OE


The blank is about the first steps taken as part of the strategy of organization. The clues indicate that these steps were among many required steps and were urgent. Thus, they were the most immediate of the required steps. Paramount and exigent indicate the immediacy and importance of the steps, and are correct. Unappealing does not reflect the clue, and trivial is the opposite of the word you need. There is no information in the sentence to support the remaining choices, dispassionate and insipid.