Impression Management

-By

- J.Deepak

- Shyam Sundar

-TSM -PGDM

Erving Goffman

• We are all actors within the Social World, a central theme from Goffman book “The presentation of self in everyday life”

• In a sense, we are call “Fakers” or engaged in a “Con Job” on ourselves to effect other people.

• Goffman argues that the self is simply nothing more than “Self Presentations” and “Role Performances.”

• Social life as a theatre, with social scripts, performances and actors & roles that perform in the Front and Back Regions of self.

Dramaturgical approach

• Performance : Any individual activity that is Self aware and done before a

particular set of observers and to influence the observers.

• Regions in performances: -Front stage or region: Realm where we carry out interaction

performances in relation to others it is a public domain. -Back stage: Performance preparation area to present in front

regions. Often separated by physical or location barriers

Impression Management

• The process of portraying yourself to others in a manner that creates a desired impression.

• Individual attempt to control or guide others impression by changing or fixing his or her setting, appearance and manner

• Every individual is engaged in certain practices to avoid being embarrassed or embarrassing others.

Need of impressions

First impressions...

• Within seconds of seeing a person for the first time we decide their:

• etiquette• social status• approachability • education• religion• sexuality• friendliness

First impressions: 93% rule

55% appearance & body language

38% tone, pitch & pace of your voice

7% what you say

Why it is important at work…

• Doing a good job accounts for 10% of the impression you give

• 90% of the impression you give of being capable is based on perception of others– presentation of work– presentation of self– being seen to be ‘doing a good job’

IM Techniques

Verbal Self-Presentation

Self-Descriptions

Association

OpinionConformity

ExcuseApologies

Acclaiming

Flattery

Favors

Opinion conformity

• Opinion conformity: Agreeing with someone else’s opinion in order to gain his or her approval.

Example: A manager tells his boss, ‘You are absolutely right on your reorganizations plan for the western regional office.’

Excuses

• Excuses: Explanations of a predicament (difficult or embarrassing situation) creating event aimed at minimizing the apparent severity to the predicament.

• Example: Sales manager to boss. ‘We failed to get the ad in the paper on time, but no one responds to those ads anyway’.

Apologies

• Apologies: Admitting responsibility for an undesirable event and simultaneously seeking to get a pardon for the section

• Example: Employee to boss, ‘I’m sorry I made a mistake on the report Please forgive me’.

Self-Promotion

• Self-Promotion: Highlighting one’s best qualities downplaying one’s deficits (the amount or score by which a team or individual is losing) and calling attention to one’s achievements.

• Example: A salesperson tells his boss: ‘Matt worked unsuccessfully for three years to try to get that account I sewed it up in six weeks. I’m the best closer this company has’.

Flattery

• Flattery: Complementing others about their behavior or achievement in an effort to make one self appear perceptive and likeable.

• Example: New sales trainee to peer. ‘You handled that client’s complaint so tactfully! I could never have handled that as well as you did’.

Favors

• Favors: Doing nice for someone to gain that person’s approval.

• Example: Sales person to prospective client, ‘I’ve got two tickets to the theater tonight that I can’t use. Take them. Consider it a thank you for taking the time to talk with me’.

Association

• Association: Enhancing or protecting one’s image by managing information about people and things with which one is associated.

• Example: A job applicant says to an interviewer, “What a coincidence. Your boss and I were roommates in college”.

STRATEGIES OF IM

The ‘process’ of creating a false image of ourselves

Intimidation

• Intimidation : This strategy adapted by a person to get his/her work done by arousing fear in them. Here his motto is to get his work done, take control and get results.

Self- promotion

• Self- promotion: In this case, a person is promoting his strengths to prove his competency. This can prove to be a positive point in case of an interview but if your claims do not match your abilities, self promotion can prove to be disastrous.

INGRATIATION

• INGRATIATION : An art of gaining acceptance or effort to make people like us.

Usually involves: - an ulterior motive (there are benefits for us) - in situations where the other person has discretionary power

Often achieved by: - Opinion conformity - Other enhancement (flattery) - Self enhancement through selective self presentation ( wearing

attractive clothes, talking cautiously, etc.)

Exemplification & Supplication

• Exemplification : This can be a way of portraying one's moral worthiness. Here, a person tries to prove his sincerity, dedication and responsibility towards his work, in a way that he tries to portray himself as the superior one.

• Supplication : Supplication is an act wherein a person tries to gain sympathy and attention by talking about his pains and faults.

How To Improve Impression Management :-

• Set goals. • Commit to the change you

want to create.• Dress appropriately• Learn to shake hands• Keep your body language

open• Keep smiling and feel

confident

Disadvantages

Disadvantages

However employees need to be noticed in order for organizations growth.

Managers should not assume that employees who do not push themselves are not ambitious or able as their peers.

Some employees trust the formal HRM systems to provide career opportunities, underestimating the importance of informal networks for information about senior posts.

Some individuals with potential do not always realize the importance of "branding“ their values and core strengths to their senior managers.

Managers could help those employees by clarifying the kind of performance and commitment which get rewarded, so that they can make better-informed choices.

Conclusion

• Perhaps individuals do not want to use IM, but they should know the unwritten penalties for not delivering and being seen to deliver what the organization wants and needs.

• Impression-management is neither good nor bad, it is an integral part of our social interaction and everyone gets involved in it everyday.

References

• http://www.themanagementskills.com/career/impression-management

• http://www.citehr.com/1027-impression-management-hr-consultant.html#ixzz39zeQ8CpP

• http://www.psychwiki.com/wiki/Impression_Management_in_Organizations_Scale

• http://education-portal.com/academy/lesson/impression-management-in-sociology-theory-definition-examples.html#lesson

• http://education-portal.com/academy/lesson/erving-goffmans-theories-impression-management-dramaturgy-symbolic-interaction.html#lesson

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impression_management• http://www2.pfeiffer.edu/~lridener/courses/IMPMGT.HTML

• http://changingminds.org/explanations/theories/impression_management

Thank you