Chin and Benne termed their resulting approaches: empirical- rational, normative-

reeducative, and power-coercive. The critical difference among these approaches is the
motivation the influencing agent attributes to the target of the influence attempt.

Empirical Rational Approach

The underlying philosophy of empirical- rational approaches is that people are essentially
rational and will change their behavior when the change is justifiable to them on an
intellectual level. In other words, if a person thinks that it is logical and important to
change, he or she will do so if given the proper information. It is only ignorance and
superstition that act to prevent behavior change from occurring (Chin and Benne, 1969).

Normative Reeducative Approach

This approach assumes that people are active organisms, who depend on new knowledge
as well as a variety of noncognitive, sociocultural determinants to arrive at a decision of
whether to change. When using these approaches, therefore, the influencing agent tries to
change the target’s attitudes, values, and feelings at a personal level, and norms and
significant relationships at the social level (Chin and Benne, 1969). In summary, the
normative- reeducative view incorporates the empirical- rational view and it adds to it a
distinctively social element, thereby recognizing the importance of “knowledge and
people as power.”

Power Coercive Approach

Although empirical- rational and normative- reeducative approaches deal with the role of
power in influencing others, both types reject the notion of power as coercive and
nonreciprocal. In contrast, power-coercive approaches generally assume that the target
will change when presented with sanctions that are political and economic in nature, or
when made to feel guilty or shameful for not changing. The influencing agent may take
these steps when it is apparent that the target believes it is not in his or her best interest to
change. Although power-coercive approaches have been associated with tyrannical
leaders of the past, it is also important to note that they have formed the basis of
nonviolent strategies for change such as those advocated by Henry David Thoreau,
Mahatma Gandhi, and Martin Luther King, Jr. (Chin and Benne, 1969).