The following appeared as part of an article in a business magazine."A recent study rating 300 male and female Mentian advertising executives according to the average number of hours they sleep per night showed an association between the amount of sleep t

Citing the result from a study regarding to the relationship between firms' success and the average amount sleep their executives need, the author suggest firms to hire the people who need less than 6 hours sleep in order to be successful. While it may be true employee who sleeps less can work more, the author fails to present a cogent argument to convince others his suggestion.

First of all, the author mentions a recent study in which the researchers studied the average amount of sleep of 300 Mentian advertising executives and cites the result of this study in his argument. Here, he assumes the result of the study is valid, which, however, is lack of evidence to support. Perhaps the researchers selected 290 male executives and only 10 female executives, or they ask questions which are only concerned with situation of executives in recent ten days. In such cases, the result of the study is invalid and should not be used in the argument.

Build upon the study, the author points out the reuslt of study reveals an relationship between the average number of hours the executives need and their firms' success. Since the researchers only studies the average amount of sleep the executives actually sleep, the author make an unstated assumption that the amount of sleep the executives need equals that they really sleep. However, the executives could have slept less than the amount they need because of the pressure from work. Or perhaps the executives don't like to get up in the morning and consequently sleep more than the amount they actually need. If that is the matter, the author's assumption is obviously unsound and undermine the soundness of his argument harshly.

Finally, based on the relationship between the amount sleep the executives need and their firms' prosperity, the author implies that in order to prosper, a business ought to hire people who need no more than 6 hours of sleep per night. The author assumes the advertising firms could represent all the businesses, which may be presumptuous. Maybe different businesses need different kinds of employees. It is possible that in some fields, employees who need less than 6 hours' sleep may be less efficient than others, which become an obstacle of firms's properity. Since the author doesn't present enough information to show the advertising firms is enought representative, his assumption is not warranted and his argument become untenable.

It is easy to understand that firms should employ people who can work more in order to prosper, but the author's argument is porous and rife with unwarranted assumptions. Before adopting his suggestion, firms should take more careful consideration.