Bureaucratic mechanisms are engineered to resist change. Thus, despite growing dissatisfaction with complex bureaucratic systems, it is unlikely that bureaucracies will be simplified. The claim that bureaucratic mechanisms are engineered to resist change plays which one of the following roles in the argument? ['It is cited as evidence that bureaucratic systems are becoming more and more complex.', 'It is used to weaken the claim that bureaucracies should be simplified.', 'It is a premise offered in support of the claim that it is unlikely that bureaucracies will be simplified.', 'It is a conclusion for which the claim that bureaucracies are unlikely to be simplified is offered as support.']