The Art of Influence - Persuasion Techniques

Running head: THE ART OF INFLUENCE
THE ART OF INFLUENCE
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author Note:

1THE ART OF INFLUENCE
Introduction
Today afternoon I have faced a situation where as a team leader I had to handle the
irresponsibility of one of my team members, which could create a bad reputation of my team.
Abraham Mathew like always turned up with silly excuses of why he had not been able to
arrange the power-point presentation which is due tomorrow. His reason was to do with a
small wound on his finger. The arrangement is very crucial and without that it is impossible
to present something in front of the teachers and I wish that the work is done as soon as
possible by evening. It is very tensely for a leader in a situation like this. So in order to take
control, I have to use some persuasion techniques which will influence Abraham to submit
his work due time.
The technique which I can consider is Principle of Authority. In this strategy, people
follow the lead of credible knowledgeable experts, just like students follow the commands
given by teachers or parents because of their authority. Making use of my position as a leader
and commanding Abraham to work considerably and sincerely will certainly influence him to
take the matter seriously. Leaders who take control and show their authority create an
ambience for the followers to think that the task at hand is important and should be done
sincerely. It indicates a situation of hierarchy of power where people at below must oblige the
orders given by people at above.
Even after that if Abraham still comes with further excuses, another technique which
can be used is the Principle of Scarcity. In this strategy, people want to have more of those
things that they have no or less possession of, where people are told of the benefits that they
can gain instead. By telling Abraham that if he does not do the assigned work, he may lose
his good reputation and it can also create loss for the team. He may also get low scores in this
assignment. By creating an atmosphere of personal loss Abraham may consider the pros and
cons of his behavior and take appropriate which will not affect him in future. By using these
strategies, most of the leaders and also people try to influence behavior of others in a desired
way.

2THE ART OF INFLUENCE
Exercise
Description of friend’s role
The role my friend, Martha will play is of an employee who by occupation is a relationship
manager working for 2 years in FMCG company. She has to deal with lots of customer
complaints and solve their queries. The meetings with no work life balance has made her
grow distaste in her job. She is suffering from lot of stress on the workplace and her
productivity is dropping due to such work pressure. She is thinking of quieting her job as she
feels she will not be able to take much stress and is giving up. She is therefore ready to give
her resignation tomorrow to the boss of her company.
My Role
I will be the HR Manager who will influence her to stay in the company and make her
feel better in the situation by recommending better ways to cope up with her stress. I will not
persuade her with coercion or going against the ethical guidelines of communication but will
make her feel motivated to come on the office the next day.
Timing
The timing of the conversation with her will minimum of 20 minutes and maximum
of 30 minutes. I will give her time to speak in between and understand her situation. There
will be a two-way communication channel.
Words I will use
I will use persuasive words and sentences like:
a. Please
b. I understand
c. How about you think ...
d. I will like to guide you…
e. I am totally agreeing with you…
f. It is good to hear…
g. How about you try…

3THE ART OF INFLUENCE
Actions I will take
To make Martha understand, who is the employee going through stress, I will use the
principle of commitment and consistency where I will make her follow the guideline that she
cannot take a decision to leave the company at an immediate decision. Before getting
employed, she has committed to stay with the company for 3 years. I will make her conscious
about her past decision and influence her to be consistent with her views and opinions about
her role in the company and serve her duties. Regarding the work pressure, I will persuade
her through principle of social proof that how the other employees work hard and struggle to
strive for their performance. I will make her feel motivated through my words and get a view
from different angle on how to be more productive on work and eliminate the stress. She will
be bound to change her decision to leave the company.
Analysis
Yes, my attempt worked.
Yes, it produced the expected results but not in much high assurance. At the end,
Martha is still confused about her decision and though of giving it a second thought.
However, she was influenced at that particular time to not submit resignation. She got
manipulated by my words for certain minutes.
Yes, she has raised defense mechanisms. Her defense actions has been mainly by
raising the issue of work pressure and her incapability to handle such stress. I neutralized
those defense actions by persuading her to stay in the commitment which she has promised
before. However, she was not yet convinced so to manipulate her mind, I had to use the good
perceptual view of the other colleagues of her who are getting success by working hard.
The other tactic which could have used is the principle of scarcity. She could be
persuaded by making her feel that there will be less opportunities with high compensation
package which her present company is paying her.
Conclusion
In conclusion, I have learnt that the art of influence is more than coercion on unethical
grounds. Out of the six principles of influence, I have discussed four principles. The way of
influencing someone should depend on the situation, needs and the consequences too. There
should be flexibility in application of principles. I would like to enquire later about how the
influence impact the person on the opposite side.

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Bibliography
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