The document contains homework assignments for a Python programming course, requiring students to solve various recursive problems, including summing numbers and generating Fibonacci sequences. It also emphasizes the importance of reflective writing in enhancing leadership and critical thinking, particularly during organizational change. Tips and prompts for effective reflective writing practices are provided, aiming to aid leaders in navigating complexity and fostering creativity.

1. CSS 220 Module 9 Homework
Deliverable:
· Submit a separate Python file for each problem below.
· Submit an answer to the question in problem 2.
1. Complete the following Python program to compute the sum
1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 + 7 + 8 + 9 + 10 recursively:
def sum(x):
# don’t forget your base case
# recursively compute and return
print(sum(10))
2. Revise the Fibonacci program from class so that it asks the
user for which Fibonacci number he or she wants. Then use this
value to instead in the program. Try out your program to
compute the 10th, 20th, 30th and 40th Fibonacci numbers. Why
does it take so much longer to computer the higher Fibonacci
numbers?
3. We can determine how many digits a positive integer has by
repeatedly dividing by 10 (without keeping the remainder) until
the number is less than 10, consisting of only 1 digit. We add 1
to this value for each time we divided by 10. Here is the
recursive algorithm:
1. If n < 10 return 1.
2. Otherwise, return 1 + the number of digits in n/10 (ignoring

2. the fractional part).
Implement this recursive algorithm in Python and test it using
three separate calls with the values 15, 105, and 15105. (HINT:
Remember that if n is an integer (data type), n/10 will be an
integer without the fractional part.)
UV1102
March 4, 2009
This technical note was written by Elizabeth A. Powell,
Assistant Professor of Business Administration. Copyrig
2007 by the University of Virginia Darden School Foundation,
Charlottesville, VA. All rights reserved. To order
copies, send an e-mail to [email protected] No part of this
publication may be reproduced, stored
in a retrieval system, used in a spreadsheet, or transmitted in
any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording, or otherwise—without the permission
of the Darden School Foundation.

3. WRITING TO REFLECT:
MINDFUL LEADERSHIP IN THE FACE OF CHANGE
Most of us know that writing is a technology invented several
millennia ago to aid memory,
but few consider how much writing—especially reflective
writing—can aid creative and critical
thinking, particularly when leading organizational change. As
Andrew Robinson has pointed out:
Writing is among the greatest inventions in human history,
perhaps the greatest
invention, since it made history possible. Yet it is a skill most
writers take for
granted.… As adults we seldom stop to think about the mental-
cum-physical
process that turns our thoughts into symbols on a piece of
paper.1
For anyone who is about to embark on organizational change,
has the responsibility to lead it, or
needs to help others make sense of it, reflective writing can
enhance and deepen your leadership

4. practice.
Low-tech as it was, writing initially solved a practical problem
by rendering thoughts in a
permanent form, allowing them to be remembered at another
point in time. Later, paper allowed
thoughts to be transmitted not only over time but also across
distances. Today, electronic files and
instant messaging solve the same problems at much higher
storage capacities and accelerated
speeds.
For many of us, however, the proliferation of writing and
media has created a new
problem—information overload—which can muddle our
thinking and responsiveness to change.
Even under normal circumstances, the volume and speed of
information cause the best leaders to
drown in data and decide in a daze; add organizational change
to the picture, and problems
assimilating new information and making quick decisions are
intensified by mixed emotions and
fears about uncertainty.

5. Fortunately, the same technology that can inundate a leader
with information can also help
that leader emerge from confusion. The process of writing, and
particularly reflective writing, has
an extraordinary capacity to aid creative and critical thinking
and deal with complex emotions.
1 Andrew Robinson, The Story of Writing (London: Thames &
Hudson, 1999), 7.
For the exclusive use of R. Ramos, 2021.
This document is authorized for use only by Rosendo Ramos in
EMGT 6010 UPDATE-1-1-1-1 taught by STEPHEN
FLAHERTY, Ohio University from Mar 2021 to Sep 2021.
-2- UV1102
Keep in mind that writers not only benefit from the products of
writing—messages that can be
archived or transported—but also from its practice.
Experientially, writing slows down thinking,
which can be especially valuable to anyone under the stress of
organizational change. Jumbled
thoughts, images, impressions, and feelings, when ordered on a
page as words, sentences, and

6. paragraphs, begin to make more sense; incrementally, they
become stories that explain cause and
effect, arguments that discover logic in the midst of chaos, and
analyses that provide for clearer
judgment.2
Through the process of writing, thoughts once held in relative
disarray now appear
straightened out on the page. Further, as the writer becomes
reader, thoughts appear at a critical
distance. Toggling back and forth from reader to writer—from
objective to subjective
interpretation—one becomes freer to reflect on and refine
thoughts, stumble upon unexpected
discoveries, invent new ideas and meanings, and solve problems
creatively.3 Taken to yet another
level, reading your own writing opens up the possibility of also
examining how you think in the
context of change, putting you in a better position to make
adjustments as needed. Overall, writing
to reflect can transition a leader’s mind from the whirr and buzz
of daily reactive thinking and
communicating to a mindfulness that welcomes the creativity
and fresh thinking you need to lead

