Detailed Notes on Persuasion and Negotiation

The Art of Persuasion: Critical Thinking

  • Before delving into persuasion and negotiation, it's important to be aware of critical thinking, logic, and argument.
  • Critical thinking involves:
    • The philosophical approach
    • The cognitive approach
    • The educational approach
  • Bloom’s Taxonomy (1956) relates to educational objectives.
  • Definitions of Critical Thinking:
    • Ennis (1987, 10): “reasonable, reflective thinking that is focused on deciding what to believe or do.”
    • Textbook Definition: A process that “considers possible viewpoints and results in interpretation, analysis, and evaluation of evidence and the conclusions inferred from the evidence” (p. 382).
    • Moore (2013) characterizes critical thinking as:
      • Judgment
      • Skeptical and provisional view of knowledge
      • Simple originality
      • Careful and sensitive reading of text
      • Rationality
      • Adopting an ethical and activist stance
      • Self-reflectivity

The Art of Persuasion: Logic and Argument

  • Argument Definition: “A set of propositions, or statements, that are designed to convince a reader or listener of a conclusion and that contain at least one reason (premise) for accepting that conclusion” (p.385 from the Textbook).
  • Sherlock Holmes Example (from "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time"):
    • Inspector asks: "Is there any point to which you would wish to draw my attention?"
    • Sherlock Holmes replies: "To the curious incident of the dog in the night-time."
    • Inspector: "The dog did nothing in the night-time."
    • Sherlock Holmes: "That was the curious incident."

The Art of Persuasion: Logic and Argument (Continued)

  • Premise: A proposition or claim on which an argument is based or from which a conclusion is drawn.
  • Conclusion: An idea that requires other ideas to support it.
  • Types of Logic:
    • Deductive logic: True or false
    • Inductive logic: Probability
    • Rhetorical: Logos, ethos, or pathos

The Art of Persuasion

  • Quote by Leon Festinger (2008 [1956]: 3): "A man with a conviction is a hard man to change. Tell him you disagree and he turns away. Show him facts or figures and he questions your sources. Appeal to logic and he fails to see your point."

The Art of Persuasion: Logical Fallacies

  • (This section indicates the existence of logical fallacies, but the specific fallacies are not detailed in this excerpt.)

The Art of Persuasion: Business Communication Functions

  • Business Communication Functions:
    • Informing: Provide data and information so employees can carry out their jobs. Information allows employees to understand what needs to be done, increases productivity, and minimizes job uncertainty.
    • Persuading: Change the attitude or behaviour of employees, colleagues, customers, suppliers, and others. The credibility of the source, the emotional appeal, and using the right channels are essential for persuasion.
    • Decisions (making/implementing): Communication is a necessary component for making decisions. It conveys information about the decision-making process: why, by whom, what it involves, and how and when the decision will be implemented.

The Art of Persuasion: Persuading and Attitude Change

  • Persuading: Change the attitude or behaviour of employees, colleagues, customers, suppliers, and others.
  • Definitions of Attitude:
    • Crano & Prislin, 2006: “…an evaluative integration of cognitions and affects experienced in relation to an object. Attitudes are the evaluative judgments that integrate and summarize these cognitive/affective reactions”.
    • O’Keefe, 1990: “person's general evaluation of an object, event, process, or behaviour".

The Art of Persuasion: Example of Attitude Change

  • Dialogue Example:
    • Person 1: "I think both Apple and Samsung phones are the same. I am not sure which one to buy…"
    • Person 2: "But I thought you said you liked the Samsung's features better?"
    • Person 1: "Yeah, you are right. That is better. I like it better. Maybe I will buy it this time."
    • Person 2: "Yeah, I did. You also said that you wanted to try a new brand last time. Why not, right?"

The Art of Persuasion: Common Approaches/Theories

  • Common Approaches/Theories to Persuasion in Business Communication (Shelby, 1986):
    • Classical Rhetorical Model:
      • Focuses on message content, selection and arrangement of materials, style, and presentation.
      • 7Cs: Completeness, conciseness, consideration, concreteness, clarity, courtesy, and correctness (Aristotle in Cooper 1979; Murphy and Hildebrandt 1984).
    • Motive-Goal Approach:
      • Assumes that arguments that move one audience to accept the message may not have the same motivational force for all audiences.
    • Psychological Structure:
      • Stipulates a framework for structuring the message’s contents, content constraints, and presentation order.
      • AIDA: Attention, Interest, Desire, Action.
      • Monroe’s motivated sequence: Attention, Need, Satisfaction, Visualization, and Action.
    • Consistency Theory Approach:
      • Argues that the preexisting notion of agreement or disagreement about the message or its source in the receiver will be an important factor in persuasion, as the dissonance (lack of consistency) can be a potential motivator for attitude change.

