In the IELTS reading section, you will be asked to answer 40 questions from the 3 to 4 passages. The questions can be multiple choice questions, theme, fill in the gaps, vocabulary and many more. This only indicates that you have to practice a lot of reading passages if you want to get a good score in this section.
Go through the topic “Why should companies welcome disorder?” and the solved questions to learn how to approach the passages in the right way.
Let’s start reading.
Why Should Companies Welcome Disorder?
This reading passage topic is broken down into 8 sections. You will find some solved questions just below the last section. Get an idea of how to approach the questions and better up your IELTS preparation
Paragraph 1
The company is a large corporation. A multibillion-dollar market helps to satisfy this need, whether it is of our lives, all the inboxes and schedules, or how businesses are organised.
We have more management skills, project management, and self-organization techniques than at any given time in modern history. We are advised that we should organise our businesses, our homes, our weeks, our days, and our sleep patterns in order to become more profitable. Every week, numerous lectures and conferences are held all over the world to convince a paying audience that they can plan their lives in order to do this.
This rhetoric has also infiltrated the minds of corporate executives and entrepreneurs, much to the amusement of self-proclaimed perfectionists who feel the need to make it just right. For the last 50 years, the number of business schools and graduates has skyrocketed, basically educating people how to plan well.
Paragraph 2
Contrary to popular belief, the number of companies that fail has gradually risen. The level of work-related tension has risen. A sizable proportion of employees in all ages are unhappy with the way their jobs are organised and handled.
This raises the issue of what went wrong. Why is it that, on paper, a quest toward organisation seems to be a surefire way to boost efficiency, but in practise, it falls well short of expectations?
Paragraph 3
It has been an issue for a long time. Frederick Taylor is credited with being one of the founding fathers of scientific management. He devised a set of standards to increase the productivity of the job process in the first half of the twentieth century, which have since been widely used in contemporary businesses. As a result, the strategy has been around for a while.
Paragraph 4
According to new findings, our fascination with performance is misplaced. The issue isn’t with the management philosophies or techniques we use to structure our jobs; it’s with our fundamental ideas of how we work. The premise here is that order is a prerequisite for efficiency. This belief has also given rise to the notion that chaos would be bad for business competitiveness. As a result, businesses and individuals waste time and resources organising themselves for the purpose of organising rather than considering the end purpose and utility of such an endeavour.
Also Read: Reading Passage in IELTS Test: Here’s How to Ace IELTS Reading Passage
Paragraph 5
Furthermore, new research indicates that order has declining returns. To some extent, an order increases efficiency, but over time, the utility of the company method and the benefits it produces dwindle to the point that any further increase in order decreases productivity. Some claim that in industry, where the cost of systematically structuring anything outweighs the benefits of doing so, it should not be formalised. Instead, the funds could be put to greater use elsewhere.
Paragraph 6
In reality, research suggests that the best way to innovate is to build an ecosystem free of order and hierarchy, allowing everyone involved to collaborate as a single organic entity. These environments will lead to new ideas that would never be possible in traditional formal environments (which are full of bottlenecks in terms of knowledge flow, power mechanisms, rules, and routines).
Paragraph 7
Companies have gradually begun to tolerate this disorganisation in recent years. All of them welcome it both in terms of experience (embracing the concept of chaos rather than fearing it) and method (embracing the idea of the disorder rather than fearing it) (putting mechanisms in place to reduce structure).
For example, Oticon, a big Danish hearing aid company, used a “spaghetti” system to break down the organization’s rigid hierarchies. This entailed getting rid of traditional work titles and allowing employees a lot of control over their own time and tasks. Initially, this strategy was very fruitful, with significant increases in workplace morale across the board.
Paragraph 8
In a related vein, General Electric’s former chairman advocated disorganisation, proposing the concept of the “boundaryless” organisation. Again, it entails removing boundaries between departments within an organisation and promoting virtual teamwork and flexible working. Google and a host of other tech firms have adopted (at least in part) agile frameworks made possible by technology and solid corporate principles that bind people together.
A word of caution to those considering getting on this bandwagon: research shows that, like order, chaos has dwindling usefulness and, if overused, may have negative effects on results. Disorder, as order, can only be accepted to the extent that it is beneficial. But we should not be afraid of it, nor should we worship one over the other. This study further demonstrates the importance of questioning our current beliefs on a regular basis.
