Methods and behavioural factors that can

influence others

This podcast gives an overview of the methods and behavioural factors which can influence
others.

This section looks at the methods that can be used to influence individuals and groups.

There are many different styles of influencing, but common styles identified include:

• Rationalising and asserting, which are push styles

• Inspiring and negotiating which are pull styles, and

• Bridging, which uses push and pull styles.

Push styles are good for gaining compliance. Pull styles are good for winning hearts and minds.

Yukl and his colleagues identified specific influencing tactics that can be deployed to influence
groups. Soft tactics include rational persuasion, consultation, apprising and exchange, and hard
tactics included coalition, legitimising and pressure tactics.

Hard tactics are usually deployed simply by building on the individual’s inherent bias, whereas
soft tactics are more complex and require the ability to influence based on the listeners’ or
followers’ perspective, which helps to build rapport. The need to understand inner motivation is
stronger in the use of soft tactics. The impact of influence can only really be judged by the
extent to which the outcome was achieved.

‘Network building’ involves a professional interacting with others and establishing a network of
cooperative relationships. These networks are found outside the formal structure of the
company. They are often of a considerable size and include people outside of the organisation.

A major feature of network building is to establish and maintain contacts that could assist in the
successful achievement of the actions agreed in the agenda setting. The procurement lead has
equal opportunity to build these networks of influence, and extend them to suppliers and
markets, to canvass opinions and knowledge in an informal but potentially agenda-changing
way.

A good partner will be more tolerant of sharing risks, and will be willing to make changes to
their organisation. They will have the ability to think in the long-term about profit and income,
as well understanding the importance of investing in research and development. They will also
be comfortable with sharing intellectual property rights and sharing information with partners,
because they can see the benefits it will bring.

Leading global excellence in procurement and supply

It’s more likely that the correct appraisal of these factors will emerge after some experience of
dealing with a particular supplier that has established a track record of service and support,
rather than through a competitive bidding process for product supply. There may be only one or
two of these partnerships in the whole business, over a number of years, as they require
significant time investment and high levels of skill in the procurement and stakeholder teams. A
partnership is often underpinned by a legal commitment.

A strategic alliance, on the other hand, is not generally a new or separate legal entity; it’s a
commercial relationship between two or more parties where respective assets or expertise are
shared, to pursue a set of agreed objectives, while remaining independent organisations.

Strategic alliances can develop out of outsourcing relationships and the desire for development
and innovation through mutually defined benefits, or synergy. They may be for a specified or
indefinite period of time, however a strategic alliance would generally be long-term. They work
best when the company’s portfolios complement each other, but do not directly compete.

Advantages of strategic alliances include shared risk, shared knowledge, opportunities for
growth, and speed to market. However, disadvantages include breaches of confidentiality,
uneven alliances, and lost-opportunity costs.

Conflict is inevitable. In 2007, Mullins identified the following sources of conflict in an

organisational and teamwork context:

• Differences in perception

• Limited resources

• Specialisation

• Interdependence

• Role conflict

• Inequitable treatment

• Violation of territory, and

• External change.

Good management and mitigating processes can reduce the negative impact that conflict has
on the team and its outputs.

The Thomas-Kilmann Instrument is used to understand conflict resolution behaviours. It

categorises behaviour on two scales, assertiveness and cooperation, to produce five conflict
resolution behaviours: competing, accommodating, avoiding, collaborating and compromising.

All five of the behaviours are useful in some situations. The ability to be flexible around all five is
better than to stick rigidly to one style, although most people have a default. The effectiveness
of the approach depends on the requirements of the specific conflict situation, and the
personalities of the individuals involved.

Leading global excellence in procurement and supply

Unless the group is self-managing, it’s the role of the leader or facilitator to encourage the team
members to reach an acceptable approach, so that the task in hand can proceed.

In negotiation, successful conflict resolution occurs by adequately addressing each side’s needs
so that they are all are satisfied with the outcome. Conflict resolution approaches aim to end
conflicts before they start.

Conflict management may minimise the areas of discord, but never actually resolve the
problem. The conflict is managed rather than resolved. Conflict resolution should be the long-
term aim.

Procurement professionals need to be able to deal with a degree of change in the marketplace,
and should possess a mix of hard skills in legal or finance, and soft skills in persuasion and
stakeholder management. It’s an ideal role for people who thrive on managing change and
dealing with variety. However, this level of change can lead to uncertainty and ambiguity, which
may become unsettling and challenging.

The Change Curve, developed in 1969 by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, has five stages: the change,
denial, doubt, acceptance, and moving on. It shows how change can result in ambiguity and
uncertainty and ultimately loss of performance. However, once the change has been normalised
and absorbed, the subsequent level of performance is higher than it was before.

The Change Curve also indicates the influencing behaviours and coaching styles that should be
used at various stages of the curve: listening, supporting, providing direction, discussing and
learning. This is to ensure teams do not lose heart in the midst of the ambiguity and uncertainty.

As discussed above, negotiation and influencing should be used at all stages of the procurement
cycle: before a contract, during a contract and after a contract.

Critical periods of change include ensuring the continued performance of a supplier during the
loss of a contract or a change in corporate direction, to ensure that the business continues to
function while the new supplier prepares to take over. The period of post-contract placement,
where new relationships are being formed and the KPIs are being embedded, can also be a time
of ambiguity and uncertainty. That is why a Contract Launch Event can be beneficial to setting
the course for the new teams.

This brings us to the end of the section on the methods that can be used to influence individuals
and groups.