7. change.4
Getting Started with Reflective Writing
Most people who regularly practice reflective writing develop
habits and rituals that keep
them going. At first, finding a time and space that work for you
may seem the biggest challenge.
The good news is that you don’t need a lot of time at one
sitting. Writing in 10- to 15-minute
increments can actually be quite productive. It does help,
however, to give your full attention to
the task, so help yourself concentrate by closing your office
door, turning off your cell phone,
going out to a coffee shop, sitting in the park, or using a little
idle time on the train. If possible,
take your writing time-out at the same time each day. Some
people enjoy writing in the morning
when they feel rejuvenated from a good night’s sleep. Others
prefer to write before going to bed
to clear their minds so they can fall asleep.
Many people prefer to keep a journal rather than use a PDA or
computer. Writing in

8. longhand slows your thinking and stimulates the brain
differently than typing does. If fancy
journals are intimidating, use an ordinary spiral notebook.
Conversely, if a fancy journal inspires
2 For research on the mind-body benefits of reflective writing,
see James W. Pennebaker, Opening Up: The
Healing Power of Expressing Emotions (New York: Guilford,
1997) and Stephen J. Lepore and Joshua M. Smyth,
eds., The Writing Cure: How Expressive Writing Promotes
Health and Emotional Well-Being (Washington, DC:
American Psychological Association, 2002).
3 For more on critical thinking, see Richard Paul and Linda
Elder, Critical Thinking: Tools for Taking Charge of
Your Professional and Personal Life (Upper Saddle River, NJ:
Financial Times/Prentice Hall, 2002).
4 For more on mindfulness, see Jon Kabat-Zinn, Wherever You
Go, There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in
Everyday Life (New York: Hyperion, 1994).
For the exclusive use of R. Ramos, 2021.
This document is authorized for use only by Rosendo Ramos in
EMGT 6010 UPDATE-1-1-1-1 taught by STEPHEN
FLAHERTY, Ohio University from Mar 2021 to Sep 2021.

9. -3- UV1102
you or helps you take the task more seriously, by all means, use
the fancy one.5 If your thinking is
coming in bursts, and unspooling thoughts sequentially seems to
interrupt your flow, try jotting
ideas on index cards or sticky notes first. Spatially arranging
these bits of thought later may help
you transition into prose as you feel ready.
If you’ve never tried reflective writing before, just the thought
of it might give you writer’s
block. “What am I supposed to write about?” “Gee, that page is
awfully blank; how am I going to
fill it up?” “I’m a lousy writer, and it’s hard work. Maybe I
could start this tomorrow.” To counter
these inhibiting thoughts, decide to turn off your internal editor.
Instead, practice free writing, a
technique in which you write nonstop for several minutes
without any interruptions. Just write
whatever you are thinking, even if it is something nonsensical —
such as “I don’t know what to
write, I don’t know what to write, what shall I write?”—until
you break through to another thought.
Concentrate only on the thoughts that come up in the present

10. moment and ignore or suspend that
internal editorial voice that may plant seeds of doubt. This
technique can be good training for more
formal writing, too, because it encourages you to separate the
creative process of drafting from the
critical process of editing.
Applying Reflective Writing to Leading Change
If you need some prompts to get started on writing to reflect
about leading change, here
are some ideas, in no particular order. Pick one, try it, and see
what happens. Adopting an
experimental or playful attitude toward your writing, thinking,
and reflecting will help.
—Someone once said, “when you
see something you don’t
understand, you probably don’t know the whole story.”
Reflective writing can help you
imagine and fill in missing data in your understanding of a
person, situation, or problem.
Ask yourself, what story helps this make sense? Consider
whether others would tell the

11. story differently. What could you do about any gaps you find?
—In the safety of your
journal pages, you can try out and
test new ideas without fear of the social consequences. This can
be liberating and help you
become more imaginative and innovative in a situation in which
you feel stuck. Use a lead-
in such as, “What if?” to get yourself going.
then problem-solve—Journal writing is a great way to
dump anxiety, frustration, and
anger. Not only do you not have to deal with anyone’s
reactions, but the process can be
enormously cleansing, clearing space for more effective
problem solving. It may help to
separate the two tasks. Vent first, take a break, then come back
to write in a more
constructive, problem-solving frame of mind.
—Sometimes
change-oriented conversations
can happen so quickly that they deserve more thought than there
is time for in the moment.
5 For a leather-bound guided journal aimed specifically at
reflective writing for executives, see Peter Drucker and
Joseph Maciariello, The Effective Executive in Action: A
Journal for Getting the Right Things Done (New York:

