Organizational Rhetoric

Due by 4:00 p.m. on October 30th

As usual, respond to the following questions with the website (or social media page) of your selected organization in mind. If you are doing the alternative project option where you are developing a website for an organization which doesn’t have one, select a model website for this posting. Include in your posting a link to the website and, if possible, embed at least one image (screenshots, etc) from it. If the website has an abundance of content, at this stage you may choose to focus only on the homepage or another page to answer these prompts. You can answer each in a few statements; you don’t have to write your entire review of the website yet. However, feel free to write as much as you can, since you can use this content in your Organizational Client Project (formal report) later.

Due by 4:00 p.m. on October 24th

As Hoffman and Ford (2010) note, “Issue management rhetoric is constrained by a number of factors and potentially supported by other factors. Organizational rhetors often change face challenges of (1) being heard in an environment full of messages, (2) developing rhetoric under time limitations, (3) analyzing and presenting complex ideas, and (4) working within the context of existing organizational identity and prior organizational rhetoric” (149).

Respond to the following questions with the website (or social media page) of your selected organization in mind (if you are doing the alternative project option where you are developing a website for an organization which doesn’t have one, select a model website for this posting). Include in your posting a link to the website and, if possible, embed at least one image (screenshots, etc) from it.

If the website has an abundance of content, at this stage you may choose to focus only on the homepage to answer these prompts. You can answer each in a few statements; you don’t have to write your entire review of the website yet. However, feel free to write as much as you can, since you can use this content in your Client Project (formal report) later.

1. Exigencies: What elements in its rhetorical situation (surrounding context, etc) appear to be challenges or opportunities for the organization? Is there an imperfection or an opportunity?
2. Audiences: What audiences seem to be the most appropriate target in the situation? What are the characteristics of or interest of members of these audiences?
3. Constraints and Assets: What things might make it more difficult or easier for the organization to answer the exigencies? Are there pre-existing beliefs, attitudes or values, or past rhetoric or experiences that will affect how the message is interpreted by audiences?

Issues:

1. How does the organization portray itself as qualified or authorized to speak about a particular issue?
2. Is there evidence in the rhetoric that interested audiences have been consulted and have had a reasonable opportunity to influence the process?
3. What is said about an issue and what is not said?
4. Based on your knowledge of the rhetorical situation and rhetoric, does the organization appear to conceal or de-emphasize information that might influence the issue?

1. What larger social/public issue (if any) is it dealing with? What is the message conveyed about that issue?
2. Which method would you need to choose to analyze these kinds of messages? Ideology critique? Cultural criticism? Feminist criticism? Others? Why? This is something you need to determine based on the nature of the social/political implications of your selected artifacts.
3. Based on your viewing of its rhetorical artifacts so far: How do your selected organization’s messages reflect its interests? What more do you expect to find out in this regard?
4. Who are the audiences? What are the implications of your selected organization’s rhetoric for individual audience members?
5. What assumptions are made about the organization, its members, other stakeholders, and society in general?
6. How is visual rhetoric (images) employed in this process? What do those images say about the organization or other groups?
7. Whose interests are represented by the organization’s messages?
8. Hoffman and Ford suggest that critical approaches to organizational rhetoric hope to reform “social order to enhance more equitable choices” (101). What would your specific hope be as a result of people’s reading and application of your analysis? What will you be directing attention to? Will you call anybody to action? Think about the possible things that your analysis might do for different groups of individuals in a society.

Due by 4:00 p.m. on September 12th

*All students should complete all blog post assignments. Brittany and John will present their responses to this particular post for class discussion on the 19th.

Before completing this posting, make sure you have read Chapter 3 in our textbook.

In order to systematically describe the rhetorical situation of your selected artifacts, please answer the following questions based on information that you already know or have gathered through research about your selected organization–and the particular rhetorical artifacts (or a particular promotional campaign) that you have identified in order to analyze your selected organization’s rhetoric.

Please enumerate your responses as in the following.

1. Exigencies: What elements in the rhetorical situation appear to be challenges or opportunities for the organization? Is there an imperfection or an opportunity? Was it anticipated or unanticipated? Is it marked by urgency? What are some options for how organizational rhetors might frame the elements?
2. Audiences: What types of audiences seem to be the most appropriate target in the situation –  enabling, functional, normative, or diffused? What are the characteristics of or interest of members of these audiences?
3. Constraints and Assets: What things might make it more difficult or easier for the organization to answer the exigencies? Are there pre-existing beliefs, attitudes or values, or past rhetoric or experiences that will affect how the message is interpreted by audiences?
4. Rhetorical Situations: Is the rhetorical situation similar to any of the types of situations that occur with regularity in organizations (identity, issues, risk, crisis, or internal)? Select which one seems to be more prominent in your selected organization. This will eventually determine the focus of your discussion of this organization’s rhetoric.

