Question

Toolkit Exercise 9.3

Influence Tactics

1.      Think specifically of change situations in an organization you are familiar with. What influence tactics did people use? Describe 3 situations in which 3 different tactics were used.

      a.    Inspirational appeals

      b.    Consultation (seeking the participation of others)

      c.    Relying on the informal system (existing norms and relationships)

     d.    Personal appeals (appeals to friendship and loyalty)

      e.    Ingratiation

      f.    Rational persuasion (use of facts, data, logic)

      g.    Exchange or reciprocity

      h.    Coalition building (creation of subgroups or links with other groups to exert pressure)

       i.    Using organizational rules or legitimating tactics (framing of the request as consistent with policy and/or your authority

       j.    Direct pressure

      k.    Appeals to higher authority and dealing directly with decision makers

2.      How successful were each of the tactics? Why did they work or not work?

3.      How comfortable are you with each tactic? Which could you use?

Answer 1

Different change situations witnessed in organization:

Situation 1: I was asked to relocate to a new location of the company. This location was quite far from my home, so I was quite reluctant. But my manager and HRM helped me, explain the opportunities associated with this role. The new role was preparing me for senior level management. Also the growth opportunities in the new role were immense. They had used Rational persuasion to persuade me to accept the change.

· The tactic used was quite effective in convincing me. The facts which they shared, helped me the golden opportunity which I was being offered and hence I could embrace the new change quite effectively.

· I learnt the usage of Rational Persuasion can be quite effective in winning people and inclining them to your thoughts and decisions. Now I lead a team of 10 people and make use of Rational Persuasion quite regularly.

Situation 2: There was a change in leadership in my project and a newly hired manager has come to lead the project. Our old manager was leading us for 7 years and we had our loyalties intended to him. The new manager could sense our resistance to this new change. Hence one day he conducted a team meeting. In that meeting, he talked about his journey and how he intended to know us and build a new bond with us. He used Inspirational as well as Personal appeals to win acceptance in the project and make us comfortable under his leadership.

· By sharing his story and giving an insight about his journey, our manager inspired us. His efforts to develop an camaraderie were quite evident through his appeals. He could have simply used direct pressure on us but he wanted to maintain a positive work environment and hence made efforts. His efforts were quite successful and we did evolve as a great team.

· Inspirational and Personal appeals can help in winning followers and supporters if the story as well as the effort is genuine.

Situation 3: My company was changing its organization structure. Ours was a hierarchical structure, which was being changed to a flat one. Various layers were removed from the structure. There was confusion in overall workforce that there will be downsizing in the company. The management conducted a townhall in which they explained why this shift was important for us as well as the company. They assured that there will be no downsizing and all employees will get defined roles. They also issued a policy in this regard. The management used Organizational Rules and Legitimating Tactics to align the employees to the new org structure.

· The way the management handled this situation was quite commendable as there was quite mayhem in employees. The introduction of policy helped in winning trust and establishing assurance.

· If the change is in benefit of the organization, the use of organizational rules and legitimating tactics can be done.