12. Collins, 2006).
For the exclusive use of R. Ramos, 2021.
This document is authorized for use only by Rosendo Ramos in
EMGT 6010 UPDATE-1-1-1-1 taught by STEPHEN
FLAHERTY, Ohio University from Mar 2021 to Sep 2021.
-4- UV1102
Use your journal to rehearse and/or review difficult
conversations. When rehearsing, write
out how you would like to open a conversation, thinking about
what you want to say, then
reflecting on how that might be received. Modify your approach
if necessary to fit the
audience or situation. When reviewing, try to recount the actual
words that were used. Then
go back and think about what each party heard when those
words were spoken. What
helped or hindered real communication?
—Your journal may be used to keep notes on
strategic conversations, log key
change indicators, and report on experiments with change. Or
pretend you are keeping field
notes the way a zoologist might observe animal behavior. Later

13. you can analyze your
findings and look for patterns.
—There is hardly an organizational
change that doesn’t challenge
you to also change professionally and/or personally in some
way. Use the journal to set
personal change goals, break them down into daily activities,
and then track your ability to
implement the changes. Don’t malign yourself for missing a
goal. Give yourself a pep talk
instead.
—If you are like many people, ideas
occur to you at almost any time
of the day, often while repeating some physical task—taking a
shower, driving, exercising.
If you are one of those middle-of-the-night geniuses, keep your
journal by your bedside so
you can jot down ideas and get back to sleep.
—Use your journal to collect
questions that you hear when you are
on a “listening tour.” Or pose questions you want to ask others.
Later review them, and
ask, “What seem to be the underlying concerns behind these
questions?” “What do I need
to do in order to answer these questions?” If it’s helpful,

14. attempt some of those answers in
writing.6
—Use different symbol systems to
imagine new ideas. Brainstorm
a list, write a compelling change story, sketch a process-
improvement diagram, draw a
picture of the new product, or try some “back of the envelope”
calculations.
—Analyzing strengths, weakness,
opportunities, and threats can be a
helpful method for making decisions and developing a message
about change. Oftentimes
items fit in more than one column. Use your journal to construct
arguments and decide
which items fit in which columns or think about how you have
to refine your ideas to
differentiate shades of gray. During a change effort, you might
want to do SWOTs at the
different personal, departmental, organizational, and
competitive/market levels to look for
alignment and misalignment among them.
keholders—What’s the
history of the situation? What’s
your diagnosis about what’s going on? How do you sort
symptoms from root causes? How

15. do you know you have the right solution? How would others
define the situation? Where
6 See Michael Marquardt, Leading with Questions: How
Leaders Find the Right
Solution
s by Knowing What to
Ask (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2005).
For the exclusive use of R. Ramos, 2021.
This document is authorized for use only by Rosendo Ramos in
EMGT 6010 UPDATE-1-1-1-1 taught by STEPHEN
FLAHERTY, Ohio University from Mar 2021 to Sep 2021.
-5- UV1102
are stakeholders’ opinions aligned or at odds? How can you
overcome resistance? What

16. language is most likely to produce the change you seek?
-observation—Use your writing to observe your
own behavior. Examine your
reactions to a key event. What did you say and do? How did
others respond to you? Chances
are you are getting a lot of feedback from other people and your
environment all the time,
but you may benefit from being more mindful of it. Use your
writing as a way to be more
present in the moment during conflict or when coaching others.7
—Before you can persuade others,
sometimes you have to persuade
yourself so you are clear about your objectives and the stakes
involved. Tell yourself a
story that you can believe in or make an argument that compels
you so you can have the
confidence to be a credible spokesperson for change.

17. —To debug your own thinking or the
thinking of others, use your
writing time to poke holes in an argument. Or use the devil’s
advocate to introduce a
healthy bit of skepticism or doubt into your thought process.
Clear yourself of a rigid
mindset by arguing yourself into a new perspective.
—What’s reasonable? In the abstract,
you’d naturally want
everyone to be an ambassador or cheerleader of change. But if
the change is unpleasant
(and most changes are on some level) what do you say? For
example, during layoffs, you
can’t necessarily promise that everyone will keep their jobs, but
you still need to say
something. Perhaps you can let everyone know that you’ll keep
them informed as you learn
of new information, or that you promise to be fair and fight for

18. everyone, given the
constraints in which you will need to operate.
—Identify each party’s
position on an issue. Then
explore through your writing each party’s underlying interests.
See if you can imagine a
way to break a stalemate between positions by inventing new
solutions that might lead to
compromise or a win-win agreement.
—Re-read your entries and highlight phrases
and words that you want to
use or avoid. Distill and synthesize a core message into a sound
bite that you’ll repeat
throughout the change process. Try different framing
techniques. For example, is this
change better represented as a “vision,” a “crisis,” a
“transformation,” or a “natural

19. evolution”?8
—Recall examples and stories from your
experience and extract leadership
lessons. Spend some time generating alternative ways of
expressing ideas. To add interest,
use concrete and vivid language. To make the messaging
credible, think about how you
7 For more on self-observation and feedback, see Doug Silsbee,
Presence-Based Coaching: Cultivating Self-
Generative Leaders through Mind, Body, and Heart (San
Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2008) and Marshall Goldsmith,
What Got You Here Won’t Get You There: How Successful
People Become Even More Successful (New York:
Hyperion, 2007).
8 For more on framing, see Gail Fairhurst and Robert Sarr, The
Art of Framing: Managing the Language of
Leadership (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1996).

