The pharmaceutical company hired a consultant to supervise a taskforce studying lower salaries as to their effects on employees' morale.

This question tests conciseness and clarity in cause-and-effect expressions.

When showing how one thing affects another, use direct phrasing like "the effects of X on Y" rather than wordy, indirect constructions. Think of it like giving directions: "Turn left at the store" beats "What you should do is turn in the direction that would be left when you reach the store."

Option 1 → Wordy and indirect; "what the effects would have" is unnecessarily complex.

Option 2 → Perfect! Direct, clear cause-and-effect structure that's easy to follow.

Option 3 → Way too wordy; sounds like it was written by committee.

Option 4 → Backwards logic; suggests morale affects salaries, not the reverse.