets the goals, which still sits under 'establish targets'.
The trap: Heading iii (ensure targets are realistic) also talks about targets, but that's Key Point Three. Two is about having goals and feedback, not about whether they're achievable.
Question 15
Answer: iiiKey Point Three, first sentence
Which heading fits Key Point Three?
if employees see them as unachievable they will reduce their effort
Question says → Passage says
realisticunachievable / their efforts can lead to performance goals
EnsureManagers must be sure
Why: The whole paragraph is about goals the employee believes can be reached. If they look impossible, effort drops. Making sure targets feel achievable is heading iii.
The trap: Heading viii (employees suited to their jobs) tempts because of 'must have the capability of doing the job'. That heading is the example for Key Point One, and here capability only supports the main point about achievable goals.
Question 16
Answer: iiKey Point Four, first two sentences
Which heading fits Key Point Four?
Managers could use their knowledge of each employee to personalise the rewards over which they have control.
Question says → Passage says
Match rewardspersonalise the rewards
to individualseach employee / employees have different needs
Why: Different people want different things, so managers should 'personalise' rewards. Fitting rewards to each person is heading ii.
The trap: Heading iv (link rewards to achievement) is about rewards too, but it's tying them to performance, which is Key Point Five.
Question 17
Answer: ivKey Point Five, first three sentences
Which heading fits Key Point Five?
Managers need to make rewards contingent on performance.
Question says → Passage says
Link rewardsmake rewards contingent on
to achievementperformance / the attainment of the employee's specific goals
Why: 'Contingent on' means depending on, so rewards follow performance. Pay rises and promotions go to those who reach their goals. That's heading iv.
The trap: Heading i (the reward system is fair) tempts because the second half of Five is about openness: publishing pay and bonuses. But openness here is to make rewards visible and motivating. Fairness is Key Point Six.
Question 18
Answer: iKey Point Six, first sentence
Which heading fits Key Point Six?
The way rewards are distributed should be transparent so that employees perceive that rewards or outcomes are equitable and equal to the inputs given.
Question says → Passage says
fairequitable / equal to the inputs given / one person's equity
the reward systemThe way rewards are distributed
Why: 'Equitable' means fair, and the paragraph keeps returning to equity: rewards matching what people put in. The long study example shows how hard fairness is. Heading i.
The trap: Heading ii (match rewards to individuals) fits the ending, where different employee groups value different things. But that's about groups, and it serves the fairness point.
YES / NO / NOT GIVEN
Questions 19-24
How to attack this block: Read the opening section carefully: it says who leaves a shrinking organisation and who stays. The team work statement has no direct word to match, so look for the opposite idea. Two NOT GIVENs take a real topic (small businesses, appraisals) and add a claim the writer doesn't make.
Question 19
Answer: NOThe Challenge, first paragraph, last three sentences
Does a shrinking organisation mainly lose its less skilled staff?
When an organisation is shrinking, the best and most mobile workers are prone to leave voluntarily.
Question says → Passage says
A shrinking organisation tends to loseWhen an organisation is shrinking… are prone to leave
its more skilled employeesthe best and most mobile workers / those with the highest skills and experience
Why: The best, most skilled workers leave, and the less skilled stay because they have fewer options. The statement reverses this, so NO.
The trap: The words 'minor employees' and 'limited' appear at the end, near 'less skilled', which can make people match the wrong group. Read who leaves and who remains.
Question 20
Answer: NOT GIVENKey Point One, second and third sentences
Does the writer say small businesses are easier to manage than large ones?
if the job is running a small business or an autonomous unit within a larger business, high achievers should be sought
Question says → Passage says
a small businessrunning a small business
a large businessa managerial post in a large bureaucratic organisation
Why: Small and large organisations are mentioned only to show which personality suits each job. The writer never says which is easier to manage, so NOT GIVEN.
The trap: The passage opens with 'It is a great deal easier to motivate employees in a growing organisation than a declining one'. That's about growing vs shrinking and motivating, not small vs large and managing.
Question 21
Answer: NOKey Point One, fifth sentence
Are high achievers well suited to working in teams?
High achievers will do best when the job provides moderately challenging goals and where there is independence and feedback.
