A Study of Persuasive Communication in One97

Communications

Shibli Baig
September, 2017
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2
A Study of Persuasive Communication in One97
Communications

For

Business Communication Analysis

Dr. Anita T. Lal

Prepared by

Shibli Baig

September, 2017

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 Table of Content
Contents
Acknowledgment .................................................................................................................................... v
Letter of Transmittal .............................................................................................................................. vi
Executive Summary............................................................................................................................... vii
Chapter 1 ................................................................................................................................................ 1
Chapter 2 ................................................................................................................................................ 7
Chapter 3 ................................................................................................................................................ 9
Chapter 4 .............................................................................................................................................. 18
Chapter 5 .............................................................................................................................................. 31
Chapter 6 .............................................................................................................................................. 36

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 Acknowledgment

I would like to express my special thanks of gratitude to my teacher Dr.

Anita Lal who gave me the golden opportunity to do this wonderful project
on the topic Persuasive Communication, which also helped me in doing a
lot of Research and I came to know about so many new things I am really
thankful to them. Secondly I would also like to thank friends who helped
me a lot in finalizing this project within the limited time frame.
I would like to point out that throughout the course of the project I learnt
a lot about not only about the topic but also about the related concept and
the art of creating a good report. Thank you Mam!

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 Letter of Transmittal
September, 2017
Dear Dr. Anita Lal,
FORE School of Management
Subject: Letter of Transmittal
I have prepared this report as requested by you on the topic, Persuasive
Communication, on 16th of August, 2017. I have tried to do justice with the
topic, under the perceived limitation of available resources. The favourite
company that I had chosen was One97 Communications. I hope that the
report is as and what you expected.
My approach has been researching material available online about both
the company as well as the lead topic. I was able to find out a number of
articles authored by prominent writes with knowledge of communication.
I also tried to connect with one employee of Paytm, courtesy time
limitation.
The major highlights of the study is how Persuasive Communication affects
an organisation and how an IT firms can completely exploits the potential
of persuasive communication as part of internal organisation
communication.
I hope that this report is acceptable. I found the job challenging and
therefore I have put in two weeks effort to analyse the topic and help
anyone reading the report in future to get a thorough idea about
persuasive communication.
Sincerely yours
Shibli Baig

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 Executive Summary
Persuasive communication is one of the most important form of communication. The
importance of persuasive communication increases multi-fold in case of business scenario. In
todays corporate world, companies are using persuasive communication to not only interact
with the outside world but also improving their own efficiency. Throughout the report there
are a number of instances which explain and reinforce the point.

The report begins with an introduction about the objective and the purpose. Then the report
moves on to explaining the methodology of the report in detail. Then on the chapter of
literature review appears where there is mention of all the articles that have been studies for
the report to be actualised. There are also bits about the history and the growth of the
company chosen. Finally the report moves to the chapters which carry the majority of the
data and are there to explain and elaborate the topic.

The key findings of the report are that persuasive communication is an important part of
business communication. In case of cross cultural communication, persuasive communication
is of high necessity. Organisations pay high levels of attention on use of persuasive
communication, but Indian companies need to work harder to achieve efficiency in this
department.

After understanding the usage of persuasive communication, one can fathom its need in the
corporate world. To improve persuasive communication in the global as well as Indian
scenarios, managers need to learn how to address their employees. Persuasive
communication must be practised with a higher frequency and with motives other than
increase in performance. Persuasive communication is a very powerful tool, which users must
learn to exploit.

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 Chapter 1
Business communication is one of the most important form of communication. All the
formal communication that takes place in an organisation is part of business
communication and it is necessary to know how to communicate properly to improve the
performance of the organisation and to work more effectively. Therefore it can be said
that Business communication is information sharing between people within and outside
an organization that is performed for the commercial benefit of the organization. It can
also be defined as relaying of information within a business by its people.

Introduction
The report on persuasive communication in an organisation has been put in motion and
is authorised by Dr. Anita Lal. The report will have a standard format of presentation
beginning with this introduction and moving on to the literature review and then on data
analysis.

The main problem that the report is addressing is the lack of knowledge among students,
about how persuasive communication takes place in an organisation. Through this report
the aim is to let people know how the persuasive communication helps an organisation
and what the various methods of communications are. Also what the different techniques
to be used in oral persuasive and written persuasive communication are. For the purpose
of this report the scope of study is kept brief. Types of communication have been
researched in an organisation, what is persuasive communication and types of persuasive
communication. Also how persuasive communication is affecting the business scenario
both outside India and in India. Also a little light has been thrown on what are the
alternatives of persuasive communication.

Relevance of the Study - The topic of this report is Persuasive Communication. This
report will show the usage and the extent of usage of persuasive communication in an
organisation like Paytm. Persuasive communication is a very important part in todays
communication scenario. A person need communication to make people understand
you. In an organisation there are a number of instances where a person or a group of
people need to persuade someone to either help them fulfil a requirement or ask the

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person to approve any request. To completely understand how communication (read
persuasive communication) takes place in an organisation and how employees are able
to make their superior understand them the topic have been researched in detail and
people have been interacted with, from the industry and then the report was prepared.
To prepare the report, a number of data points have been used, from articles on the
web, to a book on business communication. An employee [at an organisation] has also
been contacted to find out what are the different paradigms followed there. Towards
the end of the report, the reader will be able to find out what is the importance of
persuasive communication in an organisation.
The back-ground of the report, is an understanding of communication and business
communication basics. The reader need not have any basic required knowledge to
understand the report completely, since communication has been covered from the very
basic in the report. The primary question being addressed by the report is how persuasive
communication takes place in an IT organisation.

The report will start by introducing the topic and what are the different aspects of
communication or persuasive communication. Then the report will move on to describe
what makes persuasive communication different than the other forms of communication.
How persuasive communication is used to say more than what is on the page. After that
the methodology has been explored which have been used to collect data to make the
report possible. The methodology covers the literature survey as well as the primary data
collection done by me. Then the report moves on to the literature review section where
various articles have been reviewed which were encountered while researching for the
topic. The initial articles talk about what is communication and what is persuasive side of
communication. Then we move on to the types of communication that exist. Them on the
conversation moves to communication in workplace, and how to handle communication
at workplace. A part of the content is in the western context. Then there are articles which
talk about the Indian business scenario. They help to understand what the nuances, of
which a person should take care of when they are planning to do business in India or with
Indians, are.

Gaps of Literature Review The report covers most of the aspects of persuasive
communication and how it is to be used in the organisation but major part of the content
was suggestion based as shown in chapter 3, Literature Review (page number 16, 17)

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where the ideas are outlined as to how to proceed with persuasive communication but
there is not enough research as to how persuasive communication impacts organisations.
Reference can be drawn using the reviews that the employees post on a third party forum
(Ch. 3, pg. number 14) but those do not give a clear picture. Research in the field of
persuasive communication has been done but no significant study is done keeping
organisations in mind. The situation worsens considerably when you take in to account
the Indian origin companies. One97 Communications has not done any research nor has
they have participated in any study to develop an understanding of use of business
communication inside the company. The gap was tried to be bridged with the limited
amount of resources while working under a time constraint, but still a number of gaps
remain as well as some concepts which are yet to be understood in a deeper fashion.

Purpose - The report is about persuasive communication. How it impacts an organisation

and what are the different ways in which a person can understand it and use it to its full
benefit. Communication is a very important part of any organisation and in a growing firm
like One97 Communications, persuasive communication has utmost importance.

The methodology of the report is shared later in the third chapter. Next mentioned are
the sources which help bring the report in existence. The limitations during the research
methodologies were primarily posed because of lack of willingness of employees to
connect, which hampered the primary collection of data. The literature review which has
been presented in the document is void of a few particular research material which were
of paramount importance. One such research paper, which is a gap in the literature
review, is any research in the persuasive communication in One97 Communications.
Another research paper, which was not able for study was research in persuasive
communication in an IT organisation. These gaps in literature review led to make few
assumptions. These assumptions are stated during the data analysis chapter.

