WMBA 600

Individual Assignment

Persuasion Paper

This assignment requires you to apply the concepts that youhave been studying in this class to solve problems you might experience atwork. Throughout your career you will face tough, challenging decisionsregarding how to deal with, lead, and manage individuals, work groups,projects, or your organization as a whole. Making important decisions oftenrequires gathering evidence in order to determine the best course of action. Inaddition, you must often convince others that your decision is correct.

You are to prepare a 4-5 page (12pt New Times Roman,single-spaced) persuasive paper in which you attempt to convince your(hypothetical or real) manager to take a particular action related to an organizationalbehavior or leadership topic. Your paper will be related to issues we discussin class (or it can be related to anything you are interested in that isrelated to OB or leadership if you consult with me first).

Sample topics include: how to deal with a co-worker who iscausing problems, why team-based rewards should be used instead of individualrewards, or why workplace diversity requires a change in the way your companysocializes newcomers.

You can choose your current employer, a past employer, oreven some organization you would like to work for some day. You canalternatively use someone else's organization with whom you have discussedproblems they have experienced or are currently experiencing. Since many of youwill go on to take a management or leadership position soon, think of somepotential issue that might arise that you will need to address and use thisassignment as an opportunity to proactively prepare for dealing with the issue.

This paper should include a description of the problem orissue, one or more potential options, a detailed description of the specificoption that you think is best, evidence to support why it is the best decisionincluding theories and real world examples concerning of how the solution hasworked in other organizations, and sufficient description of theories in simpleterms understandable by someone who has not taken an OB or leadership course. Keepin mind that many bosses, yours included, may have little professionalmanagement training and even less knowledge of social science. The paper shouldalso include a description of the possible outcomes, including best casescenario if the option is successful, worst case scenario if it fails, and whathappens if nothing is done to correct the situation. In addition, the papershould include a step-by-step process for the implementation of thesolution/decision that you recommend. All of this should be written in aprofessional and persuasive manner.

Criteria for evaluating your paper will be based on 1) how effectivelyyou marshal the best evidence to make your case, including the properapplication of Organizational Behavior theories, 2) the extent you have madeyour case in a strong, truthful, and persuasively convincing manner, includingthe potential best and worst case scenarios, and what happens if nothing isdone, and 3) how well you create and describe the facts about particular issueor situation, and any aspects of the particular organization (again, real orhypothetical) in making your case, 4) the solution  you propose, and 5) the professionalism ofyour writing in terms of language, style, and overall structure and flow ofyour rational argument.

You may include hyperlinks to online articles or print themout and include them if you think they would provide additional support to yourargument. You may also include any other information (fake reports, diagrams, transcribeddialogue from a conversation, etc.) Feel free to be creative.

The form of the persuasive paper can be a memo, report, orformal letter. It can also be an executive summary for a project or atranscribed discussion with your boss. Again, feel free to be creative, butstill make it professional.