Question says → Passage says
High achievers are well suitedHigh achievers will do best when
team workindependence / an autonomous unit
Why: High achievers do best with independence and are matched to running a small business or an 'autonomous' unit. Independence is the opposite of team work, so the writer's view contradicts the statement: NO.
The trap: Many answer NOT GIVEN because 'team' never appears. The key reads 'independence' as working on your own, which rules out team work. If you're unsure on a question like this, look for the passage's opposite idea.
Question 22
Answer: YESKey Point Two, last sentence
Can being asked to take part in goal-setting make some staff feel manipulated?
If participation and the culture are incongruous, employees are likely to perceive the participation process as manipulative and be negatively affected by it.
Question says → Passage says
Some employees can feel manipulatedemployees are likely to perceive the participation process as manipulative
asked to participate in goal-settingthe use of participation in goal-setting
Why: When participation doesn't fit the culture, employees see it as manipulative. 'Some' and 'can' match the condition 'if… incongruous', so YES.
Question 23
Answer: NOT GIVENKey Point Three, last sentence
Should employees design the staff appraisal process?
employees must have the capability of doing the job and must regard the appraisal process as valid
Question says → Passage says
The staff appraisal processthe appraisal process
Why: The writer says employees must see the appraisal process as valid. Who designs it isn't mentioned, so NOT GIVEN.
The trap: Key Point Two says participation in goal-setting can increase acceptance, so it seems natural that employees would design appraisals too. That's a leap the writer doesn't make.
Question 24
Answer: YESKey Point Five, last sentence
Should everyone's pay be made known across the organisation?
Eliminating the secrecy surrounding pay by openly communicating everyone's remuneration
Question says → Passage says
Employees' earningseveryone's remuneration
should be disclosed to everyoneEliminating the secrecy… openly communicating
Why: 'Remuneration' is pay, and 'openly communicating' it is disclosing it. The writer lists this as a way to make rewards more motivating, so it's something he recommends. YES.
Matching features (worker groups to descriptions A-E)
Questions 25-27
How to attack this block: The study compares clerks and production workers, and what is near the top of one list is near the bottom of the other. Keep a two-column note. High achievers are described once, in Key Point Two.
Question 25
Answer: BKey Point Two, second sentence
Which description fits high achievers?
the existence of external goals is less important because high achievers are already internally motivated
Question says → Passage says
have less need of external goalsthe existence of external goals is less important
Why: The match is almost word for word: external goals matter less to high achievers because their motivation comes from inside. B.
The trap: D (resist imposed goals) is in the same paragraph, but that's about employees in general when resistance is expected, not high achievers.
Question 26
Answer: CKey Point Six, middle
Which description fits clerical workers?
the clerical workers considered factors such as quality of work performed and job knowledge near the top of their list
Question says → Passage says
think that the quality of their work is importantconsidered… quality of work performed… near the top of their list
Why: Near the top of their list means very important. Quality of work is named directly, so C.
The trap: A (promotion is important) fits production workers. The clerks put advancement 'in the lower third of their list'.
Question 27
Answer: AKey Point Six, near the end
Which description fits production workers?
production workers rated advancement very highly, whereas clerical workers rated advancement in the lower third of their list
Question says → Passage says
judge promotion to be importantrated advancement very highly
Why: 'Advancement' is promotion, and production workers rate it 'very highly'. A.
The trap: C (quality of work) is the clerks' answer. For production workers, quality and job knowledge were 'at the bottom' of their list.
NO. The best and most mobile workers leave. It's the less skilled who stay.
Words from this passage worth keeping
entice(The Challenge)
attract or persuade by offering something good
prone to(The Challenge)
likely to
retrenchment(The Challenge)
cutting back costs and staff
affiliation(Key Point One)
a feeling of belonging to a group
incongruous(Key Point Two)
not fitting together, out of place
contingent on(Key Point Five)
depending on
remuneration(Key Point Five)
pay for work
equitable(Key Point Six)
fair and reasonable
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The full Cambridge 6 Test 3 reading paper: all three passages, 60 minutes, marked the second you finish with a review of every answer. Already done it? Take it again and see if the same traps still get you.
Cambridge IELTS 6, Test 3, Reading Passage 2. The passage and questions belong to Cambridge University Press and are not reproduced here. We quote short extracts only as evidence for our own commentary, and the answers are published for self-marking. Get the book for the full text, or sit the test on Langujet.