The report carries its relevance in todays corporate world. There are number of job
profiles where a person has to perform the job of a negotiator or a person who prepares
proposals. These are the professional implications of persuasive communication. On a
personal level also persuasive communication can help an employee. To understand

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persuasive communication one had to understand business communication and that can
teach the reader a number of different tricks and ways to put their thought forward.

Objectives of Study -

a) To understand persuasive communication.

b) To know about the use of business communication (persuasive communication) in
One97 Communications.
c) To assess and evaluate the different aspects of persuasive communication in an
organisation
d) To suggest improvement in application of persuasive communication in an
organisation.
e) To develop alternatives of use of persuasive communication

The main objective of the study is to bring the insights form the corporate world about
how persuasive communication takes place. Also to know a little about what the different
ways in which people communicate apart from persuasive communication are. This report
highlights what are the places where persuasive communication should be used and
where it should be avoided.

Following are the topics which will be touched in detail in the data analysis chapter. First
topic is the organisation of the persuasive message. The two types of organisation, direct
and indirect will be touched upon. How to open up a message and what should be
message structure so that the persuasive communication has the maximum impact. The
next is the persuasive request. Different situation require different type of persuasive
text. For instance request for purchase of product will be different from requesting an
internal employee action. A major portion of persuasive communication are requests that
are sent through an upward communication channel. These requests cover a wide
plethora of nature from being a request for something as small as a vacation to something
as complicates as increased budget requirement for a project. Then there are persuasive
sales letters which are a different category since this communication happens from
corporate to non-corporate entities. Then there are ways to arise interest of the reader.

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Key Findings

1. Importance of persuasive communication in an organisational scenario.

2. Effectiveness of using persuasive communication between employees.
3. Persuasive communication use outside of workplace.
4. Different types of persuasive communication and their use in different situations.

Suggestions

1. Organisations should spend more time in learning and teaching persuasive

communication to their employees.
2. More studies are needed to be conducted in Indian corporations to know the effect
of business communication in India.
3. Inter-organisational persuasive communication should also be brought into light.

Limitations

1. The organisations do not want to deploy resources to study effect of

communication.
2. Persuasive communication is relatively a young topic and hence less explored.
3. Persuasive communication is difficult to implement and hence its effect sometimes
gets un-noticed.
4. It is difficult to know in some case whether to use persuasive communication or
informative communication to be used.

Future Scope

1. Organisation can pay more attentions to understand and deploy persuasive

communication.
2. Employees should use persuasive communication while following the guidelines
developed by researchers.
3. More research in the field of persuasive communication should be done in Indian
organisations.

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The entire report is about understanding persuasive communication and its use in an
organisation and at the same time understand how persuasive communication is helping
organisation and its employees to achieve its targets and grow further. Next section of
methodology will help the reader to understand how the process of writing this report
began.

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 Chapter 2
Methodology The previous chapter introduced the topic of persuasive communication
and how the report helps in understanding different sides of persuasive communication. Form
this point on the report will talk about the methodology used in the report to complete the
study. Persuasive communication in an organisation carries huge importance. To analyse it a
methodology is followed which will move to different source and help to understand the topic
as well as its implication in an organisation. Communicate with an employee was also tried
to gauge the importance of persuasive communication in Paytm and any other IT
organisation.

Universe

The universe of the study are the all the IT organisations which need communication to
exchange their ideas and to talk with each other. This type of communication is both oral and
written. For the purpose of this report both the kind of communication have been
consideration the universe. This scope consists of thousands of firms which is beyond the
ability of the author to collate data on.

Locale

Therefore a locale of the study is now designed. This locale for this report is the NCR area.
The Delhi NCR area is also the home of One97 Communications, the parent company of
Paytm.

Sample Size

Within this locale the potential sample size was searched. For the report the sample size is
kept under 3 employees. These employees will be from either Paytm or other IT companies
were persuasive communication takes place. The point of contact will be urged to provide
information regarding the communication trends of the company. The sample size is such
because of the time constraint as well as the human resource constraint.

Data Collected from Articles - The next process would be to collect data from the data
sources. The methodology for collecting data will be through questionnaire. These will be the
data collected from employees and also some of the company sources available online. Apart

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from the primary sources, data will be collected using secondary sources. A lot of sources
which have been chosen for reading about the topic as well as the company are articles
written by authors with expertise in the field of communication. Two research paper have
been taken to understand about the persuasive communication and also how different
communication patterns can affect the persuasive methodologies. There was another article
which explained different types of persuasive communication. Apart from these articles there
are a number of search and research that will be done on Google.com. This search has not be
put into the literature survey, but they form an important part in the methodology.

The questionnaire which would be prepared, is attached in the appendix. The primary
methodology for the questionnaire which have been followed is to ask close ended questions.
The questionnaire will be structured and will help the interviewee to answer questions in a
smooth manner. The questionnaire will be a part from the interview which would be
conducted either over the phone or online. A copy of the interview schedule is fixed in the
appendix.

In the end the methodology which have been followed, is to bring forward more about the
persuasive communication and also the other aspects of communication and the effect it has
in organisations. In an IT organisation, the extent of communication might vary compared to
a banking company but the effect of communication is always of paramount industry. The
data that has been collected for the report was not adequate because of a number of
constraints and thus the analysis done is mostly qualitative with a little bit of quantitative
elements.

Term Project Experience - The term project helped me understand more about the art of
business communication and how persuasive communication fit in. I enjoyed the learning and
the exploration of the topic that I has to do. It was a new experience completing a report
which was centred on research taught me a lot about written communication. Overall the
entire report making has been a tremendous learning experience, teachings from which will
help me throughout my professional life and ahead.

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 Chapter 3
Introduction Following the methodology laid down by the previous chapter this
chapter talks about all the documents, book chapters and internet articles or blogs which
had to be used or read to develop an understanding about persuasive communication.
There have been a number of studies which has pointed the report in the right direction
to not only understand what persuasive communication is in general but also how
persuasive communication is handled in a company or an organisation. While the nature
of persuasive communication remains same in all actuality, the transfer or motive and/or
request changes along with the nature of the request. Articles on persuasive
communication mostly talk about organisations with a present vertical structure. Though
such type of communication do takes place in all companies, the size of a company does
play a role in the extent to which the company relies in formal persuasive communication,
which is the scope of the report as mentioned earlier. The informal modes of
communication are not within the purview notwithstanding its importance. The latter
part of this chapter is dedicated to the growth and history of the company, One97
Communications in this case.

Literature Review The following are the literature reviews of the documents read.
Beginning with the general articles on communication and have moved up.

One 97 Communications Limited IPO Grading Rationale, crisil.com, [2010], CRISIL The
first literature which was read was a CRISIL report made for One97 Communication. The
report was prepared to analyse One97s proposed IPO. The company received a grade of
3 on 5 which was not high enough for the company to move forward. The document
published in 2010, reflected on One97s position in the domestic value added solutions
industry. CRISIL expects the industry to grow with a CAGR of 21% which is a positive
indication. While the document does not throw any light on the communication or
internal functioning of the company with regards to the subject, the purpose to analyse
the report was to understand the company and how it performed in the market.

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Reviews One97 Communication, glassdor.com, [2010 - Now], By Employees The review
of a Glassdoor page which stores information regarding the internal environment of
One97 Communication. This page has information regarding the salary details, internal
demographics and the reviews about the company and the workplace. There are different
section which give details about how the company operates and treats its employees. It
even has a number of interviews with current or former employees to give a better insight
of the jobs at One97. It can also understand what the importance of communication in
One97 was.

