Persuasive Communication - How Audiences Decide. 2nd Edition

Types of Audience Decisions 87

salary increase, the manager’s impact on the operation of the fi rm, the fi nancial benefi t the manager

provides to the fi rm, and information that shows the manager is uniquely qualifi ed to hold his posi-

tion. In addition, critical benchmark information is missing, such as the amount of the manager’s

current salary, the amount of competitive salaries, and the amount of work performed this year

compared to the amount performed in the previous year.

Even more interesting is the way the expert shifts from thinking about the manager’s request as

requiring a budgetary decision (is the request justifi ed?) to thinking about it:

(1) as requiring a staffing decision (perhaps more managers are needed, or maybe the manager

really just wants a promotion);

(2) as requiring an oversight decision (perhaps the division is inefficiently run), and finally;

(3) as requiring a policy decision (perhaps the organization needs a formal process for promotions

and salary increases).

The expert’s comments highlight the fact that audiences are free to make any type of decision

they wish no matter what type of decision a professional intends to elicit from them and that a

unilateral request for change can trigger a type of decision that the professional did not intend. The

expert’s comments also provide an excellent example of the critical thinking skills that top manag-

ers are able to bring to bear on business issues.

SALARY REQUEST WITH A SENIOR MANAGER’S COMMENTS

TO: Jennifer Junejo
FROM: Aaron Schwark
RE: Global Product Division
DATE: September 14, 2013

Having completed two years as manager of the global product division, I would
like to discuss how the responsibilities of the division have grown during that
time. The product line that I manage is highly interrelated with other products
at our firm. As such, I often have to be involved in cross-functional meetings
or other projects that involve individuals from several departments or teams. I
have had to learn – very quickly – how to manage and work with different teams
of engineers, salespeople, and marketing employees from around the world.

There are now three “teams” that I must manage or interface with every day; the
first is a team of development engineers located in Kyoto, Japan, the second is
a worldwide sales force, and the third is a team of production technicians
located in San Diego, CA. In regards to my dealings with the software
development team in Japan, although this team of engineers does not directly
report to me, I have a certain level of responsibility in providing guidance so
that they are using their time to work on the highest priority software issues
and development requests. More and more they turn to me for advice on how to
interpret given requirements, or whether or not to proceed on certain projects.

One of the more unofficial teams that I now “lead” [1. I don’t quite understand that.]
is our worldwide sales force. Even though none of these people report to me
directly, I am now indirectly responsible for helping to increase their sales
of my particular product. Of course, this is of mutual benefit, since the
salespeople receive additional compensation and the increase in total product
sales is one of the performance metrics by which I am evaluated. However in the
past year, I have had to conduct many sales teleconferences with groups of
salespeople from different geographical areas. These training sessions are
generally requested by the regions, and not my idea. In an effort to more
effectively inspire and lead these sales teams, I have begun setting up monthly
or bi-monthly sales training sessions with each of the different regions.