The Need for Organisational Resilience - Chapter 7

informed decisions about key problems within the organisation. The process of red teaming,

though, is hampered by common fallacies (see following textbox).

[Text Box starts] Common Logical Fallacies in red teaming

Ad hominem attack: Criticising the person making the argument rather than the argument itself

(e.g. “That’s ridiculous. What do the factory guys know about engineering?”

Appeal to age or tradition: Based in argument on the assumption that previous generations were

wiser or knew more that the current generation (e.g. “James has been here since the Old Man was

running the show, so I think we should do as he suggests”).

Appeal to emotion or fear: Playing on people’s heartstrings or anxieties instead of arguing the

merits of a position (e.g. “If we don’t approve this plan, we’ll all be looking for jobs next month”).

Appeal to popularity: Asserting that something is inherently good or right because others believe

it to be so (e.g. “All of our competitors are doing it”).

Appeal to novelty: Asserting that something is inherently good or desirable because it is new (e.g.

“There’s a new version of that software out; we need to upgrade immediately”).

Appeal to questionable authority: Supporting an argument with weak sources or spurious

information (e.g. “I read it on the Internet”).

Appeal to ridicule: Rejecting an idea on the grounds that it will subject the organisation to

mockery (e.g. “If we introduce a small pickup, we’ll be the laughing stock of the automobile industry!”).

Begging the question: A type of circular reasoning in which the conclusion of the argument is

predicted on its premise (e.g. “It would be good to open a branch in Spain, because Spain is a really

important market”).

Biased sample: Using weak statistical evidence to support an argument (e.g. “Based on a survey

of our customers, people really like the current design”).

Confusion of cause and effect: The mistaken belief that correlation implies causation (e.g. “Our

marketing department is weak; that’s why our product aren’t selling”).

Explaining by naming: To imply that you have resolved an issue simply because you have

identified it (e.g. “We figured out what was causing the production slowdown: absenteeism”).

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