Anthony Ogg

ENGL4092 Technical Writing

Rhetorical Analysis Project
Due: September 20, 2015
1) Communication Goals:
a. What do you want to communicate?
i. I want to communicate my stance on the proposed policy to incorporate a drug
testing policy. I need to clearly and concisely lay out my point of view.
b. What is your readers profile (attitudes, professional role, personal/cultural
characteristics, etc.)?
i. My primary reader is Maria Tonti. She is the president of the company, who has
been very effective improving the companys profitability. She seems to be a
passionate leader who is also concerned about the health and welfare of her
employees.
c. Who are the stakeholders and how will your communication affect them?
i. The primary stakeholder is the president of the company, who will directly read
the email. Ultimately, the stakeholders are every employee of the company.
My email will influence the president one way or the other in her decision to
start a drug testing program. This would affect every employee if they have to
be drug tested.
2) What do you already know about your topic? What do you need to find out?
i. I already have a perspective on how most large companies treat drug testing
programs and some companies that do. My experience here influences my
decision on implementing the drug testing program or not. I still need to find
out some statistics to include in the email. This will help to form my opinion as
well as provide strong points for my argument. This includes discussing the
counterarguments to my point of view.
3) What questions or concerns might your readers have? How would you address them?
i. Readers may be concerned with my point of view. The best way for me to
address this is by providing statistics both for and against my point of view and
discussing how I arrived at that point of view.
4) What strategy can you use to make your communication persuasive?
i. A great way to make the communication persuasive would be to incorporate
the counterargument into the email. By doing this you are actively engaging the
reader in both perspectives of the problem. This shows that you have
considered both aspects of the proposal, weight the pros and cons, and have
arrived at a determination.

Maria,
At this point in time, I am against the random drug testing you have proposed. I believe there will be
too much backlash from the employees as many will feel that this is a major invasion of privacy. Along
with this, drug testing does not necessarily measure the true impairment in the work place. There are
many other factors to consider such as prescribed medication, relationship status, and proper amounts
of sleep. Another negative would be the cost associated with implementing a drug testing program.
However, some studies show that the workplace is safer and employee confidence can increase. Along
with this, a drug-using employee is 3.6 times more likely to be involved in an accident and 5 times more
likely to make a workers compensation claim. This is according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
While there exist both pros and cons to implementing a drug-testing program, I would have to vote no
for the random testing policy you have outlined in your email. Instead, I would propose a planned
screening. We could establish a date to test all current employees and establish a program that requires
new employees to be tested during the interview/on-boarding process. This will send a message to our
employees that we are not trying to invade their privacy with random testing, yet we still take notice
and do not want you coming to work while intoxicated.
I believe that implementing a pre-employment drug-testing policy is our best option as of right now. We
will always have the ability to modify this program once it is implemented.

Regards,

Anthony Ogg