How to Run A Reading Answers

Dec 23, 2022

How to Run A Reading Answers is a particular topic discussing about how to write a good management book. The given IELTS topic has been taken from the book called “Cambridge IELTS 10 Student's Book with Answers”. There are 13 questions total in the the topic called How to Run A Reading Answers, which the candidates should attempt within the given time span of 20 minutes. The topic basically includes three types of questions, which are, choose the correct option, choose the correct paragraph, and match the statement according to the book. The candidates should read thoroughly the IELTS reading passage in order to recognize the synonyms and identify the keywords and for answering the questions below. Similar kinds of topics like How to Run A Reading Answers are included in the IELTS reading practice papers, which the candidates can take into their consideration for performing a good score in this section.

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Section 1

Read the Passage to Answer the Following Questions

How to Run A Reading Answers

Publisher and author David Harvey on what makes a good management book.

Prior to the Second World War, all the management books that were ever written could be comfortably stacked on a couple of shelves. Today, you would need a sizable library, with plenty of room for expansion to house them. The last few decades have seen the stream of new titles swell into a flood. In 1975, 771 business books were published. By 2000, the total for the year had risen to 3,203, and the trend continues.
The growth in publishing activity has followed the rise and rise of management to the point where it constitutes a mini-industry in its own right. In the USA alone, the book market is worth over $1 billion. Management consultancies, professional bodies and business schools were part of this new phenomenon, all sharing at least one common need: to get into print. Nor were they the only aspiring authors. Inside stories by and about business leaders balanced the more straight-laced textbooks by academics. How-to books by practising managers and business writers appeared on everything from making a presentation to developing a business strategy. With this upsurge in output, it is not really surprising that the quality is uneven.
Few people are probably in a better position to evaluate the management canon than Carol Kennedy, a business journalist and author of Guide to the Management Gurus, an overview of the world’s most influential management thinkers and their works. She is also the books editor of The Director. Of course, it is normally the best of the bunch that are reviewed in the pages of The Director. But from time to time, Kennedy is moved to use The Director’s precious column inches to warn readers off certain books. Her recent review of The Leader’s Edge summed up her irritation with authors who over-promise and under-deliver. The banality of the treatment of core competencies for leaders, including the ‘competency of paying attention’, was a conceit too far in the context of a leaden text. ‘Somewhere in this book,’ she wrote, there may be an idea worth reading and taking note of, but my own competency of paying attention ran out on page 31.’ Her opinion of a good proportion of the other books that never make it to the review pages is even terser.‘Unreadable’ is her verdict.
Simon Caulkin, contributing editor of the Observer’s management page and former editor of Management Today have formed a similar opinion. A lot is pretty depressing, unimpressive stuff.’ Caulkin is philosophical about the inevitability of finding so much dross. Business books, he says, ‘range from total drivel to the ambitious stuff. Although the confusing thing is that the really ambitious stuff can sometimes be drivel.’ Which leaves the question open as to why the subject of management is such a literary wasteland. There are some possible explanations.
Despite the attempts of Frederick Taylor, the early twentieth-century founder of scientific management, to establish a solid, rule-based foundation for the practice, management has come to be seen as just as much an art as a science. Once psychologists like Abraham Maslow, behaviorists and social anthropologists persuaded business to look at management from a human perspective, the topic became more multi-dimensional and complex. Add to that the requirement for management to reflect the changing demands of the times, the impact of information technology and other factors, and it is easy to understand why management is in a permanent state of confusion. There is a constant requirement for reinterpretation, innovation and creative thinking: Caulkin’s ambitious stuff. For their part, publishers continue to dream about finding the next big management idea, a topic given an airing in Kennedy’s book. The Next Big Idea.
Indirectly, it tracks one of the phenomena of the past 20 years or so: the management blockbusters which work wonders for publishers’ profits and transform authors’ careers. Peters and Waterman’s In Search of Excellence: Lessons from America’s Best-Run Companies achieved spectacular success. So did Michael Hammer and James Champy’s book. Reengineering the Corporation: A Manifesto for Business Revolution. Yet the early euphoria with which such books are greeted tends to wear off as the basis for the claims starts to look less than solid. In the case of In Search of Excellence, it was the rapid reversal of fortunes that turned several of the exemplary companies into basket cases. For Hammer’s and Champy’s readers, disillusion dawned with the realisation that their slash-and-burn prescription for reviving corporate fortunes caused more problems than it solved.
Yet one of the virtues of these books is that they could be understood. There is a whole class of management texts that fail this basic test.‘Some management books are stuffed with jargon,’ says Kennedy.‘Consultants are among the worst offenders.’ She believes there is a simple reason for this flight from plain English.’ They all use this jargon because they can’t think clearly. It disguises the paucity of thought.’
By contrast, the management thinkers who have stood the test of time articulate their ideas in plain English. Peter Drucker, widely regarded as the doyen of management thinkers, has written a steady stream of influential books over half a century. ‘Drucker writes beautiful, dear prose.’ says Kennedy, ‘and his thoughts come through.’ He is among the handful of writers whose work, she believes, transcends the specific interests of the management community. Caulkin also agrees that Drucker reaches out to a wider readership. ‘What you get is a sense of the larger cultural background,’ he says.‘That’s what you miss in so much management writing.’ Charles Handy, perhaps the most successful UK business writer to command an international audience, is another rare example of a writer with a message for the wider world.

