- The article I chose to focus on for this week’s prompt is “How To Create a Culture Manifesto for Your Organization (And Why It’s a Good Idea).” The article starts off with the mention of mission statements, and until this read, I always thought mission statements were beneficial for a company. But I agree with the second sentence in that these mission statements focus on external goals and aim to draw the customers in, while not really considering the employees / internal ways of working. One statement that stood out to me in which Mollie West explained Creative Director Sally Clarke said was, “Clarke sums up the company’s culture as “the freedom to ‘keep it weird.’ I think that a company must be authentic and unique for it to be successful, so this saying is definitely an example of turning what they learned at Method’s team and making it actionable for the reader. The article goes on to explain Etsy’s values and principles, and I believe the format of bullet points additionally makes it interactive for the reader to follow the list. By using this writing strategy, the author makes it easy and clear for the reader to understand, especially because at times simplicity is more valuable than being too specific. I believe the target audience here is anyone involved in nonprofits, a social enterprise, or B Corps. This article contains so many great tips and helpful advice that any core team of a company may find useful in attracting its consumers with. Having examples such as in the second to last paragraph with including a list of questions and then having every person come up with a “headline phrase” is extremely effective for this particular audience because it showcases what companies can implement into a daily / weekly routine at work.
- For my project proposal, the sort of texts I am basing my work on are those of scholarly sources, websites, and data tables. I am discussing the diversity of the generational gap in the workplace for the purpose that I think this topic will be so beneficial to me in a few years. My readers will have the type of level of detail that explains the characteristics of the generations in the workplace now, but my work will not be too specific where the reader may easily find themselves lost in the material. I plan to take the research I’ve done to focus on topics besides the broader picture, such as professional women and their take on what work-life balance means based off what generation they’re in, the focus on the generational gap in the HR and talent management field, the hospitality industry, etc. I would describe the writing style of my readings to be informative, knowledge-based, and interactive. APA is my citation method, and the types of evidence/sources of my project proposal contains scholarly sources, online articles, and one Ted Talk.
Writing and organizational cultures
As you point out, one of the major strengths of West’s article is that she makes the information actionable for her readers–she gives the right audience the right kind of guidance and example to work with.
That’s what I’m asking you to weigh here–who would be the ‘right’ audience for what you want to say, for the point you’re trying to make? And once you’ve identified that desired readership, what would be the ‘right’ kind of text to reach them–something that would meet their needs and expectations and make them want to keep reading. Remember that this doesn’t have to be an academic essay (and, in fact, unless you’re writing for an audience of university researchers, that wouldn’t be the ‘right’ approach). Let me know what questions you have as you proceed.
Samantha – I think you’re on the right track as far as sources to cite. However, how do you plan on presenting your writing? You mention APA. Are you going to write it like a research paper?