Uday Saha

"During the past year, Quiot Manufacturing had 30 percent more on-the-job accidents than at the nearby Panoply Industries plant, where the work shifts are one hour shorter than ours. Experts say that significant contributing factors in many on-the-job accidents are fatigue and sleep deprivation among workers. Therefore, to reduce the number of on-the-job accidents at Quiot and thereby increase productivity, we should shorten each of our three work shifts by one hour so that employees will get adequate amounts of sleep." Write a response in which you examine the stated and/or unstated assumptions of the argument. Be sure to explain how the argument depends on these assumptions and what the implications are for the argument if the assumptions prove unwarranted. While it may true that shortening the work shifts will decrease the number of accidents and increase the productivity of Quiot company, the argument fails to make a cogent case for it. The argument is rife with holes and assumptions like job nature of Panoply company and Quito company are similar, no other reasons behind the accidents except fatigue and deprivation of sleep and reduction in work hour will increase the productivity of Quiot company. Therefore, significant evidences must be judged before reducing the work hour in Quiot company. First of all, the argument assumes that, job nature of Quiot company and Panoply company are similar and what was worked well for Panoply company will also work for Quiot company. However, job nature of the two companies can be different. Panoploy company can be auto-mobile company where workers have a nice safe working environment. On the other hand, Quiot company can be steel manufacturing company where, workers have a higher risk for accident. Moreover, argument assumes that 30 percent increase in accident is a significant number. While it may true that, 30 percent can lead to a small number or, Quiot company is a big company than Panoply company where the number of accidents are relatively low than that of Panoply manufacturing company. Unless we know, the actual number of accidents and job nature of both the company, we can't compare compare them and can't say that what had gone well for Panoply company will also go well for Quiot Company. Secondly, the argument hinges upon on the assumption of experts that fatigue and deprivation of sleep are the only causes of accident in Quiot company. While it may be true, there can be other causes which can lead to the increased number of accidents like safety factors, awareness of workers etc. It may be true that, in Quiot company, workers are not fully aware of work-related dangers or how to handle these kinds of dangerous situation. Moreover, they can be inefficient and not expert workers. Aside from these, the environment, in which they are working, can be highly dangerous. For all these cases, the assumption of experts falls apart and we need to investigate other factors that can cause accidents. For this purpose, a committe of experts can be formed to evaluate the actual reasons behind the accidents. Lastly, the agrument assumes that, reduction in work shifts will increase the overall productivity of Quiot company. It may not hold in every case. For example, reduction in work shifts can reduce the production rate and decrease the profit margin. Consider the case of television company, if workers work less, they will produce less television and thus production rate will fall. Moreover, reduction in work-shifts won't necessary solve the crisis of sleep deprivation. For instances, workers are depressed for family reasons, low income or other psychological problems etc. Then, reduction in work shift will not help them to solve the problem of sleep deprivation and fatigue. Thus, to increase the productivity of Quiot company we must take consider the evidence how reduction in work hour will affect the overall working condition and production of the company. Therefore, significant evidences like job nature, actual causes behind the accident, how reduction in work shift will affect the productivity of Quiot Company, we can't predict that reduction in work shifts will decrease the number of accidents and increased the productivity in Quiot Company. Please Grade my essay and give me feedback how to improve.