Reviews Paytm, glassdoor.com, [2010 - Now], By Employees - This article is about Paytm
and its working condition. Though Paytm is a subsidiary of One97, the working
environment and the internal behaviour of both the companies is different. Both these
companies have varied views on Glassdoor. Though the average score that is given to both
the companies is close. Paytm leads the parent by a meagre 0.2 grade points on a 5 point
grade scale. This article will not only help us understand more about the company but will
also throw light on the subject of the relationship between both the companies and the
sort of communication that takes place between both.

What Is Organizational Communication, lumenlearning.com, [-], Lumen - This article was

written to help the reader understand what organisational communication is. There are a
number of types of organisational communication that takes place in an organisation.
Form interpersonal communication to the memos and letters that are circulated in an
organisation are a part of this interpersonal communication. The article also explains the
history of the field of organisational communication and how it has changed over the
years. Also the ways and methods to study organisational communication are also briefly
explained. Persuasive communication is also a part of organisational communication and
from this point onward our discussion will be oriented towards it.

Types of Persuasive Communication, synonym.com, [2006], Devon Willis - Starting with

the definition of persuasive communication and how many types of persuasive
communication are there. Each of this type was explored in brief and then was correlated
with a life situation where it might be used so as to make it better understandable. There

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are 4 major types of communication that are highlighted in the persuasive category. It is
a small article which quickly covers the types and motivates the reader to read further.

The Nature of Persuasive Communications, boundless.com, [2016], Boundless- This is

the article which describes the nature of persuasive communication. The article also
explain thoroughly what the underlying meaning of persuasive communication is and also
explain how many different types of persuasive communication can be. These types are
not differentiated on the basis of what they are but they are pertaining to how the
persuasive communication is carried forward. The key findings from the article Ire not
only the natures of any persuasive communication but also what the impact of using
different natures of persuasive communication is and thus help understand the kind of
communication used in an IT organisation like Paytm.

Techniques of Persuasive Communication, ubiquity.acm.org, [2007], Philip Yaffe This

article published in in ACM tells us about the techniques of persuasive communication. It
starts with explaining the Yaffes Law and then moves on to shine light on the importance
of right method of expressing oneself when one is persuading someone. There are a
different rules and norms which have to be taken care of to design a persuasive
communication. It also explains the difference in the theory and practice approaches. The
article not only emphasizes on one-to-one persuasive communication but also explains
what the one-to-many communication should be. Persuasive communication can be
difficult and if not done properly can be futile to the effort of the person taking it ahead.

Persuasion within organisations, paweljaniak.co.za, [2010], Pawel Janiak- With this

article one moves to persuasive communication within organisation. Here the general
theories start to be less and less effective and the more organisationally centred and
techniques which are more suited with business point of view, become more important.
This short article gives us small insight into the business communication regarding
persuasion.

Four steps in persuasive communication at work, cuttingedgepr.com, [2010], Kim

Harrison- The article by Kim Harrison speaks about steps that a user should take to make
sure that his communication within an organization is according to the standard. The

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article is designed to be business oriented. There are four major steps to make a
persuasive communication in an organisation. These steps have sub steps to tell the
reader what kind of mistakes that they can make while writing a persuasive
communication and how to rectify it. The main aim of the article as perceived was to
outline briefly four methods which when are followed one by one will give result in a good
and persuasive and communicative write-up.

Examples of Persuasive Thinking in the Workplace, chron.com, [-], Cindy Beck - This
article is centred on how to think when approaching with persuasive communication in
the workplace. There are a number of ques and pointers which a person should take care
of when they are engaged in persuasive communication. What was found from the article
was that there are traits in a persuasive communication apart from the actual content
which can influence the effectiveness of the communication piece. The article talks about
credibility and how being a compelling individual can help the person who is engaged in
the communication and boost their chances in succeeding.

Persuasive & Effective Business Communication, chron.com, [-], Leigh Richards -

Another on form the Chron.com which talks about the how, once a person has given the
content thought and is ready with the material, should they proceed. There are ways in
which one should interact with the crowd or an individual so that they are able to make
them understand the objective and also persuade them to accept the request or order.
This article points in the direction of a very special part of persuasive communication
which is the interaction part. In case of organisations where there is not much
communication taking place in person, these techniques play little role. But, they are
extremely important should someone has to present the persuasive speech or even
motivational speech (a loose paradigm of persuasiveness).

Five Secrets for More Persuasive Writing, recoveringengineer.com, [2012], Guy Harris -
This article talks about the secrets of writing a persuasive content. There are different
techniques when it comes to persuasive writing versus speaking. In terms of speaking one
can use non-verbal ques and the value of the persuasive content is exploited in a different
manner. While in case of persuasive writing one is not given the liberty of standing in front

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of the receiver and change their content using the feedback. The main things got from
that article were that one needs to write using a very reader oriented approach. This
approach will help connect with the reader and in an organisation where more
communication is taking place in form of memos and letters there is special attention paid
to this type of writing.

Strategic Communication to Inform or Persuade, virginia.edu, [2015], June West -

Knowing tricks to write persuasive content is not enough. Any performer needs to have a
strategy to deliver otherwise all the knowledge about everything can turn into a not so
very persuasive speech or write-up. The main findings of the article is how a person
understands their audience and how one should prepare their content according to the
listeners. Knowing that a slight change in the audience might require a change in the write-
up is compulsory. The article also tells us about the importance of knowing beforehand
what the various variables which affect the audience are. A good strategy will help the
person responsible to deliver an excellent speech or write a content that is appropriate
for the intended audience.

The Golden Rule for Choosing the Best Forms of Business Communication in India,
[2014], Neil Miller- This is an article written by a non-Indian author about what are the
best forms of business communication in India. This post help to understand what the
best communication tools used in India are. Though the article is set out of Indian context,
one can gather from it the various small particularities that Indian organisation prefers.
Paytm being a proudly Indian organisation, also expects the same sort of behaviour when
it comes to communication and in persuasive communication the person initiating a
communication with an Indian frim will have to take care.

Negotiations and business strategies with India, ventureoutsource.com, [-], Marian

Stetson-Rodriguez - Once it is understood how a general persuasive communication takes
place and what are the various semantics involved then it can be found about the Indian
context and how Indian behave during negotiations. Since negotiations are a part of
persuasive communication, one can understand a lot about the Indian organisational
persuasive techniques if they read about them. This article brought forward a lot of new

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insights in the form of ways to strategize how a negotiation in an Indian context and how
one would communicate with them. The base of the article was set out of India therefore
the author has treated Indian as a third person which really helps to bring out the thoughts
of the rest of the world about Indian subcontinent.

Understanding India's culture is key for business, telegraph.co.uk, [2014], Philip Smith -
A Telegraphs post to help people learn how understanding of culture is important when
it comes to doing business with an Indian organisation. While this article too, like few
before, is teaching a foreign national about the nitty gritty of doing business with an Indian
company, it is different because it teaches the importance of culture. Culture is something
which is changing in the Indian scenario (the fact that West is influencing us speaks
volumes) and knowing its relevance in the corporate structure and business
communication help dig up an insight about how a big organisation like One97 would still
be in touch with its roots, should it wants to and how this affects communication.

Business Culture in India, ukibc.com, [2015], UK India Business Council - This was an
article about how businesses should understand not only the culture of India but also
Indian business culture. Right from the handshake to the understanding of hierarchy is
different in India and the article explains its importance.

Persuasion in and by Organizations, uta.edu, [2005], University of Texas - This chapter

was selected to sum up what persuasion means in an organisation and by an organisation.
There are a lot of ways persuasive communication can be seen and it was learnt form that
article that persuasive communication in an organisation reflects the way the organisation
does business with the outside world and its persuasive communication with the outside
world. The chapter stresses on the outside aspect of the persuasive communication and
help understand how that persuasive communication is also a part of communication on
the part of the organisation.

Speaker Credibility in Persuasive Business Communication, SagePub, [1989], Sharron

Kenton - Finally an article which does not stress on the communication rather it highlights
the importance of the communicator. It shows the how the credibility of the speaker or
the sender in the form of written communication can affect the entire balance of

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persuasion. This paper specifically talks about persuasive communication in business
scenario.

