social influence

Examples of social influence in the following topics:

• A Leader's Influence

  • Leaders use social influence to maintain support and order with their subordinates.
  • Influence occurs when a person's emotions, opinions, or behaviors are affected by others.
  • Influence is apparent in the form of peer pressure, socialization, conformity, obedience, and persuasion.
  • In 1958, Harvard psychologist Herbert Kelman identified three broad varieties of social influence: compliance, identification, and internalization.
  • Individuals differ in how susceptible they are to each type of influence.

• Differences in Status

  • Among the many organizational and individual factors that can influence the effectiveness of business communication, social status is one of the most challenging to address.
  • Social status refers to the relative rank or standing that an individual has in the eyes of others.
  • There are two elements of social status—those attributes we are born with and those we achieve.
  • Employment and occupation are primary factors in social status, and one's role in an organization is especially relevant within the boundaries of that organization.
  • To many, social status is an indicator of credibility and legitimacy, and this effects how seriously others take what one communicates.

• The Role of Social Norms in Teams

  • Social norms are shared beliefs about how people should behave that influence team performance.
  • Social norms are sets of shared beliefs about how people should behave.
  • The clearer and more explicit the norms, especially if they are written down, the more effective they are at influencing team members' behavior.
  • Examine the way teams develop and integrate norms, both social and performance based, in the evolution of the team dynamic

• Defining Ethics

  • These morals are shaped by social norms, cultural practices, and religious influences.
  • The concept of corporate social responsibility emphasizes ethical behavior in that it requires organizations to understand, identify, and eliminate unethical economic, environmental, and social behaviors.

• Impression Management

  • In sociology and social psychology, impression management is a goal-directed conscious or unconscious process in which people attempt to influence the perceptions of others about a person, object, or event.
  • Impression management is performed by controlling or shaping information in social interactions.
  • It is usually synonymous with self-presentation, in which a person tries to influence how others perceive their image.
  • One is instrumental: we want to influence others and gain rewards.
  • Giving the right impression facilitates desired social and material outcomes.

• Types of Social Responsibility: Sustainability

  • One type of corporate social responsibility focuses on three key dimensions of sustainability—environmental, social, and economic.
  • Many efforts to show corporate social responsibility, or CSR, focus on environmental, social, and economic sustainability.
  • The social dimension of sustainability addresses concerns such as peace and social justice.
  • Efforts to influence business practices toward economic sustainability include pricing mechanisms, such as carbon taxes, that pass on the cost of environmental impact to the users of those resources.
  • Sustainable design of a business can be an aspect of corporate social responsibility.

• Methods of Excercising Influence

  • In analyzing persuasion and influence, the theories of persuasion and the methods of persuasion are useful tools in a managerial context.
  • While there are a wide variety of theories and methods attributed to persuasion, some of the ones most central to business include functional theories, the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM), conditioning, cognitive dissonance, attribution theory, inoculation theory and social judgement theory.
  • Social Judgement Theory - This concept is more psychological complicated, revolving largely around an individuals sub-conscious predisposition towards a particular argument or piece of information.
  • Coercive - Coercive influences is where influence attains its negative connotation, best exemplified by totalitarian governmental bodies or other propaganda based campaigns.
  • In influencing others, we must be extremely self-aware of what it is we are communicating and how we are expressing it.

• Shared Leadership

  • Shared leadership means that leadership responsibilities are distributed within a team and that members influence each other.
  • Rather than having a single designated leader, two or more members of a team with shared leadership influence the others and help drive the team's performance toward its goals.
  • Team members must be willing to extend their feedback to the team in a way that aims to influence and motivate the direction of the group.
  • Three aspects of how a group interacts can facilitate shared leadership: shared purpose, social support, and voice.
  • Social support means that team members contribute to each other's emotional and psychological well-being by offering encouragement and assistance.

• How Values Influence Behavior

  • Values influence behavior because people emulate the conduct they hold valuable.
  • A work environment should strive to encourage positive values and discourage negative influences that affect behavior.
  • While a company cannot do anything about the influences that shape a person's values and behavior before hiring, the organization can try to influence employee behavior in the workplace.
  • This decision can be influenced by how deeply this value affects the person's character and by the surrounding environment.
  • Culture is also largely relevant to how values shape behavior, as a given organizational culture can create camaraderie and social interdependence.

• How Emotion and Mood Influence Behavior

  • However, positive moods can also create false optimism and negatively influence decision making.
  • Emotions can be influenced by hormones and neurotransmitters, such as dopamine and seratonin.
  • As emotion is largely a chemical balance (or imbalance) in the mind, emotions can quickly cloud judgment and complicate social interactions without the individual being consciously aware that it is happening.
  • Improving the level of job satisfaction for employees is another way that a company can influence an employee's mood.
  • If a person is satisfied at work, that condition may reduce levels of stress and help influence motivation and disposition.