The following appeared in a memo from the vice president of a company that builds shopping malls throughout the country.

“The surface of a section of Route 101, paved two years ago by McAdam Road Builders, is now badly cracked and marred by dangerous potholes. In another part of the state, a section of Route 66, paved by Appian Roadways more than four years ago, is still in good condition. Appian Roadways has recently purchased state-of-the-art paving machinery, and it has hired a new quality-control manager. Because of its superior work and commitment to quality, we should contract with Appian Roadways rather than McAdam Road Builders to construct the access roads for all our new shopping malls.”

The vice president in his memo states that they should employ Appian Roadways to construct the roads that lead to all the new shopping malls made by the company because of their superior quality work. In the argument given by him, he proves his point by comparing this company with McAdam Road Builders to bring out the difference in the quality of work. However, a careful analysis of the argument shows that the reasons stated by the vice president to contract Appian Roadways do not indicate that they are the best builders in the town. In the following discussion, it can be seen how the argument given by the vice president is not completely convincing.

Each route of any city has a different type of traffic. There are highways where the traffic is heavy and comprises of heavy trucks and high speed vehicles. On the other side, some routes are frequented by small vehicles and there are some where there is very less traffic. Therefore, each route is used differently and cannot be compared. In the memo, the vice president compares a section of Route 101 built by McAdam Road Builders with Route 66 built by Appian Roadways. If Route 101 has cracked badly in just one year as compared to Route 66, which is intact for the past four years, it cannot be just because of the quality of roads. There are other factors like the one discussed above that are responsible of the condition of the roads. It is possible that there is more wear and tear of the Route 101 as compared to that of Route 66 because it is busier and experiences heavy traffic. Therefore, we cannot blame the builders of Route 101 for its poor condition completely. It is very likely that if Appian Roadways had paved this route, it would have met the same fate by now. Therefore, on this basis it would be inappropriate to say that the quality of work done by Appian Roadways is better than that of McAdam Road Builders.

Further in his argument, the vice president says that Appian Roadways has recently purchased state-of-the-art paving machinery and has hired a new quality-control manager. However, this does not prove that Appian Roadways will do a better job than McAdam Road Builders. There is no record of the work done by Appian Roadways with its latest machinery, so if it is successful in delivering superior quality work or not is not known. Moreover, if the new quality-control manager is able to maintain the quality work or improve it depends upon his efficiency. Therefore, on the basis of purchase of new machinery or hiring new manager it cannot be decided that Appian Roadways would deliver quality work.

There could be other roadway companies in the city which have not been taken into account by the vice president. It is possible that apart from the two companies mentioned in the memo, there is another company which is known for its quality and good work. Therefore, instead of relying upon the few facts given in the argument, the vice president should find out more about other options available before making any decision.

From the discussion given above, it can be seen clearly that the reasons given in the argument are not enough to prove the superiority of work of Appian Roadways. The argument falls short of explanation in many areas and thus is full of shortcomings. This concludes that the vice president should do a little more research to find out which company is going to be the best to pave the roads that lead to their shopping malls.