Managing Organizational Behavior 2nd Edition by Timothy Baldwin,Bill Bommer,Robert Rubin

Exercise 9

Selling an Idea to Your Boss
You are the assistant manager of a restaurant and believe that the restaurant is long overdue to adopt a more proactive stance with electronic marketing, such as an informative web page, online ordering and reservations, and some limited marketing via Facebook and Groupon. Unfortunately, your boss is a traditionalist and, while progressive in many respects, is a bit "old school" and skeptical on the ultimate usefulness of e-marketing. He not only does not see the potential, but finds such new tools to be "faddish" and superficial. How would you go about selling your boss on your idea? What will it take to get your idea legitimately considered? What common traps just create greater resistance and should be avoided? What mistakes do young people often make in trying to "sell up" in this type of situation?