Impression Management in the Workplace

Research, Theory and Practice

Andrew J. DuBrin

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2010
• ISBN:
  9781135234515
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Negocios y empresa
• Subtopic: Negocios en general

Wanting to create a favorable impression with others is a basic part of human nature in both work and personal life. In this book, Andrew J. DuBrin skillfully provides a guide to the effective use of impression management based on scholarly research and theory, with particular attention to practical application. He highlights not only impressions that individuals make, but those made by entire organizations.

Self-tests and questionnaires allow readers to pinpoint how they currently employ impression management techniques in their work lives. Each chapter includes a section on "Guidelines for Application and Skill Development" that provides real-world advice based on the theories and research outlined in the chapter.

With this book, students will glean the best methods for creating positive, career-building impressions in current and future positions.

Chapter 1
The Meaning and Nature of Impression Management

Wanting to create a favorable impression on others is a basic part of human nature in both work and personal life. In meeting with the public, the chief executive officer (CEO) wants to convince others that he or she is wise, hardworking, and trustworthy. When exiting from the cockpit to greet the passengers, the commercial airline pilot wants to project the impression of self-confidence, being in control, and exercising good judgment. The customer service representative listening to the problem you are having with an electronic device wants to project the feeling that he or she is a friendly, competent person who will take care of your problem. And, of course, some scammers want to convey the false impression that they have your best interests in mind while really trying to steal from you.

In fitting with the theme of this book, an instructive definition of impression management is the process by which people control the impression others form of them.¹ Control in this sense refers to managing, shaping, or adjusting. For example, a certified financial planner wants to ensure that clients and potential clients perceive her to be a trustworthy and knowledgeable person. Toward this end she might engage in such activities as referring to the large portfolios she has managed, and the fact that she holds office in an association of certified professional planners.

People in the workplace are particularly eager to create a positive impression because they want to attain such outcomes as developing allies, getting a raise, getting promoted, receiving a bonus, making a sale, avoiding being placed on the downsizing list, and being hired in the first place. Impression management is such a natural part of organizational life that it is considered to be a major component of organizational politics.² Furthermore, Edward J. Hegarty wrote many years ago that impressing important people is the objective of all company politics.³

Impression management often connotes creating a false impression, or hiding deficiencies. In contrast, the thrust of this book will be to focus on research, theory, and practice about creating impressions that help a person emphasize legitimate positive qualities. Another misperception about impression management is that it is largely aimed at superficial aspects of a person’s impression, such as wearing expensive clothing and accessories, having their teeth whitened, and facial wrinkles removed. A more rigorous study of impression management suggests that deeper aspects of behavior, including logical thinking and persuasive skills, are part of managing your impression.

We begin our study of impression management by describing the modern origins of its study, representative definitions, along with the motivation behind creating impressions and how they are constructed. We also describe some of the ethical considerations associated with impression management. As with other chapters in this book, we also devote a separate section to applying knowledge about impression management.

The Origins of the Modern Study of Impression Management

The idea of people using conscious or pre-conscious techniques to facilitate others thinking positively of them probably goes back thousands of years. (Conscious in this context refers to being fully aware of what you are doing. Pre-conscious refers to almost automatic behavior not requiring much thought, such as braking when you see a red light.) Survival in prehistoric times might have been partially dependent on other prehistoric people thinking kindly of you. Projecting too strong a negative image might have resulted in being stoned. In approximately 1600, impression management became better known with the famous statement of William Shakespeare, written in As You Like It: “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women are merely players. They have their exits and entrances, and one man in his time plays many parts.” Shakespeare’s famous words are still quoted frequently in books and articles about impression management.

The modern-day roots of the scientific study of impression management are frequently attributed to sociologist Erving Goffman, who framed impression management with his dramaturgical model of social interaction.⁴ In overview, Goffman views people as “actors” engaging in “performances” in various “settings” before audiences. The key task of actors or performers is to construct an identity. The impression a person creates is a major part of his or her identity.

The actors and the audiences interact to develop a definition of the situation which guides their behavior. Although not mentioned specifically by Goffman, much of this behavior takes place without much conscious awareness by participants. Imagine a CEO holding a town-hall meeting with hundreds of employees. The CEO appears somber and dignified because he has to announce further cost reductions, including worker layoffs, eliminating jobs, and closing several offices and plants. The image the CEO projects helps define the situation as quite serious. As a result, the usual joking and kidding that might occur at a town-hall meeting do not appear.

Goffman reasoned that the performance of people functioning as actors depends upon the characteristics of both the situations and the audiences present. Performing as actors on the stage of life, people attempt to control the images or identities they portray to relevant people in their environment. The end-states the actors hope to attain could be social, psychological, or material. Being perceived in a particular way could therefore lead to better interpersonal relationships, feeling better about yourself, or receiving higher compensation on the job.

Goffman, as well as other researchers, believed that controlling one’s identity as it is portrayed to others can influence how situations are defined, and thereby establish expected norms, roles, and behaviors. (Goffman evidently credits most people with a high degree of insight into human behavior and political skill.) By interacting with and influencing situations and audiences (or the environment) actors can better position themselves to achieve their desired ends. Impression management is therefore goal-directed behavior.

Goffman also described the importance of self-presentation for defining the individual’s place in the social environment, for establishing the tone and direction of an interaction, and for defining how roles influence performance. According to Goffman, self-presentation is influential in the construction of social reality. For example, if a person projects himself or herself as being intelligent and well informed during a meeting, a social reality of being given a key follow-up assignment to the meeting might be forthcoming.

