Planning in Silos | Business & Economy RC

Is your organization’s workforce strategy truly agile — or is it quietly constrained by the team that controls the spreadsheet? This week’s passages unpack what happens when workforce planning breaks free from its traditional silo, and whether democratizing that function can become a genuine competitive advantage.

Read these Medium Difficulty RC passage(s) in Business, Economy, and Governance and answer the question(s) that follows. You can choose the GMAT style Reading Passage and the question or the GRE RC variant and answer the GRE-style question. Even better, you could solve both.

GMAT Reading Practice | Medium Difficulty | ~200 words

Traditionally, workforce planning operated as a finance-dominated, specialist-driven function. Dedicated analysts projected headcount requirements and labor costs, feeding outputs into quantitative models that treated employees primarily as budgetary variables. Finance departments controlled both methodology and conclusions, while technology, operations, and human resources teams remained peripheral participants. This centralized structure prioritized precision within a narrow analytical frame; however, it left organizations poorly equipped to respond to rapid shifts in market conditions, digital disruption, or evolving skill demands.

In contrast, leading organizations now pursue an integrated model wherein workforce planning becomes a cross-functional discipline. Rather than residing within a single department, planning responsibilities extend horizontally across finance, technology, human capital, and business strategy teams — each contributing distinct analytical perspectives toward shared organizational goals. Simultaneously, this model expands vertically, engaging employees and mid-level managers in decisions that were previously reserved for senior specialists. The planning cycle itself transforms accordingly: static, periodic assessments give way to continuous, AI-enabled monitoring that adjusts resource allocation in real time as business conditions evolve.

Organizations implementing this shift typically follow a structured sequence: first establishing shared data infrastructure accessible across departments, then embedding cross-functional ownership through governance frameworks, and finally deploying predictive analytics tools that convert workforce insights into actionable strategic decisions.

Question Type: Structure | Question Difficulty: Medium

The passage is best described as organized in which of the following ways?

1. Two workforce planning models are contrasted, followed by a chronological account of how organizations transitioned between them
2. The limitations of a traditional planning function are identified, and a superior alternative is defended using empirical evidence
3. Two planning approaches are distinguished along multiple dimensions, then the steps to implement the more effective one are outlined
4. A centralized model is contrasted with a cross-functional alternative, with AI adoption identified as the decisive factor in effectiveness
5. A conventional planning model is described, contrasted with an emerging one, and the passage closes by evaluating trade-offs between them

GRE RC Practice | Moderate Difficulty | ~130 Words

When workforce planning remains confined to specialist teams — typically dominated by finance — organizations forfeit significant strategic capability. Siloed planning treats talent as a cost variable rather than a dynamic asset, producing projections that are precise in scope but limited in utility. As market conditions grow more volatile and skill requirements shift rapidly, this insularity renders planning outputs obsolete before they can inform consequential decisions.

Progressive organizations have addressed this deficiency by expanding planning horizontally — drawing in technology, operations, and human capital functions around shared objectives — and vertically, incorporating input from employees across organizational levels. Integrated data platforms enable continuous workforce assessment in place of periodic reviews. Organizations adopting this model report measurably faster alignment between talent deployment and strategic priorities, suggesting that democratizing workforce planning yields not merely operational efficiency but substantive competitive differentiation.

Question Type: Title | Question Difficulty: Medium

Which of the following best serves as the title for the passage?

1. From Synergies to Silos: Workforce Planning Reimagined
2. The Hidden Cost of Siloed Planning: Why Finance Must Step Back
3. Talent as a Strategic Asset: The Data Integration Imperative
4. Beyond Headcount: The Case for Democratizing Workforce Planning
5. Horizontal and Vertical Expansion: A Framework for Modern Planning