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The following appeared as part of an article in a business magazine. A recent study rating 300 male and female Mentian advertising executives according to the average number of hours they sleep per night showed an association between the amount of sleep the executives nedd and the success of their firms.Of the advertising firms studies, those whose executives reported needing no more than 6 hours of sleep per night had higher profit margins and faster growth. These results suggest that if a business wants to prosper, it should hire only people who need less than 6 hours of sleep per night. Write a response in which you examine the stated and unstated assumptions of the argument.
The argument is well presented and appears to be relatively sound at first glance. The author recommends that a business should hire only people who need less than 6 hours of sleep per night in order to prosper. To uphold this recommendation, the author cited a study about 300 male and female advertising executives' sleeping time. However, the argument is rife with holes and unsubstantiated assumption.
Initially, according to the study, the author unnecessarily assumes that the number of hours these executives sleep per night and their firms' profit margins have causal relationship. However, it is unreasonable. There is scant evidence about the detailed information of these advertising executives. We can confidently believe that all these people have powerful leadership, self-controlled, and elegant eloquence. And it is possibly these qualities that make their firms' prosper. In this case, the author's conclusion that hiring people who need less than 6 hours of sleep per night can improve a company's profit is unwise.(9")
Furthermore, the assumption that the executives use more times which they reduced from sleeping time on working is open to doubt. Until more investigation about the actual usage of these reduced time to be provide, we can argue that maybe the executives spent these time on private recreational activities such shopping, drinking in the bar or playing sports. Without considering these possibilities , the speaker can not assert the causal association between the amount of sleep and success of their firms.
Even if it is the number of executives' sleep hours that determine the advertising firms' performance, the speaker's conclusion depends on the assumption that advertising firms are representative of all business. Nevertheless, due to the special characteristic of industry, many companies require their employees have enough sleeping time to restore their energy. If the workers sleep less than 6 hours per night, their efficiency might be weakened and than the company's profit would be negatively effected. Therefore, even though the success of these advertising firms, I am still not convinced that a business could prosper if it hire worker who have less sleeping time. (10;)
In summary, in order to make the argument more cogent and persuasive, the speaker should provide detailed information of these advertising executives and Mentian adverting firm is representative of other eles business. Otherwise, I remain unconvinced the recommendation. |
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