Also Read: How to Answer Flow Chart Questions in IELTS Reading Test? Guide to Bost IELTS Score
Solved IELTS Reading Questions: Why Should Companies Welcome Disorder?
Vocabulary Questions for IELTS Preparation
1. Synonym of “organised”
Ans. Arrange
2. Synonym of “convince”
Ans. Persuade
3. Synonym of “rhetoric”
Ans. Oratory
4. Synonym of “surefire”
Ans. Reliable
5. Synonym of “tolerate”
Ans. Bear
6. Antonym of “efficiency”
Ans. Inefficiency
7. Antonym of “initial”
Ans. Final
8. Antonym of “convince”
Ans. Dissuade
9. Antonym of “misplaced”
Ans. Recovered
10. Antonym of “devised”
Ans. Mismanaged
Fill in the Gaps for IELTS Preparation
1. Every week, numerous lectures and conferences are held all over the world to convince a _____ that they can plan their lives in order to do this.
Ans. Paying audience
2. For the last _____, the number of business schools and graduates has skyrocketed, basically educating people how to plan well.
Ans. 50 years
3. _____ is credited with being one of the founding fathers of scientific management.
Ans. Frederick Taylor
4. This belief has also given rise to the notion that _____ would be bad for business competitiveness.
Ans. Chaos
5. Furthermore, new research indicates that order has ______ .
Ans. Declining returns
6. Companies have gradually begun to tolerate this ______ in recent years.
Ans. Disorganisation
7. This entailed getting rid of traditional work titles and allowing ______ a lot of control over their own time and tasks.
Ans. Employees
IELTS Preparation Strategies for Reading Section
Proper Time Management
You just have 60 minutes. That indicates you have 60 minutes to read and try all of the answers. Begin by skimming the passages in no more than 2 to 3 minutes. Highlight the keywords as you read. Concentrate on your reading level when practising. Read the passage as soon as possible. Make absolutely sure your pace improves with each attempt. This part of the IELTS assesses your pace as well as your English proficiency; thus, you must keep each second in thought so that you do not miss one.
Don’t Read the Whole Passage
It is not necessary to read the entire passage because it would consume all of your time. Not all query forms need you to read the whole passage in an attempt to address them. The only question forms that necessitate reading the entire passage are “Matching title” and “Choosing a word.” Avoid reading the whole passage until and unless you have these forms. When you read the questions before beginning the passage, you will know what to leave out and what to emphasise.
Also Read: IELTS Reading Practice Questions- Finding Information in the Passage | Understanding the Black Hole
Go for the Questions First
Starting a passage with a vacant and stressed mind would just cause you problems. If you begin this way, you will have to go through the section many times. As a result, it is recommended that you begin by running through all of the questions before beginning with the passage. Beginning in this manner gives you guidance to work, and depending on the types of questions provided, you may determine whether to concentrate on keywords or read the whole passage. This technique saves you a lot of time and allows you to answer questions quickly.
Understand the Questions Properly
It is important that you read the questions carefully and attentively. You must determine the form of questions you must answer, whether they are true or false, statement completion, gap filling, or multiple-choice. Analyzing questions will assist you in focusing on particular aspects of the passage, saving you time. In MCQs, you can use the exclusion process, which not only saves time but also assists you in selecting the correct alternative.
Broaden Your Vocabulary
If you believe your language is inadequate, you must improve it. Be sure to improve your language enough that you can quickly decipher the context of the sentence; if you don’t, you will have to run over the sentence more than once, which may require more mental work. So, when practising IELTS reading passages, make sure to look up the definitions of terms you don’t know and make a set of words and their definitions.
Conclusion
Reading is a significant segment in IELTS and is often considered to be the most difficult. This segment assesses not just one ability but also several aspects such as speed, vocabulary, grammar and analysing strength. It is important that you practise a lot of reading passages for IELTS in order to do well in the exam.
You can get more reading passages in the blog sections of IELTS Ninja.
Good luck!
Also Read: Different Types of Questions in IELTS Reading: Things You Should Know about IELTS Questions
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