Argument Analysis 7

The following is taken from an advertisement placed in a weekly business magazine by the DickensAcademy.

"We distributed a survey to senior management at International Mega-Publishing, Inc. The result of the survey clearly indicates that many employees were well prepared in business knowledge and computer skills, but lacked interpersonal skills to interact gracefully with customers. International Mega-Publishing decided to improve customer satisfaction by sending their newly hired employees to our one-day seminars. Since taking advantage of our program, International Mega-Publishing has seen a sharp increase in sales, an indication that the number of their disgruntled customers has declined significantly. Your company should hire Dickens and let us turn every employee into an ambassador for your company."

My response:

The advertisement concludes that the increase of International Mega-Publishing's sales is attributed to Dickens Academy program. The author of the advertisement supports his or her claim by referencing the results of a International Mega-Publishing Inc. survey indicating the lack of employee interpersonal skills in interacting with customers, as well as an increase of company sales after newly hired employees have undergone Dickens Academy seminar. However, the author bases his or claims on a number of assumptions, many of which are weak and fragmentary.

The author claims the results of the survey that was distributed to the senior management of International Mega-Publishing provides evidence that employees are strong in business and computer skills, but weak in interpersonal skills to gracefully interact with clients. There are a number of weaknesses in this evidence alone. First, the survey was only given to the senior management, which only tests a small group of the employees in the company. It is not a sufficient representation of the interpersonal skills of the employees of the company as a whole. Secondly, the survey only tested the senior management employees,whose primary duties might not be related to customer relations.

Turning to the second anecdotal evidence presented in the advertisement, the author attributed the increase of Mega-Publishing's sales to the efficacy of Dickens Academy's one-day seminar. The author makes supererogatory claims when the increase of sales could be caused by any other number of factors other than the efficacy of the seminar alone. It could be caused by changing market trends, or an error on Mega-Publishing's competitors and so on. Even if the increase of sales was attributed to the effectiveness of Dickens' seminars, we cannot assume that the seminar would be similarly effective for all levels of employees in the company. While the seminar produced positive results for newly hired employees, it might not hold the same effectiveness for upper management employees who have had more experience in the industry.

In sum, the argument presented is weak and full of loopholes. Had the author of the advertisement taken above factors into consideration, it would have rendered the argument irrefutable.