Persuasive Communication, Business Communication Analysis, [2015], Henry A. Murphy

et al. The book written by Murphy and two other authors outlines how to form a report
and also what are the broad topics which needed to be covered in the persuasive
communication. The chapter 10 of the book is on persuasive communication which
highlights a number of points which are necessary for a conversation to come under the
persuasive communication paradigm. The chapter mostly talks about the written
communication intricacies.

Communication and persuasion research: Current problems and prospects,

tandfonline.com, [2009], Gerard Miller - The research paper talks about the problems in
the field of persuasive communication. The case understand and analyses the importance
of persuasive communication and develops the research right form the ancient
perspective to the modern day communication. The paper then moves on to describe
what the possible prospects where the field of persuasive communication can move are.

History & Growth: The growth of One97 started more or less with the advent of Paytm.
Following is an analysis of the history of both the corporation. One97 will turn 20 in 3 years.
For a company which is this young, the history and the growth of the company come side by
side. For the purpose of this report both the aspects would be combined.

One97 Communications was launched in 2000, headed by Vijay Shekhar Sharma in Delhi. It
was another tech start-up at the time which wanted a pie of the growing telecom sector in
India at that moment. They started by providing value added services to telecom operators.
Soon they started gaining traction in the business. They kept on investing in the telecom
sector, coming up with more services and better features for the then largest GSM operator
in India. For the better part of a decade, One97s operations were based out of Delhi and NCR.

A number of value added services were launched by which were not only entertaining but
also engaged the customer. This was happening in 2005. This was also the year when they
launched a highly successful service on voice portal. Consequently leading them to secure

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their first international client in Afghanistan. By this point One97 was running as a service
provider and thus was receiving money for the business it provided with no huge scope for
funds form a venture capitalist. This remained the same for 2 years up until 2007, during
which they acquired Positive Comsol, and expanded to pan India operations with a number
of service providers. During the year 2007, they raised funds form SAIF & SVB which was a
huge accomplishment as well as a required push for the company to move ahead. They then
moved on to partner with leading IT companies to provide enhanced voice & 3G applications.
This year turned out to be a welcome for One97 when they ended up winning big GSM clients
for services like VAS, RBT and voice platform based services.

The next year they raised their series B funding form Intel Capital. They forged partnership
with media houses and started working on two different business lines, network based Mobile
Advertising and Social Networking. This was all a pre-game for the launch of one of the most
recognisable service in the Indian technological scenario.

Paytm was launched in 2010 as an online recharge portal. They picked up a series C funding
from SAP ventures, while their One97 platform was handling over 35 billion calls on a monthly
basis. Next year was busy for both the organisations. Paytm launched Bill payment and
Ticketing vertical on the portal, while One97 started handling over 500 million subscribers
daily. Expanding in Africa with 3 operators the company was also growing in size reaching a
milestone figure of 1000 employees.

In the year 2012 they launched Adworks which was a Mobile Advertising Platform. They also
pushed forward toward the expansion in the international market. The platform was growing
as well as the parent One97 and within two years they number of calls increased by a
whopping 5 billion calls per month to 40 billion. This was when the wallet but Paytm. The
same year they proceeded with obtaining a licence from RBI to operate a semi-closed wallet.
The already established platform was gaining popularity by the day and soon crossed 300,000
orders a day. For most of the orders Paytm worked as a mediator but still it grew in number.
To occupy the increasing and diverse Indian population they adopted the IMPS payment
method.

The wallet was launched in 2013, and soon the Marketplace was launched too. 22 million
customers registered that year, which also saw 12 million app uses. To grab on this new

23
growing opportunity, over 15,000 merchants started accepting Paytm wallet based payment.
Growing fast, they reached 800,000 orders a day mark quickly. While Paytm was busy making
India a fan of its services, One97 was adding more countries to its business portfolio from
Middle-East and Africa.

This was a year when Indian customer mobility was revolutionised when Paytm partnered
with Uber to use its wallet for payment. Paytm raised funds from Alipay Finance for Paytm m-
commerce and Wallet. Touching a million orders a day mark, they also saw a registration of
over 50 million wallets. Ratan Tata backed Paytm the same year, which harboured much
appreciation for the company. A separate app was launched for wallet for those who wanted
an uncluttered operation of their Paytm Wallet. The same year IRCTC adds them as mode of
payment.

Recently Paytm crossed over 1 million bookings from the Travel vertical. They now power the
IRCTC payment gateway, and have recently raised funds from Mediatek. The movie ticket
booking service also kicked off on a grand scale. In short One97 had a steady start but a fast
growth post Paytm. A lot of People in India started adopting Paytm wallet as their primary
mode of payment and at the same time a lot of merchants also started accepting Paytm to
not lose out on the immense opportunity of thousands of transactions. The government
policies also pushed people towards cashless transactions, and when people looked around
Paytm was the only way around. Diligent advertising and persuasive communication to help
people break their suspicions about online payment helped Paytm register the success they
are known for today.

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 Chapter 4
Before beginning the analysis of the data collected we would like to do a competitors analysis
to understand the position of One97 Communication in the Indian pretext.

Competitors Analysis The competitors analysis follows a simple strategy of a SWOT

analysis of both the companies. Paytm has a very vast model, therefore it has a number of
competitors in different palaces. In the wallet and recharge market, the major competitor of
Paytm is Freecharge, while in the online shopping market the biggest competitors are Flipkart
and Amazon. For the analysis purpose we will take only one company, Freecharge to
understand the more basic functionality of wallet and recharge along with bill payment.

SWOT of Paytm The swot analysis will bring forward what are the unique points of Paytm
and where there is space for improvement.

Strengths
1. Paytm has got extremely high brand awareness across India
2. Paytm was able to scale up its business quickly after demonetization
3. Offers multiple cashback options to customers
4. Paytm is largely accepted by merchants across India, which has helped the brand
grow
5. Strong marketing campaigns have helped spread brand awareness
6. Word of mouth of cashless transactions and ease of use has been accepted well by
the people
7. Strong investments from Ratan Tata, Alibaba group etc have strengthened Paytm's
position.
Weakness
1. Audience in India is less the savvy as majority consider cash as primary currency
2. Paytm has diversified too much
Opportunity
1. Paytm can cater to a larger audience with some offline presence as well
2. Paytm can educated customers on accepting cashless transactions and online
payments which would in turn boost their customer base
3. Offer more banking services along with online payment options

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 Threats
1. Banks offering e-wallets on their saving accounts
2. Security and privacy of user is a concern for Paytm

SWOT of Freecharge -

Strengths
1. Low investment since no major capital costs
2. High Awareness through social networking sites (1 lakh+ face book users)
3. Has customer database of over 1 million users
4. Potential of providing analytics as solutions to many companies
5. Tie-ups with all major telecom companies
6. Tie ups with various apparel, entertainment and hospitality chains
7. Easy and only 3-step process of customer transaction
8. Complete value for money for consumers
9. Since, consumers get coupons of entire recharge free, they consider their
recharge to be free which attracts more eyeballs
10. Without major advertising spends, Freecharge.in still manages to achieve
20,000 couriers a day
Weakness
1. Limited Target group
2. Only targets prepaid account users
3. Credit and debit card users only
4. Requires internet connectivity
5. Risk of theft or loss during transit of coupons
6. Logistic Costs of physical coupon transfer is high.
7. Relies on external source for physical coupon delivery
Opportunities
1. Internet displays a huge penetration potential in the Indian market
2. Digitalisation of various mediums of communication and transaction
3. High usage of data on mobile phones shows increased internet usage on
mobile phones as well as high propensity to spend which results in large and
/ or frequent recharges

