{
  "title": "Customer reception: does politeness make a rule sound negotiable?",
  "url": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/accueil-client-la-politesse-rend-elle-une-regle-negociable-en",
  "language": "en",
  "datePublished": "2026-04-21",
  "publisher": {
    "name": "SHR — Swiss Human Resources",
    "url": "https://www.shr.swiss",
    "address": "Esplanade de Pont-Rouge 9A, 1212 Lancy, Suisse"
  },
  "summary": "An instruction can be courteous without becoming optional. Research encourages a distinction between protecting the relationship and making obligations explicit.",
  "section": "Research",
  "topic": "Client Reception",
  "place": {
    "name": "Basel",
    "region": "Bâle-Ville",
    "country": "CH"
  },
  "keyPoints": [
    {
      "heading": "What the literature establishes",
      "point": "Steven Pinker, Martin A."
    },
    {
      "heading": "A reason can influence behaviour without providing information",
      "point": "Ellen J."
    },
    {
      "heading": "The premature conclusion",
      "point": "One might conclude that staff should simply remove tentative wording and always add “because”."
    },
    {
      "heading": "What these findings cannot guarantee",
      "point": "The analysis of indirect speech is not a training trial involving reception staff, and the photocopier experiment does not concern access to regulated facilities."
    },
    {
      "heading": "A practical check in Bâle",
      "point": "In SHR’s “Accueil client” programme, a role-play can involve an international R&D partner arriving at a pharmaceutical or life sciences laboratory, or a driver arriving at a Rhine logistics site in Basel."
    }
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "authors": "Lee",
      "year": "2008",
      "source": "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences"
    },
    {
      "authors": "Chanowitz",
      "year": "1978",
      "source": "Journal of Personality and Social Psychology"
    }
  ],
  "wordCount": 423,
  "image": "https://www.shr.swiss/img/blog-editorial-2026-04-21-en.jpg?v=4",
  "translations": {
    "fr": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/accueil-client-la-politesse-rend-elle-une-regle-negociable",
    "en": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/accueil-client-la-politesse-rend-elle-une-regle-negociable-en",
    "de": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/accueil-client-la-politesse-rend-elle-une-regle-negociable-de",
    "it": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog/accueil-client-la-politesse-rend-elle-une-regle-negociable-it"
  },
  "relatedPages": {
    "programme": "https://www.shr.swiss/formation/accueil-client/bale",
    "city": "https://www.shr.swiss/formations-ville/bale",
    "blog": "https://www.shr.swiss/blog"
  },
  "citationPolicy": "Citation autorisée avec mention « SHR — Swiss Human Resources » et lien vers l'article."
}