Section 2

Solution With Explanation
Questions 1-2:
Choose the correct option from the letters given.
Write the answer in boxes 1-2 on your answer sheet.

Question 1: What is the writer saying about an increase in the number of published management books?

It surprised the publishing industry.
It might continue.
The profit is more than the profit in other areas of publishing.
It could have happened.

Answer: B: It might continue.
Supporting Sentence: In 1975, 771 business books had been published. By 2000, the total for the year had risen to 3,203, and the trend continues.
Keywords: Trend continues
Keyword Location: Paragraph A, last two lines
Explanation: The last two lines of paragraph A explains that 771 business books were published in 1975. The number for the year had climbed to 3,203 by 2000, and the tendency has continued.

Question 2: According to the reading passage, what is the genre of management books?

It has books that cover topics that have not much relevance to anyone.
It contains more practical books than theory books.
All kinds of people felt that they should be represented in it.
Business people have written the best books in the genre.

Answer: C: All kinds of people felt that they should be represented in it.
Supporting Sentence: Management consultancies, professional bodies and business schools were part of this new phenomenon, all sharing at least one common need: to get into print.
Keywords: All sharing, one common need, print
Keyword Location: Paragraph B, Lines 2-3
Explanation: The second and third line of paragraph B states that the management consultancies, professional organisations, and business schools were all a part of this new phenomena, and they all had one thing in common: they all wanted to have their names in print.

Questions 3-7:
Choose the correct paragraph that contains the information given below.
Write the correct letter of the paragraph in boxes 3-7 on your answer sheet.

Question 3: Reasons why some books deserved success

Answer: H
Supporting Sentence: Caulkin also agrees that Drucker reaches out to a wider readership.
Keywords: Transcends the specific interests, wider readership
Keyword Location: Paragraph H, Lines 2-4
Explanation: Lines 2-4 of paragaph H states that Ducker writes lovely, sweet prose, and his thoughts come through,' Kennedy says. He is one of a few writers whose work, she says, transcends the management community's special interests. Caulkin also feels that Drucker reaches a larger audience.

Question 4: Reasons for the need for advice felt by managers

Answer: E
Supporting Sentence: There is a constant requirement for reinterpretation, innovation and creative thinking.
Keywords: State of confusion, constant requirement, reinterpretation, innovation
Keyword Location: Paragraph E, Lines 5-7
Explanation: Lines 5-7 of paragraph E implies that the need for management to adapt to changing needs, the impact of information technology, and other variables all contribute to management's perpetual state of perplexity. Reinterpretation, creativity, and new thinking are always required.

Question 5: A belief that management books are considered to be very poor

Answer: D
Supporting Sentence: Although the confusing thing is that the really ambitious stuff can sometimes be drivel.’ which leaves the question open as to why the subject of management is such a literary wasteland.
Keywords: Total drivel, literally wasteland
Keyword Location: Paragraph D, Lines 2-4
Explanation: The second to fourth lines of paragraph D explains that the perplexing thing is that the truly ambitious stuff can occasionally be nonsense.' This begs the question of why management is such a literary wasteland.

Question 6: Reference to the books that are not worth a review.

