Engineering Social Change: applying theory to action
Proposal DUE: 21 August 2012
See Kolin’s Successful Writing and Work re: memo and proposal writing.
Drawing on the ideas and methodologies by which people draw conclusions that then trigger particular action and on engineering social change, as articulated by Malcolm Gladwell in Tipping Point, working in teams of three to four, identify an institutional practice, policy, and/or unaddressed need you would like to see initiated/addressed or [significantly] modified, then develop a proposal for how you think such change or modification should be engineered: what should be done, who should be involved, the process and strategies to design, develop, implement, and assess your proposed change.
Proposal: By 21 August, submit a proposal that includes (at least) the following items, arranged and formatted appropriate to both your audience and intent. Your grade will be based on the logic of your proposal, its creativity, as well as on its content and form. N.B. Your audience, other than me, will be determined by the nature of your project; for example, the audience for projects related crime prevention or public safety would be police administrators and/or elected officials. *Be as specific and detailed as possible*
My group name: Sustainable Living Inc.
Proposed course of action: general recycle, all products that can be recycled.
Organizations that I would like to include: Danny’s recycling (Bay Area)
INTRODUCTION: to briefly identify the proposed course of action and to establish what the current situation is and how it will be improved by the change or modification proposed;
• BACKGROUND AND NEED: to explain how the current situation evolved and why the change you propose should be initiated or modified, why it is crucial to take action;
METHODOLOGY: applying Tipping Point theory, explain how you will implement what you learned about how people draw different kinds of conclusions, describing the specific steps to be taken to accomplish the proposed change or modification; identifying who will need to support your proposal for it to be approved, implemented, and succeed, including a specific timeline and identification of milestones by which the change process will be implemented and assessed;
P.S: Please just complete tasks 1, 2 and 3 (ignore point 4,5,6)
THANK YOU!
Your grades for both assignments will be based on how clearly, concisely, concretely, and completely you have met the terms of the assignment, on how creatively you have approached the issue, on how comprehensively you are implementing Tipping Point theory, and, of course, on the correctness of your writing.
RESOURCES AND COSTS: identify specific resources and costs to both implement and maintain the proposed change or modification;
STAFFING: articulate what kind of connectors, mavens, and salespeople you will need to engineer your change or modification, identifying the specific individuals who can work as connectors, mavens, and salespeople;
SUPPORTING DOCUMENTATION/EVIDENCE: whatever you will need to convince various constituencies of the validity and value of your proposed change or modification. HINT: be concrete and creative; think about what kind of media might best show potential constituencies of the validity of what you propose.