20. For the exclusive use of R. Ramos, 2021.
This document is authorized for use only by Rosendo Ramos in
EMGT 6010 UPDATE-1-1-1-1 taught by STEPHEN
FLAHERTY, Ohio University from Mar 2021 to Sep 2021.
-6- UV1102
might set an example or follow up the message with a tangible
action that signals your
sincere commitment to change.9
—Use the journal to list, draw, or write
scenarios about next steps. Use
reflective time to ask questions about your first draft of next
steps—are they solving the
right problem, what’s missing or needs to be taken away, how
about the order? Then think
about the constituencies whose help you need—what will they

21. embrace? What will they
resist?
—You will need to be
your own PR consultant.
Suppose you’ve heard or come up with a persuasive or
motivating message: how can you
develop it into a platform that you will refer to repeatedly?
When and where will you tie
the message into your daily work? Which events might best
communicate and personalize
the message for those who most need to hear it? How can you
keep the message fresh even
if it starts to sound old to you?10
Make the Most of Your Reflective Writing

22. While writing to reflect has many virtues, there are a few
caveats. Socrates said that the
unexamined life is not worth living, but the over-examined life
isn’t worth living either. As you
write, be mindful of what you are doing and why. Recognize
when you have reached a point of
diminishing returns; walk away from your writing if you find
yourself over-analyzing a situation,
fixating on a detail, or obsessing about how you have been
wronged.
Ultimately, as a souvenir from your time spent writing to
reflect, bring the pearls of wisdom
you discover back into the world to help you lead change. Now
that you have some thoughts on
paper, call on “the muse of the second draft” and translate your
personal writing into

23. communications with others: conversations, memos, emails,
presentations, meetings, and so on.
Completing this step will help you realize the real world value
of your investment in writing to
reflect.
Leading change is hard enough. But if you can’t focus because
you are overwhelmed with
information and the tumult of change, you will have a hard time
focusing other people’s attention,
too. So take some time out, write to reflect, and clarify for
yourself and others what you want to
communicate and accomplish.
9 For more on storytelling, see Belle Linda Halpern and Kathy
Lubar, Leadership Presence: Dramatic Techniques
to Reach Out, Motivate, and Inspire (New York: Gotham Books,

24. 2003); Annette Simmons, The Story Factor:
Inspiration, Influence, and Persuasion through the Art of
Storytelling (New York: Basic Books, 2006); and Stephen
Denning, The Leader’s Guide to Storytelling: Mastering the Art
and Discipline of Business Narrative (San Francisco:
Jossey-Bass, 2005).
10 For more on message platform, see Terry Pearce, Leading
Out Loud: Inspiring Change through Authentic
Communication (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2003).
For the exclusive use of R. Ramos, 2021.
This document is authorized for use only by Rosendo Ramos in
EMGT 6010 UPDATE-1-1-1-1 taught by STEPHEN
FLAHERTY, Ohio University from Mar 2021 to Sep 2021.
SMR722

25. How Should
Companies Talk
to Customers
Online?
The words service agents use to engage customers often end
up backfring.
Brent McFerran
Sarah G. Moore
Grant Packard
Reprint #60209 https://mitsmr.com/2D7hXIO
For the exclusive use of R. Ramos, 2021.
This document is authorized for use only by Rosendo Ramos in
EMGT 6010 UPDATE-1-1-1-1 taught by STEPHEN
FLAHERTY, Ohio University from Mar 2021 to Sep 2021.
https://mitsmr.com/2D7hXIO
MIT SLOAN MANAGEMENT REVIEW

26. DIGITAL
MIT SLOAN MANAGEMENT REVIEW
DIGITAL
How Should Companies Talk to Customers
Online?
BRENT MCFERRAN, SARAH G. MOORE, AND GRANT
PACKARD
The words service agents use to engage customers often end up
backfring.
More and more consumers are engaging with customer
service through digital channels, including websites,
email, texts, live chat, and social media. In 2017, only half
of customer experiences with companies involved face-
to-face or voice-based interactions, and digital
interactions are expected to represent two-thirds of

27. customer experiences within the next few years. 1 The
vast majority of customer service interactions around the
world begins in online channels. 2
Despite the convenience and speed of such interactions,
they lack some of the most important aspects of ofine
customer service. In-person interactions are rich in
nonverbal expressions and gestures, which can signal
deep engagement, and an agent’s tone of voice can convey
empathy and focus in phone conversations. Over time,
these interpersonal touches help companies build and
sustain relationships with customers.
But can some of that beneft be captured in the world of
digital customer service? We argue that it can — with the

