Expert answer:Re-Organization and Layoff Critical Thinking Q&A

Answer & Explanation:Re-Organization and Layoff Discussion & Summary
Assignment:
Write responses to the following questions for the “Layoff plan moves forward at GE Transportation” article listed under the attachments section.  Each response must be at least 100 words.  I have also attached the course textbook PDF files for this class in order to help you answer the questions.What is the problem presented in the article?Why do you think it is the problem?What are some possible solutions?

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please, make sure to cite the information by using proper APA format
citations and make sure to include the source of the information as a
reference in APA format on a references page.
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use the attached PDF and/or Word document(s) listed under the attachments
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complete the assignment accurately and completely, if applicable.
 Please, do not forget to include any other attachments as references
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Attachments:Layoff plan moves forward at GE Transportation.pdf Critical Thinking, Ch 5.pdf Critical Thinking, Ch 6.pdf Critical Thinking, Ch 7.pdf Management, Ch 1.pdf Management, Ch 3.pdf
layoff_plan_moves_forward_at_ge_transportation.pdf

critical_thinking__ch_5.pdf

critical_thinking__ch_6.pdf

critical_thinking__ch_7.pdf

management__ch_1.pdf

management__ch_3.pdf

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Table of contents
1. Layoff plan moves forward at GE Transportation…………………………………………………………………………….. 1
Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 3
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Document 1 of 1
Layoff plan moves forward at GE Transportation
Author: Martin, Jim
ProQuest document link
Abstract: […]Duke said the union plans to apply for Trade Adjustment Assistance or TAA, which provides widereaching benefits to employees who lose their jobs due to foreign competition.
Links: Check Document Availability
Full text: Nov. 03–The first of the layoff notices should be distributed Monday morning as third-shift employees
clock out for the night at GE Transportation.
It’s a move that’s been months in coming. The clock began ticking April 9 when the company announced plans
to eliminate 100 salaried positions and 950 union jobs at its Erie plant.
Now, after unsuccessful lobbying and failed negotiations aimed at saving jobs, the company’s plan for its first
round of layoff’s is moving forward.
GE Transportation, which said the cutbacks were prompted by a slowdown in orders and productivity concerns,
announced Sept. 3 that the first round of layoffs would affect about 500 employees.
The pink slips to be distributed Monday will give employees one-week notice of their layoff, said Scott Duke,
president of Local 506 of the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America.
However, the initial layoff total might be slightly lower.
Jennifer Erickson, spokeswoman for GE Transportation, said about 50 employees are expected to retire instead
of taking a layoff.
For some, those decisions have been difficult to make, Duke said.
“It keeps changing,” he said. “They are saying yes (to retirement) and they are backing out. It’s a major decision
for some people.”
While each retirement had the potential to spare one layoff, Duke said he didn’t try to influence anyone’s
decision.
“That’s not my role,” he said.
In a statement from Erickson, the company acknowledged the significance of the job cuts.
“We are taking this difficult step to meet an increasingly challenging marketplace that requires us to reduce
costs and improve flexibility to maintain our competitiveness,” she said. “We understand how hard this action is
for everyone affected, including families and the broader community.”
She said the company is working closely with the state Department of Labor &Industry’s Rapid Response team
to help employees who lose their jobs.
Here’s a look at what the company is doing for displaced employees and the benefits they are entitled to under
the union contract:
– Rapid Response will be at GE Transportation on Tuesday to conduct an on-site job fair for displaced
employees and those with lower years of service. Representatives of local colleges and trade schools are
expected to attend as well as between 20 and 25 employers with plans to hire.
– Outplacement sessions will be held twice daily on Nov. 5, 12 and 19 in the auditorium of the Customer
Innovation Center. Information will be provided on unemployment, health insurance, continuing education,
retraining and other services available to affected employees.
– Instructional workshops will be held twice daily in the same building on Nov. 7, 14 and 21 to help employees
develop skills to navigate a job search.
– The UE contract provides for income extension equal to one week of pay for every year of service, with a
