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Unit 8: Role of Attitude and Persuasion

involved subordinates know exactly their roles, so he or she need not use generally ineffective Notes
tactics such as persuasion. Successful managers are sensitive cope with dependence by being
sensitive to, avoiding unnecessary dependence, and establishing power. That power thus equals
plans, organization, good staff, budgets, etc., which good evaluations. Effective management
essentially comes down to the manager feeling a sense of obligation which trickles all around
the company, and there should be a defined trust in the expertise of the manager, that his
decisions are the correct ones.
8.15 Principles of Persuasion

The six principles of persuasion are as follows:
1. Reciprocity:
(a) Humans are programmed to reciprocate when we are given something. The act of
receiving from someone else instills in us the need to repay that favour (however
small). There are evolutionary reasons for this (i.e. it supports cooperation).
(b) Reciprocation “pressures the recipient of an already-made concession to respond in
kind”.
2. Commitment and Consistency:
(a) Human beings innately want to be seen as consistent. Inconsistency in a human
being is considered a fault, and is associated with a host of other negative qualities
(e.g. untrustworthiness, instability). As a result, when people commit to an act,
belief, attitude, etc., they wish to maintain that stance, in order to be viewed as
consistent.
(b) Importantly, commitment will only be felt if the recipient of our request accepts
“inner responsibility for the actions we want them to take”. In other words, if
people feel forced to take an action, they will not “own” that decision, and will not
feel sustained commitment.
Several tactics can be used to obtain commitment:

(i) Foot-in-the-door technique: Start with a small request “in order to gain eventual
compliance with related larger requests”. Getting people to make small changes
to their behaviour will not only put them on a track to larger requests because
they want to be seen as consistent, it will do so also because a change in a
person’s behaviour also changes their self-image.
(ii) Written commitment: A written commitment is effective because of the physical
act of writing something down.
(iii) Public commitment: When a person makes a commitment to others, they will
want to keep that commitment to ensure that they are viewed as “consistent”
by others.
3. Social Proof:
(a) This principle states that we learn what is correct by finding out what other people
think is correct. This can be done through asking, or observing the behaviour of
others.
Conditions under which social proof can most strongly affect behaviour include:
(i) Situations of extreme uncertainty (i.e. when a person has no idea what is
going on)

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