GMAT Essays (AWA)

"The common notion that workers are generally apathetic about management issues is false, or at least outdated: a recently published survey indicates that 79 percent of the nearly 1,200 workers who responded to survey questionnaires expressed a high level of interest in the topics of corporate restructuring and redesign of benefits programs."


Answer

The author in the given argument tries to infer from a survey of 1200 workers that the workers in general are not apathetic about the management issues. The argument in its line of reasoning makes several unwarented assumptions which might not be true.The main flaw in his reasoning is that he assumes that interest corporate restructuring and redesign of benefit program implies worker not apathetic towards several issues that the management faces.

Firstly, there are no supporting evidence given in the data for weather the 1200 workers are representative of the entire worker population.It might be the case that these workers could be working at a company where there if a great deal of harmony between the management and workers which might lead to a higher level of interest in the management issues.

Secondly, The author states that worker are interested in the are of redesigning of the benefit system, but the question that need to be asked is from whose perspective will they approach the issue. The workers could be interested in the subject because they would like to strike a deal with the management which maximises their benefits rather than cooperate with the management and do what is best for the company.

Thirdly, The survey states that the workers are interested in 2 particular areas but it might be the case that several other issues would be more important from the management perspective and they might not show much apathy toward those issues.The management faces several issues and issues such as corporate restructuring and redesign of benefits programs might not be the most important ones.

Thus, The argument is seriously riddled because of logical gaps in its line of reasoning and should provide further evidence to substantiate its claim.

Hi Katherine,

Thank you for your feedback. I really appreciate you taking time out and evaluating my essay. I will definitely keep you suggestion in mind before attempting the AWA section on GMAT.