The Art of Persuasion: Techniques

  • “All persuasive messages are based on assumptions of motivation” (Tidwell 1994, p. 7).
  • Four steps to follow:
    1. Establish credibility (expertise and relationship).
    2. Frame goals on common ground.
    3. Vividly reinforce your position.
    4. Connect emotionally.
  • Four ways not to persuade:
    • Attempt to make your case with an upfront, hard-to-sell.
    • Resist compromise.
    • Think the secret of persuasion lies in presenting great arguments.
    • Assume persuasion is a one-shot effort.
  • The attitude change literature has long established the idea that persuasion is not merely a matter of logic and that its source, form, and medium play important parts in this social interaction. According to Conger (1998).

The Mutual Persuasion Process: Negotiation

  • (This section indicates the beginning of content related to the negotiation process as a mutual persuasion process.)

The Mutual Persuasion Process: Strategic Aspects of Negotiation

  • The most important aspect of negotiation is understanding your negotiation situation (Ulijin and Strother 1995, p. 2-3).
  • Strategic aspects of negotiation:
    1. What is your objective? What is your opponent's objective?
    2. Do you and your opponent have conflicting interests? To what extent and on what issues do conflicts occur?
    3. What are the common interests? Is there a mutual dependence?
    4. What are the benefits of the relationship? Are they short-term or long-term?
    5. How were the past relations between the parties? Have they changed over time?
    6. How were the communications in the past? How did you and your fellow negotiator seek an agreement? How did both of you reach a compromise or contract?
    7. Do you strive for a win-win situation or a win-lose situation? Do you prefer to use a cooperative or a competitive strategy?

The Mutual Persuasion Process: Types of Negotiation

  • Negotiation literature distinguishes between two major types of negotiation:
    • Distributive (or positional) negotiation (win-lose):
      • Competitive process of slicing a fixed pie between the negotiating parties.
    • Integrative negotiation (win-win) (or principled):
      • Creative problem-solving process in which the parties are working together to find a mutually beneficial pie-expanding solution.

The Mutual Persuasion Process: Position-Based vs. Interest-Based Negotiation

  • Position-based negotiation:
    • Focuses only on what each party wants; each party takes a stance or viewpoint that is strongly defended in order to win against the other party.
  • Interest-based negotiation:
    • Focuses on interests rather than positions and includes joint problem-solving, expanding options, mutual benefit, efficiency, and durable solutions.

The Mutual Persuasion Process: Examples of Positional Negotiation

  • Dialogue Example 1: Positional negotiation leading to no deal.
    • B (Buyer): I would like to rent a car for 4 days, please.
    • S (Seller): I offer you one for $400.
    • B: I reject! How about $200?
    • S: I reject!
  • Dialogue Example 2: Positional negotiation leading to sub-optimal deal.
    • B: I would like to rent a car for 4 days please.
    • S: I offer you one for $400.
    • B: I reject! How about $200?
    • S: I reject! How about we meet in the middle with $300?
    • B: I guess that’s the best I can do! I accept!

The Mutual Persuasion Process: Example of Interest-Based Negotiation

  • Dialogue Example 3: Interest-based negotiation leading to optimal deal.
    • B: I would like to rent a car for 4 days please.
    • S: I offer you one for $400.
    • B: I reject! How about $200?
    • S: I reject! Why do you need the car?
    • B: Because I want to drive to Sydney to attend a conference.
    • S: You can also go to Sydney by flying there! I can book you a ticket with Qantas Airlines for $200.
    • B: Great, I didn’t know flights were so cheap! I accept!

The Mutual Persuasion Process: Considerations When Negotiating

  • Things to consider when negotiating (Brett and Thompson 2016):
    • Issue and its nature
    • Personality
    • Social Motives
    • Emotions and Moods
    • Trust
    • Reputation and Relationships
    • Gender
    • Culture
  • BATNA: Best Alternative To a Negotiated Agreement
  • WATNA: Worst Alternative To a Negotiated Agreement

The Mutual Persuasion Process: Complexities

  • Sergeant Scott Tillema is an FBI-trained hostage negotiator.