“Yes Man Syndrome”: a Preferred Ploy of Ingratiation

Abstract

Finding out which of the dimensions of ingratiation has more effect on the target person is the objective of the study. The basic aspect to effective ingratiation is the exact approach used to increase liking. Literature is unclear about which of the dimensions would yield more results or whether, when used together will yield more results to the target person. It was hypothesised that there is no significant difference in using any of the dimensions to the target person. Descriptive survey was used and a population of 169 respondents answering to statements about usage of the three dimensions of ingratiation. Data were collected primarily using structured questionnaires. Data were analysed using one and two-way ANOVA and the response rate was 72.2%. The results showed that opinion conformity has the highest significant mean among the three strategies followed by other enhancement and lastly selfpresentation. The findings of the study also indicated that the three strategies when applied together have no significant difference on the target. It is recommended that employees should ensure application of these ingratiation strategies one at a time. The paper suggests that more strategies can be considered in order to solve ingratiators’ dilemma. These findings add significant value in policy and practice. Keywords: Yes Man Syndrome, Ingratiation