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 4. Indian mobile penetration currently around 50% expected to reach 70% by
2015. More than95% of these customers are prepaid users.
5. With low ARPUs (Avg. revenue Per User), high MOUs (Minutes of Usage) &
falling tariffs, the propensity to spend is ever increasing and thus huge
potential exists to tap online recharge market
6. Increased secure internet transactions could boost business further Mobile
Wallet is a relatively new & untried concept in Indian markets, with huge
upside
7. Freecharge could consider sending mobile coupons rather than physical
coupons
8. This would minimise operational costs and reduce delivery delays
9. Emerging retail chains which could be targeted for tie-ups
Threats
1. Low entry barrier to business could increase future competition
2. Since, many competitors could get into similar agreements without major
barriers, threat of new entrant is high.
3. Various forms of recharge available to consumers grab market share
4. Traditional forms of recharge such as purchasing physical recharge cards,
poses a great challenge to Freecharge
5. Lower vigilance of cyber-crime in India
6. This leads to consumers being hesitant to use their credit or debit cards
online.
7. Consumer mind-set regarding online-payment frauds.
8. Existing distribution channels for recharge. Difficult to penetrate into the set
channels of reaching consumers.
9. Cartelization of mobile operators could hamper business severely

The competition analysis gave an idea about the position of Paytm against its rival. From here
on the discussion will move with business communication point of view. But one can keep in
mind how necessary it is for Paytm and how they should use it to achieve their goals and make
good of the opportunities there are.

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Data Analysis Persuasive communication is one of the most important form of
communication in an organisation. In our daily lives one might not have much use for formal
persuasive communication but in an organisation persuasive communication drives
significant operations. Before beginning with persuasive communication a little about One97
Communications Limited is described and its prospect of getting an initial public offering. This
shows how Paytm was perceived as a product and what the needs of the management as well
as the CEO were as an organisation. One97 was rates 3/5 according to CRISIL as average when
compared to other equities listen in India. The average fundamentals suggest that Paytm wait
for a few more years before pursuing IPO and build a stronger foundation and bring more
people as consumers and users. Paytm followed that strategy and instead of aiming publicly
they are recently picked up USD 1.4 Billion to build the brand the show the people who trust
the brand that Paytm is in the fast lane of growth and has no plan to stop. Proceeding further
we would deviate from the Paytm and concentrate on Persuasive Communication in this
chapter. In the next chapter we would pick up Paytm and one other organisation and shed a
little light, bearing with limitations, on what persuasive communication is for them.

Objective A - The discussion will begin by explaining what is organisational communication?

The definition is any interchange of messages between two interrelated individuals within a
particular environment or setting to achieve individual and common goals. But like any other
form of communication the organisation communication is highly contextual. It depends how
the two people who are talking are related, how long have they been in that particular
relationship among other factors. Also it is culturally dependent. People in any two
organisation communicate in a number of ways written, verbal or face-to-face and even
mediated channels at times.

Organisational communication helps the communicator to achieve a number of goals. Few of

them are as follows

o Accomplishing task related to specific roles and responsibilities, like Sales and services.
o Acclimating to changes through individual or organisational creativity and adaptation.
o Maintenance of policies, rules and regulations that support daily operations
o Develop relationships with people within the organisation, upping their morale,
satisfaction, and fulfilment
o Coordinate plan and control the operations of organisation through management
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To sum up organisational communication is put in place for the benefit of the employees and
for the efficient working of the organisation. There is much depth to organisation
communication but that is beyond the purview of this report.

One of the most important form of organisational communication, as has been emphasised
in the earlier chapters is Persuasive Communication, the topic of the report. Persuasive
communication can be defined as a form of communication which is centred convincing. It
aims to persuade people to think or act as the actor of the communication wishes. It being a
broad umbrella, persuasive communication encompasses every form of written or verbal
communication which is used to convey an idea or a thought to change behaviour or enforce
a belief. Persuasive communication is not limited to organisation, and finds significant usage
outside formal landscape. To elaborate better following are the types of persuasive
communications.

Face-to-face Communication In f2f communication a person uses verbal skills to

persuade others to his way of thinking. The first step in such situations is to establish
credibility to prove the sound judgement and thought process. The person also need
to establish trust with his/her listeners which can either be done by repeatedly
speaking or by taking assistance of someone or something the audience already trusts.
Nonverbal Communication Nonverbal communication starts with the body
language, how a person stands and how confident they look when they are
communicating. But it goes beyond that. From how the speaker dresses to what car
they drive every aspect of their personality is under scrutiny and can play an important
role in affecting persuasive messages.
Formal Persuasive Communication Formal communication flows upward or
downwards in an organisation. There are always a set of rules and regulations bound
by a framework for formal communication. The communication has to be neutral and
should be ethical in nature. More about it in coming pages.
Informal Communication In informal communication, a person is expected to be
professional and they are expected to present specific ideas and ask the right
questions, discussing options. To be a better informal persuasive communicator the
speaker needs to be unambiguous and should deliver a very clear message.

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Now we can assess what is the nature of persuasive communication, what is the value that it
imparts and how to appropriately use it. It is a common belief that persuasive communication
hinges on arguments and logic. While not entirely false, it deviates from the truth a little in
the fact that emotion and conviction also play an important role. There are 5 major things
which persuasive communication aims to achieve. These are stimulation, convincing, call to
action, increase consideration and tolerance of alternate perspectives. Let us discuss these in
a little detail. Stimulating Persuasive communication reinforces and strengthens believes. This
may be done by introducing new information or reiterating old information. On the other
hand convincing communication is meant to push audience and convince them of the
rightness of a certain choice. It often involves changing people's minds. Persuasive argument
is often a call to action. Intention is to get people to do something. It is a much broader
category. At the same time persuasive communication also works to make people aware.
Finally more difficult aspect off persuasive communication is to make people tolerant
for alternative perspective. The speaker have to push people away from their current position
and make them incline towards the idea and belief of themselves. An important point to note
here is that these five achievements of persuasive communication might not be required
always and might not even be achieved simultaneously.

Objective C - Persuasive communication is difficult to achieve. To explain it better here is

Yaffes Law -

If you give people what they want first, then they are likely to accept anything else you
want them to have. If you give them what you want first, chances are they won't accept
anything at all.

This side of persuasive communication is most prevalent in written communication, where

the writer might communicate their intentions in manner he thinks is right and believes in but
if they are not able to think from readers perspective then they are liable to be misread. As
writers of persuasive communication, one must take care of the needs of the readers, what
are their preferences and what they want to know. At this point an example should be given
of use of persuasive communications, A Corporate Image Brochure. One of the most common
piece of persuasive communication which exists everywhere but is widely popular for not
being read by anyone. Primary reason for that is a lot of these brochures are centred on
company description and pro-organisational content and while that is the ultimate motive, it
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should not be the first thing a reader reads in the brochure. Brochures are for information
and that should be the first thing a reader sees. For a successful persuasive communication
exercise in marketing domain one should be effective and should make the receivers ask for
more.

From this point onward we are moving from the generic definition of persuasive
communication and would talk about what persuasive communication mean in an
organisational setting. To improve organisation communication in an organisation a company
must first bring their employees under its trust. One needs to make their employee adopt
certain principles and notions so that they can also convince the external constituents like
their customers or shareholders. Another reason for gaining employee trust and building
string internal persuasive communication is that by gaining the support of employees, they
themselves will act as additional channels through which the organisation can propagate its
messages, and its agenda. Persuasive communication in an organisation has more
implications apart from mutual faith between the employee and the organisation. We will
later discuss how different types of organisational persuasive communication are used by
different people to convey different messages among the organisation. Persuasive
organisation communication can be used to also make a connection between the organisation
and the consumer. Though it is not intra-organisational but to achieve a successful
communication outside an organisation one must have complete grasp of good
communication inside organisation.