28. right words. Our focus on words is consistent with a
growing recognition among businesses that language
matters, digitally or otherwise. Apple, for example, has
explicit policies detailing which words can and cannot be
used, and how they should be used when interacting with
customers. 3 The use of customer service scripts is also
commonplace in service contexts, where employees are
encouraged to use specifc words when interacting with
customers. 4
However, we fnd that most companies are taking a
misguided approach in their emails, texts, and social
media communications with customers. They’re using

29. words that, while designed to engage customers, can
sometimes alienate them.
Copyright © Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2018. All
rights reserved. Reprint #60209 https://mitsmr.com/2D7hXIO
For the exclusive use of R. Ramos, 2021.
This document is authorized for use only by Rosendo Ramos in
EMGT 6010 UPDATE-1-1-1-1 taught by STEPHEN
FLAHERTY, Ohio University from Mar 2021 to Sep 2021.
https://mitsmr.com/2D7hXIO
MIT SLOAN MANAGEMENT REVIEW
About the Research
DIGITAL
MIT SLOAN MANAGEMENT REVIEW
Our research 5 focuses on personal pronouns (I, we,

30. you), which psychologists have linked to critical personal
and social outcomes. 6 Customer service agents use
personal pronouns in nearly every sentence they utter,
whether it’s “We’re happy to help you” or “I think we do
have something in your size.” Our research shows that
simple shifts in employee language can enhance customer
satisfaction and purchase behavior.
The Power of Pronouns
Conventional wisdom says that being customer-oriented
is critical to customer satisfaction. That’s why phrases like
“We’re happy to help you” have become so popular in
service settings. Agents are often taught to lean on the
pronoun “you” and to avoid saying “I,” and our survey of

31. more than 500 customer service managers and employees
shows that they’ve taken those prescriptions to heart. (See
“About the Research.”)
About the Research
Our research looks at language in digital customer service
interactions. To test conventional wisdom and practices
regarding the use of personal pronouns in text-based
exchanges, we surveyed more than 500 customer service
managers or agents and analyzed more than 1,000
customer service emails from 41 of the top 100 global
online retailers. We also conducted controlled
experiments with 2,819 North American adult
participants in an online panel including managers,

32. agents, and general-population consumers, and lab
experiments with undergraduate students.
Our results reveal that service employees not only beli eve
they should, but actually do frequently refer to the
customer as “you” and to the company as “we,” and they
DIGITAL
tend to leave themselves as individuals (“I”) out of the
conversation. What’s more, when we compared service
agent pronoun use with natural English-language base
rates, we found that employees are using far more “we”
and “you” pronouns in service settings than people do in
almost any other context. Customer service language
seems to have evolved into its own kind of discourse.

33. To fnd out if this discourse is optimal, we took a subset
of the customer service responses we had collected, which
showed high use of “we” pronouns, and constructed
alternative responses, replacing “we” with “I.” For
example, “We are happy to help” easily became “I am
happy to help” without changing the basic message. We
also removed references to the customer in some
responses. For example, “How do the shoes ft you?”
became “How do the shoes ft?” We then randomly
assigned individuals to read either the company’s
response or our edited response and assessed their
satisfaction with the company and the agent, as well as
their purchase intentions.

34. We found some surprising results that are inconsistent
with current approaches.
Using ‘I’ Conveys
Empathy and Action
In all cases, our modifed responses with “I” pronouns
signifcantly outperformed the “we” pronouns that real
service agents were using. Relative to using “we,” the
beneft of using “I” stems from the fact that customers
perceive the employee to be (a) more empathetic and (b)
more agentic, or acting on the customer’s behalf.
We also examined these language features in a large data
set of more than 1,000 customer service email
Copyright © Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2018. All
rights reserved. Reprint #60209 https://mitsmr.com/2D7hXIO

35. For the exclusive use of R. Ramos, 2021.
This document is authorized for use only by Rosendo Ramos in
EMGT 6010 UPDATE-1-1-1-1 taught by STEPHEN
FLAHERTY, Ohio University from Mar 2021 to Sep 2021.
https://mitsmr.com/2D7hXIO
MIT SLOAN MANAGEMENT REVIEW
DIGITAL
Say ‘I’ for Service Success
MIT SLOAN MANAGEMENT REVIEW
DIGITAL
interactions from a large multinational retailer of
entertainment and information products. We matched
these email interactions with customer purchase data.

