Understanding the importance of NORMS...

Understanding the importance of NORMS…
Tormala and Petty’s article was most significant for my life and current Directorial position. In this article, Tormala and Petty discuss various persuasive information; while singling out the particular context of other similar information within it’s’ context to determine how persuasive that information actually was. This approach is very important for my current line of work in the fact that I must always be prepared to reinterpret Federal regulations and or requirements. This may be done for the usage of the FAFSA application to my student cliental (with persuasion for its newest use) without using financial aid lingo that can misunderstood or re-interpreted. I must also be able to determine the capacity of the persuasion for each message about the Federal regulations and requirements to ensure my messages does not intercede each other. Being apart of the Social Judgment theory, the effect a persuasive massage makes is dependent upon how the receiver examines the surroundings of the message. For me as a Director of Financial Aid, the Social Judgment theory means if I want my student cliental to start utilizing the newest Federal regulations and requirements, I must first make the message pertinent to my student cliental directly; and their surroundings. Studying and understanding my clientele’s norms, attitudes and acceptance of the FAFSA application will make my job easier in developing persuasive messages that encourage its use. “Determining where the actual norms fall in the general latitudes of acceptance, noncommitment, and rejection of the target audience is critical here” (Tormala & Petty 2007).

The Social Judgment theory is one that I definitely agree with because it is basically suggesting that people use past experiences when evaluating persuasive messages; to determine its usefulness and their acceptance of the message. Indicating the amount of information given within a single message affects how the receiver will view the target message in its entity. Too much financial aid lingo with various instructions within one message will deter my student client audience instead of encouraging their usage of the message properly. “Messages that fall into the latitude of rejection are seen as being further away from the audience’s position than they really are due to a contrast effect. Therefore, both are unlikely to be accepted” (Tormala & Petty 2007).

Although I feel persuasion, convince and actuate each involve the allowance of another person to do something based on your argument, my personal definition of each is different. My personal definition of persuasion is to entice an individual to make action or accept opinion towards an unfamiliar goal. My personal definition of convince is to change or increase of an individual belief’s in oneself. My personal definition of actuate is to drive action in an individual towards completing a goal; whether familiar or unfamiliar.

The Inoculation theory is the persuasion theory that best fits into my current work setting. For example, as Director of Financial Aid I am constantly in battled discussions with our institutions Bursar & Admission’s office for reasons of finding solutions to gaining additional student clients. Although as a Director of Financial Aid, I am required to encourage the recruitment of additional student clients; I must also follow strict U S Departmental guidelines governing financial aid that sometimes cannot be utilized for a student and therefore, deters their enrollment for our institution. Because of this division among our departments, I must be in appropriate in my research stating why a student is or may not be eligible for financial aid and find alternative resources through my research to allow such students other financial means of paying their student balance. Thus, still participating in our retention efforts. Therefore, whenever I am trying to persuade my counterparts of something, it's important to research and ensure my research includes the pro’s and con’s of other options. Being able to do this while defending my own alternative option will make it easier for my counterparts to agree with my alternative.
In order to persuade as a successful leader in the 21st century, one must have the ability to impact the receiver independently and uniquely depending on the culture. When the United States employs a persuasion theory into another culture, the United State must take into account the cultural differences among those receiving the message. Not excluding, cultural norms and behaviors and not limiting to cultural reform and transitions.



Tormala, Z. & Petty, R. (2007). Contextual contrast and perceived knowledge: Exploring the implications for persuasion. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 14-30.

Vaidyanathan, R. & Aggarwal, P. (2005). Using commitments to drive consistency: Enhancing the effectiveness of cause-related marketing communications. Journal of Marketing Communications, 11(4), 231-246.

Are you a Motivational Manager?

Encouragement, Empowerment & Enrichment…

The most significant information from the ‘Motivation’ article for my job and within my life is the key aspects of Part 4; where it details the various attributes of being a motivating manager. It became apparent to me that most hierarchy leveled managers use whatever motivational techniques they believe in; which may not be the most appropriate technique to use for their employees based on the organizational field they are in. “For example, motivating techniques from an internationally known leader or known celebrity will be the activities for employees with a high need for affiliation preference, but individual leaders who possess a high need for power may be attracted to more of a challenging approach to motivation” (McClelland, 1992). Being a Director of a Financial Aid department requires a great deal of leadership skills, but most importantly; motivating managerial skills as well. On a daily basis, I am required to inspire, create cooperativeness and enthusiasm within my team members for the purpose of obtaining the desired achieved goal. This goal is to make financial resources available to every current student and all future students interested within our college or institution in an effort to advance the student thru to successfully obtaining a degree or education. “Motivation is the force or reason that drives us towards an action” (Goodall, 2006).

With relevance to my current work setting, being a motivating manager requires the true capabilities of a great leader. As stated previously in the article, “Motivation’; one attribute of being a motivating manager is the ability to think like a winner. This ideology is critical for any great leader determined to lead a group to a desired result. “Always remember that winning and loosing rotate in a cycle. If you have been losing from a long time you are very near the winning edge” (Shah & Shaw). If a manager does not believe in the desired overall goal of the organization; nor therefore, will their followers or team employees. I have always known the vision of the perceived organizational goal starts with oneself as a manager. If you believe it, you can therefore achieve it. So in thinking like a winner, a manager must have that belief or concept embedded in them from within to know that no matter what challenges or obstacles their employees are up against, eventually doing their job correctly, ethically and with the proper skill allows the goal to be accomplished.

To me motivation is the basis of giving encouragement, empowerment and enrichment to oneself or others for the purpose of inspiration or persuasion. I can apply Abraham Maslow’s “Need Hierarchy Theory” (Shah & Shaw) to my current work setting by my six year background in the financial aid field. In which, I have worked my way up from being a telephone customer service financial funding analyst for a guarantor agency to now being a Director of Financial Aid. This concept can also be applied to my ultimate desire to move up further onto a political platform for funding educational opportunities upon completion of my Master’s degree.

Once my mother stated to me that in order to be a good manager you have to gain the ability to utilize people for who they are in their talents and skills alone. She went further to state bad managers make the mistake of expecting more or less from their employees, rather then just accepting their capabilities. This concept has always stuck in my mind, especially when understanding how as a successful leader, I can motivate my own team members in today’s society. In the 21st century, a great leader determines, understands and plays off of recognizing the differences among each team member to allow those individual talents to accomplish a specific task of an overall organizational goal. “All employees in the organization vibrate to a different pace. A treatment that motivates one may demotivate the other” (Shah & Shaw). This is true when using certain communication styles such as: interpersonal and intrapersonal along within multi-cultural organizations.

Remember the key questions to ask yourself when analyzing your own management skills and abilities is:
1) What kind of manager bests manages you?
2) What kind of manger are framing yourself to be? To Become?

Goodall, B. (1998). How tourists choose their holidays: An analytical framework. In B. Goodall & G Ashworth. Marketing in the tourism industry. The promotion of destination regions. London: Routlege.

McClelland, D. C. (1992). Motivational configurations. In C. P. Smith (Ed.), Motivation and personality: Handbook of thematic content analysis (pp.87-99). New York: Cambridge University Press.

Shah, K. & Shaw, P. (n.d.) Motivation. Retrieved July 10, 2007, from http://www.laynetworks.com/Motivation.html.