Students should read the article The Necessary Art of Persuasion by Jay A Conger and write a two-page summary describing the essential steps of effective persuasion, why it’s important – including the benefits of effective persuasion, and how it may apply and or be used in the workplace.
Summary
Jay A. Conger, who is a professor of organizational behavior at the University of Southern California (where he also directs the Leadership Institute), is of the view that persuasion is a language of leadership and therefore, it must be effective. Conger contradicts the prevailing understanding about persuasion that it is a phenomenon of devious nature, which salespersons/managers use to trick or deceive customers/employees. Conger contradicts this notion and understanding, in his article, in a very systematic manner, and argues that persuasion is an art or science, which leadership/persuader can apply in a very systematic, methodical and constructive manner to realize short and long-term objectives.
The argument, by Jay Conger, that persuasion becomes a negotiation, and a learning process is a unique argument. It suggests that persuasion is not a one-dimensional phenomenon, with the objective to affect one’s reasoning and position, but rather, it is a give and take the process to move a person being persuaded to a new position that is acceptable to all engaged parties. Conger puts this in this manner in his article, “persuasion does indeed involve moving people to a new position, they do not currently hold, but not by begging or cajoling.”
The author of the article asserts that persuasion (effective) is a systematic process and it has various elements. These elements are 1) evidence, 2) framing of arguments, 3) patience, and 4) correct emotional match with the client or audience. It is true that without credible evidence, it is hard to persuade an individual/group. In fact, credible evidence is itself self-explanatory and self-persuading. Therefore, the evidence is a strong and most important element of persuasion. Similarly, framing of argument, by the available evidence is vital. If arguments are not by the available evidence, it will become extremely difficult to persuade an individual or group. Also, whenever there is an element of force involved in persuasion, it fails to produce desired results. It is because it is human nature to resist compulsion and during the process of persuasion, the free will has an enormous size (Conger, 1998).
In the corporate realm, the managerial models are based on the command-and-control model, which are less time consuming; however, studies reveal that they are not able to produce desired results. In contemporary firms, more and more managers are appealing to their workforce/employees and persuading them regarding the goals and objectives. One of the methods they are using is the synchronization of objectives (of the employee and firm). The objective of persuasion, in a firm, is to increase positive work-deviance, which directly and positively affects firm’s performance and capacity. It must be recognized that persuasion is also understood as 1) logic, 2) persistence, and 3) personal enthusiasm (Morgan, 2010).
In the article, Jay Conger also emphasizes on the methods and strategies, which are not suitable to persuade an individual or group. The foremost is an attempt to make their case a hard-sell. It suggests that an idea is proposed with finesses and targets are revealed gradually (positive engagement). Conger also discourages the attitude of zero-compromise. Such strategy seldom bears desired results. It must be recognized that eventual objective, of any persuasion attempt, is moving an individual to a new position, which is closer to the position of the persuader. Therefore, the zero-compromise persuasion is not an effective persuasion. Also, the entire emphasis must not only be on arguments, but also in evidence. We have already discussed the relevance and significance of the evidence in persuasion.
Persuasion is sometimes art and sometimes a science; however, in any case, all the elements, which we have discussed must be considered during persuasion, whether we are persuading employees regarding their performance or corporate clients, who are our existing/potential employees.
References
Conger, J. A. (1998). The necessary art of persuasion. Harvard Business Review magazine, 85-95.
Morgan, N. (2010, February 2). Leadership Is All About Emotional Persuasion. Retrieved April 6, 2018, from https://www.forbes.com/2010/02/02/communication-emotional-persuasion-leadership-managing-speaking.html#7afa7e122dde
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