Thursday, September 23, 2010
Blogging Topic 4: Ethics and influence
This week we had a great guest speaker and we talked about social influence. He mentioned that at Google they are looking at people who have an array of influence skills and strategies. He also mentioned that, as a corporate entity, Google is fighting to maintain a positive public image. Related to that, here’s today’s blog topic: What is the difference between manipulation and influence? When does it become playing politics and misdirection? Where is the line between bad and good – and how do you find that line? As this class arms you with more “weapons” to influence others, we must also take into consideration our ethics. Can you use these "weapons" of mass influence and still stay true to your core values? And, if the easy answer is that it is okay to use these weapons if you are using them in the service of your values, do you need to take into account the people you are using these weapons on? For example, if Google were doing things with their search that influenced people, but for the people's own benefit, would that be okay?
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Some areas, the entry passage is narrow.
ReplyDeleteYou are closed in as you try to get out of them.
In this type of area, a few people can effectively attack your much larger force.
This is confined terrain."
Sun Tzu's The Art of War 11:1:32-35
When I think of the work of Sun Tzu I think not only of waging and winning war but of opportunities seized and captured. I think of his work as overcoming the most challenging of obstacles. Influence is a normal part of the human makeup; we do it and act on it without thinking it is automatic and second nature. Influencing comes under the act of forming norms of human behavior. Influence is a way of knowing what is appropriate from inappropriate, desirable from undesirable, tasteful from distasteful. We influence each other when we arrive at agreement on what is considered beautiful and what is considered butt ugly. As psychology would say, as human beings we are insistent on conformity and orthodoxy. Manipulation takes influence and pushes it further along the continuum spectrum. It is as if in influence the cook has seasoned the beef stew perfectly while with manipulation the cook used too much seasoning. My understanding of the difference between influence and manipulation is targeting and intensity. In thinking of manipulation I thought of the quote from the work of Sun Tzu’s Art of War which speaks of creating advantages out of desperation and difficulty. Think of a road that narrows so much so that you are unable to see if a clear pass is possible, your choices are few and your options are even fewer. Somehow you must manipulate the situation to your best advantage and create a wider safer opening. Using quotes from the Art of War venture into the ideas of necessary conflict and challenge. Influence and Manipulation are necessary in a world which has an out pouring of globalization and ever shrinking world resources. Because the pie can handle only so many slices competition raises its ugly head. Many of us were raised in a controlled environment where limits were placed on how much influence and manipulation was necessary in order to get the job done. As the world grows more rugged and complex we must exercise greater uses of the complexities surrounding manipulation and influence.