On being Feared

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by whswhs

... And in compensation, it's limited to producing one specific type of favorable reaction, which can occasionally have inconvenient effects. Those effects are even specified: It's as if you had intimidated the other person, rather than gained their cooperation in some other way. That is, you've used "the skill of hostile persuasion." So I'm asking how that might work when you're trying to hire someone for a job.

It's not the best way to hire someone away from a job they already have and like. It may still work for that, if they're afraid of the consequences of not taking the job.

If it's used to hire someone who needs a job, it should work OK, but if they care about being fired, Feared will make them afraid of that. As Dalin said, they may be afraid to tell you bad news, although that can probably be dealt with by rewarding honesty about bad news.

It may make it easier to hire some kinds of low-lives, who either want to show people that they're tough, or expect jobs to only last a few days anyway.

I could imagine it actually building loyalty in employees who last a long time, because it makes the boss easy to relate to: you know what to expect from her, and how to respond to that. Many people like familiar situations, even if their friends think the boss is dangerous.