essay - GMAT: Argument 21

The following appeared in a memorandum from the head of a human resources department at a major automobile manufacturing company to the company's managers:

Studies have found that employees of not-for-profit organizations and charities are often more highly motivated than employees of for-profit corporations to perform well at work when their performance is not being monitored or evaluated. Interviews with employees of not-for-profit organizations suggest that the reason for their greater motivation is the belief that their work helps to improve society. Because they believe in the importance of their work, they have personal reasons to perform well, even when no financial reward is present. Thus, if our corporation began donating a significant portion of its profits to humanitarian causes, our employees f motivation and productivity would increase substantially and our overall profits would increase as well.

Discuss how well reasoned . . .etc.

Answer:
The head of a human resources department is going to donate a part of the company's profit to humanitarian uses. The assumption that he supposes is that working for a company which does so has an equal meaning to working for a non-profit organization. Since this assumption is unwarranted, his argument is completely weak.

First of all, the fundamental difference between work at a non-profit organization and work at a normal corporation is the wrok itself. And the source of motivation is generally with the work itself. That is, even if a company donates a part of the profit, the work in which the employees engage remains same. For instance, The sales person at the automobile manufacturing company invariably sells the cars or bikes to generate profit. Therefore, his motivation is supposed to be the same.

In conclusion, since the author misunderstands the source of motivation of employees, the argument is unconvincing.