1

Influence
 2

Influence

Leaders have the ability to affect and transform organizational elements through their

influential abilities. Without influence, leaders cannot produce change or accomplish goals. That

is, leadership must be able to successfully influence their subordinates to follow through with

objectives. Moreover, leaders may utilize a variety of influential tactics to establish greater

power and get things done. Such tactics may be implemented in the workplace to produce

organizational changes in a variety of applications.

Tactics

A leader’s position of power is looked upon as useless without an ability to influence

others. Therefore, leadership may use an array of influential tactics to help encourage followers

to follow through with goals. For example, influence can be asserted by appealing to a vision or

higher purpose. That is, leaders who provide individuals with a meaning for change can help to

give reasoning for change efforts. For instance, retail employees may be more inclined to work

toward creating quality guest interactions after being informed that positive customer

relationship building leads to higher sales and commissions. Similarly, rational persuasion

“involves the use of explanations, logical arguments, and factual evidence to show that a request

or proposal is feasible and relevant to task objectives”. Moreover, sharing data and facts with

subordinates can influence them to follow through with accomplishing set objectives.

Changes

Leaders who successfully influence their follower’s behavior in a constructive manner

have the opportunity to positively impact business endeavors. Therefore, the influential tactic of

rational persuasion could be used to implement organizational change within a retail setting. For
 3

example, leadership could share sales data with employees at the start of every shift to encourage

employees to interact more frequently with guests to reach store sales goals. Moreover, having

an awareness of where sales are and what they need to be at in order to receive commission can

influence workers to sell more items. Sharing organizational data with employees fosters

knowledge and understanding of why procedures may need to be approached certain ways, thus

enhancing the effectiveness of leaderships influence.

Applications

Rational persuasion could be used in a variety of manners within a retail setting to

achieve specific organizational goals. For instance, sharing customer feedback with employees

can help to influence behaviors toward positive outcomes. Moreover, sharing customer feedback

with employees can further help the organization to “improve services and reduce customer

defection which positively impacts firm profitability”. Therefore, if leaders ask employees to

increase opening cleaning efforts while also informing on customer complaints about dirty, dusty

dressing rooms, then workers may be influence to clean more thoroughly to increase customer

satisfaction and commission opportunities.

Conclusion

Leaders who are able to influence others have the ability to use their power to implement

organizational change. From appealing to a higher purpose, to asking for what is wanted, leaders

can utilize a variety of influential tactics to influence others. Specifically, rational persuasion

may be used in a retail setting to influence employees to engage in certain behaviors. Moreover,

leaders can use organizational data to encourage workers to accomplish goals and follow

workplace rules.
4