Due by 4:00 p.m. on September 12th

*All students should complete all blog post assignments. Savannah and John will present their responses to this particular post for class discussion on the 12th.

After reading and understanding Chapter 2, make sure you have identified the organization you want to analyze for your Analysis of Organizational Rhetoric paper. Complete this posting with that organization in mind.

Select one rhetorical artifact that somehow communicates a message from this organization; this artifact could be the organization’s official website, a video promoting the organization or one of its projects, a TV commercial promoting its products/services, and so on. You should choose only one artifact at this time. The artifact should be accessible online; embed the video or image or document in your blog post or provide a link to it.

To describe the rhetorical strategies in the artifact you have selected, identify and give examples of statements that fall into the following areas:

1. Medium of Delivery: What form is the rhetoric presented in (website, promotional video, TV commercial, press release, others)?

2. Ethos: Appeals to Organizational Credibility

-Competence

-Community

3. Pathos: Appeals to Emotions

-Needs: Identify the need being created or appealed to

-Values: Identify the value being appealed to

-Values advocacy

–Explicit appeals to values

–Demonstration of how products or services uphold values

–Discussion of philanthropic activities consistent with values

–Praise of individuals who embody values

-Identification

–Common ground

–Assumed “we”

–By antithesis

–Unifying symbols

4. Logos: Use of Claims and Evidence

-Claims

-Evidence

–Statistics

–Testimony

–Examples

-Reasoning

–Inductive reasoning

—>By example

—>By analogy

—>Causal reasoning

–Deductive reasoning 

***

REMINDERS FOR THOSE WHO ARE SCHEDULED TO SHARE THEIR BLOG POST:

If you are scheduled to share your blog post and talk about it on 9/12, you should also check ‘Blog Post Sharing Schedule’ on our Canvas/Home site; the document includes expectations for your presentation. Below is a copy I am providing once. Remember that you should encourage and be available for a class discussion after your presentation so it will be your responsibility to encourage conversation with your peers in order for you and them to receive presentation/participation points. I might also help further our conversation on your posting.

Procedures:

You will individually deliver a 10- to 15-minute presentation of their own blog post due on the scheduled day. The class will then discuss various aspects of the student’s blog post.

While all class members will make the assigned posting by the blog post due dates listed below, if you are on the schedule for sharing your posting, you will also be responsible for presenting your post’s content to the class and then engaging in a discussion with your classmates about the aspects and implications of your posting (answer questions, respond to feedback, etc). Instructor may also engage in the discussion and will note participation on both sides (the effectiveness of your presentation and classmates’ participation/response as audience members).

To engage your classmates in a discussion, at the end of your presentation, check in with the listeners’ for any questions that you should address and then present to them a few discussion questions to get their viewpoints. Instructor may ask further questions to continue the discussion. Your participation points will be based on how clearly you present the blog content and how effectively your blog post answered the Instructor’s prompts as well as your discussion with the class.

Due by 4:00 p.m. on August 27th

Image from pixabay.com

You were previously given an in-class tutorial on how to create a Longwood blog and new postings. Now is the time to create your first blog post! The main purpose of your first post is to clarify the rhetorical situation of your blog for readers who might stumble upon it. For example, why does your blog exist? The elements of a rhetorical situation include the following: writer, purpose, message, audience, context.

–Who is the writer/blogger (e.g., brief info about you)?

-What is the purpose of your blog (include the course information but you may also include a purpose of your own)?

–What will the writer (you) be writing about on this blog?

-Who is your intended audience (write one or two sentences about who might make use of this blog or would like to check it out, etc)?

-What is the context of this blog (you can think about the classroom and beyond)?

Since in your response to some of these questions you will want to mention our Organizational Rhetoric course, it is also appropriate to give some information about your major/specializations, reasons for taking the class, any past rhetoric/writing classes you have taken, etc.

Be flexible and use your creativity while making sure you address all writing prompts in detail. Please make all your postings more colorful and interesting with media (images, video, etc); cite your images and try to use ones that are in the public domain (not copyrighted), but you should be fine sharing any YouTube videos. You may also create your own images (take photos, etc) and add them to your blog, too.

Sample source for high-quality free images: pixabay.com

Welcome to our course blog! This blog will serve as a medium for us to communicate about our course.

ENGL 305 is an advanced study featuring a particular aspect of rhetoric or professional and/or technical writing, such as a time period, genre, or theoretical perspective. The Fall 2018 offering focuses on organizational rhetoric. What gives Apple the ability to persuade and lead? What does it take for an organization to influence popular attitudes and public policies? All multinational corporations, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), trade associations, religious organizations, and locally owned companies at some point want to promote their identity, manage an issue, resolve a crisis, or recruit and retain employees and volunteers. Organizational messages confront us every day. This course will provide you with a strong background in the strategies used to develop and critique these messages.