It is known how important it is to communicate in an organisation and we know what

persuasive communication is. Next comes the four steps in persuasive communication at the
work place. For most people persuasive communication is a straightforward procedure.
People think that when a person talks about logic and with conviction their work is done as
far as persuasive communication goes but this is not the case. One should understand that
there are four steps which can help any person to communicate efficiently. These are not
exclusive steps but they are necessary and avoiding them might end up costing the
communicator.

1. Establish you Credibility As mentioned earlier a person communicating in persuasive

manner must first establish that they are credible and that they have sound judgement
as well as they can be trusted by the listeners.
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 2. Make your Goals and identify common ground with your listeners One must always
know who their audience is and how to persuade them. The content comes later, but
during the very preparation stage one must understand that they should study their
audience their issues and present them in an all appealing way.
3. Reinforce your position using Language and Evidence Always keep data and
examples handy. A persuasive speaker always knows when to utilize a vivid picture of
words to explain their points and take the listeners with them.
4. Connect emotionally with your audience Although Persuasive communication is
more about logic and facts to move the listeners, it is always helpful to bring emotion
into the mix. Good persuaders are aware of emotions and are responsive towards
them.

These are pointers to help on become a good persuader but at the same time there are areas
where persuasive communicators sometimes make mistakes. These following errors must be
avoided to bring out a good persuasive project.

1. Making case with Up-front hard sell A strong position right from the beginning might
be affect the case adversely. People might start finding faults in the case right from
the beginning since they have not connected with the situation yet.
2. Resisting Compromise In case of to and from communication there will always be
rebuttal. When a person is persuading someone they have a gaol in mind and while
the person opposite to them might have come with an open mind, bombarding them
with huge opening argument is bound to make anyone defensive.
3. Presenting Great Argument is not it If one has a great argument, they can use it but
they should not go in believing that a great argument is the only thing that they are
going to need. There are a number of components which make a persuasive argument
successful.
4. Persuasion is not a one-time effort One might think that in a corporate once they
have sent out a persuasive message, compliance will follow but that is not the case.
Persuasive content cannot be sudden and it cannot be expected to succeed when
applied only once. Continuous effort is required to persuade someone.

When communicating among themselves too, co-workers sometimes make the mistake of
not considering the communication to be persuasive. Same level communication can also be
32
persuasive in nature. In that scenario too the person needs to establish his/her credibility and
they need to behave accordingly if they do not have it yet. Steps to build credibility have been
discussed before. Also framing an idea is of utmost importance. When in a meeting one must
develop their idea. Just throwing out statements cannot be enough. The persuader needs to
outline the benefits, elaborate the theme and them build their case around the idea.
Following a pattern increases the chances of success. At the same time be ready for counter
points. If someone questions a person or their idea listen carefully and highlight the idea
keeping them in centre.

Being compelling is another necessary component when it some to persuasive

communication between colleagues. One must not rely on data and numbers to carry their
point forward rather they must be ready to connect the numbers and the data with the
content and the context. To make the proposal more appealing one can add real life stories
too but it should be taken care that the proposal might not become too gaudy. Also to be
compelling is to be emotionally connected with the listener. One needs to resonate with them
so that they know who the person is and they feel one with the idea that a person is
presenting. There are more chances of a person appealing his/her audience and consequently
being a successful persuasive communicator if they concentrate on them and read them
before beginning their own piece. One can incorporate these traits in themselves and hope
to be an accomplished persuasive communicator but at the same time they must keep one
thing in mind that persuasive communication is more about relationship and less about
content. Even in an organisation where persuasive communication is more downward and in
the form of orders disguised as persuasive requests, the person sending the communication
packets needs to take care of the employees, lest they misread the request or perform their
job improperly. It is imperative for all these points to be taken as important and essential for
organisational communication because we have seen that in case of missing these links or not
understanding the nuances related to persuasive organisational communication a message
totally misses its mark and at times creates confusion.

We are halfway through the persuasive communication data analysis and from this point
ahead we shall concentrate a bit more on the working aspect of persuasion while carrying
with us the theme that surrounds persuasiveness.

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Persuasive communication and effective business communication go hand in hand. Since
business is all about making ends meet and convincing clients or convincing the boss. To make
the persuasive communication more useful while communicating in a business scenario there
are a couple of things which a person should keep in mind. Persuasive communication are
centred on feedback. These constructive feedbacks help strengthen the relationship over
which the persuasive communication takes place which makes future communications
smooth and more effective. As mentioned earlier understanding audience is a very important
part of effective nosiness communication as well as delivering persuasive arguments.
Whether a person is communicating with a group or an individual, what is their objective to
communicate? Aligned goal and audience are key points of persuasive business
communication.

When a person is dealing with an audience, they must have a knowledge of their interest and
their objections. The persuasive message is most of the times new and there is a possibility
that it might not be accepted as it is. In such a case a communicator should know how to deal
with the potential objection raised by the audience. It helps in preparing self and delivering a
better persuasive argument. But delivering a persuasive message can be done over a number
of mediums. The deliverer must know which the preferred medium of choice of the audience.
Choice of an appropriate medium which is right for both the message and the receiver can be
the foundation of persuasive communication.

Objective E - Persuasive communication is often advertised as a one sided communication

but like most communications it is only effective when there are two parties involves and they
both contribute to the communication. For the person who is communicating it is important
to listen to the person who he is communicating to. It is not for only verbal communication,
in which case the importance increases multi fold, but also for written communication
listening from the people to whom the person have communicates will give him/her an idea
about how to convey thoughts in the future and how to make the communication more fluent
and more smooth later on. It can provide further insights in to the minds of the audience or
in case of corporate communication, insights in the minds of employees. Once a person has
accomplished all this on a communication level then on he/she can move on to build personal
relationships. Personal relationships are the backbone of a lot of persuasive communication
paradigms. When one has to persuade people and there is sensitive information involved,

34
one can only do that when they have a close connection with the individual or the group.
Taking the time to nurture and build connections, even before the need to communicate
persuasively, can make a significant difference in communicators' success.

Written persuasive communication has its own nuances like the verbal communication and
just like verbal communication, if not taken care of they can be the reason of failure of these
persuasive communication scenarios. Writing from the readers perspective is of the utmost
importance. It has been taken up before and here it is emphasised more because as a person
moves ahead with their written communication, it is easy to lose sight of the way they have
structured their piece. It should always be kept in mind how they as a writer of persuasive
script and others as readers are related and what are their respective positions. Also account
for any external situations or pressures which the readers might be facing. Being courteous is
one of the seven pillars of communication and when a person does not take care of that, the
reader might get away from them and their content would find itself in difficult waters. Once
the writer knows who their reads are they then write according to how they would want to
read. Unless they want a detailed account the persuasive communication should be to the
point and should convey one idea clearly. A communication changing sides and moving from
one point to other not only confuses the user but is also liable to be understood in ways it is
not meant to be. Also take into account the objections which one might face. This has been
talked about.

For a better persuasive communication a writer must draw comparisons. For a number of
reasons, new ideas tend to bounce off the human brain the way tennis balls bounce off a
concrete wall. Comparisons act like glue to link new ideas or difficult concepts to simpler or
already accepted ones so that they stick. A comparison of any kind metaphor, simile, or
analogy can help the reader to both understand and remember the message so that they
take action on it. Moving ahead as writer of persuasive communication one has earned the
freedom to tell stories. Stories can help build context and can communicate the idea building
it as the story forms. A story can help the communicator establish credibility too should they
choose to include an incident which was related to him and the organisation. No writing is full
proof therefore always include conclusions where one has invited comments and ideas to
build upon the topic just communicated. Depending on the type of communication it might

35
not be appropriate to ask for feedbacks but if one can, they must invite feedbacks and
comments.

Persuasive communication is in short strategic communication. One can prepare a strategy to

push the listener or his/her thought process. The persuader is a person who aims to change
something or achieve something via the communication, which makes this communication in
effect strategic. One must prepare profoundly to refrain from the common mishaps of
strategic communication. Through the next few paragraphs we will find out what are the
various important points which must be kept in mind while preparing strategic
communication. It has been put in the end as a safety net to catch hold of any point left un-
mentioned.

