64.        The Director of Human Resources concludes that most employees at Company X
feel that the improvement most needed at the company has been satisfactorily addressed.
Two reasons are offered in support of this conclusion. First, a survey of employees
showed that the issue respondents were most concerned about was employee-
management communication. Second, the company has since instituted regular
voluntary sessions for employees and management designed to improve communication.
The director's argument is questionable for two reasons.
      To begin with, the validity of the survey is doubtful. Lacking information about
the number of employees surveyed and the number of respondents, it is impossible to
assess the validity of the results. For example, if 200 employees were surveyed but only
two responded, the conclusion that most of the employees ranked employee-
management communication as the most pressing issue would be highly suspect.
Because the argument offers no evidence that would rule out interpretations such as this,
the survey results are insufficient to support the author's conclusion.
        Furthermore, even if the survey accurately ranks certain issues according to level
of employee concern, the highest-ranked issue in the survey might not be the issue
about which employees are most concerned. Why? The improvement most needed from
the point of view of the employees might not have appeared as one of the choices on the
survey. For example, if the list of improvements presented on the survey was created by
management rather than by the employees, then the issues of greatest concern to the
employees might not be included on the list. Lacking information about how the survey
was prepared, it is impossible to assess its reliability. Consequently, any conclusion
based on it is highly questionable.
      In conclusion, the director's conclusion is not well-founded. To strengthen the
argument, additional information regarding the way in which the employee survey was
prepared and conducted is required.