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 Speed-Reading 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.
Every company tries to improve productivity of their employees for overall good of both employee and company. Certainly Acme publishing company is not an exception to it. The director want to improve the overall productivity through Easy read speed reading course. This recommendation of director requires some support from evidence.
Firstly, director relies on evidence from other companies about good effects of course. Does all other companies are some relevance to what business Acme does or they are companies form other business line? This question is need to answer to bolster the recommendation as director is presenting this evidence to support his recommendation. Also, does amce company really require heavy reading work so that after taking this course productivity will benefit? The answer of this question will provide evidence that why author has taken this stand. The author is giving example of graduate like he was able to read 500 page report in two hours and other graduate got promoted. Is this effect of course or they were naturally able to do their job?
Secondly, director is stating that course will cause $ 500, but who should pay the course fee company or employee? If company is going to pay the money, then how many number of employees are there in company and moreover what total budget is require for this program should be answered. Also, the benefit of taking this program in terms of money should be given. And, if company is deciding that employee should pay the fees. Then how company is going to convenience the employee?
Additionally, it is mentioned that fee is for three week seminar in Spruce city. So, is this other city form where company is located? or is this same city where company and all employee stay? The answer to this question will follow other questions like, if this is other city, so who is paying for accommodation? The accommodation for three week will certainly cost a lot and it will certainly depend of the city. But the answer of this question will provide some information that what will be total cost of program. Also, what is duration of course and how company will try to manage timing if all employee are going to take course? Would that effect the profit of company?
Before taking any decision, the President should ask director to answer all these question so that it will be really easy to take decision.
argument 1 -- not OK
argument 2 -- not OK
argument 3 -- not OK
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flaws:
Need to analyze the structure of the statement and argue accordingly:
condition 1:
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. //two samples are not big enough
condition 2:
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. //If the company is big, suppose 1000 people, 1000x$500=$500,000, it is still a big money. And what is the benefit of newsletter.
conclusion:
Clearly, to improve productivity, Acme should require all of our employees to take the Easy Read course. //maybe some people need the course, not all of employees.
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Attribute Value Ideal
Score: ? out of 6
Category: Poor Excellent
No. of Grammatical Errors: 0 2
No. of Spelling Errors: 0 2
No. of Sentences: 24 15
No. of Words: 403 350
No. of Characters: 1932 1500
No. of Different Words: 172 200
Fourth Root of Number of Words: 4.48 4.7
Average Word Length: 4.794 4.6
Word Length SD: 2.465 2.4
No. of Words greater than 5 chars: 139 100
No. of Words greater than 6 chars: 99 80
No. of Words greater than 7 chars: 61 40
No. of Words greater than 8 chars: 27 20
Use of Passive Voice (%): 0 0
Avg. Sentence Length: 16.792 21.0
Sentence Length SD: 5.568 7.5
Use of Discourse Markers (%): 0.542 0.12
Sentence-Text Coherence: 0.3 0.35
Sentence-Para Coherence: 0.498 0.50
Sentence-Sentence Coherence: 0.092 0.07
Number of Paragraphs: 5 5