Impression Management: What It Is and How to Do It

Importan t Concept: 

Impression management is part of human interaction, and it is most apparent in the organizational setting. As such, impression management is used by people to describe and control the images that others have picked through their behaviors. Impression management is also associated with manipulation because it has been observed that some of the impression managers are frauds who deceive others by projecting a false image. Also, impression management is viewed with suspicion because some of the coworkers are very ready to change their standards and behaviors to conform to the wish of others. Conversely, it has been confirmed by researchers that skilled impression managers are likely to be hired and promoted regardless of their ability. Impression management is found in every culture, and it is even harder to eliminate because it occurs both to the conscious and semiconscious level. Subsequently, impression management is important and serves many useful purposes, and it is essential for accomplishing moral objectives. Thus, convincing management that a department legitimately needs more resources benefits both the work unit and the total organization. As a result, organizational performance will increase as personnel and budget will be strategically allocated. Lastly, the targets of impression management tactics have an ethical obligation to guarantee that agents do not unfairly shape decisions and outcomes in an organization and human resources personnel and job interviewers should ensure that they use objective criteria when making hiring decisions. 

Taken-for-granted perspectives: 

Researchers have confirmed that people are right to be concerned about the ethics of impression management. Therefore, impression management puts women who rely on their performance to go ahead but at a disadvantage. Organizational impression management experts have proposed standards for determining if impression management is beneficial or detrimental to an organization. Beneficial impression management assists positive interpersonal relations in organizations. Impression management exactly depicts positive products, events, and people to insiders and outsiders and also aids in real decisions. Besides this standards places ethical demands on impression managers as well as on their audiences. On the other hand, one way to ensure that the performers of the managers are honest and competent is through pursuing abilities and thus is finding the right job will put roles in managers that they are passionate about and those that suit them. 

Implications/ Consequences: 

A constituent of impression management is detrimental impression management, which obstructs internal and external relationships and also casts events, products, and people in a bad light. It also distorts information which can lead to wrong conclusions and decisions. Impression management leads to deceit especially in an instance when workers apply for a job and overstate their background and skills in order to get the job. As such, this occurs despite that making false past accomplishments and false credentials can lead to dismissals once detected. Impression management also drives workers not to care about others and organizational goals and instead promote themselves to advance themselves at the expense of other workers. Consequently, avoiding impression management tactics can influence the impression of others since a worker may not see it fit to dress up for an interview. Therefore, this influences and negatively paints the worker and may lead to a loss of a job because the manager will conclude that the worker did not care enough to change his appearance and thus did not deserve the job.