Perhaps the most useful point of Goffman’s complex analysis is that even seemingly innocuous actions might be aimed at showing a person in a favorable light. For example, an electronics repair technician might scratch the back of his head during a discussion of a customer problem. The head scratching is aimed at creating the impression that the technician is thinking deeply about the customer’s problem.

In practice, Goffman’s analysis would include a mutual funds sales representative dressing elegantly, and making reference to her MBA from an elite school during an investment seminar. Many members of the audience might be persuaded to believe that a credible mutual funds sales representative is therefore a wealthy and well-educated person, prompting them to invest in the funds she represents.

A Variety of Definitions of Impression Management

As mentioned above, impression management refers generally to the process by which individuals attempt to control the impressions others form of them. The object of an individual engaging in impression management is generally to have others form a positive impression of him or her. Yet some people are looking to form a negative impression. A soldier attempting to avoid combat duty, or who is seeking a medical discharge, might want to project the image of an emotionally unstable person, and therefore not suited for combat. A prison inmate might have been incarcerated for so long that when the time comes for parole or release he fears competing in the outside world. With the prospects of no employment, no housing, and no food, he decides to form the impression that he will return quickly to crime if released. So he makes statements to the prison officials and parole board about his likelihood of returning to crime.

Creating a negative impression can also take place within a work organization, in the form of strategic incompetence. The actor projects the impression of being incompetent with respect to a task in order to avoid being assigned the task. A person asked to take notes at a meeting might declare, “I am terrible at note taking,” in order to avoid the responsibility.

Steven Crawley, a human resources executive, says the inability to perform certain tasks can be very helpful in avoiding the tasks a person does not want to perform. He claims that his proudest moment of strategic incompetence took place when the president of an automotive-parts manufacturer asked Crawley to organize the company picnic. Not liking to do party planning, he responded to inquiries with comments such as “How do you do that?” The responsibility for the picnic was soon assigned to another worker.⁵ The link to impression management is that Crawley created a negative impression about his competence by pretending not to understand the task. (You might not think highly of Crawley’s ethics.)

As explained by Mark R. Leary and Robin M. Kowalski, most scholars in the field have used the terms impression management and self-presentation interchangeably, yet some have distinguished between the terms.⁶ For example, Barry Schlenker defined impression management as the “attempt to control images that are projected in real or imagined social interactions.” He reserved the term self-presentation for images that are “self-relevant.”⁷

The distinction between impression management and self-presentation can be important. A person might enhance the image of another person, such as through flattery. The flattered person then develops a more positive impression of the flatterer. Another consideration is that images may be managed by methods other than self-presentation. A person intent on developing a good reputation might ask somebody else in his or her network to good mouth him or her.

In general, the term impression management is broader and more encompassing than self-presentation. Given that most research on the topic has dealt with how people control the impression others form of them, it is difficult to avoid using the terms interchangeably.⁸ Chapter 6 in this book focuses on techniques of impression management designed to enhance the status or good feelings of others, thereby facilitating a positive impression of the enhancer.

Figure 1-1 presents ten representative definitions of impression management. Enough consistency among these definitions exists to make the formal study of impression management viable. At the same time, the term impression management conveys enough meaning to facilitate communication about the topic. The common meaning is that the person takes action so that the target person or persons perceive him or her positively. (The slight exceptions about creating a negative impression are mentioned above.)

Impression Motivation and Impression Construction

Impression management is sufficiently complex to be described and analyzed in a variety of ways. In Chapter 2, we present a cybernetic model of impression management. Here we examine a two-component model of impression management developed by Mark K. Leary and Robin M. Kowalski that offers two major advantages.⁹ The model provides a solid base for understanding other frameworks

Figure 1-1 Ten of Definitions of Impression Management.

1. The attempt to control the image that others form about an individual.¹⁰

2. Impression management (also called self-presentation) refers to the process by which individuals attempt to control the impressions others form of them.¹¹

3. Impression management involves what we do to create and maintain the desired impression in others about ourselves.¹²

4. A person’s systematic attempt to behave in ways that will create and maintain desired impressions in the eyes of others.¹³

5. Behaviors designed to influence the way in which a person is perceived by others.¹⁴

6. Impression management in organizations consists of strategic communications designed to establish, maintain, or protect desired identities.¹⁵

7. The activity of controlling information in order to steer others’ opinions in the service of personal or social goals.¹⁶

8. A new form of social competence in organizations, which individuals employ to master organizational politics, facilitate better work relationships, increase group cohesiveness, avoid offending coworkers, and create a more pleasant organizational climate.¹⁷

9. Impression management is concerned with the behaviors people direct toward others to create and maint...

Table of contents

• Brief Contents
• Full Contents
• Preface
• Chapter 1 The Meaning and Nature of Impression Management
• Chapter 2 A Cybernetic Model of Impression Management
• Chapter 3 Individual and Organizational Contributing Factors
• Chapter 4 Substantive Approaches to Self-Presentation
• Chapter 5 Surface-Level Approaches to Self-Presentation
• Chapter 6 Being Impressive by Making Others Feel Good
• Chapter 7 Self-Protection Techniques
• Chapter 8 Impression Management for Job Search and Performance Evaluation
• Chapter 9 Impression Management for Leaders
• Chapter 10 Impression Management by Organizations
• Chapter 11 Functional and Dysfunctional Consequences of Impression Management
• Glossary
• Notes
• Index