Influence and Persuasion via Intermediate Argument: Examples of Strong Writing from MGT 360

1. Influence and Persuasion via Intermediate Argument:Examples of Strong Writing from MGT 360 Wayne Smith, Ph.D. Department of Management CSU Northridge ws@csun.edu

2. Superior, Contemporary Argumentation • Employ higher-order writing strategies • Always elevate your writing (throughout this class and beyond) • All of the following examples are from my outstanding students • Reasoning/Inference • From Parts to Whole, Comparisons, Correlations, Cause to Effect, Commonplaces and Form • Stasis (Equilibrium) • Conjectural (Facts), Definitional (Meaning), Qualitative (Good/Bad), Translative (Place or Procedure) • Topoi (Issues) • Ill (Problem), Blame (Responsibility), Cure (Solution), Cost (Best Value)

3. Superior, Contemporary Writing (cont.) • Speech-Act Theory (Accept Evidence) • Speaker wants a Hearer to accept evidence freely and willingly, • Both Speaker and Hearer realize there are truth conditions, • Speaker believes some other statement, not initially known to the Hearer, is such a truth condition, • Speaker utters the statement to the Hearer, and • Hearer accepts that statement from the Speaker as a truth condition • Simplifying Assumptions • Incrementalism, Cost-Benefit Analysis, Satisficing

4. Exemplars – Reasoning/Inference • From Parts to Whole • ”I try not to let my horrible experience at Tiffany and Co. create a biased thinking of all the Tiffany and Co. stores but just think that maybe the management [at this store] did not train their employees the correct way.” • Comparisons • “Comparatively, we charge less and do more than our competitors. This is an issue I have brought up as I learned more about the industry. For reference, we charge anywhere from $100-$200 for a full detail; this includes everything from the inside of the car to the outside of the care being detailed. Our competitors charge anywhere from $150-$200 for the same service.” • “It became a huge deal that eventually my department was dirty and unorganized and our metrics began to fall way below the Sears national average.”

5. Exemplars – Reasoning/Inference (cont.) • Correlations • “Hiring more servers will definitely improve the efficiency at which everyone works. My reasoning behind this is quite simple: if we have more servers, then we can attend to our tables and better serve them. If we can better serve our tables, then we may have continuing guests eager to tip at the much higher rate. If we get better tips, then we are more willing to better server our tables. This is a cycle of success.” • Cause to Effect • “I have noticed that people who do take this job seriously [scooping ice cream cones] tend to excel in their future careers and have more job opportunities than those who don’t…” • Commonplaces and Form • “Making the transition from an associate to a Sales Lead was difficult. I still had what I called, “associate habits”. When given a task, I tried to do everything myself rather than delegating to the associates. I had trouble leading the associates who were once my colleagues.”

6. Exemplars – Stasis (Equilibrium) • Conjectural (Facts) • “The performance evaluations were conducted by Marvin, the previous assistant manager.” • Definitional (Meaning) • “Marvin had given subjective evaluations to a group of employees’ positive evaluations and others negative evaluations.” • Qualitative (Good/Bad) • “The employees that had received positive evaluations were employees whom he was very close with. Thus, the group that had negative evaluations lacked effort throughout their daily shifts because they felt that their efforts were ignored. • Translative (Place or Procedure) • “As a result, I implemented three controls which were group incentive plans, objective performance evaluations on a quarterly basis, and job rotation.

7. Exemplars – Topoi (Issues) • Ill (Problem) • “I was a projectionist…I was dubbed ‘The Builder’ of the Projectionist Team…A single misplaced hand could wreck a reel, waste obscene amounts of money, and ruin the weekend for hundreds of hopeful moviegoers…Then came digital… • Blame (Responsibility) • [One day] I completely forgot to add the license [that unlocks the content on the movie hard drive] to one of the one of the huge blockbusters that was opening the next day…Thankfully, the next projectionist had caught my mistake and was able to call the studio and upload the license to the theater server before show time, but I was really disappointed with myself…I was ‘The Builder’.” • Cure (Solution) • “It was time for a wakeup call…I wanted to be good at my job…For my next building shift, I came up with a chart for myself. It included spaces for theater numbers, film titles, little checkboxes for trailers, time markers, and, of course, the license.” • Cost (Best Value) • “I finished my duties in record time, and every theater was ready for the next day’s premieres…The chart was a success!...Another projectionist spotted the paper and made copies for the rest of the team…I changed my attitude and focused on what really mattered…I was a projectionist, after all.”

8. Exemplars – Speech-Act Theory • Speech-Act Theory (Accept Evidence) • Speaker wants a Hearer to accept evidence freely and willingly, • Both Speaker and Hearer realize there are truth conditions, • Speaker believes some other statement, not initially known to the Hearer, is such a truth condition, • Speaker utters the statement to the Hearer, and • Hearer accepts that statement from the Speaker as a truth condition

9. Exemplars – Simplifying Assumptions • Incrementalism (even small steps in a large process can matter) • Cost-Benefit Analysis (measureable benefits in the numerator divided by measureable costs in the denominator) • Satisficing (accept the first, minimally-adequate solution to a problem)

10. Superior, Contemporary Writing • Inferences • “It is obvious that the company’s monopolistic role has increased its confidence excessively, which causes its inefficient management and poor customer service.” • Warrants • “According to Schermerhorn and Bachrach, ‘The ultimate bottom line in every manager’s job is to help an organization achieve a high performance by best utilizing its human and material resources” (p. 16) • “The issue surrounding my unfortunate situation was an imbalance in supply and demand—a common economics theory. This theory states that maximum success is achieved when supply equals demand.” • “Instead of ‘arousing people’s enthusiasm and inspiring their efforts to work hard to fulfull plans and accomplish objectives’ (Bachrach), she would put her staff down and criticize them throughout the day.”

11. References • The categories for this presentation were excerpted and adapted from the following books: • Freeley, A., and Steinberg, D. (2009), Argumentation and Debate: Critical Thinking for Reasoned Decision Making, 12th ed., Cengage. • Hurley, P. (2014), A Concise Introduction to Logic, 12th ed., Cengage Learning. • Lunsford, A., and Ruszkiewicz, J. (2012), Everything’s an Argument, 6th ed., Bedford/St. Martins. • Williams, J., and Colomb, G. (2007), The Craft of Argument, 3rd ed., Pearson Education. • Zarefsky, D. (2005), Argumentation: The Study of Effective Reasoning 2nd. ed., The Teaching Company.