In this memo, the author recommends that Acme should require every employee take the Easy Read course in order to improve productivity. However, several questions are needed to be addressed before the recommendation is implemented about its possible flaws.
To begin with, one question that the author needs to be asked is whether the Easy Read course is as effective as it is assumed. The author hastily assumes that this course by itself leads to the fast reading of one graduate; yet this might not be the case. It is entirely possible that the graduate is familiar with the report for the matched specialty, or the graduate has read this report before, or simply that the report contains lots of pictures that needs little time to look through. Additionally, the success of another graduate who got his promotion in one year from an assistant manager to vice president might be because that the graduate is outstanding and distinguished. It is also possible that the company is small-scale. After the sudden leave of its former vice president, the graduate was promoted. Since the author cannot answer this question, I cannot take this recommendation seriously.
The second question needs to be asked is whether the fast read is necessarily indicate the good read. The author faulsely assumes that the faster one can read, the more information one can absorb. However, while this can be true in some cases, It is equally possible that the fast speed makes people just go through the words in high speed with nothing left. In this case, fast read only equals to wasting time. Without ruling out this possible, the author cannot convince me that fast read can improve our productivity.
Another question that needs to be addressed is whether 500 dollar per employees is a small price to pay. How long will the course take? And when will the course on? Cost is a function of profits and revenue. It can only be evaluated with other information the number of employees and the profits the company earns. If the total costs of the course outweigh the whole profits, then 500 dollar per people might not be a small price. Since the author mentions no information about the number of employees and the total profits, the author's claim that 500 dollar is a small amount is baseless.
Even if the author substatiates the foregoing assumption, the recommendation is still untenable unless an important question is being answered, that whether this Easy Read can necessarily leads to high productivity. This question can be divided into three sub-questions, that How long will the course takes? When will the course on? And whether all employees are needed fast read? if the course takes all employees' 3 hours per day in work time, then the course will impair the company's operation rather than improving productivity. If the course is taken after work, then there might be some employees complaining about the occupation of leisure time, which may to some extent compromise the motivation of work. Additionally, there is not all occupation need the skill of fast read, such as the reception, cleaner and sales. If the author cannot provide more evidence to clarify these questions, the recommendation is unpersuasive as it stands.
In short, the author's recommendation is rife of holes and assumptions, rendering its recommendation bootless and untenable. The proponents of this recommendation need to address some questions before it is implemented and revised. The questions are as follows. whether the Easy Read course is as effective as it is assumed? whether the fast read is necessarily indicate the good read? whether 500 dollar per employees is a small price to pay? whether this Easy Read can necessarily leads to high productivity? 作者: lllllllllllllll 时间: 2018-8-29 22:29:33
113. The following is a recommendation from the personnel director to the president of Acme
Publishing Company.
"Many other companies have recently stated that having their employees take the Easy Read SpeedReading Course has greatly improved productivity. One graduate of the course was able to read a
500-page report in only two hours; another graduate rose from an assistant manager to vice president
of the company in under a year. Obviously, the faster you can read, the more information you can
absorb in a single workday. Moreover, Easy Read would cost Acme only $500 per employee—a
small price to pay when you consider the benefits. Included in this fee is a three-week seminar in
Spruce City and a lifelong subscription to the Easy Read newsletter. Clearly, to improve productivity,
Acme should require all of our employees to take the Easy Read course."
Write a response in which you discuss what questions would need to be answered in order to decide
whether the advice and the argument on which it is based are reasonable. Be sure to explain how
the answers to these questions would help to evaluate the advice.