ARGUMENT新题

1.The following appeared in a memorandum¹ from the head of a human resources department at a major automobile² manufacturing company to the company's managers:

“Studies have found that employees of not-for-profit organizations and charities are often more highly motivated than employees of for-profit corporations to perform well at work when their performance is not being monitored or evaluated. Interviews with employees of not-for-profit organizations suggest that the reason for their greater motivation is the belief that their work helps to improve society. Because they believe in the importance of their work, they have personal reasons to perform well, even when no financial reward is present. Thus, if our corporation began donating a significant portion of its profits to humanitarian³ causes, our employees’ motivation and productivity would increase substantially and our overall profits would increase as well.”

Discuss how well reasoned . . .etc.

2. The following appeared in an editorial from a magazine produced by an organization dedicated⁴ to environmental protection:

“In order to effectively reduce the amount of environmental damage that industrial manufacturing plants cause, those who manage the plants must be aware of the specific amount and types of damage caused by each of their various manufacturing processes. However, few corporations have enough financial incentive⁵ to monitor this information. In order to guarantee that corporations reduce the damage caused by their plants, the federal government should require every corporation to produce detailed⁶ annual reports on the environmental impact of their manufacturing process, and the government should impose stiff financial penalties for failure to produce these reports.”

Discuss how well reasoned . . .etc.

3. The following appeared in a memorandum from the information technology department of a major advertising⁷ firm:

“The more efficient a firm’s employees are, the more profitable that firm will be. Improvements in a firm’s information technology hardware and software are a proven way to increase the efficiency of employees who do the majority of their work on computers. Therefore, if our firm invests in the most powerful and advanced information technology available, employee productivity will be maximized. This strategy ensures that every dollar spent on enhanced information technology will help to increase our firm’s profit margins⁹.”

Discuss how well reasoned . . .etc.

4. The following appeared in a memorandum from the CEO of a consumer electronics manufacturing firm to the head of the company's human resources department, who is responsible for hiring new employees:

“Eight years ago, our firm’s profits were increasing with each new employee we added. We discovered that each employee had the skills and motivation to generate more revenue for the firm than his or her salary cost us.

However, for the past two years, our profit margin⁸ has been falling, even though we have continued to add employees. Thus, our newer employees are not generating enough revenue to justify¹⁰ their salaries. We must not be hiring new employees with the same level of skills and motivation as those we used to attract. Clearly, then, failures in the human resources department account for our falling profits.”

Discuss how well reasoned . . .etc.

5. The following appeared in the editorial section of a local newspaper:

“The tragic¹¹ crash of a medical helicopter last week points up a situation that needs to be addressed. The medical helicopter industry supposedly has more stringent¹² guidelines for training pilots and maintaining equipment than do most other airline industries, but these guidelines do not appear to be working: statistics reveal that the rate of medical-helicopter accidents is much higher than the rate of accidents for non-medical helicopters or commercial airliners¹³.”

Discuss how well reasoned . . . etc.

6. The following appeared in a letter from a part-owner of a small retail¹⁴ clothing chain to her business partner:

“Commercial real estate prices have been rising steadily¹⁵ in the Sandida Heights neighborhood for several years, while the prices in the adjacent neighborhood of Palm Grove¹⁶ have remained the same. It seems obvious, then, that a retail space in Sandida Heights must now be much more expensive than a similar space in Palm Grove, which was not the case several years ago. So, it appears that retail spaces in Sandida Heights are now overpriced relative to those in Palm Grove. Therefore, it would be in our financial interest to purchase a retail space in Palm Grove rather than in Sandida Heights.”

Discuss how well reasoned . . . etc.