36. Econometric analyses revealed the same positive results
of using “I” pronouns: A 10% increase in “I” pronoun use
by company agents corresponded to a 0.8% increase in
customer purchase volume after controlling for other
factors. Our analysis suggests that companies could
achieve an incremental sales lift of more than 5%, and
still fall within natural language norms, by increasing
their service agents’ use of “I” pronouns where possible.
Why is “I” a more powerful pronoun in agents’
interactions? After all, saying “I” too much can signal
self-centeredness, 7 and many leaders are, in fact,
criticized for speaking too much about themselves.
However, CEO speeches and corporate earnings reports

37. are not one-on-one interactions, which, as linguists point
out, can see the opposite effect: 8 When two people are
communicating with each other, “I” suggests a personal
focus on the issue at hand. Specifcally, our research on
customer service fnds that saying “I” signals that the
agent is feeling and acting on the customer’s behalf. For
example, telling a customer “I am working on that”
conveys a greater sense of ownership than “We are
working on that,” which can imply a diffusion of
responsibility. Similarly, “I understand the issue” shows
more empathy than “We understand the issue.”
Ultimately, customers need to know that the agents with
whom they are interacting care and are working on their
behalf. Research has consistently shown that customer

38. perceptions of empathy and agency drive satisfaction,
sales, and profts, 9 and our studies show that “I” fosters
these perceptions to a signifcantly greater degree than
“we.”
Using ‘You’ Can Backfre
While “I” is clearly better than “we” when referring to
who is providing service, what about using the word
“you”? Our studies suggest that service managers and
employees believe “you” conveys a customer orientation.
We also found that agents use it more frequently than
natural language would warrant. 10
However, peppering conversations with “you” offers little
beneft, because customers are already the implied focus

39. of these interactions. In fact, adding or removing
references to “you” (the customer) tended to have no
positive effect in our studies. We replicated these results
across a total of nine experiments (more than 1,200
participants total, about 55% female, 45% male) using a
variety of language stimuli covering a range of typical
customer service interactions. In our studies, the use of
“you” to refer to the customer as the recipient of the
agent’s actions — such as “I can look that up for you” —
did nothing to improve satisfaction, purchase intentions,
or customer feelings that the agent was acting with either
empathy or agency.
Say ‘I’ for Service Success

40. Customer service agents tend to use the “we” pronoun,
but using the “I” pronoun leads to greater customer
satisfaction and an increase in purchases.
Copyright © Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2018. All
rights reserved. Reprint #60209 https://mitsmr.com/2D7hXIO
For the exclusive use of R. Ramos, 2021.
This document is authorized for use only by Rosendo Ramos in
EMGT 6010 UPDATE-1-1-1-1 taught by STEPHEN
FLAHERTY, Ohio University from Mar 2021 to Sep 2021.
https://mitsmr.com/2D7hXIO
MIT SLOAN MANAGEMENT REVIEW
DIGITAL
MIT SLOAN MANAGEMENT REVIEW
Sometimes, using the word “you” can actually have a

41. negative effect on company and customer outcomes. For
example, we found that saying to a customer, “Sorry your
product was defective,” rather than “Sorry the product
was defective,” resulted in decreased satisfaction and
purchase intentions. This result was driven in part by
perceptions that the employee wasn’t being accountable
DIGITAL
(that is, lacked agency), potentially shifting the
responsibility or blame toward the customer.
In short, the usual prescriptions and practices of referring
to the company as “we” and emphasizing “you,” the
customer, fail to reap the benefts that managers expect.
It’s more effective when agents speak from a personal,

42. singular perspective — treating customer interactions as
one-to-one, rather than many-to-one, dialogues. So front-
line service employees should be coached to do that.
There are simple language changes that any company can
implement. (See “Say ‘I’ for Service Success.”) By making
these changes to customer service language, organizations
can create more meaningful interactions with their
customers — and improve the bottom line.
Copyright © Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2018. All
rights reserved. Reprint #60209 https://mitsmr.com/2D7hXIO
For the exclusive use of R. Ramos, 2021.
This document is authorized for use only by Rosendo Ramos in
EMGT 6010 UPDATE-1-1-1-1 taught by STEPHEN
FLAHERTY, Ohio University from Mar 2021 to Sep 2021.

43. https://mitsmr.com/2D7hXIO
MIT SLOAN MANAGEMENT REVIEW
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
DIGITAL
7.
8.
9.

44. 10.
MIT SLOAN MANAGEMENT REVIEW
About the Authors
Brent McFerran is the W.J.
VanDusen Associate Professor of
Marketing at Beedie School of
Business at Simon Fraser University
in Vancouver, British Columbia,
Canada. Sarah G. Moore is an
associate professor of marketing at
the University of Alberta’s Alberta
School of Business in Edmonton,
Alberta, Canada. Grant Packard
(@grantpackard) is an associate
professor of marketing at Lazaridis
School of Business and Economics at
Wilfrid Laurier University in
Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.
References
1. S. Moore, “Gartner Says 25% of

45. Customer Service Operations Will Use
Virtual Customer Assistants by 2020,”
Gartner press release, Feb. 19, 2018.
2. Microsoft, “2017 State of Global
Customer Service Report,” accessed
August 2018.
3. S. Biddle, “How to Be a Genius: This Is
Apple’s Secret Employee Training Manual,”
Gizmodo.com, Aug. 28, 2012.
4. C. Borowski, “What Customers Think
About Call Center Scripts, 2014 Versus
2018,” Software Advice, accessed August
2018.
5. G. Packard, S.G. Moore, and B.
McFerran, “(I’m) Happy to Help (You):
The Impact of Personal Pronoun Use in
Customer-Firm Interactions,” Journal of
Marketing Research 55, no. 4 (August
2018): 541-555.
6. J. Pennebaker, “The Secret Life of

