Read the argument and the instructions that follow it, and then make any notes that will help you plan your

response. Begin typing your response in the box at the bottom of the screen.

The following appeared in the letters-to-the-editor section of a local newspaper.

“Muscle Monthly, a fitness magazine that regularly features pictures of bodybuilders using state-of-the-art

exercise machines, frequently sells out, according to the owner of Skyview Newsstand. To help maximize

fitness levels in our town's residents, we should, therefore, equip our new community fitness center with

such machines.”

Discuss how well reasoned you find this argument. In your discussion be sure to analyze the line of

reasoning and the use of evidence in the argument. For example, you may need to consider what

questionable assumptions underlie the thinking and what alternative explanations or counterexamples

might weaken the conclusion. You can also discuss what sort of evidence would strengthen or refute the

argument, what changes in the argument would make it more logically sound, and what, if anything, would

help you better evaluate its conclusion.

In this argument the author reached a conclusion that in order to help maximize fitness levels in our town's

residents, we should equip our new community fitness center with the state-of-the art exercise machines

which the Musle Monthly fitness magazine features pictures. That is because the state-of-the art exercise

machines frequently sells out, according to the owner of Skyview Newsstand. Although at first glance, the

argument appears to be somewhat convincing, it has some significant drawbacks and the author's

reasoning is logically flawed. By only not carefully evaluating the author's reasoning and logic but also

performing a deep and fundemental case-by-case analysis, we can see the author fails to consider the

following factors.

In the first place, the author argues that to help maximize fitness levels in our town's residents, we should

equip our new community fitness center with the state-of-the art exercise machines, and these machines

should be the ones which the Musle Monthly fitness magazine features. It is correct that according to the

owner of Skyview Newsstand, the exercise machines frequently sells out in the other places. However, that

is not to say, in our community, the same kind of sales performance can be expected. For example, although

people in our community and people in other community all go to gym and use exercise machines, they may

not necessarily want to use the same kind of machines. Therefore, we can conclude that the author makes

a false analogy.

Secondly, the author fails to explain where, when and from whom the the owner of Skyview Newsstand got

the information. Did he/she claim that the state-of-the art exercise machines frequently sells out because

she/he took a survey by himself? Or he/she just heard that from others? Who took part in the survey? How

many people took part in the survey? Did everybody in the survey respond it? These questions are all

unanswered. So it is clear to say there is no evidence that the survey is done properly by random sampling.

Furthermore, there is no evidence to suggest that the claim that the owner of Skyview Newsstand which

the author's opinion is based on is correct.

Thirdly, the authors assumes that everything will remain unchaged in the future. Admittedly, the

state-of-the-art exercise machines are very popular right now, and no matter why they are so popular

(probably due to the advertising in the Muscle Monthly), we can not deny the fact this kind of machine

frequently sells out. However, that is not to say in the future it will remain popular. There is no guarteen

that it will still sell out frequently when the time and space change.

To sum up, the conclusion that we should equip our new community fitness center with the state-of-the art

exercise machines which the Musle Monthly fitness magazine features pictures, although has some merits in

the light of common sense and experience from daily life, is not convincing because the author's fails to

consider the important factors discussed above. In order to improve his/her argument, the author should

correct the false analogy and maybe collect information from a serious ramdomly sampling statistics rather

than using the owner of Skyview Newsstand's claim.

Read the statement and the instructions that follow it, and then make any notes that will help you plan

your response. Begin typing your response in the box at the bottom of the screen.

“Constant innovation and change within an organization are as likely to damage the organization as they

are to improve it.”

Discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the opinion stated above. Support your views with

reasons and/or examples from your own experience, observations, or reading.

The statement of the issue claims that constant innovation and change within an organization are likely to

demage the organization, just like they are likely to improve it. The seemingly simple and straight-forward

issue has a complex nature, therefore there are hardly any certainly answers to it. To some extent, I agree

with the author's viewpoint that constant innovation and change within an organization may not always be a

good thing for an organization. However, as different people may hold different opinion due to distinctive

education levels, family backgrouds, value judgements and life experience, we can not simply conclude that

constant innovation and change within an organization are in all cases, like to demage the organization. To

discuss this complex issue we need to perform a careful case-by-case analysis as discussed below.

Firstly, the issue that constant innovation and change within an organization are likely to demage the

organization, just like they are likely to improve it, is correct in some cases. For example, for a small company,

the expense of innovation and change might be too expensive for them to afford, if they kept constant

innovation and change that might demage the company's finance and it may fall bankruptcy. Also, the same

applied to more traditional companies, like corporate finance side of the investment banks, they earn credits

because they provide constant good services to their corporate clients, not because they kept changing the

way of financing the debts. The more tradtional ways are preferred in the sectors which orgainizations are

expected to perform constant and stable.

On the other hand, the issue is only partically correct, due to differenct natures of different organization

sectors. Admittedly, the bank's corporate finance and probably also the private banking sector should not

always come up with new ideas as the clients want them to be safe and stable. However, other divisions in

an investment bank, say Information Technology or Fixed Income products divisions, need a lot of innovation

to be successful. For instance, in order to improve the business, one of the largest investment bank, Goldman

Sachs, invested a huge amount of money in the research of their Fixed Income, Currency and Derivatives

department, and as a result, they earn excessive return in this business. This investment is not wasted, but

in the opposite, save the company from the recent subprime crisis. I belive that is a very good example to

illustrate that in many cases, still, the innovation and change within an organization are valuable.

In addition, we need to take into accout the pros and cons of the innovation and change within an

organization. Carefully weighing the cost and benefits and find the break-even point of the two are crucial.

For example, if the cost of the innovation and change is higher than the benefit of it, we should not put

money into the innovation and change within an organization. In the opposite, if the cost of the innovation

and change is lower than the benefit of it, we should certainly invest in the innovation and change within an

organization.

To sum up, although the claim that constant innovation and change within an organization are likely to

demage the organization as they are to improve it, has some merit due to the fact that smaller companies

and traditional companies may not benefit as much in the innovation, is still not convincing in certain cases as

I discussed in the third paragraph. To take all these factors into account, we can safely arrive at the

conclusion that, the constant innovation and change within an organization is morely likely to benefit largers

organization in the emerging markets and high technology markets than the more traditional ones and the

smaller ones.