#16 - Sales manager: The highest priority should be given to

[adkirk88]

I narrowed this down to A and D but put answer A because the Shipping Manager makes the point that there are also other departments that need to function well in order for the company to succeed which I felt was accurately described in answer A. Though it's true that the shipping manager doesn't explicitly say the sales department taken alone is not critical to the company's success as a whole, his argument seemed to heavily imply that, without other departments also operating effectively as well, the sales department can't determine the success of the company as a whole. Is answer A not as attractive as D due to the lack of a reference to "highest priority?"

I was also thrown off by the extreme language of answer D "an absurd consequence" when that appeared to be describing a particularly negative attitude of the shipping manager toward the sales manager's argument that didn't seem reflected in the stimulus.

Can someone explain why answer A is wrong and why answer D is right to attribute the belief that the sales manager's argument draws "an absurd consequence" from the stimulus attributed to the shipping manager? Thanks!

[Zach Foreman]

adkirk,
The shipping manager says, "There are several departments other than sales that also must function successfully for the company to succeed." What does this mean? It means first that the shipping manager acknowledges that sales must function successfully for the company to succeed. In other words the shipping manager AGREES that sales must succeed in order for the the company to succeed. (if company succeed then sales succeed). But, just because sales success is necessary for the company's success doesn't mean that the other department's success are not also necessary. Take shipping, for instance or accounts receivable or Human Resources. If HR hires incompetent people, then the whole company will fail. If Sales does well but the items are not shipped, the company will not succeed. Basically, the shipping manager is pointing out that just because Sales success is NECESSARY for company success, it is not SUFFICIENT for company success. Now that is one savvy sales manger who probably took a PowerScore class!
So, if there are multiple departments that are necessary the success of the company, then they can't ALL be highest priority (there can only be one!) That would be an absurd conclusion! In fact, the style of argument used here is called reductio ad absurdam in Latin which means reduction to the absurd. This is where you point out that your opponent's premises would lead to impossible conclusions. That is why the term absurd is in D.
Basically he is saying "Yes, sales are critical to the company's success, but so are other departments. So, if you say "any department that is critical should have number 1 priority", you must be wrong because that would mean that multiple departments would all have number 1 priority and that is impossible.
The Sales Manager's argument is the equivalent of "In order to make a bagel you need the right water. Therefore water is the most important ingredient in a bagel." I would respond "True, good water is necessary, but so is the right flour, the right temperature and technique and the right flavorings. These necessary things can't all be the most important so your reasoning is flawed."
Make sense?

[adkirk88]

That makes a lot of sense! Thank you for your thorough reply and the added info about "reduction to the absurd" and the sales manager's mixing of what is sufficient and necessary.

The phrase in answer A that threw me is "taken by itself." It's probably a case where I brought my own assumptions/understanding of how businesses work rather than only assuming what the stimulus provides. I read the Shipping Manager's critique to mean that the departments, though performing different functions, are all interdependent. i.e. if shipping doesn't successfully deliver the products that have purchase agreements, the sale of those products will not help the company succeed because the company will not receive payment for the success of the sales department when the products are not delivered. This is why I thought it was accurate to assume that, if the sales department was the only department operating successfully, it wouldn't be critical to the success of the company. Maybe the thing that should've tipped me that my assumptions were beyond the scope of the stimulus is the fact that the Shipping Manager said other departments must operate successfully in order for the company to succeed, not in order for the sales department to succeed.

Thanks again