PHI103 Informal Logic

An example of an argument I was recently involved in was with my District manager.  I was put in charge of re-writing a section of the company manual.  The section I was in charge of re-writing was labor hours and demand hours.  I had to write a detailed description of how to best utilize demand hours and the difference between demand hours and labor hours.

            When I was completely done I presented this that I thought was awesome work, to my District manager.  Now, keep in mind my company just rolled out a new labor module in April and it has not been tested out long enough for me to accurately re-write our company policy.   After a few days the argument went something like this:

Me:  Argument

Premise 1.  When writing the weekly schedule the manager should consider the peak hours.

Premise 2.  Labor hours are in place to cushion overages of scheduling for demand.

Premise 3.  When calculating hours, labor hours should not be considered.

Premise 4. Overall profit of the store should be considered when scheduling.

Conclusion: Therefore, leaving labor hours out of the equation will benefit the overall profit of the company and still maintain great customer service through scheduling for demand and not labor.

My Boss:  Counter argument

Premise 1.  Use the peak hours that are calculated by the H.R. department of our company.

Premise 2.  There is no cushion for scheduling, hence the new labor rollout.

Premise 3.  Labor hours are only in place for training new employees.

Premise 4.  Customer satisfaction comes before profit.

Premise 5. When a customer is happy they come back and spend more money.

Conclusion:  So, following company guidelines will ensure that customers are satisfied and in turn profit will rise.

My initial reaction was anger because I put so much work into re-writing the policy on labor. With understanding the counter argument my premises fell apart.  They had no strength and in turn made the conclusion untrue.  Had I researched this argument in more depth I would have created premises that were true. Therefore, my conclusion would be true as well. Needless to say, my District manager was right and I did a brilliant job re-writing the policy in accordance to our company guidelines.