Week 8

I think that Tim Armstrong secretly held this conference call to send out a message, not only for the people who uses AOL but also to AOL's/Patch employee.  I think that instead of having to fire the people himself, I think he is giving them a chance to get, get out, and walk away from this company. He pretty much made it clear that he is cutting down people. He emphasized and repeat how he wants people to just leave.

At almost the last part of the conference call, an employee named Abel Lentz was fixed in front of everyone and on the conference call.  I think that this was a little harsh at first, because not knowing the whole story behind everything that happened, one might think that this is harsh. But according to my professor, this have happened before where Abel was told to stop.  Now with this information, this completely changed everything.  If he continuously take photo, I understand how he would be fired.

Since I heard the conference call twice, I think that the message is both persuasive and neutral. I think its neutral message because Tim Armstrong wasn't really wanting the audience to do anything in return.  The audience could either listen or not.  I think its persuasive because he is persuading the audience that he is very sorry for the AOL cutting down their workers from 900 to 600.  The intent of the message is not the same as how it was received.  He wanted people to quit instead of him firing them.  But instead people now think he is rude for firing Abel during the call.

The memo to his employee is neutral messages because the memo doesn't ask for anything.  All he wants is to be heard.  Neutral messages are messages that are just like positive messages.  According to our textbook, the contents of this message are favorable, action taken/requested are not required. 

Kovach, S. (2013, August 13). Tim Armstrong: I made an emotional mistake firing that guy. Retrieved from  http://www.businessinsider.com/aol-ceo-apology-2013-8

Ober S. & Newman A. (2013). Chapter 6,7,8. Business Communication.

Chapter 7

People need to use ethos, logos, and pathos in order to be more persuasive.  I used ethos, logos, and pathos in  my composition II class.  Let me explain what each of these word means. Ethos is an appeal based on credibility, so for example an appeal based on experts.  Pathos, an appeal based on emotion.  Logos, an appeal based on logic.  In order to be more persuasive, one will have to use one of this appeals and see which will work best to persuade each person or group. 

In composition II, I did an analysis essay, where we watched a movie and we analyzed it using these appeals.  I had to use these appeals to backed up my statement.  With many examples of ethos, my audience believed my statements with such credibility. They are more likely to be persuaded and change their mind about such topic. 

These appeals apply to business communication because when your talking to clients or anyone, you will need to back up yourself and this is using ethos to make them believe  your statement.  Also you will need to use logos to back up what point you are trying to make.  Lastly you will need pathos to appear more confident when giving your statement.