Fundamental Principles of Persuasion - Book Report/Review Example

Persuasion Tactics Persuasion Tactics Cialdini is the most convincing of the four with a simple and clear explanation of thebasic principles of persuasion. He gets directly to the point on what influences one’s ability to persuade others into doing something or working in a particular manner. He explains the fact that some people are naturals in persuading people, but the frustrating point of this skill is that it cannot be taught to others by these persuasion experts. The fact that managers need persuasion skills more than authoritative ones in their daily operations leads to the need of understanding that persuasion works by getting to know the needs and drives of human beings that are highly predictable and applying the fundamental principles of persuasion to work on these drives (Cialdini, 2001, p. 1). The good thing about these principles is that they can be taught, unlike the persuasion skill itself. These fundamental principles of persuasion include the principles of liking, reciprocity, social proof, consistency, authority and scarcity. The principle of liking brings out the aspect of liking, creating a big difference between the productivity of people working under a boss they like and those working under one they dislike. Robert Cialdini clearly explains how similarity and praise influence liking, giving an example of the Tupperware party where people buy items mostly because they like the person inviting them. He also explains the principle of reciprocity. People are likely to repay for the good done to them. A manager can willingly support another manager in a different department with extra personnel when they need such help and be sure to get similar assistance when the need arises, and without much hustle. The principle of social proof as explained by Cialdini brings out the aspect that people are likely to do something if someone similar to them did the same. A smart manager can, therefore, persuade an individual to work in a certain way and use this person as a convincing example to get others to work as their colleague did. This can be identified in the ease of members of staff following directives of a memo if one of them decides to oblige by them or of signing a contract if a list of fellow members of staff who have already signed it is presented to them unlike when no one on their level of employment has signed it (Cialdini, 2001, p.3) It is clear that people act well on their written commitments, bringing out the aspect of the principle of consistency. Commitments that are made in writing are easily adhered to. They should be active, public and voluntary A person who is forced to commit themselves to something will not abide to it and managers should thus avoid forcing members of staff from making involuntary commitments. The principle of authority indicates how the need to expose your expertise as a manager greatly builds the trust that people under you develop. People tend to believe that experts are the best in what they do. Thus displaying qualification certificates and awards in the office for all to see is a way of explaining your expertise. A manager should never assume that their expertise is self-evident. People are more influenced by the notion that they will lose something by failing to follow a directive rather than gain by following it. This explains the principle of scarcity. CAT Industries 1500 Avenue 555-470-1542 www.cati.com Date: January 14, 2015 To: All members of staff From: Michael Joseph Subject: Request to report to work on the 3rd weekend of January Following the urgent need to meet our customer’s order for supply of stationary that is due in the next two weeks, it is requested that members of staff report to work in the coming weekend for completion of packaging and labelling of the items. The various departmental heads were consulted and found it necessary to work during the weekend. Several members of staff were also consulted randomly and many of them were willing to sacrifice their plans for the weekend for the good of the company. Members of staff who fail to show up will receive no form of punishment, but will not enjoy the free meals and overtime pay that will be calculated from the hours worked during the weekend. Any changes or developments shall be communicated in due time. We can easily derive the Cialdini’s principles of persuasion from the memo above. The principle of consistency is seen in requesting the members of staff to come to work and also in stating that departmental heads were okay with working on weekends. It is seen in the fact that working on the weekend will be a voluntary commitment made by the employee and it is publicized by informing the departmental heads. The principle of social proof is seen in the fact that most of the consulted employees were willing to work on the proposed weekend. It definitely persuades those who were not sure on whether to volunteer to work or not to report to work seeing that their colleagues too will be working. The principle of scarcity is used on the employees by offering free meals and overtime pay for those who agree to work during the weekend. It is done by using the notion of loss for those who fail to turn up. They are simply informed that they will miss out on the goodies that come with working during the weekend, despite the fact that they are not entitled to any punishment. This is enough to persuade even those who had other important weekend plans to cancel them and report to work. Pearson’s tutorial is applied in ensuring that the subject of the memo summarizes its content in simple words. Important information is also given in the first paragraph so that the recipient, even after reading the subject and the first paragraph already knows what the memo talks about. The tone is also respectful, and no biasness is seen as recommended in Pearson’s tutorials. References Cialdini, B. (2001). Harnessing the science of persuasion. Harvard Business School Press. Read More