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minimum of four weeks pay. Displaced employees also will receive a 12-month extension of their benefits,
including medical, dental and vision insurance.
– Employees also are eligible for a training allowance that provides up to $6,000 a year for approved classes.
Finally, Duke said the union plans to apply for Trade Adjustment Assistance or TAA, which provides widereaching benefits to employees who lose their jobs due to foreign competition.
The union applied three times for TAA benefits before they were granted after a mass layoff in 2009.
“I feel good about it,” Duke said. “I don’t think the company is going to fight us.”
JIM MARTIN can be reached at 870-1668 or by e-mail.
Credit: Erie Times-News, Pa.
Subject: Shutdowns; Layoffs; Retirement; Cost reduction;
Publication title: McClatchy – Tribune Business News
Publication year: 2013
Publication date: Nov 3, 2013
Publisher: Tribune Content Agency LLC
Place of publication: Washington
Country of publication: United States
Publication subject: Business And Economics
Source type: Wire Feeds
Language of publication: English
Document type: News
ProQuest document ID: 1448076588
Document URL: http://search.proquest.com/docview/1448076588?accountid=458
Copyright: _(c)2013 the Erie Times-News (Erie, Pa.) Visit the Erie Times-News (Erie, Pa.) at www.GoErie.com
Distributed by MCT Information Services
Last updated: 2013-11-03
Database: ProQuest Central
18 September 2015
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Bibliography
Citation style: APA 6th – American Psychological Association, 6th Edition
Martin, J. (2013, Nov 03). Layoff plan moves forward at GE transportation. McClatchy – Tribune Business News
Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1448076588?accountid=458
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Critical Thinking, Ch. 5 ­ Learning Activity ­ Week2 ­ PHL/320 ­ eCampus
Persuasion Through Rhetoric.
Common Devices and Techniques
© Indeed/Stockbyte/Getty Images
Students will learn to . . .
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Define the difference between rhetoric and argument
Detect rhetorical devices and their persuasive impact
Recognize prejudicial and nonprejudicial uses of rhetorical devices
Identify and critique the use of euphemisms, dysphemisms, weaslers, and
downplayers
Identify and critique the use of stereotypes, innuendo, and loaded questions
Identify and critique the use of ridicule, sarcasm, and hyperbole
Identify and critique the use of rhetorical definitions, explanations, analogies, and
misleading comparisons
Identify and critique the use of proof surrogates and repetition
Identify and critique the persuasive aspects of visual images
When the military uses the phrase “self­injurious behavior incidents” regarding detainees at
Guantánamo Bay, it means what most of us call “attempted suicides.” In fact, when the word
“detainees” is used, it means what most of us call “prisoners.” “Waterboarding” sounds at first like
something you’d expect to see young people doing on a California beach, not a torture technique
that involves forced simulated drowning. Less remarkable, perhaps, but possibly more relevant for
most of us, we’ve heard the term “downsized” used when someone is fired or laid off. “Ethnic
cleansing” covers everything from deportation to genocide.
What we have to say may be important, but the words we choose to say it with can be equally
important. The examples just given are cases of a certain type of linguistic coercion—an attempt to
get us to adopt a particular attitude toward a subject that, if described differently, would seem less
attractive to us. Words have tremendous persuasive power, or what we have called their
rhetorical force or emotive meaning—their power to express and elicit images, feelings, and
emotional associations. In the next few chapters, we examine some of the most common rhetorical
techniques used to affect people’s attitudes, opinions, and behavior.
Rhetoric refers to the study of persuasive writing. As we use the term, it denotes a broad
category of linguistic techniques people use when their primary objective is to influence beliefs and
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attitudes and behavior. Is Hezbollah, the Shia paramilitary organization based in Lebanon, a
resistance movement of freedom fighters or a dangerous terrorist organization? The different
impressions these two descriptions create is largely due to their differing rhetorical meaning. Does
Juanita “still owe over $1,000 on her credit card”? Or does Juanita “owe only a little over $1,000 on
her credit card”? There’s no factual difference between the two questions—only a difference in
their rhetorical force. The thing to remember through these next few chapters is that rhetorical force
may be psychologically effective, but by itself it establishes nothing. If we allow our attitudes and
beliefs to be affected by sheer rhetoric, we fall short as critical thinkers.
Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful . . . and to give the
appearance of solidity to pure wind.
GEORGE ORWELL
Now, before we get in trouble with your English teacher, let’s make it clear that there is nothing
wrong with trying to make your case as persuasive as possible by using well­chosen, rhetorically
effective words and phrases. Good writers always do this. But we, as critical thinkers, must be able
to distinguish the argument (if any) contained in what someone says or writes from the rhetoric; we
must be able to distinguish the logical force of a set of remarks from their psychological force.
One of the things you will become aware of—as you read these pages, do the exercises, apply
what you have learned to what you read and write—is that rhetoric is often mixed right in with
argument. The message isn’t that you should deduct points from an argument if it is presented in
rhetorically charged language, and it isn’t that you should try to take all the rhetoric out of your own
writing. The message is simply that you shouldn’t add points for rhetoric. You don’t make an
argument stronger by screaming it at the top of your lungs. Likewise, you don’t make it stronger by
adding rhetorical devices.
Many of these rhetorical bells and whistles have names because they are so common and so
well understood. Because they are used primarily to give a statement a positive or negative slant
regarding a subject, they are sometimes called slanters. We’ll describe some of the more widely
used specimens.
Such images as this add to the negative impact of the “death tax,”
described in the box on the next page.
© Photodisc/Getty Images
Rhetorical Devices I
Our first group of slanters consists of what are usually single words or short phrases designed to
accomplish one of four specific rhetorical tasks.
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Euphemisms are unpleasant truths wearing diplomatic cologne.
QUENTIN CRISP, Manners from Heaven
Euphemisms and Dysphemisms
Language usually offers us a choice of words when we want to say something. Until recently, the
term “used car” referred to an automobile that wasn’t new, but the trend nowadays is to refer to
such a car as “pre­owned.” The people who sell such cars, of course, hope that the different
terminology will keep potential buyers from thinking about how “used” the car might be—maybe it’s
used up! The car dealer’s replacement term, “pre­owned,” is a euphemism—a neutral or positive
expression instead of one that carries negative associations. Euphemisms play an important role
in affecting our attitudes. People may be less likely to disapprove of an assassination attempt on a
foreign leader, for example, if it is referred to as “neutralization.” People fighting against the
government of a country can be referred to neutrally as “rebels” or “guerrillas,” but a person who
wants to build support for them may refer to them by the euphemism “freedom fighters.” A
government is likely to pay a price for initiating a “revenue enhancement,” but voters will be even
quicker to respond negatively to a “tax hike.” The U.S. Department of Defense performs the same
function it did when it was called the Department of War, but the current name makes for much
better public relations.
Real Life: The Death Tax
Here is Grover Norquist, who is the head of Americans for Tax Reform in Washington,
D.C., in a press release from that organization:
Over seventy percent of Americans oppose the Death Tax, and with good
reason. It is the worst form of double­taxation, where, after taxing you all your
life, the government decides to take even more when you die.
“Death Tax” is a dysphemism, of course. The estate tax is a tax not on death but on
inherited wealth, imposed on the occasion of a person’s death. And the person paying
the tax is not the deceased, but the inheritors, who have never paid tax on the money.
The opposite of a euphemism is a dysphemism. Dysphemisms are used to produce a
negative effect on a listener’s or reader’s attitude toward something or to tone down the positive
associations it may have. Whereas “freedom fighter” is a euphemism for “guerrilla” or “rebel,”
“terrorist” is a dysphemism.
“Wardrobe malfunction”
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Justin Timberlake’s phrase for his tearing of Janet Jackson’s
costume during the half­time performance at Super Bowl XXXVIII.
Euphemisms and dysphemisms are often used in deceptive ways or ways that at least hint at
deception. All the examples in the preceding paragraphs are examples of such uses. But
euphemisms can at times be helpful and constructive. By allowing us to approach a sensitive
subject indirectly—or by skirting it entirely—euphemisms can sometimes prevent hostility from
bringing rational discussion to a halt. They can also be a matter of good manners: “Passed on”
may be much more appropriate than “dead” if the person to whom you’re speaking is recently
widowed. Hence, our purpose for using euphemisms and dysphemisms determines whether or not
