Psychology 272, Class Project #1

The Sinking Ship Exercise:
Persuade as if Your Life Depended On It

(This project was adapted from an exercise developed by Mary Shapiro, who is an adjunct professor in the Simmons Graduate School of Management in Boston)

Introduction

In work organizations, it is necessary for groups to divide labor and assign tasks to

people in a way that takes advantage of what each person has to offer the organization.

Being a successful employee in such an organization requires that you find a niche in which the contributions that you make work to everyone’s advantage. Sometimes, merely working hard will not be enough if your efforts are invisible or if the value of the work that you are doing is not immediately apparent. As you rise in the organization’s hierarchy, your persuasive skills will become increasingly important as you may now be called upon to contribute to the plans that the organization is making for its own future. Thus, being able to thrive in an organizational setting in the long run requires that you become a good persuader. You will need to be able to persuade others about the value of your own contributions as well as persuading them about courses of action that the group as a whole should pursue. Unfortunately, it is an unavoidable feature of organizational life that sometimes some employees must be sacrificed for the good of the whole group. One of the most difficult decisions faced by managers is deciding which employees must be let go when lay-offs due to "downsizing" become necessary. Our first exercise this term is designed to help you examine the values that you would bring to bear in situations such as this, as well putting you in a “life and death” situation in which your “survival” depends upon your persuasive skills.

Learning Goals

The goals of the “sinking ship” exercise are as follows:

1. To serve as an icebreaker at the beginning of this new class and to get you to interact

with other members of the class in an interesting situation.

2. To help you clarify for yourself the values that you consider to be most important

when evaluating the contribution and worth of others to the life of your group.

3. To test your ability to analyze a situation and identify the needs of other members of

the group.

4. To give you an opportunity to discover how quickly and effectively you can

communicate to others how you can help them satisfy their needs.

5. To put you “on the spot” and create a persuasion strategy under duress; that is, when

something real is on the line, time is limited, and your adrenalin is pumping.

6. To free you of the limitations that come from acting in familiar situations by placing

you in an entirely new dilemma.

Preparations:

In order to more closely simulate the corporate workplace and also to simulate the unexpected nature of the situation described in this exercise, all class members will dress as they would for managerial work. Appropriate dress for males is defined as a long-sleeve shirt and tie and pants that are not jeans. Appropriate dress for females is defined as a dress or skirt with pantyhose OR a long-sleeve blouse and slacks that are not jeans. Anyone failing to show up for class that day dressed appropriately will have one point deducted from their grade on the assignment.

I should also tell you that one-third of the people in the class are going to end up getting wet with their clothes on, so be sure to bring a complete change of clothes with you unless you are feeling lucky. [Actually, the odds are in your favor as 2/3 of the people in the class will NOT get wet.] Your ability to swim will not be an important issue, as no one will be in water that is deep. IF YOU HAVE A SEVERE FEAR OF WATER OR SOME OTHER HEALTH ISSUE THAT COULD CAUSE PROBLEMS FOR YOU, PLEASE E-MAIL ME OR CONTACT ME BEFORE CLASS THAT DAY AND WE WILL WORK OUT SOME DISCRETE WAY OF INSURING THAT YOU ARE NOT PUT IN AN EMBARRASSING SITUATION.