46. Pronouns: What Our Words Say About
Us” (New York: Bloomsbury Press, 2013).
DIGITAL
7. W. Ickes, S. Reidhead, and M. Patterson,
“Machiavellianism and Self-Monitoring:
As Different as ‘Me’ and ‘You,’” Social
Cognition 4, no. 1 (March 1986): 58-74.
8. J. Fahnestock, “Rhetorical Style: The
Uses of Language in Persuasion,” (New
York: Oxford University Press, 2011).
9. J. Singh and D. Sirdeshmukh, “Agency
and Trust Mechanisms in Consumer
Satisfaction and Loyalty Judgments,”
Journal of the Academy of Marketing
Science 28, no. 1 (2000): 150-167; A.
Smith, R. Bolton, and J. Wagner, “A Model
of Customer Satisfaction With Service
Encounters Involving Failure and
Recovery,” Journal of Marketing Research
36, no. 3 (1999): 356-372; and A.
Parasuraman, “Understanding Customer

47. Expectations of Service,” MIT Sloan
Management Review 32, no. 3 (1991):
12-40.
10. Packard, Moore, and McFerran,
Journal of Marketing Research, p. 543.
Copyright © Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2018. All
rights reserved. Reprint #60209 https://mitsmr.com/2D7hXIO
For the exclusive use of R. Ramos, 2021.
This document is authorized for use only by Rosendo Ramos in
EMGT 6010 UPDATE-1-1-1-1 taught by STEPHEN
FLAHERTY, Ohio University from Mar 2021 to Sep 2021.
https://twitter.com/grantpackard
https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2018-02-
19-gartner-says-25-percent-of-customer-service-operations-will-
use-virtual-customer-assistants-by-2020
https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2018-02-
19-gartner-says-25-percent-of-customer-service-operations-will-
use-virtual-customer-assistants-by-2020
https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2018-02-
19-gartner-says-25-percent-of-customer-service-operations-will-

48. use-virtual-customer-assistants-by-2020
https://info.microsoft.com/rs/157-GQE-382/images/EN-CNTNT-
Report-DynService-2017-global-state-customer-service.pdf
https://info.microsoft.com/rs/157-GQE-382/images/EN-CNTNT-
Report-DynService-2017-global-state-customer-service.pdf
https://gizmodo.com/5938323/how-to-be-a-genius-this-is-
apples-secret-employee-training-manual
https://gizmodo.com/5938323/how-to-be-a-genius-this-is-
apples-secret-employee-training-manual
https://www.softwareadvice.com/resources/what-customers-
think-call-center-script/
https://www.softwareadvice.com/resources/what-customers-
think-call-center-script/
https://www.softwareadvice.com/resources/what-customers-
think-call-center-script/
https://mitsmr.com/2D7hXIO
https://Gizmodo.com
MIT SLOAN MANAGEMENT REVIEW
DIGITAL
MIT SLOAN MANAGEMENT REVIEW

49. DIGITAL
PDFs Reprints Permission to Copy Back Issues
Articles published in MIT Sloan Management Review are
copyrighted by the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology unless otherwise specifed
at the end of an
article.
MIT Sloan Management Review articles, permissions, and back
issues can be
purchased on our website: sloanreview.mit.edu or you may
order through our
Business Service Center (9 a.m.-5 p.m. ET) at the phone
numbers listed below.
Paper reprints are available in quantities of 250 or more.
Reproducing or transmitting one or more MIT Sloan
Management Review
articles by electronic or mechanical means (including
photocopying or archiving
in any information storage or retrieval system) requires written
permission.

50. To request permission, use our website: sloanreview.mit.edu
or
Email: [email protected]
Call (US and International):617-253-7170 Fax: 617-258-9739
Posting of full-text SMR articles on publicly accessible Internet
sites is
prohibited. To obtain permission to post articles on secure
and/or password-
protected intranet sites, email your request to [email protected]
Copyright © Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2018. All
rights reserved. Reprint #60209 https://mitsmr.com/2D7hXIO
For the exclusive use of R. Ramos, 2021.
This document is authorized for use only by Rosendo Ramos in
EMGT 6010 UPDATE-1-1-1-1 taught by STEPHEN
FLAHERTY, Ohio University from Mar 2021 to Sep 2021.
http://sloanreview.mit.edu
http://sloanreview.mit.edu
mailto:[email protected]
mailto:[email protected]
https://mitsmr.com/2D7hXIOStructure BookmarksHow Should
Companies Talk to Customers Online? How Should Companies

