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 the 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 the 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." Source - OG 13th edition
My response :
The argument presented above regarding the falling sales of a manufacturer of heavy machinery states that this drop in sales figure is because of the delays in purchasing of metals. It further states that poor planning in purchasing metals is responsible for these delays, and in order to resolve this business difficulty, a scientist with better knowledge about the metals should be hired as a purchasing manager. The argument lacks logical reasoning and fails to consider many key issues before jumping to an extreme solution. The argument is also riddled with unwarranted assumptions; therefore it is seriously flawed.
First of all, the argument makes a faulty assumption that correlation is same as causation. Just because the delays in manufacturing coincide with the falling revenues,it is wrong to assume that such delays cause the fall in revenue. There may be other factors responsible for this drop in revenues such as more efficient competitive products,loss in demand and increase in costs of material.These aspects need to be evaluated before concluding.
Secondly, even if the delays are found to be responsible, the argument again commits the same mistake of overlooking other factors which can cause a certain business challenge. For example - even if poor planning in purchasing metals is found responsible, there are many factors to be evaluated along with purchasing manager's efficiency causing poor planning such as issues faced because of dealers, unavoidable delays if any, caused by transportation system. The argument suggests that the purchasing manager lacks the knowledge about metals and thus should be replaced by a scientist,but it fails to consider if a scientist will have all the required qualities to be a good purchasing manager. What if the scientist lacks important qualities such as power to negotiate with dealers and understanding of cost structure. The similar situation can be faced.
Therefore, the argument needs to take into consideration above mentioned key issues. It also needs to analyze the drop in sales completely. When various factors affecting the sales are analyzed and an effective solution resolving all the problems is figured out, the argument will be logically sound.
"The falling revenues that the company is experiencing coincide with the 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 the 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." Source - OG 13th edition
My response :
The argument presented above regarding the falling sales of a manufacturer of heavy machinery states that this drop in sales figure is because of the delays in purchasing of metals. It further states that poor planning in purchasing metals is responsible for these delays, and in order to resolve this business difficulty, a scientist with better knowledge about the metals should be hired as a purchasing manager. The argument lacks logical reasoning and fails to consider many key issues before jumping to an extreme solution. The argument is also riddled with unwarranted assumptions; therefore it is seriously flawed.
First of all, the argument makes a faulty assumption that correlation is same as causation. Just because the delays in manufacturing coincide with the falling revenues,it is wrong to assume that such delays cause the fall in revenue. There may be other factors responsible for this drop in revenues such as more efficient competitive products,loss in demand and increase in costs of material.These aspects need to be evaluated before concluding.
Secondly, even if the delays are found to be responsible, the argument again commits the same mistake of overlooking other factors which can cause a certain business challenge. For example - even if poor planning in purchasing metals is found responsible, there are many factors to be evaluated along with purchasing manager's efficiency causing poor planning such as issues faced because of dealers, unavoidable delays if any, caused by transportation system. The argument suggests that the purchasing manager lacks the knowledge about metals and thus should be replaced by a scientist,but it fails to consider if a scientist will have all the required qualities to be a good purchasing manager. What if the scientist lacks important qualities such as power to negotiate with dealers and understanding of cost structure. The similar situation can be faced.
Therefore, the argument needs to take into consideration above mentioned key issues. It also needs to analyze the drop in sales completely. When various factors affecting the sales are analyzed and an effective solution resolving all the problems is figured out, the argument will be logically sound.
