Page 116 - Today’s Business Communication; A How-to Guide for the Modern Professional

WhY MUST I kNOW hOW TO INFLUENCE AND PERSUADE OThERS? 105

Elaboration
likelihood Central route Peripheral route
model [careful thought] [quick thought]
most likely with: most likely with:
We process information
through two routes High involvement Low involvement
depending on the situation. more knowledge Less knowledge

Key situational factors:
Motivation [involvement]
ability [knowledge]

Figure 8.1 Elaboration likelihood model

are more influential because their appearance attracts the attention of
others. Notice also in the graphic that there are situational factors, moti-
vation/involvement, and ability/knowledge that are part of the ELM.
High involvement/motivation might be a person’s interest in stopping
a behavior that causes negative health outcomes, for example, binge
drinking. Low involvement/less knowledge could be a person’s interest in
attending a cultural event, a poetry reading for example.
Now, the ELM doesn’t suggest that just because you are beautiful you
will be persuasive, but it will help you get someone’s attention. But how
can we apply the ELM in business communication, you might wonder?
Easy. Let’s say you need to gain an employee’s attention and deliver the
message that his consistent tardiness is negatively impacting business
operations. This message is one the employee would not wish to receive,
plus it’s one that you hope will cause the individual to come to work
on time.
Using the peripheral route, you might first gain his attention through
the careful use of humor, to establish likability. Or you might use an
incentive—such as lunch, which is relatively low involvement—to get
that person to have positive feelings about the meeting. Using the central
route, you lay out the dispassionate details of the person’s tardiness. You
might, for example, indicate the precise number of times the employee
was late in a pay period, and by how many minutes. You provide a precise