Critical Thinking
Critical thinking is an important aspect in the evaluation and analysis of any type of communication which forms part of our daily encounters. Therefore there is a need for a keen analysis and evaluation of the concepts that form a complete and fully functional communication system. In this paper, a memo written by the vice president of a company is going to be analyzed drawing information and reference from a multi-step method developed by Browne and Keeley in their book, “Asking the Right Questions: A guide to Critical Thinking.
What are the issue and conclusions?
The main issue in the Memo is raised by the Vice President of the Human Resource of the Cliffside Holding Company of Massapequa. It is in response to the Chief Executive Officer’s request for his office to evaluate the significance of Ms. Forsythe’s proposal that was aimed at the establishment of a fund for a new leadership development program for its junior insurance executives.
Ms. Forsythe is the director of operations in the company and during a senior executive staff meeting that was held on the 1st of August in 2012, she tabled a proposal supporting the establishment of a leadership-development program for the company. This she explained would help prepare the company’s junior financial executives for future advancement into various levels of executive positions. The proposal specifically aimed at sending a total of 20 employees off-site annually for a three-week program that was to be offered by the Aspen Leadership Institute of Colorado. Costs per student were $5,000.00 USD with the overall cost to CHCM adding up to $100,000.00 per year including an approximate of the same amount for lost time on the job spent during the trip (Vice-President of Human Resources, CHCM, personal communication, October 10, 2012).
In the memo, therefore, the VP embarks on an argument opposing the establishment of any such leadership training in the company. He gives a number of reasons he expects the CEO will address and make a conclusion on whether or not such training some of the company’s junior executives will be of any importance.
He opposes any plans by CHCM to invest in Ms. Forsythe’s proposal to send its junior executives for the annual leadership training in question. He explains that such leadership development programs are wasteful particularly because money invested often poorly spent. According to him, the advocate for the idea is not majorly concerned on the development of leaders for Cliffside Holding Co., but is instead campaigning for a personal agenda aimed at discrediting the VP personally and to push for the theories of Aspen Institute.
What are the reasons?
In support for his claims, the VP gives a number of reasons. He explains that CHCM has been in business for over 50 years with its average growth rate at 12% per annum (the memo). During that whole time, he states that none of the twelve senior executives has ever attended a leadership development seminar and yet the company has still been prosperous. This he explains questions the significance of a leadership development program initiative in the company. He goes on to conclude that since the leadership within the company has been successful without any such program then its leaders must have been born and not made.
The VP further notes that he had surveyed all of the senior staff and that no one had agreed with the notion. He quoted the famous economist Dr. Irwin Corey who once said that everyone is born into the world accompanied by a rich physical disposition that furnishes him and makes him ready to carry out himself in terms of his conduct and the no one can then demand for anything that has not been prompted by the galaxy of his instincts (the memo).
One of his other reasons was that according to the online reference site Wikipedia, leadership is defined as the ability of individuals to motivate, influence and enable others.
He, furthermore, illustrates that there is indeed an entire school of a leadership theory that holds that leaders have certain traits in common. He went on to give a list of leaders including; Winston Churchill, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Mother Theresa, who all possessed leadership traits like self-confidence, ambition and intelligence. He explained that such traits are not learned but are innate. According to the data he gave, he confirmed that they are supported by two well-respected research studies supporting the notion that leadership capability can be predicted by personality traits namely the Leadership Quarterly and the Journal of Applied Psychology (the memo).
He compared the findings with the office statistics of all the members of the senior staff and discovered that indeed all but one, Ms. Florence Forsythe were over six feet tall who was interestingly the one person advocating for a leadership training (the memo). The VP was moreover suspecting her true intentions. Could it have been possible that Ms. Florence coveted his position as the chair for the human resource department? Alternatively, could it be that she was motivated by the liberal belief that all the citizens of a free nation have the ultimate right to pursue education and therefore achieved any other thing they so desire? As a result, he suspected that she was motivated primarily buy the urge for her bleeding- heart liberal intentions and personal gain.
Apart from all the reasons he gave, he also included the aspect of finance and how funding the training would affect the financial stability of the company. He explained that such a request was simply too expensive for the company to afford. He reasoned that spending money on the leadership development would limit the capability of the company to spend on recruitment (the memo). The company from his argument ought to carefully analyze its spending rate in a cost benefit analysis and ensure that there is no loss of any investment, an approach he notes will only help to save the company from immersing itself in a costly investment. From the discussion he, therefore, explained that it would even be more realistic and logical if those already with leadership traits were instead recruited compared to those who are not. Moreover, he went on to explain that sending the wrong members of staff for the leadership training would be nothing else but simply a waste of money. He concluded that there are many people who are leaders and that there should be no reason to train those who are not.
