The falling revenues that the company is experiencing coincide with delays in manufacturing These delays in turn are due in large part to poor planning in purchasing metals Consider further that the manager of the department that handles purchasing of raw

Author of the argument wants a scientist to replace as the manager of purchasing department. Author considers that the delay in manufacturing is due to technical incapability of current purchasing department manager. Author considers that the scientist from the research division can resolve the issues of manufacturing delays and hence falling revenues. Argument inexplicitly considers that the knowledge of general business & other disciplines is not helpful for running purchasing department.

There are few flaws in the argument. First flaw is that author considers that only a technical person can be a good manager; knowledge of general business, psychology & sociology is not of any help in planning. This assumption is wrong unless issue of falling revenues or manufacturing delays is not identified. Manufacturing delays could be due to many reasons such as supply constraints, unavoidable circumstances at supplier end, shortage of raw material, machine breakdown etc. In case of such issues, a pure technical person is as good as a person having knowledge of general business & other disciplines. Rather a multidisciplinary person might think better from different perspectives to think of any possible solution.

Second flaw with the argument is that argument is considering falling revenues as direct consequence of manufacturing delays. Yes, it could be one of the reasons of falling revenues but not the only reason. Revenue can fall due to other factors as well such as competition in the market, economic condition of the market, changing behaviour of the customer, technological enhancement, labour issues, government regulations etc. unless such root cause factors are analyzed, it is not wise to make decision.
Third flaw with the argument is that the manufacturing delay is due to raw material purchase only. However, it could be due to other external factors such as logistics, mining issues of metal. Logistics issues can cause delay in supply of the raw material. Mining sector depends on many factors & tier-2 suppliers. Breakdown of anyone tier2 /3 supplier in the chain can also lead to chaos in the tier 1 companies.

Thus, author’s argument that changing of purchasing manager will change everything, and a technical person can resolve all such issues is invalid. Since issues are ranging diversly, it requires a multidisciplinary approach to analyze the issues at tier2 & tier3 level. Master of anyone discipline such as a scientist will not be a good choice. On the other hand, it is also not advisable to appoint someone having knowledge of humanities. Multidisciplinary person having knowledge of technical areas, general management, tier 2 & tier 3 supplier issues can be better choice.