GMAT Essays (AWA)

Argument -
The following appeared in a report presented for discussion at a meeting of the directors of a company that manufactures parts for heavy machinery -
"The falling revenues that the company is experiencing coincide with delays in manufacturing. These delays, in turn are due in large part to poor planning in purchasing metals. Consider further that the manager of the department that handles purchasing of raw materials has an excellent background in general business, psychology, and sociology, but knows little about the properties of metals. The company should, therefore, move the purchasing manager to the sales department and bring in a scientist from the research division to be manager of the purchasing department."


Analysis-
The argument states that the falling revenues of a company that manufactures heavy machinery coincide with delays in manufacturing which are largely due to poor planning in purchasing metals. The argument goes on to state that though the manager of the purchasing department has good experience in business, he/she has no knowledge on the properties of metals. The argument then blindly concludes that a scientist should be made responsible for the purchasing department and the purchasing manager should be made in charge of the sales department, failing to consider the points below-
Though the purchasing manager has good experience in general business and other skills like psychology and sociology he/she may not necessary have experience in sales and may not excel in that field. Similarly a scientist may have complete knowledge on the properties of metals required for the company but may not have skills in business and may not be appropriate for the purchasing department. The company should therefore consider having a mix of people in the purchasing department, with knowledge on properties of metals as well as business.
The insufficiency in the purchase department may not be solely due to the manager's poor planning, but also due to other reasons like an inefficient team, lack of the knowledge of a proper requirement and lack of corporation from vendors. The company must also consider improving on other factors like these for increased revenue. For example, the company can consider restructuring the entire team, re-negotiating with different vendors and re-iterating requirements with the entire team.
The company must also consider any other factors responsible for the decrease in revenue, like the demand and quality of its prices, its position in the current market and its reputation among its customers and work on improving these.
Since the argument fails to consider the possibilities above which may led to reduced revenue and blindly focuses only on the issues with the purchasing department, it is flawed and not logically reasoned.