Dear Sapana,

The genesis of your paper exhibits a good analysis about virtual teams and ways to

persuade other team members without authority. I agree with your idea that in an organization,

persuasion is the prime constituent of social interaction. If you want to explore more on this, you

can also refer to an article in Harvard Business Review which emphasizes that if there was a

right time for business people to learn the art of persuasion, it is now (Conger, 1998). Like you

mentioned, virtual team members tend to work more actively than working physically at the

office. It also brings us to the attention of Harvard study, that the very same professionals would

rather continue working from home even after the pandemic is over (Vincent, 2021).

Coming to your ideas of persuading other team members in a virtual setting with no

authority, you have put across great ways and specifically mentioning an urgency in the subject

line of an email is what I found to be effective amongst them all. However, it would have been

great if you had elaborated more on your ideas and added a few more activities to persuade the

other team members. Having said that, I would like to add a few more points to this subject

matter starting from observing and working on your communication competence which helps

in polishing one's communication skills to start their communication at the first phase. Giving

courtesy while communicating and leveraging your expertise and credentials can give the

other team members the proof of your capability and knowledge which will help you to persuade

them about your subject matter (Brosseau, 2014). Meanwhile, you can also connect the other team

members by practising regular meetings and sharing documents using google drives, building

common grounds to land on the same page and most importantly follow- up which will help

you to remain consistent and on the top of the mind of the other team members.
 I appreciate your effort in sharing your ideas and believe my insights will add value to

have a better understanding of the topic.

Thank you!

Best regards,

Diksha Khadka

Brosseau, D. (2014). The Thought Leader Manifesto: Strategies for Building & Leveraging Your Influence.
Conger, J. A. (1998). The necessary art of persuasion. Harvard Business Review, 76, 84-97.
Guadagno, R. E., Blascovich, J., Bailenson, J. N., & McCall, C. (2007). Virtual humans and persuasion:
The effects of agency and behavioral realism. Media Psychology, 10(1), 1-22.

Vincent, B. (2021, March 28). Harvard study finds most workers would rather continue working
from home. PCMAG. https://www.pcmag.com/news/harvard-study-finds-most-workers-would-
rather-continue-working-from-home