- 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.
Week of 7/20 Discussion Post – Dominique Van Gilst
- For my response to this question, I chose to focus on “Shaping and Ethical Workplace Culture” because of the way the authors present information in a way that will make it usable for the readers of the article. I believe that the intended audience of this article is anyone in the workplace. In this article, the authors process what they have learned and make it actionable to the reader by typing main ideas in green, including bullet points that help explain their claims in an understandable way, including graphs and charts, and adding examples. All of these things that are incorporated into the article allow the reader to easily find the purpose of this article, and make the information easy to understand so that the suggestions being made can be taken by the readers. For example, on the side of page 9, there is a block of green titled, “Hallmarks of an Ethical Workplace” with a bulleted list of things that make a workplace ethical. This allows the reader to get an idea of what an ethical workplace is supposed to be. This block of ideas is actionable because it says things like, “Employees feel empowered and energized to reach for ethical and technical excellence in serving customers, clients and each other” (p. 9). When an employee or leader looks at this bullet point, they can reach out to employees and/or take a look at what they are doing as a leader, and think about what they can do to make their employees feel empowered at work.
- Some of the options that I have begun to consider for my unit 3 assignment include:
- having parents/guardians be my target audience, explain to them what it means to be inclusive, and give them examples of the benefits of inclusive classrooms → the readers would probably engage with a presentation/essay the best, and would most likely expect a longer text with lots of detail and explanation, as well as examples.
- Having young students be my target audience, and find a way to explain inclusion and differences to them in a way that they can understand → the readers would likely engage with their teachers or parents through a story, powerpoint, song, etc. because it may help them understand the information better. The readers of this topic, since the target audience is young, may expect a short, colorful, and interactive source or presentation.
- Having teachers be my target audience, and give them suggestions/advice about how to successfully teach an inclusive classroom → the readers would likely engage with a presentation, essay, etc. The target audience may expect a longer essay with a lot of examples and evidence that proves the point being stated.
Overview for Week of 7/20
We’re moving into Unit 3 this week, with just a few weeks to go before the end of the summer term. Read on for an explanation of where we’re headed in this final segment of the semester.
Over the course of Unit 2, you’ve assembled a body of sources that cover a range of perspectives and ideas related to your research topic. You’ve spent some time thinking about how these texts fit together and how you fit into the subject–what you find interesting and significant about what you’re learning.
So now it’s time for you to jump into this conversation–to develop an argument based on the research you’ve compiled for an audience and purpose of your choosing. Over the next week and a half, we’ll be working through the process of selecting an appropriate audience and articulating your purpose in addressing that audience. Be sure to read through the unit 3 assignment sheet in preparation for this work.
Along the way (this week and next), we’ll be looking at some examples of different genres, considering how writers bend their texts stylistically to suit their purposes and the needs of their audiences. Towards that end, here’s what’s up this week.
Reading
- “How to create a culture manifesto for your organization”
- “Shaping an ethical organizational culture” (note that this is a change from the original Unit 3 schedule–NYS took down the document I had planned to work with)
- Chapter 10 of TSIS (originally on last week’s schedule, but I accidentally omitted it from last week’s overview)–this will be an especially important chapter for your upcoming work, so make sure to read it!
Writing
- project proposal (due Sunday, 7/26)–this will be a brief blog post in which you plot out the basics of your project, including what audience you think ought to hear about what you’ve been learning (i.e. what group would benefit from hearing the argument you plan to develop)
- discussion posts in response to this week’s prompts (due Wednesday, with follow-up comments, as outlined in the prompt due by Monday or Tuesday at the latest):
Discussion posts for Week of 7/20
I am working my way through your research portfolios and will be getting you some feedback as soon as I can. While you’re waiting for that, please review the unit 3 assignment sheet and get started on the week’s readings, a couple of texts on building healthy cultures within an organization that look rather different from the essays/articles we’ve been reading.
Our focus is on genre this week and next. To refresh, “genre” refers to the sort of reasonable responses we make to recurring writing situation–need to reach out to a prospective client? a formal business letter can be a good way to initiate contact. Need to show what you know to a teacher on an exam? a 5-paragraph essay might get the job done. Need to impress a potential employer? An organized, clean, easy-to-read resume is a good plan. Have to make a sales pitch? A snazzy Prezi might be just the thing. Genres take shape because we find them to be helpful, audience-centered ways to accomplish a particular kind of communication task. The demands of the writing situation dictate the sort of genres that might be appropriate. As you move toward presenting your research, it’s time to explore possible genres for that work.
For this week’s discussion, please respond to both of the questions below. Categorize your posts as “Discussions,” and tag them with “week of 7/20,” “unit 3,” “genre,” and [your name].
- Notice the practical focus of both of this week’s readings (these aren’t just about sharing information for curiosity’s sake but rather about rendering it usable for a particular audience and purpose). Select one of this week’s readings to focus on, and examine how the authors do that–how do they process what they’ve learned to make it actionable for a reader? what readers? what writing/rhetorical strategies do you see them employing to make this information usable for their readers? Be specific and analytical–why do you think they go about it in this way? How effective do you think it is for that particular audience?
- It’s time to start imagining the possibilities for your own research writing in Unit 3–given what you want to discuss, for what purpose, and to whom, what are some of the options for you? What kinds of texts would this sort of reader be likely to engage with? where/when/on what platform do you see them getting this info? what kinds of expectations would your readers have about
- level of detail
- writing style
- length of text
- time spent reading
- citation method
- types of evidence/sources
Your response work might carry over a little into next week–you can either respond to their answers to #2 above, or read through a couple of your classmates’ project proposals after they’re due on Sunday, 7/26. Either way, please comment on at least 3 of them. Try to offer up your suggestions for what forms their work might take, given the parameters they’ve outlined.
Unit 3 Project Proposal, Isaac
In my research portfolio, I analyze articles with their main focus on the inequality taking place in the United States education system, as well as the varying education systems across the world. The inequality that is prospering in the United States has created a societal life cycle that is very difficult to break free of for the disadvantaged minority groups. The injustice also has a powerful effect on the formative years of a child’s life which are very important to developing the moral code and opportunities one needs to live an optimistic, successful life. This cycle has also helped the white privilege flourish because of the majority amount of biased mindsets in positions of power that strengthen the grip that racism and discrimination have on racially/ethnically diverse people. The injustice taking place around the world is significantly damaging the human race, especially the people struggling to live a life without the hardships that follow them because of the color of their skin and the toxic organizational culture that they are forced into.
I used many sources that contained studies and experiments that shared the firsthand accounts from the participants. These included student-teachers, teachers, and professors, and they helped me make sense of the deeper problem at hand. The primary sources I’m missing are the perspectives of people of color, an article from someone who has a personal connection would help me comprehend the problem monumentally. Our education system is failing for so many children because our higher education system is not providing the preservice teachers with adequate multicultural awareness and openmindedness that is crucial in the role that a teacher has for these children. My target audience I plan on writing for is the educators of our lower and higher education systems in hopes to inform them of the complex issue they are a large part of. My paper will act as a policy framework for an educational organization, with a main focus on informing the workforce of the complexity of the situation and how to improve their organizational culture. This will allow me to appropriately address my audience without leaving them with more questions, it will also help me stay within my boundaries of knowledge which limits me in creating a longer scholarly article. I will use conciseness in smaller paragraphs giving the quotes and infographics a larger role. It is clear that the biased mindset that is held by much of our population is the cause of an unfair culture that only works for the systemically privileged white community, and we must address it with a stronger urgency if we ever want to see real change.