Free Essay About Reciprocity And Consistency

In the modern society, most people invest most of their time into chasing their dreams and fulfilling personal desires. In doing so, hardly anyone has time for another person. However, the situation changes when all of her sudden, an individual receives something for free from another person. It creates a feeling in the receiver of an obligation to repay the giver in some manner. The reciprocity rules dictate that when you give or help someone, the recipients feel obligated to repay in some way. Reciprocity refers to the mutual exchange of favours or privileges that comes into play usually in business and political organisations.
Gaining influence over an individual requires that one be able to ask favours from them with complete assurance that their requests will be granted. One needs to invest time, energy and the risk of looking bad socially in front of those people. For example, the simple act of sending my boss or colleague a holiday card, guarantees that I will receive one back from them come the next holiday. Doing something helpful to anyone in one’s life (e.g. helping out in a financial crisis) earns the person a place in the recipient’ life. Consequently, it is easier for me to ask a favour from such a person without any feelings of awkwardness.
Consistency is also an invaluable tool as a principle of influence. Psychologists note that human beings possess an innate desire to be consistent in their actions. Human beings also tend to value consistency in other individuals. It implies that one is trustworthy, loyal, stable and reliant. In business, customers appreciate buying products from a businessman that is consistently selling standard goods.
Individually, I can use this value in my workplace by being consistently good at what I do. Punctually reporting at work and submitting my work on time enables me to earn more trust from my colleagues and management. Faced with any situation, I would simply recall what I did before and instantly resolve it. The result is that I would make great decisions spontaneously and, as a result, earn more influence and respect from my colleagues and other people around me.