Even a normal common place conversation has an agenda, often without our consciously knowing it. Thus when you talk and share ideas with others, you may want to persuade them or influence them to your own personal way of thinking. It is possible that you want them to join any of your society or any group or it may be that you want them to change their own view point on any particular topic.
Whether we realize or not, everyone is engaged in persuading other people. The entire advertising industry depends on the single objective of persuasion. Often times it is done in a very subtle way while at certain other times, there, might be a logical reason and a direct talk.
There was a very popular book, a few decades ago named, ‘The Hidden Pervades.’ Now let us examine an advertisement on a television screen. You may find a celebrity, a hero, or a heroine using a particular product of daily use. Thus if a person of your liking uses a particular brand of soap, you may feel a good reason for trying it yourself. Likewise, such examples are found in abundance in any category of advertising. The social media today, breeds a set of a lot of influencers. These influencers try to influence their own community with various posts where they project their own opinion. Persuasion may be seen sometimes as unethical or sometimes may be felt to be sometimes manipulative. Sometimes it is so felt, as a result of this unethical action to persuade, managers may cross the course of ethical business.
There are four fundamental principles that are identified by experts in this particular aspect of communication. These are listed below:
- You need to recognize that persuasion is an act of communication. It is an exchange of ideas and thus it is a two way process.
- Unless coercion or manipulation, it is to be recognized as a conscious act which respects the autonomy of everyone.
- You need to recognize and acknowledge that besides a particular outcome of persuasion, there is a certain change in attitude, particularly of the persuade.
- You need to be conscious of the fact that the roles of the persuader and the persuade are not mutually exclusive. The conversion or the discussion might lead to a change of attitude of all the participants involved in the particular discussion.
