262 CHAPTER 8 • INFLUENCE TACTICS OF LEADERS

of the “human resources advisory board” composed of company executives

and distinguished citizens from the community.

Essentially Dishonest and Unethical Tactics

The tactics described in this section are less than forthright and ethical, yet
they vary in intensity with respect to dishonesty. Most people would con-
sider the first two strategies presented here as unethical and devious, yet
they might regard the second two tactics as still within the bounds of
acceptable ethics, even though less than fully candid. The tactics in question
are outlined in Table 8-3.

Deliberate Machiavellianism Niccolò Machiavelli advised that princes must be

strong, ruthless, and cynical leaders because people are self-centered and self-
serving. As implied in Chapter 7, people in the workplace who ruthlessly
manipulate others have therefore come to be called Machiavellians. They
tend to initiate actions with others and control the interactions. Machiavellians
regularly practice deception, bluffing, and other manipulative tactics.20 A mod-
ern example of deliberate Machiavellianism is the practice of forcing manage-
rial and professional employees into working many extra hours of
uncompensated overtime. The employees are told that if they refuse to work
extra hours, they will not be considered worthy of promotion or as good team
players. Even when positions in other companies are readily available, most
career-minded people will stay because they want to preserve a good
reputation.

Gentle Manipulation of People and Situations Some people who attempt to

influence others are manipulative, but to a lesser extent than an outright
Machiavellian. They gain the compliance of another person by making
untrue statements or faking certain behaviors. For example, a leader might
imply that if a colleague supports his position in an intergroup conflict, the
person might be recommended for promotion. Another manipulative
approach is to imply dire consequences to innocent people if the influence
target does not comply with demands of the influence agent, such as, “Even
if you don’t want to put in extra effort for me, think of the people with fam-
ilies who will be laid off if we don’t make our targets.”
A widely used manipulative approach is to tap into social norms in order to
gain consensus. According to Steve Martin, behavior specialist at the consult-
ing firm Influence at Work, this technique can move people to model their

TABLE 8-3 Essentially Dishonest and Unethical Influence Tactics

1. Deliberate Machiavellianism
© Cengage Learning

2. Gentle manipulation of people and situations

3. Undue pressure
4. Debasement

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 DESCRIPTION AND EXPLANATION OF INFLUENCE TACTICS 263

behavior after others. He gives the example of working with the U.K. tax col-
lecting service. Martin witnessed an increase in the return rate after enclosing
messages such as “nine out of ten people pay their tax on time.” The rate of
returns increased even more when the tax collection service presented mes-
sages referring to the number of people who field returns with the individual’s
own town or postal code.21 A workplace example is a manager who informs
the vice president that she wants an enlarged budget for attendance at the lat-
est social networking seminars because “all other companies are doing it.”
The technique of tapping into social norms can be combined with peer
pressure to influence a group member. If one person is not stepping for-
ward to work well as a team member, the manager will say, “Bob, everyone
in the department is committed to developing a team atmosphere, and we’d
like you to be a part of it.”22

Undue Pressure Effective leaders regularly use motivational techniques such

as rewards and mild punishments. Yet, when rewards become bribes for
compliance and threats of punishment become severe, the target person is
subjected to undue pressure or coercion. An example of a bribe by a manager
might be, “If you can work eighty hours on this project this week, I’ll recom-
mend you for the highest pay grade.” Another approach to pressure is for the
manager to scream and swear at the subordinate as a form of intimidation.
As one manager under pressure of his own, shouted to a subordinate:
“Get some of these receivables paid by the end of the week or
find another job.”
Two specific behaviors labeled pressure in a research study were as
follows:
• Uses threats or warnings when trying to get you to do something.
• Tries to pressure you to carry out a request.

Debasement A subtle manipulative tactic is debasement, demeaning or

insulting oneself to control the behavior of another person. Richard Par-
sons, the former chair of Citigroup, uses debasement to disarm people. A
long-time friend said of Parsons, “Richard’s ability to get people to underes-
timate him is a great skill. If you are obvious, they know where to hit you.
Who wins between the bull and matador?“23 Specific debasing tactics
revealed by research include the following: “I lower myself so she’ll do it,”
and “I act humble so she’ll do it.”24
In studying the most severe unethical influence (and political) tactics, it is
important to recognize that the use of these influence approaches can bring
about human suffering. For example, bullying and intimidating tactics may
not be illegal, but they are unethical. Cruelty in the organization creates
many problems. As one observer notes, “Cruelty is blatantly unethical and
erodes the organizational character through intellectual, emotional, moral,
and social vices that reduce the readiness of groups to act ethically.”25 Exam-
ples of cruelty include insulting a group member’s physical appearance or
belittling him or her.

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Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
264 CHAPTER 8 • INFLUENCE TACTICS OF LEADERS
Leadership Skill-Building Exercise 8-1 gives you an opportunity to prac-
tice influence tactics in a high-stakes business situation.
Leadership Skill-Building Exercise 8-2 will help you recognize several of
the influence tactics described in this chapter. Another tactic mentioned in
the exercise, assertiveness, was described in Chapter 2.

LEADERSHIP SKILL-BUILDING EXERCISE 8-1

Influence Tactics
One student plays the role of a chief financial officer of a $5 million in payouts plus some liability for future
large company. After months of analysis, the CFO deci- health benefits and retirement pay. Four other students
des that a key step the company can take to be profit- will play the role of the top-management team, several
able during the next several years is to get about 5,000 of whom might be skeptical about the soundness of the
employees to accept voluntary retirement. As severance plan offered by the CFO. Observers will pay close atten-
pay, the workers who accept the retirement package tion to the influence tactics used by the CFO, and per-
will receive one year’s salary, depending on the length haps by the other members of the top-management
of service. The buyout could cost the company around team.

LEADERSHIP SKILL-BUILDING EXERCISE 8-2

Identifying Influence Tactics
Instructions: After reading the following passage, identify “Even worse, the corporate group is planning to pur-
which influence tactics the leader is using, and explain chase HR software that will enable line managers
your reasoning. throughout the company to take care of their own HR
Gina is the director of human resources in a diversi- responsibilities, such as recruiting and selection.
fied company with approximately 50,000 workers. She “I want to work with all of you to develop strategies
has assembled her five direct reports in a hotel confer- and tactics so vital that the top-management team will
ence room for a Saturday morning meeting. With an decide to keep our group intact, and not join the outsour-
intense facial expression, Gina launched directly into cing movement. We need also to discourage line man-
her presentation, supported by PowerPoint slides on a agers from being performing HR on their own without
large screen. our help. Think of HR activities so vital that we become
“Enjoy your coffee, tea, juice, donuts, bagels, and indispensable. Maybe we should be coordinating a flu-
pastries because I can offer you no other goodies this shot program. Maybe we should beef up our wellness
morning. As HR professionals, you know we are in trouble. program so much that absenteeism and insurance
As hard as we all work, and as much good as we do, our costs are reduced to an extent that our contribution to
jobs are in peril. The trend is clear. Our corporation, simi- the bottom line is obvious even to our chief financial
lar to many others, might be outsourcing our work to HR officer.
vendors. The movement has already begun with payroll “Now that I’ve told you the truth, let’s get started
being outsourced last year and health insurance this year. having a true dialogue about the challenges facing us.”

Copyright 2016 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.