Persuasion Guide

Identify a situation and environment, connected or observed, in which persuasion is necessary. A connected
situation is one for which you are directly connected, such as a work situation or events taking place with an
organization with which you have direct association and affiliation (member, board, part of a team, etc.). An
observed situation is one where you have no direct connection, but you can see what the organization is going
through and how members of the organization act and respond with each other. (For the exercise, while both
are OK, the better is the connected situation.)
As you evaluate which environment you will analyze and write about, you must look for persuasion situations,
preferably ones that require a level of negotiation. To get your thinking started, here are some examples (there
are many others) of situations that would typically involve a level of persuasion (and could include negotiation):
An organization is looking for a way to persuade certain groups of employees to take the option of
taking early retirement before the company embarks on a downsizing initiative.
Employees are advised that office consolidations will result in office closures. Positions may be made
available in new offices, but will require (non-reimbursed) employee relocation.
A company has decided to no longer support a longstanding product and must persuade existing
customers to move to the new product line as a replacement.
At a time when an organization has no been growing and expanding, and employee turnover is high,
management has determined that certain cost cutting measures are needed, including elimination of
cafeteria services, and capping certain reimbursed expenses such as cell phones. The executives are
attempting to persuade employees to see it through with the organization, as these measures will help the
organization in the long run.
Office hours are changing due to shifts in market demands and the need to offer customers more service
options.
Management is attempting to persuade affected employees and supervisors to develop a new coverage plan.
Hopefully these examples illustrate the various types of transformations organization experience where there
is a level of persuasion required, and also some negotiation of positions. You will take the role of a hired
consultant whose goal and assignment objective is to develop a succinct report that will be used as a guide for
members of the organization's leadership team to persuade affected audiences accordingly toward the desired
outcome.
You should address the challenges confronting the leadership team in their effort to persuade others. Identify opportunities that should be seized to help accomplish the task. Uncover areas where negotiation may be necessary. In short, you will state the situation briefly in a single background paragraph. Then, describe what has to be done to create the best persuasion situation given the circumstances - backed by best practices, models, and a strategic approach. To do this, you are expected to apply material from your own research, provided research, other assignments, and online discussions where appropriate, to support your theories, findings, and recommendations.