A statement says that if retired professors of the same institute are invited to participate in discussions on restructuring the organisation, their contribution may be beneficial to the institute. In this course of action reasoning question, which of the following actions should the management take regarding the involvement of retired professors and current employees?

Introduction / Context:
This question concerns organisational restructuring and the appropriate involvement of experienced people. The statement tells us that inviting retired professors of the same institute to deliberate on restructuring may provide beneficial contributions. Two possible courses of action are suggested: first, to seek the opinion of employees before calling retired professors, and second, to involve experienced people in systematic restructuring. We must evaluate which actions logically follow from the given information and align with the goal of effective restructuring.

Given Data / Assumptions:

• Retired professors from the same institute may give beneficial input on restructuring the organisation.
• Course of action a: Management may seek the opinion of current employees before calling retired professors.
• Course of action b: Management should involve experienced people for the systematic restructuring of the organisation.
• We assume that retired professors are among the most experienced people regarding the institute and its academic functioning.

Concept / Approach:
In course of action questions, a valid course should be directly connected to the problem or opportunity mentioned in the statement. It should be necessary, helpful, and logically supported. The statement highlights the potential benefit of inviting retired professors, which emphasises the value of experience. There is no mention of the need to seek prior consent or opinion of employees for this decision. Therefore we test whether involving experienced people logically follows and whether seeking employee opinion is required by the information given.

Step-by-Step Solution:
Step 1: Identify the main idea. The statement focuses on the benefit of inviting retired professors because their experience can help restructuring.Step 2: Evaluate course of action b. It generalises the idea to say that management should involve experienced people for systematic restructuring. Since the statement already suggests that retired professors, who are experienced, can be beneficial, involving experienced people clearly follows logically.Step 3: Evaluate course of action a. Seeking the opinion of employees before inviting retired professors is not suggested by the statement. The need to obtain such opinion is neither implied nor required for benefiting from the experience of retired professors.Step 4: Check relevance. Course a shifts focus from using expertise to internal approval processes, which are not discussed in the statement. Course b directly addresses the core idea: use experience to improve restructuring.Step 5: Conclude that only course of action b logically follows.

Verification / Alternative check:
If management has information that retired professors can be helpful, the key course is to involve them or other experienced people in restructuring. Internal consultation with employees may be good in practice, but it is not a necessary logical outcome of the given statement. The reasoning task asks what must or should follow, based on what is stated, not what might be democratically desirable in general. Thus course b is supported, and course a is not required by the information.

Why Other Options Are Wrong:

• Option a (Only course of action a follows) is wrong because the statement does not suggest that employee opinion is a precondition to inviting retired professors.
• Option b (Neither a nor b follows) is wrong because the statement clearly supports the importance of involving experienced people, which is reflected in course b.
• Option c (Both a and b follow) is wrong, since action a is not logically implied.
• Option e (None of these) is wrong because there is one valid course, namely b.

Common Pitfalls:
A frequent mistake is to assume that any action that sounds democratic or consultative is automatically valid. In logical reasoning exams, we must stick to what the statement supports. Another pitfall is to miss the generalisation from retired professors to experienced people in general. Since retired professors are clearly experienced, a principle recommending experienced people in restructuring is directly in line with the statement.

Final Answer:
Only course of action b follows.