51. Talk to Customers Online? The Power of Pronouns About the
Research Using ‘I’ Conveys Empathy and Action Using ‘You’
Can Backfire Say ‘I’ for Service Success About the Authors
References
CSS 220 Module 8 Homework
Kruskal’s algorithm – is a Minimum Spanning Tree
algorithm which finds an edge of the least possible weight that
connects any two trees in the forest.
Prim’s algorithm – The algorithm operates by building the
Minimum Spanning Tree one vertex at a time, from an arbitrary
starting vertex, at each step adding the cheapest possible
connection from the tree to another vertex.
Binary Tree Traversals
In-order Traversal - Left, Root, Right
Pre-order Traversal - Root, Left, Right
Post-order Traversal - Left, Right, Root

52. 1.
Consider the graph given above. Use the nearest neighbor
algorithm to find the Hamiltonian circuit starting at vertex A.
a) List the vertices in the Hamiltonian circuit in the order they
are visited. Do not forget to include the starting vertex at both
ends.
b) Calculate the weight of the circuit.
2.
Consider the graph given above. Use the nearest neighbor
algorithm to find the Hamiltonian circuit starting at vertex O.
a) List the vertices in the Hamiltonian circuit in the order they
are visited. Do not forget to include the starting vertex at both
ends.

53. b) What is the total weight along the Hamiltonian circuit?
3.
Consider the graph given above. Use Kruskal's and Prim’s
algorithms (for Prim start at J) to find the minimum spanning
tree.
a) For each algorithm provide the edges in the order they were
selected.
b) What is the total weight of the spanning tree?
4. Create the binary search tree representation of the following
list: 22,8,41,34,5,20.
Then perform in-order traversal of the tree. What do you get?
5. Perform in-order, pre-order, and post-order traversal on the
tree below. List out the sequence of values for each traver sal.

54. 6. Perform post-order traversal on this arithmetic expression
tree. What is the resulting value?
7. Consider the following graph:
Which one of the following can NOT be the sequence of edges
added to the minimum spanning tree using Kruskal's algorithm?
a. (b,e)(e,f)(a,c)(b,c)(f,g)(c,d)
b. (b,e)(e,f)(a,c)(f,g)(b,c)(c,d)
c. (b,e)(e,f)(b,c)(a,c)(f,g)(c,d)
d. (b,e)(a,c)(e,f)(b,c)(f,g)(c,d)

55. Quiz 8
Quiz
Top of Form
Question 1 (1.5 points)
Saved
A spanning tree for n nodes uses _____ edges.
Question 1 options:
1)
n-1
2)
n
3)

56. n+1
4)
n(n-1)
Question 2 (1.5 points)
Saved
Adding an additional edge to a spanning tree would produce
_____.
Question 2 options:
1)
a loop
2)
a redundant path
3)
a cycle

57. 4)
all of the above
Question 3 (1.5 points)
Saved
A search which starts at the root of the tree and bears left is the
_____ strategy.
Question 3 options:
1)
preorder
2)
postorder
3)
inorder
Question 4 (1.5 points)
Saved
A spanning tree must connect nodes _____.

58. Question 4 options:
1)
from bottom up
2)
with a minimum number of edges
3)
symmetrically
4)
from top down
Question 5 (1.5 points)
Saving...
Consider the cities . The costs of the possible roads between
cities are given below:
c(C,E)=11
c(C,F)=12
c(C,G)=14

59. c(D,G)=13
c(E,H)=15
c(F,H)=16
c(G,H)=17
What is the minimum cost to build a road system that connects
all the cities?
Question 5 options:
1)
65
2)
61
3)
66
4)
63
Question 6 (1.5 points)

60. Saving...
Spanning trees are used in computer networks to assure _____.
Question 6 options:
1)
there are no cycles or loops
2)
all computers are available on the network
3)
a minimum number of links are used
4)
all of the above
Question 7 (1.5 points)
Saved
Which of the following are trees?
Question 7 options:

61. 1)
2)
3)
Submit Quiz5 of 7 questions saved
Bottom of Form
Quiz 7
Which of the following is an Euler path?
Question 1 options:
4, 2, 1, 0, 3

62. 0, 1, 2, 3, 4
4, 3, 0, 2, 1
3, 0, 1, 2, 0, 3, 4
0, 2, 1, 0, 3, 4
Question 2 (1.5 points)
What is the shortest path length you can use to get from point 6
to point 2?
Question 2 options:
1)
4
2)
2
3)
3

63. 4)
5
5)
1
Question 3 (1.5 points)
For the given graph(G), which of the following statements is
true?
Question 3 options:
1)
G is a complete graph
2)
The vertex connectivity of the graph is 2
3)

64. G is not a connected graph
4)
The edge connectivity of the graph is 1
Question 4 (1.5 points)
How many components does this graph have?
Question 4 options:
1)
4
2)
2
3)
0
4)

65. 3
5)
1
Question 5 (1.5 points)
Which of the following will get you from point 3 to point 5?
Question 5 options:
1)
3 to 1 to 5
2)
3 to 2 to 5
3)
3 to 2 to 1 to 4 to 5
4)

66. 3 to 6 to 4 to 5
5)
3 to 4 to 6 to 5
Submit Quiz