First is knowing the purpose. People at times obsess about what they want to say, rather they
should keep in mind what is their purpose is. Then one should devise a strategy about how to
prepare an opening so that the purpose is achieved. Often people mistake purpose as goal.
While the goal might be to persuade people at the end of the speech or write up the purpose
is the reason why one would want them persuaded? Therefore keeping that purpose in mind
helps people to device better content. While the importance of audience has been
appropriately highlighted in the previous parts of this chapter, one must understand that the
audience of their persuasive communication is not limited to the receivers. There is also the
secondary audience which might also come under the target audience set if the topic of
persuasion works based on word of mouth. In an organisation people might not be aware of
all the issues about which the speaker is speaking or the writer is writing. Then it becomes
the job of the communicator to understand the gaps and fills them to the best of their ability.

Another very important part of strategic communication is the structure of the message. It
does not matter what the persuasive communication is, but the structure should be either
direct or indirect. Indirect approach is used more outside the organisation where the topic
and the speaker, both are new to the audience but direct communication is which is result
oriented and this is where the audience is more receptive. When a person is devising content
to persuade they should carefully follow the guidelines because at times a persuasive
communication might turn out to be a sparkling information communication where the end
result is heavily dependent on audiences whim. Finally it is about selecting an appropriate
channel. While this has been discussed before, for strategic communication choosing a
36
strategic channel means taking into account all the scenarios and all the possible situations
and then making a choice about the medium. The decision about the medium must be a well
thought out one and a well-informed one. One can take into account the organisational
culture or power distance between the communicator and the audience.

Conclusion This chapter is dedicated to the persuasive communication and

organisational context while dealing with persuasive communication. Most of the research
material used here was based in the international context. In the next chapter we will see
more Indian context and how Paytm can use persuasive communication as an IT giant.

37
 Chapter 5
Data Analysis Data analysis in this chapter is about the Indian business scenario and
how communication plays an important role in it. In India persuasive communication takes a
different role too. When a person is engaged in business in India, be he himself an Indian the
rules are different than told to us. One can choose the wrong form of communication in India
and be under the false impression that he/she has accomplished business. Below are the
points which tells us how business in India takes place and where communication sets in the
entire paradigm.

It is really important in India to pick up the phone. Verbal communication and the personal
touch that comes with it are given a high importance in India. People at times try to hide
behind written communication formats like e-mails and messages but in India one might not
get their e-mails get answered as promptly as the calls. Calling always is not being advised
here but it is logical to do under a number of circumstances when a person is communicating
as an Indian business. Talking in the phone or direct verbal communication is more effective
and efficient in the Indian business landscape. When a person is communicating directly, face-
t-face, they have a lot of help to express themselves in form of facial expressions, non-verbal
cues, tone of voice and body language. So do one has to always resort to direct
communication in India. No, in fact the point is to use media rich formats to convey their
message. So one should try to increase the amount of connect that they are getting with their
medium of communication.

Objective B

Now that we have a context let us showcase a list of tips to choose the right mode of
communication in the country.

1. Sequence Matters Communication is not a onetime event. It requires constant touch

between the two parties. Even in case of persuasive communication, one must try and
get in touch with the audience again to get feedback or to push the discussion further.
Here is an example of a sequence which people might find useful. The scenario is
corporate restructuring. This as people know requires persuading a lot of people and
also involves a number of employees. This is both an upward and a downward
directional communication
38
 a. Individual in-person meetings with key stakeholders
b. Follow up phone call with key stakeholders
c. Small group meetings of major stakeholders
d. Follow up email summarizing the meeting
e. Official email sent to all major stakeholders explaining the restructuring.
2. Use E-mail The previous texts might have made one believe that email might not
command any importance at all but that is not the case. But using email to strengthen
communication is what one should strive for. A person can send email to document
conversations. It will help them to make sure that there is a record of the conversation
and there is a place where both can go back to, to find references to old conversations.
3. Keep humour out Humour in office place is always a tricky subject. If not directed
properly then it can be taken as opposite of how it is intended and there can be bad
consequences. Therefore while using persuasive communication do not use humour
to make the argument stand out. This might be in contrast to what was said about
adding stories to strengthen the communication but the point is that stories that one
use should also be strictly related to the topic and even if they are tempted to add
humour, it can make things worse.
4. Keep emotions out of written communication When a person is writing to someone,
it should always be kept in mind that their message can be read in any way. Therefore
one should try to make their message emotionally neutral and try to convey the
message in a professional manner which has only one meaning. Their writing cues can
be misread and can term the sender as an emotional writer. Which will hurt their case
as a persuasive communicator.
5. Establish face-to-face relationships In India businesses are done more over face-to-
face communication. This leads to building of trust between the two persons. One
should take care of the hierarchy with which they are communicating and at the same
time should try to reach out on a personal level. This might seem complicated but with
time this has become a general practice in India.

These are the points which a person should keep in mind while initiating business in India.
Indians too sometimes make mistake in assessing their counterpart because people in India

39
come from very diverse cultural backgrounds. Therefore it is imperative that the people who
are in charge of communication should know who they are dealing with.

We have learnt about the generics of Indian business communications, now we will move to
a detailed part. In Indian business scenario strategies and negotiations (parts of persuasion)
are also have to be treated differently. Indian are very keen on introducing themselves and
weaving their accomplishments in the conversation. It is absolutely critical that one builds a
strong network through communication in India and have personal relationships. Indian style
of communication is very direct when they are confident and know that they are right, and at
the same time if an Indian is being indirect that is probably because they are being respectful
and are showing politeness or even disagreement and refusal. As an Indian communicator
working with others there are a number of ways through which it is easy to find out what
others are thinking. They may overlap each other, increase their volume and speed of
dialogue during the conversation. To jump in and make the case one has to participate as and
when they see fit. One cannot wait for invitation in case of a multi people conversation in
India. Moving on to the persuasive aspect of India. In our nation there are a number of socio-
cultural rules surrounding the conversations. Therefore one might not know what is
appropriate and what is not. Provided in the multinational corporation scenario business rules
prevail. Even then there are instances where sub-consciously a person might give in to the
habits they have learnt in the past. Indians expect each other to have thoroughly researched
their proposition, and should provide in-depth data analysis and detail. Indian as business
people appreciate a factual and personable delivery style that starts with the big picture
before getting to implementation specifics. We persuade through competitive data;
repetition, insistence, and rigorous detail and may make vigorous, emotional appeals to
underscore their proposition. A response in kind (avoiding an aloof, rational approach) is most
effective.

As we have previously underlines the importance of feedback, in Indian scenario too feedback
carries the same importance but in India the culture is in general a cheerleader. Therefore a
feedback which criticises or brings out the negative is generally avoided. Such feedbacks are
given but on a more private note and by someone who has entered that level of relationships
(which we have discussed previously). Rank also play an important role where feedbacks
mostly flow form high up to the lower ranks. Indians will wait for a while before letting the

40
other person know that they have disappointed them. Which is the same case with
agreement. Indians do not always clearly portray what they like about or do not give away a
solid agreement even if they say yes. It is a cultural loophole which might trap one into
believing that they have an agreement while in reality one might just be getting a maybe.
Similarly a No is also considered rude and is often cushioned to soften the blow, which at
times mean to not even strike, like staying silent or being non-committal. We have learnt a
lot about the Indian business scenario and what role does the persuasive communication
plays in it. Indian companies do value persuasive communication just like any other company
but the way they handle the communication is different. Following paragraph will conclude
the discussion about persuasive communication before we move to communication in One97.

