argument233 求拍……

darxideUID: 2503898

TOPIC: ARGUMENT233 - The following appeared in a memo from the vice president of a company that builds shopping malls throughout the country.

"The surface of a section of Route 101, paved two years ago by McAdam Road Builders, is now badly cracked and marred by dangerous potholes. In another part of the state, a section of Route 66, paved by Appian Roadways more than four years ago, is still in good condition. Appian Roadways has recently purchased state-of-the-art paving machinery, and it has hired a new quality-control manager. Because of its superior work and commitment to quality, we should contract with Appian Roadways rather than McAdam Road Builders to construct the access roads for all our new shopping malls."
WORDS: 369          TIME: 00:30:00          DATE: 2010-7-22 13:46:19

The author first assumed that quality is the only factor  that matters when choosing between McAdam Road Builders and Appian Roadways. Then the author presented previous works of both road builders and new changes in Appian Roadways to prove that Appian Roadways is more superior in quality, which is the basis of the suggestion that Appian Roadways should be chosen. The argument is weakened by several fallacies.

Firstly it is very likely that quality is not the only thing that should be taken into consideration, there are other aspects. For example, it is very common and natural that people tend to choose the one that is good enough but with lower price. Also, efficiency matters. Given that qualities and prices are roughly the same, the one that can complete the project faster holds certain advantage over the slower one. Besides, several more things should be taken into consideration as well, such has the way two road builders treat their employees,  noise, and damage to health of residents and ecological equilibrium in the region. The author need to provide more solid and complete analysis of the two road builders in order to support the suggestion.

Secondly the comparison between route 101 and route 66 are not reliable due to lack of knowledge about working conditions such as proper maintenance,  loads and natural disasters. The fact that the surface of Route 101 is damaged might have various causes including improper maintenance, actual load greatly exceeding design limits, or natural disasters such as flood and earthquake. The author might want to perform more survey to prove that McAdam Road Builders is responsible for the faliure of the road.

Thirdly new changes in Appian are not sufficient be the prove of superiority. Firstly its because information about McAdam is missing. McAdam might have bought new machines and hired quality-control manager long ago. Secondly new managers and machines will bring about major changes in the working process of Appian, so the road builder might need time to improve its procedures and train its employees, and in this period of time the quality of its works is uncertain.

To sum up , the author need to provide complete and reliable reports not only on the requirements of the new project but also on  the two companies involved to give the suggestion a solid foundation.