Which words or phrases are ambiguous?
In this memo, there are some phrases and sentences from the VP that are clearly ambiguous and difficult to understand in terms of their meanings and sentences semantics. This is for instance evidenced in his quote of the famous economist Dr. Irwin Corey where he stated that “everyone is born into this world accompanied by a rich, psychical disposition, which furnishes him ready-made all his motivations of conductHe can show a demand for nothing that is not prompted by this galaxy of instincts” (the memo). On a close examination, the reader can discover a poor sentence semantics structure whereby the wordings are not clearly stated and hence an ambiguity. The phrase “which furnishes him ready-made all his motivations of conduct”, is ambiguous and not easily understood. The VP as a result is not able to pass his intended message across and as a result a gap in communication. Such a case of an unclear understanding on the message a writer is attempting to communicate compromises his or her credibility (Browne & Keeley, 2012, p. 6).
What are the value and descriptive assumptions?
The descriptive assumptions are based on how the world is and will be while a value assumption is the implicit preference in one value of the other (Brunk, Haworth & Lee, 1995). The VP for instance makes a value assumption on the significance of proper financial management over good leadership. He lacks autonomy and does not appeal to the reader but is instead an objective and classifying person as he places his readers into different groups he thinks are naturally coded to determine leaders from non-leaders. Similarly, the VP makes a descriptive assumption that leadership positions have always been occupied by influential people who are confident, intelligent and tall just to mention a few of the ‘qualifications’ he gives. As a result, he fails to realize that neither the past nor the present and even the future can influence the molding of any leader of any time.
Are there any fallacies in the reasoning?
There are a number of fallacies in the VP’s reasoning system. To begin with, the VP used an Appeal to Authority and stated that there exists a theoretical school of leadership that supports that all leaders have similar characteristics. In this group he mentions great leaders like Winston Churchill, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Mother Teresa, who all possessed leadership traits like intelligence, ambition and self-confidence. He further went on to cite two journals he claimed have published scientific report to support his claim, the Journal of Applied Psychology and in the Leadership Quarterly. The statement is a fallacy because not all leaders are self-confident, ambitious and intelligent.
He also observed that all leaders in an appeal to ignorance have a tall stature and therefore concluded that it must be a necessary prerequisite for any leadership role. Moreover, since no one can increase his or her height then no one can go against genetics when the odds are against any leadership in sight.
Another appeal for authority is evidenced in his quote of the famous economist Dr. Irwin Corey where he stated that “everyone is born into this world accompanied by a rich, psychical disposition, which furnishes him ready-made all his motivations of conductHe can show a demand for nothing that is not prompted by this galaxy of instincts” (the memo). He supports his claim with the statements of someone else.
Lastly in yet another appeal to ignorance, he further summarized that since the company has been able to succeed without any training for its leaders then leaders are surely born and not made. A statement that is inaccurate as it is wrong.
How good is the evidence?
Are there rival causes?
There is furthermore an evidence for rival causes within the memo that is a contradiction on the part of the writer. This is observed when he quotes the famous economist Dr. Irwin Corey who stated that everyone is born into the world accompanied by a wide array of disposition and richness that prepares and gets him ready for life and that his capability is dictated by the same system. Here, he contradicts himself since his statement supports the fact that leaders can be made over time, a concept he has evidently opposed.
Is the statistics deceptive? (If present)
Some of the statistics in the memo are deceptive as seen in his statement that all members of the senior staff except Ms. Florence Forsythe are of a tall stature. The information in the statement is incomplete. It would have been easy to grasp if he had presented their heights in a table as evidence as was the case in the heights of the presidents of the U.S.
What significant information is been omitted?
The significant information missing from the memo is the total number of employees in the company together with a clear figure on the number of junior insurance employees. Figures are an important component on any form in a company dealing with finances. Financial management constitutes the accurate manipulation and calculation of figures in order to understand cash flow, spending rates, investments and balances. Without figures, the very essence of the management of the company is sabotaged. As a result as is evident without these precise numbers, the VP is not able to calculate the exact figures that will illustrate the true implications of initiating a leadership training program within the company. A cost benefits analysis can only be correctly calculated when all the significant factors are included in the equation. Similarly, there is the omission of the total duration of the training program which leaves the readers in the dark concerning the true definition of what the organization would be committing by training its employees.
What reasonable conclusions are possible?
References
Browne, M. N., & Keeley, S.M. (2012). Asking the right questions: A guide to critical thinking,
10th edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall.
Brunk, C. G., Haworth, L., & Lee, B. (1995). Value assumptions in risk assessment: A case study of the Alachlor controversy. Waterloo, Ont: Wilfrid Laurier University Press.
Vice-President of Human Resources, CHCM, personal communication, October 10, 2012.
