GMAT Essays (AWA)

First attempt of mine. Did it in a mock GMAT

Issue
No employee of any business, public or private, should have complete autonomy: even employees at the highest level of management require supervision


The corporate scenario present at the global stage is of the purview that it is essential that every employee requires supervision, although the levels of supervision may vary. Even Top level management is advised on certain matters by the stakeholders of the company.

However, critics of this approach point out some flaws in this thought process. One of them is the fact that, if an employee is under constant supervision, he or she might not be able to make full use of his or her potential, which ultimately leads to the individual to be dissatisfied and thus, could also lead to a high employee turnover. Under some scenarios, constant supervision could also lead to a missing out on a business opportunity. For example, XYZ company's Marketing manager found out about a new target market for the product the company can sell but for the target market to be effectively captured, it is required that an investment of $50000 has to be made. The competitors are unaware of such a development but could find about it soon enough. Now if in this particular scenario, there is a high level of supervision and he has to go through various levels of management, there is a risk that this incredible business opportunity is missed.

I believe that though it is essential that an individual works with an optimal degree of authority and he is under some supervision, though, degree of which may vary from the task handled and the experience and skill possessed by the individual. Supervision is required since an individual needs an experienced individual to look at the scenario and look at it in a neutral perspective. In the example given before, it could also be that the Marketing Manager was mistaken about the target market and its potential and hence, it is required that the individual do not go for a particular decision which may in the end cost the company. Also, in certain scenarios individuals are unable to keep the professional decisions from the various preferences of their own. For example: A religious Human resource manager could look into X candidate's religious sentiments and make hiring decisions on that purview. Thus, with supervision, such preferences could be avoided.

Hence, every employee in an organization should be supervised, keeping in mind the task and various other factors.


Analysis of an Argument


Manned space flight is costly and dangerous, Moreover, the recent success of a series of unmanned space probes and satellites has demonstrated that a great deal of useful information can be gathered without the costs and risk associated with sending man and women in space. Therefore, we should invest our resources in unmanned space flight.



The argument stated is in regards to the space missions and is in favor of unmanned space missions. It is very similar to NASA's strategy of future of investing in unmanned space flight. The argument states that since there is a high degree of success in unmanned space probes and satellites with the risks and costs associated with sending men and women into space, it would be more beneficial if unmanned missions are encouraged.
The argument takes the success of unmanned missions as its evidence and argues that a mission without human presence will be more beneficial. However, it leaves out the fact that most of the unmanned missions have been the ones with limited objectives. In fact one could say that, at present, the unmanned space probes are at their nascent stage and have not been tested with the missions which have been put forward for human missions.
The argument also does not take into account the reason for most space missions i.e. to find out about a possible existence of life on other planets. While unmanned missions could collect all the evidences present, they will not be able to fully answer the question.
The argument takes the risks and costs associated to point out the flaw with the manned mission. Though there are higher costs associated with such missions, to say that such factors should be enough for one to limit manned space missions, would not be correct. There is a risk of failure in unmanned space missions as well. The number of faults in unmanned satellites is enough to point out that a technical fault in itself would be more costly than sending a manned mission. In a scenario where the manned mission faces a challenge of technical fault, the men and women in the satellite are capable of finding out the fault and effectively solving it and thus, limiting the costs that would have been incurred otherwise.
Although there is a risk of loss of life in a manned life, which of all the other factors one is of the biggest disadvantage for a manned space mission. Various measures are used to significantly reduce such an event happening. All of the individuals in such mission are trained and steps are taken to ensure that they are equipped to handle any event.


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