GMAT Essays (AWA)

ISSUE ESSAY
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“No employee of any business, public or private, should have complete autonomy; even employees at the highest level of management require some supervision.”

Discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the opinion expressed above. Support your position with reasons and examples from your own experience, observations, or reading.
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Any activity, if overdone, can be harmful. Control should be excersized even on employees at the highest level of management. In my discussion of the topic above, i support the opinion in saying that irrespective of the business, complete autonomy should not be given to a single source.

Supporting my opinion, i would like to bring to notice the example of a huge global enterprise, started by a man called Steve Jobs. Apple Computers has grown into one of the largest technology companies in the world, wherein few fail to see the paths it had to take. Steve Job's being the head honcho and the person who started this conglomerate was always known to be aggressive and very very assertive in his mode of operation. It was this assertion that led to him being sacked by the very same people whom he picked as his Board of Directors!!
Autonomy, more often than not, tends to get to people's heads and inculcates one of the greatest of the 7 deadly sins - Greed.

Another very recent example in the political world can come from how General Musharraf took over the country of Pakistan. His desire and passion, although commendable and awe inspiring, was to an extent driven by selfishness and ruthless power when he established a coup all over the country. Great leaders of the past, such as likes of Hitler, Mussolini and Stalin have failed and left great stains on their character after they became the single most powerful men of their respective empires. No control over their moves proved to be their downfall.

Comparing the scenario's of two countries, say China and India, where one is an autocratic society while the other being a democratic one. The overall picture clearly distinguishes the rules and the amount of freedom that is allowed to be expressed by the country's population. While in India, many coalition governments come into power, and the opposition is always on the lookout to bring down the ruling party. This sort of competitive check keeps the ruling part under wraps, and controls its policies to go out of place. This certainly is not the case when it comes to a country like China.

In all conclusion, i would like to state that even though autonomy does test the limits and boundaries of great individual leader, it definitely does more harm than good. A balance, a check of sorts is always required and is necessary to prevent even the most brilliant of minds to avoid start taking small detours, not necessarily completely ethical and moral, along their way of life.

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You've used excellent examples to back up your points - keep up the good work on that.

However, two things: first, your body paragraphs are a little short. Adding a couple sentences to each would bolster your analysis and make your essay stronger (and longer, which is always good). Also, make sure you leave time to check for grammatical errors - you had a few awkward sentences.

Overall though, this is pretty good - just make sure you keep using great examples. I'll give you a 4.