Impression Management

 Impression Management

Various species on earth, including the homo sapiens, tend to leave an impression on a person after work. We all have several perceptions about things around us, which are formed by the experience we gather from our past. We will favor or rebel against the situation according to the previous impressions they left us with. Something similar happens in cooperate life. The term used to describe leaving an impression, consciously or subconsciously, both positive and negative, on a person to get the work done is called Impression Management. 

The main purpose of Impression is to showcase a person's social position in society. Various theories explain Impression Management. The prominent theories are by Goffman and Jones & Pittman. According to Jones & Pittman’s way of interpretation, there are five impression styles. Each style is mentioned in a testing scale known as the Impression Management Style (IMS) Scale made by Bolino & Turnley (1999), which was based on the five self-presentational styles identified by Jones and Pittman (1982): self-promotion (trying to be viewed as competent), ingratiation (trying to be viewed as friendly and nice), exemplification (trying to be viewed as morally exemplary), intimidation (trying to be viewed as threatening), and supplication (trying to be viewed as helpless and weak). (Impression Management, 2015)

From the five styles mentioned above on the Impression Management Style (IMS) Scale, we witness every style in our workspaces. A person who pretends to be competent just to get noticed falls into the category of people who do self-promotion. According to a database of a management school where this test was conducted among 94 students, the Mean of the people who chose self-promotion was 3.40. Similarly, the data fluctuates for other styles depending on the workspace environment. 

“First impression is your last  impression.” There is a reason why everyone asks us to be cautious about our first impressions in a new environment. The human brain quickly withdraws conclusions when it gets information about a new object. A good impression is subjective; hence, it can be both rewarding and problematic for oneself. 

For example - If you are new in a workspace with a pre-made hierarchy, like in a technical company, it will be challenging to make a benchmarking impression. You must try ways of making an impression on your colleagues or boss using different styles. In this case, you can either use the style of self-promotion or ingratiation. If you get noticed with this impression, there are two ways a person will think of you. Either your work ethic aligns with someone very active in their work, or you are grabbing unnecessary attention to get things done.

 

Another example from the corporate world is the massive hype about the APPLE brand. Apple software iOS brand has a lower quality than leading android brands like SAMSUNG. Due to its impression management system, it has still managed to top the charts of sales in a few countries. The style of impression APPLE uses is exemplification and intimidation. It pretends to be the king in the market, and through its marketing strategies and selective target audience, it has managed to retain its impression of being the best.

Along with these examples, there are many daily life examples where we can observe the importance of Impression Management not only in our personal life but also in the corporate and marketing world. 

References 

• Impression management. (2015). Science Direct. Retrieved October 6, 2022, from https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/psychology/impression-management