Answer: C
Supporting Sentence: Her opinion of a good proportion of the other books that never make it to the review pages is even terser. ‘Unreadable’ is her verdict.
Keywords: Unreadable
Keyword Location: Paragraph C, last two lines
Explanation: The concluding two portions of paragraph C explains that Carol Kennedy has even harsher words for many of the other works that never make it to the review pages. 'Unreadable,' she says.

Question 7: An example of a group of writers who mostly write poor books.

Answer: G
Supporting Sentence: ’They all use this jargon because they can’t think clearly. It disguises the paucity of thought.’
Keywords: Can’t think, paucity of thought
Keyword Location: Paragraph G, last two lines
Explanation: The last two lines of paragraph G enhances that they all employ this language because they can't think clearly. It conceals a lack of thought.

Questions 8-13:

Match the statement with the correct book it relates to.
Write the correct letter of the book in boxes 8-13 on your answer sheet.

List of Books:

Guide to the Management Gurus
The Leader’s Edge
The Next Big Idea
In Search of Excellence
Re - Engineering the Corporation

Question 8: It examines the success of books within the genre.

Answer: (iii) The Next Big Idea
Supporting Sentence: For their part, publishers continue to dream about finding the next big management idea, a topic given an airing in Kennedy’s book: The Next Big Idea.
Keywords: Big management idea
Keyword Location: Paragraph E, last two lines
Explanation: The last two lines of paragraph E defines that the publishers continue to fantasize about discovering the next big management concept, a subject addressed in Kennedy's book The Next Big Idea.

Question 9: It was found later that the statements made in it were incorrect.

Answer: (iv) In Search of Excellence
Supporting Sentence: In the case of In Search of Excellence, it was the rapid reversal of fortunes that turned several of the exemplar companies into basket cases.
Keywords: Big management idea
Keyword Location: Paragraph F, Lines 5-6
Explanation: In the case of the book named In Search of Excellence, it was the fast reversal of fortunes that converted several of the exemplar enterprises into basket cases.

Question 10: It can't live up to the claims made about it.

Answer: (ii) The Leader’s Edge
Supporting Sentence: Her recent review of The Leader’s Edge summed up her irritation with authors who over-promise and under-deliver.
Keywords: Irritation, over-promise
Keyword Location: Paragraph C, Line 5
Explanation: The fifth line of paragraph C suggests that Carol Kennedy's comprehensive survey of The Leader's Edge encapsulated her annoyance with authors who over-promise and under-deliver.

Question 11: Harmful advice seems to be given in it.

Answer: (v) Reengineering the Corporation
Supporting Sentence: Reengineering the Corporation: A Manifesto for Business Revolution. Yet the early euphoria with which such books have greeted tends to wear off as the basis for the claims starts to look less than solid.
Keywords: Wear off, less than solid
Keyword Location: Paragraph F, Lines 4- 5
Explanation: Reengineering the Corporation: A Manifesto for Business Revolution of lines 4-5 of paragraph F states about the initial exhilaration that such books have generated tends to fade when the foundation for the assertions becomes less than solid.

Question 12: It analyzes the theories of the people who have developed management thinking.

Answer: i: Guide to the Management Gurus
Supporting Sentence: Few people are probably in a better position to evaluate the management canon than Carol Kennedy, a business journalist and author of Guide to the Management Gurus, an overview of the world’s most influential management thinkers and their works.
Keywords: Evaluate, influential management thinkers
Keyword Location: Paragraph C, first two lines
Explanation: Lines 1-2 of paragraph C clarifies that Few person are in a better position to analyse the management canon than Carol Kennedy, a business journalist and author of Guide to the Management Gurus, a survey of the world's most prominent management thinkers and their books.

Question 13: It states die unappealing.

Answer: ii: The Leader’s Edge
Supporting Sentence: ‘Somewhere in this book,’ she wrote, there may be an idea worth reading and taking note of, but my own competency of paying attention ran out on page 31.’
Keywords: Competency, paying attention, ran out
Keyword Location: Paragraph C, Lines 7-8
Explanation: Lines 7-8 of paragraph C suggests that in the book named The Ledger’s Edge, Carol Kennedy wrote there may be a thought worth reading and noting,' she wrote that her ability to pay attention ran out on page 31.

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