>>12365179>https://nsuworks.nova.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1740&context=tqr>>12365187>...brownnosing appears to bea ubiquitous cultural tool in the repertoire of most students, regardless of class-standing.
>Web-published essays, manuals, and materials on the use of brownnosing suggestthat the rewards of brownnosing can be maximized with calculable efficiency if workers
pay fastidious attention to the status and composition of the audience for whom the
performance is given. One essay observes:
10 The Qualitative Report 2012
If your boss is only a step above you on the corporate ladder, the most
potent brownnosing techniques are flattery, agreeing with his or her
opinion, and doing favors. If your supervisor is many rungs above you,
however, paying compliments is by far the most effective strategy for
getting him or her to like you. While conforming to a high-status person’s
point of view won’t win you popularity points, it may help you get a raise.
Less is more. Using several brownnosing methods at once isn’t as
effective as concentrating on one good one. Brownnosing in front of a
group is more efficient--if the observers are women. Men who witness a
compliment directed at a third party tend to like the flatterer less
afterward. But female onlookers are just as impressed as the person being
sucked up to. (Doskoch, 1996)
Brownnosing shares much in common with other self-presentation strategies. In
short, all are employed as strategies for winning rewards–those rewards may include
social inclusion, achieving an objective, securing a favor, or a myriad other possible
outcomes. It appears that much of the brownnosing that people do would fall under the
rubric “surface acting” (Hochschild 1983, p. 37)
