8. The following appeared in the editorial section of a corporate newsletter.
The common notion that workers are generally apathetic about management issues is false or at least outdated.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.
Discuss how well reasoned you find this argument. In your discussion be sure to analyze the line of reasoning and the use of evidence in the argument. For example, you may need to consider what questionable assumptions underline the thinking and what alternative explanations or counterexamples might weaken the conclusion. You can also discuss what sort of evidence would strengthen or refute the argument, what changes in the argument would make it more logically sound and what, if anything, would help you better evaluate in conclusion.
Author of the editorial rejects the common notion of workers being apathetic about management issues, as false or outdated.
The claim is based on results of a survey conducted upon workers. Workers, in responding to questionnaires, are said to have expressed interest in management issues.
The claim does not appear well reasoned for following reasons.
The survey used to arrive on conclusion can be questioned. Nothing has been detailed on the sample used in survey. Not only sample size can be questioned but distribution of workers from different industries in the sample is also not known. The sample used for survey may be biased , representing workers from only few industries.
The other premise is that Workers expressed high level of interest in topics of corporate restructuring and redesign of benefits programs. The two topics "corporate restricting" and "redesign of benefits program" have been used to represent "management issues", which is a generalization.
Also its not certain the interest shown during survey represent the interest during work.
In all, author has generalized the results of a survey to arrive the conclusion. The argument is not convincing.
The common notion that workers are generally apathetic about management issues is false or at least outdated.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.
Discuss how well reasoned you find this argument. In your discussion be sure to analyze the line of reasoning and the use of evidence in the argument. For example, you may need to consider what questionable assumptions underline the thinking and what alternative explanations or counterexamples might weaken the conclusion. You can also discuss what sort of evidence would strengthen or refute the argument, what changes in the argument would make it more logically sound and what, if anything, would help you better evaluate in conclusion.
Author of the editorial rejects the common notion of workers being apathetic about management issues, as false or outdated.
The claim is based on results of a survey conducted upon workers. Workers, in responding to questionnaires, are said to have expressed interest in management issues.
The claim does not appear well reasoned for following reasons.
The survey used to arrive on conclusion can be questioned. Nothing has been detailed on the sample used in survey. Not only sample size can be questioned but distribution of workers from different industries in the sample is also not known. The sample used for survey may be biased , representing workers from only few industries.
The other premise is that Workers expressed high level of interest in topics of corporate restructuring and redesign of benefits programs. The two topics "corporate restricting" and "redesign of benefits program" have been used to represent "management issues", which is a generalization.
Also its not certain the interest shown during survey represent the interest during work.
In all, author has generalized the results of a survey to arrive the conclusion. The argument is not convincing.
