BUAD301 Study Guide 2nd Exam

Chapter 6 – Persuasion
Two Schools of Thought
 Behaviorism – human behavior will most clearly reveal what a person is thinking, and that
persuasion is most effectively exercised at the behavioral level
 Cognitivism – arguing that it was entirely possible to learn something without changing the
learner’s behavior.
Human Attitudinal System – Beliefs  attitudes  opinions
 Beliefs – most fundaments component in our values. Come from highly trusted sources
 Attitudes – dependent on beliefs. It’s your position relative to the rest of the world
 Opinions – least stable, most susceptible to persuasion. Mostly based on preference
The role of beliefs, attitudes, and opinions
 Change in one layer may expose a more fundamental layer to reexamination, but will require no
change in the more basic layer
o Ex: one bad fish won’t make you not eat fish ever again.
 Change in basic layer will require change in all higher attitudinal layers
o Ex: choice to stop smoking
 The more basic the change, the more profound the reordering throughout the system
 The less rational the basis for adoption, the more difficult is the basis for change in a given belief
or attitude group
o the more emotion, the harder it is to change it
 The closer a structure is to the center of one’s belief system, the more central it becomes to
one’s self-concept.
The Objective of Persuasion
 Reinforcing positive opinion – easy to persuade because they already believe what you do. They
will also offer their reinforced views to others who didn’t form an opinion yet
 Crystallizing latent opinion – persuading those who don’t know anything about the topic or have
no emotional link could be hard
 Neutralizing hostile opinion – never easy and never-ending. Don’t try to convert them. Your best
weapons are the truth; a solid, rational argument; an emotional connection to the topic; and
speed aimed at those who don’t have an opinion yet
Outcomes of the Attitudinal Formation Process
 Reinforcement of existing attitudes – reinforce views of those who already agree cuz it prevents
backsliding and it helps the # of people who can reach the uninformed
 Modification or shifting of existing attitudes – bit more difficult. Attitudes change from new
evidence from credible sources, but it happens slowly
 Creation of new attitudes – best done by linking the position we hope to create to an existing
belief in the audience
The Science of Persuasion
 Liking – uncover real similarities and offer praise. We like those who like us and are like us
 Reciprocity – people expect to get what they give
 Social Proof – people follow the lead of similar others when asked to do something
 Consistency – people enjoy being consistent. If they say they’ll do something publicly, they’ll
likely do it
  Authority – people listen to authority aka experts
 Scarcity – value of an object rises the fewer there are
Successful Attempts at Persuasion
 Gaining the attention of your audience
 Providing the appropriate motivation for audience
o Basic needs – air, food, water, sleep, etc
o Security needs
o Belonging needs
o Love or esteem needs
o Self-actualization needs
 Erg theory of motivation
o Existence needs – food, shelter, etc
o Relatedness needs – communication with other humans
o Growth needs – being involved in work, education, personal development
 Motivating by appeal to rationality and consistency
o Humans always want to act rationally and behave consistently
 Social Conformity as Motivation
o Admired individuals – teachers, parents, friends, athletes, etc
o Peer groups – own race, age, ethnicity, etc
o Societal norms
 Channel the motivation of your audience to take action
o Recommend a specific proposition or proposal
o Show the high probability that the satisfactions will be forthcoming
 Inducing resistance in the audience to counterpersuasion
o By stating opposing arguments and refuting them
o By encouraging audience commitment in some tangible or visible way
o By warning the audience that others will attempt to get them to change their minds
Should You Use a One- or Two-Sided Argument?
 One-sided work best when:
o The audience initially agrees with your position and you just want to intensify
agreement
o The audience is not well-educated or has relatively low self-esteem
o The audience will not be exposed to any form of counter-persuasion
 Two-sided arguments work best when:
o The audience initially disagrees with your proposal
o You know the audience will be exposed to counter-persuasion or propaganda
o You hope to produce more enduring results
o The audience has a low level of knowledge or personal involvement in the topic
Managing Heads and Hears to change Behavioral Habits
 Create new frame of reference through which info and messages are interpreted
 Must manage the emotions and expectations of your audience
 Provide constant reinforcement to prevent backsliding
Being Persuasive
  Know your audience – it’s all about them, Know what you want and what they want, Select your
evidence carefully, Keep the argument simple, Listen before you speak, Manage your emotions
as well as theirs, Connect with your audience at a personal level

