Скачать или смотреть Neutral Influence Tactics

If implemented with good intent, they tend to be positive, but if implemented with the intent of duping another person, they tend to be negative. Ingratiation is pervasive in organizations because being liked is quite important to many people. When ingratiation takes the form of well-deserved flattery or compliments, it is a positive tactic. Yet, getting somebody else to like you can be considered a mildly manipulative influence tactic if you do not like the other person.

Ingratiation is often directed upward, in the sense of a subordinate attempting to get the superior to like him or her. Ingratiation also works in a downward direction, when leaders attempt to get their subordinates to like them. Typical ingratiating techniques directed toward subordinates include lunch invitations, compliments, good work assignments, and feeding a subordinate’s hobby, such as contributing a rare stamp to an employee’s collection. Leaders who ordinarily are quite the opposite of ingratiating will sometimes go out of their way to be humble and agreeable to fit an important purpose.

Good-natured kidding is especially effective when a straightforward statement might be interpreted as harsh criticism. Joking or kidding can thus get the message across and lower the risk that the target will be angry with the influence agent. In upward appeal, the leader exerts influence on a team member by getting a person with more formal authority to do the influencing. Some managers view this as an ethical practice, yet it does contain an element of manipulation.

A potentially effective influence tactic, as well as a method of conflict resolution, is to find a clever way to get the other person or group of persons to join forces with you. In this sense, to co-opt is to win over opponents by making them part of your team or giving them a stake in the system.