Now answer these questions to check your understanding. Pause the podcast to write down
your answers.

1. Give two examples of push styles, and two examples of pull styles of influencing.

2. What’s the difference between a partnership and a strategic alliance?

3. What is the Thomas-Kilmann Instrument model used for?

This section looks at the behavioural factors that might influence individuals.

Leading global excellence in procurement and supply

There are many tools and techniques that HR professionals or coaches can use to uncover a
person’s motivations in certain circumstances and their attitudes and responses in their daily
life, as well as those exhibited under stress.

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is derived from a self-report questionnaire. It assesses
the extent to which individuals experience the world using four principal psychological functions
– sensation, intuition, feeling and thinking – and which is dominant for a person most of the
time. No one personality type is shown as preferable in a negotiating situation; all types in
balance can bring benefit.

The Big Five personality traits, also known as the Five Factor Model is a means of understanding
personality traits. The mnemonic OCEAN can be used to remember the traits, which are:

• Openness to experience

• Conscientiousness

• Extraversion

• Agreeableness, and

• Neuroticism

Using the Insights Discovery Wheel can bring about self-awareness, which can have an impact
on teamwork, employee engagement, leadership development, service, and change
management, by demonstrating the importance of individual skill sets and how they can work
together. The outcomes are represented in a four-colour model to help people understand their
style and strengths and the value they bring to the team. The colours are cool blue, earth green,
sunshine yellow and fiery red, and each represents an aspect that, in harmony with others, can
bring about high-performing teams.

Johari’s Window can be used to help people better understand their relationship with
themselves and with others. Individuals and their peers select adjectives from a list to describe
the individual. They are then categorised according to what is known to the self and others:
arena, blind spot, façade and unknown.

In the 1970s, Meredith Belbin identified nine team roles that high-performing teams need
access to. They are: Resource investigator, Team worker, Coordinator, Plant, Monitor-evaluator,
Specialist, Shaper, Implementer and Completer-finisher. Not every team needs nine members
or all nine of the skill sets, as each team member is likely to have a primary or a secondary skill
set within the role definitions, and so can meet the team’s skill needs by playing two roles.

Individual style of team members can be constrained or enhanced by the style of leadership
that is present.

Tannenbaum and Schmidt described a continuum of leadership according to the degree of

control that is maintained. It’s expressed in four styles: telling, selling, consulting and joining.
They concluded that successful leaders are both perceptive and flexible. They are aware of the
forces that are in place and are able to behave appropriately in understanding themselves, the

Leading global excellence in procurement and supply

individuals and the group, and the situational pressures. They can use all four of the defined
styles in varying situations, rather than being limited to one default style.

In order to enhance the performance of individuals within their teams, the manager will use a
range of leadership and influencing styles such as coaching, critical friend, collaborator and role
model, to name a few.

This analysis of leadership style can be applied to the negotiation context. Within a negotiation,
the procurement professional should consider themselves, the team and the supplier.

The procurement professional should have an understanding of the skills they themselves
possess and lack. They should also bear in mind that diverse teams have better long-term
outcomes, and use personality tools to help select members of the negotiating team that
display different skill sets and strengths. Personality tools can again be used to build a ‘contract
delivery team’, where the skills from both parties are identified and can be used to accelerate
the project.

The quadrant that the area of spend falls within will affect the kind of influencing skills that
should be used. This can play a part in the type of training given to an individual buyer, or
indeed the kind of person that is employed. Leadership style and behaviours can make or break
a commercial deal.

For example, a person with strongly assertive behaviour is highly desirable when the aim is to
drive down costs, but may well lose the deal when empathy and situational sensitivity are
required in order to secure supply.

Likert identified four system management approaches to leadership:

• System 1 is exploitative authoritative

• System 2 is benevolent authoritative

• System 3 is consultative, and

• System 4 is participative.

Likert’s studies revealed that the least-productive departments tended to employ management
practices within Systems 1 and 2. The most-productive departments employed management
practices within Systems 3 and 4.

The nearer the behavioural characteristics of an organisation are to the participative system, the
more likely it is that productivity and staff retention will be high. Supportive and participatory
relationships were seen to enhance self-esteem and contribute to a sense of personal worth
and importance. The three fundamental concepts of System 4 Participative management are
supportive relationships, group decision-making and high performance.

In terms of consultation and participation in a negotiation situation, the leadership of the

negotiation team must be open to many inputs. Procurement must consult with stakeholders,
be aware of the business environment, invite technical experts onto the team, and involve
suppliers in finding solutions.

Leading global excellence in procurement and supply

The leader will drive the process, and will be responsible for the result, but they need to defer to
members of the team who have specialist expertise. In addition, stakeholders and team
members will more readily accept the outcome if they feel they have contributed to the result.

‘Consulting and joining’ styles are the most effective in this situation. The procurement leader
should use consultative and participatory influencing behaviour in order to get the best from
the group and ultimately from the supplier.

This brings us to the end of the section on the behavioural factors that might influence
individuals.

Now answer these questions to check your understanding. Pause the podcast to write down
your answers.

1. Name one of the tools for understanding personality, and explain how it works.

2. What are the four styles of leadership identified by Tannenbaum and Schmidt in their
continuum?

3. Which of the systems identified by Likert are most productive?

This is the end of this podcast. You should now be able to:

• Assess methods to influence individuals and groups, and

• Analyse the behavioural factors that might influence individuals.

Leading global excellence in procurement and supply