Web project 9: Personal persuasion through thoughtful motivation and emotion
Directions (this is a 2 week assignment)
Week One:
Week Two:
- Monitor your frustrations with local providers with whom you interact. These providers may be: local small businesses, your local religious leader, local big business in your community (franchised or branched eg...big box store, supermarket, bank, fast food outlet, retailer, etc...), one of your instructors, etc... Don't go too big. You want to find a problem that a local person might be able to solve.
- Pinpoint one small change that would help relieve your frustration and the frustrations of others who interact with the provider.
Week Two:
- Find contact information for the provider and choose the person you think is most likely to be able to solve the problem.
Example: Your local McDonald's franchise stops serving soft serve at 8pm. This aggravates you because you always crave soft serve between 9-10pm. You went to the McDonald's website and learned that the Manager at the McDonald's you frequent is named Robert. You call the number and ask if you can get an email address through which to contact Robert with a suggestion, they provide you with the address. - Using the methods you've learned thus far in the class, as well as the methods in the below resources section, craft a persuasive letter to email to the provider. Have a friend read it to assure that the letter isn't just a rant that will turn off the provider but instead provides thought-provoking ideas that may lead to the change you seek. Re-write the letter until you think it will persuade. Write a brief analysis of the persuasive methods you employed in the letter.
For an example visit: http://changingminds.org/blog/0611blog/061113blog.htm - Send the letter! Copy the letter with date stamp (on most computers when you go to PRINT, you have the option to PRINT TO PDF. This is a good way to save a copy). You will submit this copy with your homework.
- If you receive a response you will also analyze the response. If you don't receive a response you will need to send a gentle reminder to the provider. Keep at it until you recieve a response or until the semester ends, whichever comes first. The goal is to open a dialogue and hopefully secure the small change you are seeking.
Additional Resources for this assignment
Change Management:
http://changingminds.org/disciplines/change_management/change_management.htm
Negotiation: http://changingminds.org/disciplines/negotiation/negotiation.htm
Assertiveness: http://changingminds.org/techniques/assertiveness/assertiveness.htm
Change Techniques: http://changingminds.org/disciplines/change_management/creating_change/creating_change.htm
Values: http://changingminds.org/explanations/values/values.htm
Negotiation: http://changingminds.org/disciplines/negotiation/negotiation.htm
Assertiveness: http://changingminds.org/techniques/assertiveness/assertiveness.htm
Change Techniques: http://changingminds.org/disciplines/change_management/creating_change/creating_change.htm
Values: http://changingminds.org/explanations/values/values.htm