The assignment is a 3,000 word (maximum) individual piece of work. In this summative assessment you MUST base your analysis on either primary or secondary data. This should follow from an appropriate engagement with relevant academic literature in order to develop an analytical frame in which to analyse the data. Assignments that are based solely on academic literature will therefore be deemed not to have met a central requirement of the assignment.
There will be individual consultation available for anyone who wishes to discuss the appropriateness of the data they envisage using for the project. Anyone who decides to collect primary data will be required to complete relevant research ethics forms.

Choose ONE of the questions below:

QUESTION 1: Choose a relevant occupation(s) and critically analyse the key factors involved in how an occupant in your chosen occupation engages in interactive service work. In particular how does emotional and/or aesthetic labour manifest in their accounts of doing interactive service work?

For this question examples of primary or secondary data could include the following: [1] primary data could be collected through interviews or observations of individuals who work in an interactive service work role, i.e. those working in any customer/client etc facing role. Interviews would most likely be semi-structured so you would devise a set of appropriate questions that relate to the question’s focus; [2] secondary data analysis could be based on accounts published in the media from people working in such roles. There are numerous such accounts from occupations such as air line cabin crew, hairdressers, personal trainers, call centre workers etc. For example, these can be found in numerous blogs or newspaper articles.

Please note that in light of the limited word count you do not need to provide a section on your research methodology.

QUESTION 2: For this question you are required to choose an appropriate piece of organisational rhetoric in order to conduct a rhetorical analysis. In conducting your rhetorical analysis you must focus on the following:
(1) Provide an understanding of the rhetorical situation for which the piece of text or talk was created (25 marks).
(2) Identify the key rhetorical strategies, tactics or devices contained within your piece of organisational rhetoric (75 marks).

For this question examples of primary or secondary data could include the following: [1] primary data could be collected through interviews or observations of individuals who work in an interactive service work role and for whom persuasion is typically identified as a key element of their work. As with question 1 examples could be individuals working in any customer/client facing role. Interviews would most likely be semi-structured so you would devise a set of appropriate questions that relate to the question’s focus, in particular part two; [2] secondary data could be written communication and/or audio-visual presentations. These should be customer-focused communications or presentations. Examples of written secondary data could be corporate apologies, mission statements, relevant parts of corporate reports or relevant organisational strategies and/or policies. Audio-visual presentations could also include corporate apologies, as well as TED talks that are focused on customer/client relations. Either form of data should relate to interactive service work.

Please note that in light of the limited word count you do not need to provide a section on your research methodology.