When Does Persuasion Become Unethical?

Now we get into the nitty-gritty, trying to differentiate between ethical and unethical persuasion. To find these answers, I looked to the Harvard Business Review, where they have an online community setup for people to ask questions and seek answers.

To define unethical persuasion, one of the HBR Editors took these three answers from the book The Ethics of Power, Influence, and Persuasion:
- Exaggerating your demands
- Concealing true intentions
- Providing false information

Exaggerating your demands
This occurs when you are making demands of a business or an individual, and rather than specifying exactly what you need, you ask for more. If you are a manager who can accomplish your goals by having your employees finish their reports by Thursday, there is no need to persuade them to finish their reports by Tuesday. People will recognize that they are being asked for more than what is needed, and will be less willing to accommodate you.

Concealing true intentions
The simplest most direct solution is usually the best one. I'm reminded of the KISS principle (Keep It Simple Stupid), or Occam's Razor, where the simplest explanation is usually the right one. Providing employees, co-workers, or bosses with a convoluted explanation or description of your intentions will not inspire confidence or eagerness. Be direct when persuading others and you will often find better results in the long term.

  Providing false information
Providing false information when persuading others can lead to damaging long term results. Reputations can be tarnished and productivity will diminish as people start to see that they were persuaded by false information. Honesty and integrity are essential when creating a persuasive argument. Sometimes people may not like the truth, and will choose not to participate in whatever you were persuading them towards, but at least this way, you will have established a relationship of trust with the people you do persuade.

These three actions all work together to define manipulation. Persuasion by manipulation is unethical. By making sure you are not exaggerating your demands, concealing true intentions or providing false information, you will go a long way in making ethical persuasive arguments. 


Harvard Business Review