Handbook of Principles of Organizational Behavior - Soltanieh ...

358 G ARY YUKL
Inspirational appeals. An inspirational appeal is an attempt to develop enthusiasm and
commitment by arousing strong emotions and linking a request or proposal to the target
person’s needs, values, hopes, and ideals. Some possible bases for appeal include the target
person’s desire to be important, to feel useful, to accomplish something worthwhile, to
make an important contribution, to perform an exceptional feat, to be a member of the
best team, or to participate in an exciting effort to make things better. Some ideals that
may be the basis for an inspirational appeal include patriotism, loyalty, liberty, freedom,
self - fulfillment, justice, fairness, equality, love, tolerance, excellence, humanitarianism,
and progress. For example, employees are asked to work extra hours on a special project
because it may save many lives.
Inspirational appeals vary in complexity, from a brief explanation of the ideological
justification for a proposed project or change, to a major speech that articulates an
appealing vision of what the organization could accomplish or become. The complexity
of an inspirational appeal depends in part on the size of the task to be undertaken, the
amount of effort and risk involved, and the extent to which people are asked to deviate
from established, traditional ways of doing things. To formulate an appropriate appeal,
the agent must have insight into the values, hopes, and fears of the person or group to be
influenced. The effectiveness of an inspirational appeal also depends on the agent ’ s communication
skills, such as the ability to use vivid imagery and metaphors, manipulate symbols,
and employ voice and gestures to generate enthusiasm and excitement.
Consultation. Consultation is an attempt to increase the target person’s commitment to
carry a request or support a proposal by involving the person in determining how it will
be done. Consultation can take a variety of forms when used as an influence tactic. For
example, the agent may present a detailed policy, plan, or procedure to a target person
who will be involved in implementing it to see if the person has any doubts, concerns, or
suggestions about it. In the discussion that follows, which is really a form of nego tiation
and joint problem solving, the agent tries to find ways to modify the request so that it
takes into account the target person’s suggestions and concerns. In another variation of
consultation, the agent presents a general strategy or objective to the target person rather
than a detailed proposal and asks the person to help plan how to attain the objective or to
suggest specific action steps for implementing the strategy. The suggested action steps are
discussed until there is agreement by both parties. For consultation to be feasible, the target
person must have at least moderate agreement with the objective that the agent wants
to attain. The target person will not be very enthusiastic about suggesting ways to attain
an objective that is undesirable.
Exchange tactics. Exchange tactics involve an offer by the agent to reward the target
person for doing what the agent requests. The essential condition for use of exchange
tactics is control over rewards that are attractive to the person. In addition, the agent
must be perceived as trustworthy enough to actually provide the promised rewards. Thus,
exchange tactics are facilitated by the agent ’s reward power and credibility. Use of an
incentive is especially appropriate when the target person is indifferent or reluctant about
complying with a request. In effect, the agent offers to make it worthwhile to comply by
promising to provide a reward that is desired by the target person. The reward offered