For this assignment take a close look at both the required readings and videos on general concepts of persuasion such as the main principles laid out by Cialdini (2001) or in Section 14.2 of McLean (2012). Then take a look at some of the practical guides to persuasion such as Gorman (2007) and see which one of them is the most useful for you.

Case Assignment

When you have finished carefully reading these materials, write a 4 page paper addressing the following issues:

1. Which of these readings or tutorials was the most convincing or presented the most useful information? Explain your reasoning as to why you found this source more convincing that the others.
2. Based on the ideas about persuasion that you read about in the background readings, write a memo at least one page in length to your employees trying to persuade them to cancel their weekend plans and volunteer to work next weekend. This memo shouldn’t be an “order” that they need to work on the weekend, but rather an attempt to persuade them to do so. Make sure to use both the general concepts from Cialdini (2001) or McLean (2012) as well as some of the practical persuasion guides to help you craft your memo.
3. Conclude your paper with a discussion of how your memo applied the concepts from the background materials. Be specific as to what sources you used and what sections of your memo was influenced by which source.