Chapter 7 – Technology
Electronic Mail
 Admit you have a problem – if you spend more than 3 hours a week on junk mail you have a
problem
 Send less, get less – think whether it’s necessary to send or reply to that
 Escape the endless reply loop – avoid asking questions you don’t want answers to. Finish with
“no reply needed” or “thanks in advance” or “hope this helped”
 Check the “to” field before sending, pick a subject, be careful with criticism, think before
replying, don’t check your email constantly, avoid abbreviations or jargon, include a signature,
get help when needed,
Why do employers monitor?
 Security – info must be kept confidential
 Productivity
 Protection – uncover bad stuff
 Industry regulation – some industries require that all emails are kept
Employer rights:
 Intercept and review emails on company owned systems
 Conduct email audits to see how the system is being used
 Disclose certain emails if an authority suspects or discovers illegal stuff
 Require employee training in email use
 Receive employee acknowledgement of training and understanding of email policy
Employer expectations:
 Company email systems to be used for official business purposes
 No use of company email systems for profit, private gain, or personal business
 No use for illegal purpose
 No use for inappropriate messages, rude stuff, etc
Can employers listen to my phone calls at work? – calls with clients yes for training and quality control
Can my employer obtain a record of my phone calls? – yes, numbers dialed from your extension are
recorded with a pen register
Can my employer watch my computer terminal while I work?  - Generally, yes. 
How can I tell if I am being monitored? - You can’t
Is my voice mail private? - Not really. Voice mail and e-mail are regarded as being nearly the same in the
eyes of the law (and your employer)
Is there any way I can keep my e-mail and other work private? Yes, with encryption software.
Social Media
 Social bookmarking. (Del.icio.us, Blinklist, Simpy). These sites interact by tagging Web sites and
searching through Web sites bookmarked by other people.
 Social news. (Digg, Propeller, Reddit). These interact by voting for articles by most popular, most
read, and most e-mailed, and commenting on them.
  Social networking. (Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Hi5, Last.FM). These sites interact by adding
friends, commenting on profiles, joining groups, and holding discussions.
 Social photo and video sharing. (YouTube, Flickr). These interact by sharing photos or videos and
commenting on user submissions.
 Wikis. (Wikipedia, Wikia). And, finally, these interact by adding articles and allowing users to edit
existing articles online.54
Etiquette and Office Electronics:
 Cell phones – don’t overuse them, turn them off when appropriate, don’t speak too loudly on it,
don’t assume everyone wants to talk
 Voice mail – keep outgoing messages brief, keep voicemail messages brief, offer another option
like pressing the pound key, if you leave a message identify yourself & your number & why
you’re calling, don’t listen to voicemails on speaker
 E-Mail – don’t sound angry, don’t put jokes, have a salutation and a close
Advantages of Working Virtually:
 Cost – no office space
 Productivity – fewer sick days, more opportunity to work whenever and wherever
 Access – can get help and employees from everywhere
Disadvantages of Working Virtually:
 Costs – getting each worker a laptop, printer, phone, etc
 Technology – technical support is hard to provide
 Culture – loss of company culture
 People – pride in their office, enjoy socializing, etc

Chapter 8 – Listening and Feedback

Benefits of Listening:
 Demonstrates acceptance - shows you value him/her and care about what they’re saying
 Promotes problem-solving abilities – successful managers encourage employees to arrive at
solutions on their own by simply listening
 Increases the speaker’s receptiveness to the thoughts and ideas of others – some of the best
ideas come from others not yourself or your immediate circle
 Increases self-esteem of the other person
 Helps you overcome self-consciousness and self-centeredness – talkers shut up and shy open up
 Helps prevent head-on emotional collisions – put other people’s needs first
5 Essential Skills of Active Listening
 Paraphrase others as they speak – summarize what they said and say it back to them
 Reflect feelings - emotional load attached to it so say, “You’re not very confident about this, are
you?” or “You seem determined to see this through.”
 Reflect meaning – find out what they actually mean by their statements
 Reflect conclusions – draw a conclusion from the convo and say it back to them. Ex: “So,
considering the cost of the upgrade and our other immediate needs, am I right in assuming you
are not in favor of the purchase?”
 Follow through – take action after listening to show you actually listened
A System for Improving Your Listening Habits:
 Review your listening inventory – see which habits and behaviors work best for you when
listening
 Recognize your undesirable listening habits - see what habits don’t work and make note of them
 Refuse to tolerate undesirable habits – work on removing bad habits
 Replace undesirable habits with effective ones – find a positive habit for every bad one and
replace em