Organizations are constantly confronted with situations in which they need to persuade
people (customers, employees, regulators, etc.) to do things. The need to persuade is on-
going. Persuasion occurs when attitude changes about a particular subject or issue. Of key
importance at theories centring on balance, congruity, and dissonance in a persons life.
People naturally seek harmony in their lives and in their business communications through
their thoughts and actions. Between and among members of the company. Bosses and
workers each want to know how to get what they need--how to other to comply with their
requests; or to stop doing something. Those with the organizational power have more assets
available to them and thus have better chances at achieving effective persuasive
communication. In the end we can say that The Multicultural Organizationencourages
communication from various cultures and social groups who make up its employee base and
improving the persuasive communications effectiveness.

Now onwards we would dissect One97 communication and Paytm to see what the employees
think about the company and will take in to account the answers given by a few of the
company employees. One97 scores a 3.1 on a 5 star scale as an employer. Which means that
while a majority of people working there are happy there are instances where the employees
are not happy and they have shown in through their reviews. The reviews were analysed to
come up with a structure and relate them to the usage of persuasive communication in the
organisation. Over 70% people approve of the CEO but only 58% would recommend this as a
working place to a friend.

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In one of the review it was mentioned that the structure can be haphazard and unorganised.
It shows that the company is not using persuasive communication to convey the changes.
While some or the other sort of communication is being used by the organisation, to make
them understand change persuasive communication is the key. People are complaining about
the work-life balance. Which goes on to show that people are not being motivated or
persuaded to enough to see work of primary importance. There are other reviews too which
says that the work life balance is good, which shows that those who do not find the balance
are the ones who have not been persuaded to try and achieve that balance themselves.
Analysis of a negative review shows the same thing that there is no strong structure which in
turn translates in to less to no use of persuasive communication. In short after knowing about
persuasive communication and analysing the company One97 based on all the previous
learning of communication one can say that One97 or Paytm does not have strong persuasive
communication inside the organisation. They do use small orders and work requests, but that
is standard and does not qualify for quality persuasive communication.

To conclude it should be emphasised that Indian corporations need to work hard and find
their knack for persuasive communication. Organisation outside India, wherever they are
located keep persuasive communication in mind. Indians have a long way to go on that
direction.

Chapter 4 to Chapter 5 The chapter 5 talks about the Indian context of business
communication and how Indians should behave in business communication scenario. While
the chapter 4 talks about the details of persuasive communication. After studying both the
chapters we are finally ready to conclude the discussion and explain what the various areas
are where we have made discovery.

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 Chapter 6
Conclusion Persuasive communication is a wide topic. It involves something as small as
asking someone for a pencil to as big as applying for a fund of over a billion dollars. Persuasive
communication is highly dependent on culture and the people who are communicating. There
are a number of nuances in persuasive communication and no static. But one thing can be
said about it for sure, that those who know the art of persuasive communication can move
others and motivate others efficiently.

Through this report we could also find out that organisations have huge use of persuasive
communication and that those who are able to do it are successful. One97 appeared as a
company with weak persuasive communication network. Which also describes the scenario
of Indian companies. Indians have a long way to travel in the direction of persuasive
communication but the good part is now there are a lot of examples to follow. It should be
hoped that the communicators follow the right ones.

Findings There have been a number of findings from the discussion that has been done in
the previous chapters.

1. Paytm has grown significantly in the past 3 years and have brought a new era in the
payment scenario in India.
2. Market share of Paytm is growing but is facing competition from multiple firms from
different industries.
3. One97 Communication like a lot of Indian firms are not on top of persuasive
communication inside the workplace.
4. No studies have been conducted to analyse the effect of business communication in
One97.
5. Persuasive communication forms a very essential part of todays multi employee multi
office organisations.

These findings are a way to analyse what we learnt form the discussion. Now we would
proceed to the suggestions that can be brought out of the analysis.

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Suggestions One97 communication is growing as a steady pace but every firm can use a
little bit of refinement. Following are the suggestions that can be implemented in One97
communications.

1. Paytm should consider stronger growth in one sector instead of haphazard growth in
multiple directions.
2. One97 should conduct tests and studies to know and understand the effect of
business communication on the employees.
3. Indian companies should interact with their employees more and should exploit the
benefits that come with efficient business communications.

Limitations - The research faced a few hurdles due to the limitations in the resources that
were available at the disposal as well as the time constraint. Only one member of the target
organisation could be interviewed. Also there was difficulty in the collection of data because
not much significant research is done and made public in the field of persuasive
communication. There are a number of articles written on it which served as the primary
source.

Scope of Improvement - There is scope of improvement for both the organisations as well as
the report. Organisations can conduct more research and make more efforts to understand
the aspects of persuasive communications. Also there could be more use of persuasive
communication in the Indian business scenario.

People could be more receptive towards business communication and should be able to
conduct studies more frequently and conclude form those report so that organisation s can
improve and be better at what they do.

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 References
Chapter 2
wikipedia.com
http://www.mbaskool.com/brandguide/it-technology/16943-paytm.html
Chapter 4
https://www.crisil.com/Ratings/Brochureware/News/CRISIL-Research_ipo-
grading-rat_One97.pdf
https://www.glassdoor.co.in/Overview/Working-at-One97-Communications-
EI_IE341088.11,31.htm
https://www.glassdoor.co.in/Reviews/Paytm-Reviews-E1159356.htm
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/introductiontocommunication/chapter/what
-is-organizational-communication/
http://classroom.synonym.com/types-persuasive-communication-8649047.html
https://goo.gl/C8Z5Ly
http://ubiquity.acm.org/article.cfm?id=1331967
http://paIljaniak.co.za/2010/08/22/persuasion-within-organisations/
http://www.cuttingedgepr.com/articles/empcomm_foursteps.asp
http://smallbusiness.chron.com/examples-persuasive-thinking-workplace-
18983.html
http://smallbusiness.chron.com/persuasive-effective-business-communication-
825.html
http://recoveringengineer.com/communication-skills/five-secrets-for-more-
persuasive-writing/
Chapter 5
https://ideas.darden.virginia.edu/2015/02/strategic-communication-to-inform-
or-persuade/
http://learningindia.in/forms-of-business-communication-in-india/
https://www.ventureoutsource.com/contract-manufacturing/outsourcing-
offshoring/india-manufacturing/negotiations-and-business-strategies-with-india
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sponsored/business/delivering-
business/10878290/cultural-etiquette-india-business.html
https://www.ukibc.com/india-guide/how-india/business-culture/
http://www.uta.edu/faculty/mputnam/COMS309/Notes/Chapter7.html
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/002194368902600204
Business Communication Analysis - Murphy

45
 Bibliography
Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High Al Switzler et al.
Just Listen: Discover the Secret to Getting Through to Absolutely Anyone Mark
Goulston
The Sketchnote Handbook: The Illustrated Guide to Visual Note Taking Mike Rhode
Pitch Anything: An Innovative Method for Presenting, Persuading, and Winning Oren
Klaff
The Secrets of Successful Communication: A Simple Guide to Effective Communication
Kevin T. McCarney
Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die Chip Heath et al.
Mastering Communication at Work: How to Lead, Manage, and Influence Ethan F.
Becker et al.
The Power of Communication Helio Fred Garcia
It's the Way You Say It: Becoming Articulate, Well-Spoken, and Clear Carol Fleming
Power Listening: Mastering the Most Critical Business Skill of All Bernard T. Ferrari

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 Appendix A
Following is the questionnaire that I have planned to take from my primary sources.

Q1. How old are you?

Ans. Less than or equal to 30. Or More than 30 and less than equal to 51.

Q2. How often is persuasive communication used in your organisation?

Ans. Open ended.

Q3. What are the persuasive communication techniques used by your firm?

Ans. Open ended.

Q4. How long have you been working here?

Ans. Less than a year. A year to 4 years. More than 4 years.

Q5. What are the usage of persuasive communication in your company?

Ans. Open ended.

Q6. What is working at Paytm like?

Ans. Open ended

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Appendix B

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