In the supermarket, the low-priced products are usually quite far down and the sweets at the checkout are often at the eye level of children. Why this is so is immediately obvious to everyone: The corresponding products are supposed to catch the buyer’s (or his parents’) eye directly in the hope that they will be bought.
In the meantime, the attempt to influence customers in their purchasing decisions is also used in other ways, namely in the context of nudging or nudge management. Nudging comes from the English word “nudge” and it can make employees behave in the ‘right’ way instinctively. The idea of nudging goes back to Nobel Prize winner Richard Thaler.
Companies in particular are increasingly focusing on designing the working environment in such a way that employees act in the interests of the company. This is because the “environment in which people find themselves has a massive influence on their behavior “35 and a targeted change in the working environment can quickly bring about a change in behavior.
Thinking about the fast pace of our digital world, it is self-explanatory that people’s behavior also needs to change quickly towards a digital mindset.
But actually, people know about the necessity of agile working and co. and yet employees behave differently than they should – innovation and digital transformation can be accelerated if a nudge manager makes an effort.
In his book “Fast Thinking, Slow Thinking “36 Daniel Kahnemann showed that human behavior can be influenced by two variables: Mind and instincts. We already take care of the mind in many ways with extensive training courses on digital transformation, strategy maps for achieving goals in the digital age, or management programs that turn a boss into a coaching expert – so you know what to do. According to Kahnemann, thinking is overruled by instincts, but too little attention is paid to the instincts that lie dormant in us unconsciously. There is no management for instincts – unless you have nudge management.
Apple, Google, and Amazon are demonstrating how nudge management ensures that intentional behaviors are encouraged. Of course, nudging influences people and could therefore appear unethical, but it is nothing more than the setting of certain “framework conditions which then merely make it easier for people to behave in the way their minds would have told them anyway “37.
35 Changement! – Nudge Management – mit kleinen Stupsern schnell zum Kulturwandel, Dr. Wolfgang Freibichler, Handelsblatt 2017, p.4.
36 Fast thinking, slow thinking – Daniel Kahnemann, Siedler Verlag, 2012
37 Changement! – Nudge Management – mit kleinen Stupsern schnell zum Kulturwandel, Dr. Wolfgang Freibichler, Handelsblatt 2017, p.6.
