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outdated: a recently published survey indicates that 79 percent of the nearly 1,200 workers who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.”

Conclusion: The common notion that workers are generally apathetic about management issues is false,
or at least outdated

Premises:

1. 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

Flaws:

1. the term workers is too general, is it middle level worker, or low-level worker? It could be
argued that middle level worker is having more concern about management issue rather than
low-level workers
2. the sample size is not representative. If the population of the survey is 20 million workers, while
the sample size is only 1200 workers, the sample size can’t be representative (there is no
information about the significance level of this research). Moreover, there is no information
about the range of respondents, perhaps most of the respondents are working in the same
company, which again weaken the external validity of this survey. Furthermore, there is no
information about the method of the survey, is it random sampling or purposive sampling?

3. The topic of corporate restructuring and redesign of benefits program can’t be inferred solely as
a management issue, nevertheless
The argument claims that currently workers are generally more aware with the management issue, since
most workers expressed a high level of interest in the topics of corporate restructuring and redesign of
benefit programs, according to recently published survey. Stated in this way, the conclusion is grounded
on weak and unconvincing argument by manipulating fact and conveys a distorted view of situation.

First, the survey publisher does not specify the type of workers that become its respondents. It could be
argued that the middle level worker is having more concern about the management issue rather than
the low-level workers, since their main task in the company is mainly related with the management
issue. On the other hand, focusing more on day-to-day operation, low-level workers presumably are not
really care about the management issue within their company. Thus, the argument could have been
much clearer if the author specify the type of workers that become the respondent of this survey.

Second, the argument assumes that 1200 workers who responded to survey is sufficient enough to
represent the total population. However, there is no information about the method and significance
level of this survey. Is the surveyor using the random sampling or purposive sampling? If it use purposive
sampling, the external validity is questionable. Furthermore, without stating the significance level of the
survey, one can’t provide robust claim about the finding of the survey. if the significance level is more
than 5 percent, the mean of the result is not significance to support the argument. Moreover, there is
no information about the range of respondents; perhaps most of the respondents are working in the
same company, which again weaken the external validity of this survey. If the author provided the
details of method and findings of this survey, the argument could become more convincing.

Finally, the topic of corporate restructuring and redesign of benefits program can’t be inferred solely as
a management issue. Especially related to the benefits program, it is undoubtedly that workers are
willing to know more about how company set the benefits plan for them. By having information about
the redesign of benefits plan, workers could take further action in case the new benefits plan is not
generous enough to compensate their effort during working period. Thus, including redesign benefit
plan solely as a management issue is biased irrelevant. The argument could have been much stronger if
the survey exclude the issue of benefit plan; instead the surveyor can include other important
management issue such as the executive rotation, strategic planning, and etc.

In conclusion, the argument is flawed for the above-mentioned reasons and consequently resulted in
the unconvincing argument. It could be considerably strengthened if the author clearly mentioned all
relevant facts such as the type of workers which become the respondents of the survey, the method of
the survey and the significance level of the finding, the information about the range of respondents. By
taking into account the previous recommendation, the argument would have been more thorough and
convincing.
The following appeared as part of a newspaper editorial:

“Two years ago Nova High School began to use interactive computer instruction in three academic
subjects. The school dropout rate declined immediately, and last year’s graduates have reported some
impressive achievements in college. In future budgets the school board should use a greater portion of
the available funds to buy more computers, and all schools in the district should adopt interactive
computer instruction throughout the curriculum.”

Premises

1. There are several other factors that also affect the school dropout rate, such as the quality of
teachers, the existence of counselor
2. The condition of Nova High School is not similar with the condition of others schools in the
district. Perhaps other school already have a low dropout rate, thus purchasing interactive
computer instruction is unnecessary and inefficient. Each school has different environment and
challenges that need to be tackled
3. By using greater portion of available funds to buy more computer, the school consequently
sacrifices the fund of other project such as the fund for counseling, which could be essential for
lowering the dropout rate.
4. High effectiveness of interactive computer instruction application within three academics
subject can’t be generalized if it applies to the whole curriculum.

The following is an excerpt from a memo written by the head of a governmental department:

“Neither stronger ethics regulations nor stronger enforcement mechanisms are necessary to ensure
ethical behavior by companies doing business with this department. We already have a code of ethics
that companies doing business with this department are urged to abide by, and virtually all of these
companies have agreed to follow it. We also know that the code is relevant to the current business
environment because it was approved within the last year, and in direct response to specific violations
committed by companies with which we were then working—not in abstract anticipation of potential
violations, as so many such codes are.”

1. Having stated code of ethics does not imply that it has been practiced appropriately by related
parties doing business with the governmental department. Without strong enforcement
mechanism, they can abuse the code of ethics without having worried about the implication of
that bad action.
2. Companies constantly will find a way to find a loophole of the code of ethics
3. Business environment constantly changes time by time, last year

The following appeared in an article in a health–and–fitness magazine:

“Laboratory studies show that Saluda Natural Spring Water contains several of the minerals necessary
for good health and that it is completely free of bacteria. Residents of Saluda, the small town where the
water is bottled, are hospitalized less frequently than the national average. Even though Saluda Natural
Spring Water may seem expensive, drinking it instead of tap water is a wise investment in good health.”

1. Good health is not resulted solely by drinking mineral water, there are number of other factors
such as diet plan, exercise program, and etc.
2. The author assumes that Saluda natural spring water is more healthy since it contain number
of necessary minerals for good health and free from bacteria. However, it could be argued that
tap water also having similar substance with Saluda spring water, thus it is better to drink tap
water since it is much more cheaper compared to Saluda spring water
3. the fact that residents of Saluda are hospitalized less frequently does not mean that overall
they have good health condition. It could be argued that most residents of Saluda only go to
hospital if the state of their sickness is already severe, they prefer to have home-made
medicine to cure themselves.
4. Studies need to include the surveyor, the method, and when it is established
5. Sumber mata air beda