those uses are legitimate.
It bears mentioning that some facts just are repellent, and for that reason even neutral reports of
them sound horrible. “Lizzie killed her father with an ax” reports a horrible fact about Lizzie, but it
does so using neutral language. Neutral reports of unpleasant, evil, or repellent facts do not
automatically count as dysphemistic rhetoric.
Weaselers
Weaselers are linguistic methods of hedging a bet. When inserted into a claim, they help protect it
from criticism by watering it down somewhat, weakening it, and giving the claim’s author a way out
in case the claim is challenged. So, what a claim asserts, a weaseler either minimizes or takes
away entirely.
Without doubt you’ve heard the words “up to” used as a weaseler a thousand times, especially in
advertising. “Up to five more miles per gallon.” “Up to twenty more yards off the tee.” “Lose up to
ten pounds a week.” None of these guarantee anything. Sure, you might lose ten pounds, but you
might lose nothing. The statement still stands, thanks to “up to.”
Let’s make up a statistic. Let’s say that 98 percent of American doctors believe that aspirin is a
contributing cause of Reye’s syndrome in children, and that the other 2 percent are unconvinced. If
we then claim that “some doctors are unconvinced that aspirin is related to Reye’s syndrome,” we
cannot be held accountable for having said something false, even though our claim might be
misleading to someone who did not know the complete story. The word “some” has allowed us to
weasel the point.
Great Western pays up to 12 percent more interest on checking accounts.
Radio advertisement
Even aside from the “up to” weaseler, this ad can be deceptive about what
interest rate it’s promising. Unless you listen carefully, you might think Great
Western is paying 12 percent on checking accounts. The presence of the word
“more” changes all that, of course. If you’re getting 3 percent now, and Great
Western gives you “up to 12 percent more” than that, they’ll be giving you about
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3⅓ percent—hardly the fortune the ad seems to promise.
Words that sometimes weasel—such as “perhaps,” “possibly,” “maybe,” and “may be,” among
others—can be used to produce innuendo, to plant a suggestion without actually making a claim
that a person can be held to. We can suggest that Berriault is a liar without actually saying so (and
thus without making a claim that might be hard to defend) by saying that Berriault may be a liar. Or
we can say it is possible that Berriault is a liar (which is true of all of us, after all). “Perhaps
Berriault is a liar” works nicely, too. All of these are examples of weaselers used to create
innuendo (to be explained below).
Not every use of words and phrases like these is a weaseling one, of course. Words that can
weasel can also bring very important qualifications to bear on a claim. The very same word that
weasels in one context may not weasel at all in another. For example, a detective who is
considering all the possible angles on a crime and who has just heard Smith’s account of events
may say to an associate, “Of course, it is possible that Smith is lying.” This need not be a case of
weaseling. The detective may simply be exercising due care. Other words and phrases that are
sometimes used to weasel can also be used legitimately. Qualifying phrases such as “it is
arguable that,” “it may well be that,” and so on have at least as many appropriate uses as
weaseling ones. Others, such as “some would say that,” are likely to be weaseling more often than
not, but even they can serve an honest purpose in the right context. Our warning, then, is to be
watchful when qualifying phrases turn up. Is the speaker or writer adding a reasonable qualification,
insinuating a bit of innuendo, or preparing a way out? We can only warn; you need to assess the
speaker, the context, and the subject to establish the grounds for the right judgment.
In the Media: Innuendo with Statistics
Taxpayers with incomes over $200,000 could expect on average to pay
about $99,000 in taxes under [the proposed] plan.
Wall Street Journal
Wow! Pity the poor taxpayer who makes over $200,000! Apparently, he or she will pay
almost half of that amount in taxes.
But think again: In the words of the New Republic (February 3, 2003), “The Journal’s
statistic is about as meaningful as asserting that males over the age of six have had an
average of three sexual partners.” Bill Gates and many billionaires like him are among
those who make over $200,000.
Downplayers
Downplaying is an attempt to make someone or something look less important or less significant.
Stereotypes, rhetorical comparisons, rhetorical explanations, and innuendo (all discussed later)
can all be used to downplay something. Consider this statement, for example: “Don’t mind what Mr.
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Pierce says in class; he’s a liberal.” This attempt to …
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