Welcome to part two of this week's lesson on E-guide. What is a guide?Why do we have a guide? What are some types of guide? These are some questions that I intend to address in this session that focuses on definition and purpose. Put simply, a guide is a document that tells us how to perform a task, or how to get something done. In a workplace that is increasingly globalized, an effective guide does not only inform us how to perform a task, or how to do something, but it conveys a company's values. That is why it should align with the company's culture, and it should also recognize the diverse competencies and backgrounds of individuals in the company. While it is easy, and convenient to do a quick Google search, to look for guides to do something, because there will surely be others who have done this before, it is the contextualization within one situation, that is crucial. Therefore, a guide is a document that informs us how to do something, with procedures and practices that are based specifically on the company's culture, and that recognize the dynamics, and diversity of individuals in the company. Let us refer to the scenario that I proposed in part one of the lesson. In this scenario, although the outcome of drafting an E-guide to communicate the change may seem simple, based on our definition on an E-guide, these questions should arise. One, what does the company value? Two, how are changes usually communicated? Three, how do employees usually react to changes? And four, what are some feedback channels and mechanisms for the company to gauge response? Through understanding answers to these questions, we will then be able to do a guide that is clear, persuasive and effective. There are a few types of guide. They are first, the user manual, or user guide that is commonly used for appliances, equipment, apps software, etc. These user manuals tell us how to operate something. Second, then there is also the tour guide to inform others about the places to sight see, eat and do depending on individuals preferences. And third, there is also the company's handbook which is a more extensive and formalized guide on the expectations of a company. The guide that we are requiring you to do is not of any of the conventional types of guide that I mentioned earlier. Instead, it will be one that communicates change, and how such a change is implemented. You might have noticed that I have so far not used the term e, or electronic. This is because the basis of an electronic guide is on the guide itself. The e part is essentially a mode and in this particular exercise it means not a print but an electronic version. Now that we know what an e-Guide is, let us take a look at the purpose or purposes of an e-Guide. At the most fundamental level, an e-Guide that communicates change must inform. Besides informing, it also educates and persuades. If you recall the course on engaging in persuasive and credible communications in this specialization, you will have learned that to persuade, we need to reason or provide rationale, we need to be aware of and make use of emotions and we also must strategies that are considered credible. These are all in tandem with how we could achieve the intended outcome, as discussed in part one of this lesson. Let us again refer to the scenario we discussed earlier. If our purposes are to inform, educate, and persuade, our purpose statements for the e-Guide may look something like this. First, to inform colleagues the new policy, on leave guidelines and what it entails. Second, to educate colleagues on the procedures in effecting the policy. And third, to persuade colleagues on adhering to the procedures. The purpose of informing colleagues is rather easy. As this is a good news message, the message can be presented in a direct manner. For example, with effect from a certain date, employees will have an additional day of personal leave for their birthday. For purpose statement two, to educate colleagues on the procedures in effecting the policy, the e-Guide will need to identify steps which are in accordance with the company's practice, and then provide some examples. As for purpose statement three, to persuade colleagues on adhering to procedures, the e-Guide will need to anticipate queries and special requests. There may also be a need to provide some scenarios that address these considerations. For example, the leave guideline may indicate that the leave must be taken within a week of the birthday. We should anticipate that there may be requests and arguments for more flexibility in allowing for the leave to be extended to one month beyond the birthday instead of one week, or to be taken anytime in the year. Depending on our knowledge of the company, it's culture and the people, the response presented will need to show clear reasoning, consideration for ground sentiments as well as credibility of the proposed solutions. These could be communicated as on a case by case basis based for example on the employees' work commitments, and on the strengths of the special requests. In summary, we've discussed the definition and purposes of a general guide, as well as the e-Guide, as required for this capstone project. In explaining the definition and purpose, I've also attempted to provide examples demonstrating how these concepts may be applicable to the capstone project that you will be doing. In part three of this week's lesson we will consider key elements of the e-Guide.
