Welcome back to this week's lesson on the E-guide. This is part three of the lesson with a focus on key elements of an E-guide. If you recall, in part one and part two of this lesson, we established what the definition of an E-guide is and we also learned some of the purposes of an E-guide. In part three, we will discuss the key elements of an E-guide. This will help you in organizing the capstone project that you will be working on. There are five key elements to the E-guide. These are first, background, second, intended outcomes, third, potential challenges. Fourth, proposed strategies taking into consideration consultation with workplace professionals and fifth, conclusion. In the following slides I will talk about each in more detail. First, in discussing background, we will look at developing a communication scenario that is relevant in a workplace context. Second, we will consider the intended outcomes of this communication scenario. The discussion will include establishing expected outcomes that are based on sound rationale. Third is the element of challenges. And this is where different perspectives may be derived from a group of individuals, from diverse experiences, exposure, and backgrounds. Fourth, once perspectives have been taken into consideration, and professionals in the industry have been consulted, there should be proposed strategies that help to achieve the outcomes. There should also be indications of effectiveness for the strategies. Finally, a conclusion is necessary for a recap of these key aspects. This could be followed by some concluding thoughts. Now let us take a closer look at key element 1 which is background. The background section is about situating the communication scenario. In doing so, you will want to say a little bit about the workplace. For example, what type of organization it is, how many people there are in the organization and how diverse the staff members are in terms of their training and background. The description is usually kept concise yet comprehensive. Another aspect that is important for the background description is the communication scenario. Provide an indication about the communication need or the communication gap. You will have to be very clear in identifying the need or the gap. Using as an example the new policy on leave guidelines, if we want to write a background description, what do you think should be included? Take two or three minutes to jot down your thoughts. Now that you have thought about what could be included, let's see if these are some of the points that you have considered. On workplace context, these questions should be addressed. First, what is the nature of the company? Second, how many employees are there? And third, what is the profile of the employees? A communication scenario where you might have considered or identified the issue there should be enhanced clarity on, first, what needs to be done and, second, what the gaps are that need to be addressed for the policy and how this is going to be communicated to the staff members. Therefore a revised description of the background may look something like this. ABC company is a conglomerate with its head office situated in Asia. The company is involved in a diverse range of industries with the largest investments in timber, agriculture, real estate, mining, retail and shipping. There are 36,000 employees in more than 2,500 locations throughout the world. Even with such a large number of employees, ABC Company has been recognized as one of the leading companies in staff welfare and benefits. At one of the recent retreats attended by the top management of the parent company the suggestion to give the employees a day off for their birthdays was approved. The respective officers in various countries have the flexibility of implementing this policy based on the nature of the business and local culture. As a staff member at an Asian location where the primary nature of business is retail the task is to propose strategies that will work well and communicate the implementation procedures to the staff members of about 150 strength with around 40% non-Asian. The second key element is the intended outcome. In trying to establish intended or expected outcome, we're talking about identifying purposes and rationale. As we've talked about this at length in part two of the lesson, I will not spend too much time on this key element, except to highlight the three purposes that we've identified for the scenario. The three purposes are first, to inform colleagues about 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 third key element is challenges that we may encounter in proposing strategies for the communication situation. To know the challenges we will need to first be familiar with with how the organization works, namely, how are changes usually communicated? How do staff members usually respond to both positive and not so positive changes? Who should communicate changes and would that be feedback channel for staff members to give comments before changes are confirmed? With a keen knowledge of these answers will we then be able to be able to be in a better position to anticipate alternative views, especially in a context where the staff members come from different backgrounds and practices? For the communication scenario that we've established, if the implementation guideline is that the leave must be consumed within one week of the birthday unless there are valid work commitments, what alternative perspectives would you'll be able to think of? This is in addition to the request we talked about in part two of the lesson which is flexibility to extend to one month within the birthday. Take two to three minutes to think about this. Perhaps besides a request for an extension to one month, there may be opinions that the since the company is generous to give a day off, it should be up to the discretion of the staff members to take the day off any day within the year that they prefer. In addition, some may argue that they do not usually celebrate their birthdays on the actual days. The challenge in communication is if the company would like to adhere to the proposed guideline and to consider special requests usually related to work commitments on case by case basis. In such a situation, the communication will have to be persuasive. A potential revision to the first version may look something like this. In recognizing staff members' contributions to the company and that birthdays are special days, staff members may take on day off within the week. A potential revision to the first version may be this. In recognizing staff members' contributions to the company and that birthdays are special days. Staff members may take one day off within the week of the birthday. In keeping to this spirit of birthdays, requests for the one day leave to be taken at other times will be considered only if there are valid work commitments or if it is based on some special circumstances. Let us now move to key element 4, which is strategies. Strategies refer to implementation approaches proposed based on consultation with professionals in the industry. There should also be suggestions On how to gauge the effectiveness of the strategies. Based on the communication scenario, what approaches would you suggest in communicating the change and its implementation? Take another two to three minutes to think about this. Some of you may have thought of a three prong approach which includes, first, a formal email from the managing director or chief executive officer of the company. Second, a semi formal town council style meeting with key personnel of the company present to give briefing and to answer any inquiries. And third, an informal dialogue, within respective units. These approaches are based on the assumption that the unit heads have been informed and consulted on the changes before the new policy is communicated to the rest of the staff members. As for the indicators of the effectiveness of these strategies evidence could be gathered from the responses from the staff members from the date of the announcement of new policy through the first three to six months of implementation. Indicators could range from how smooth the procedures are and how frequently does the company receive special requests, as well as how these requests are managed. The fifth key element of the key guide is conclusion. The conclusion consists, essentially, of a highlight of the key issue and how it is resolved. There could also be concluding thoughts on how a similar situation could be managed should it recur. In summary, in part three of this week's lesson, we've talked about five key elements of an E-guide. In part four of the lesson we will discuss a few linguistic features that are relevant to writing an E-guide.
