Some Japanese friends explained to me that adding のほど just makes the speech sound more formal/polite and business-like, but the logic behind the use of ほど (meaning "degree" or "extent", as I know) in such cases still baffles me. Could someone pls explain? Many thanks in advance for your answers.
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The usage and function of:
「Noun + の + ほど」
is explained very nicely in デジタル大辞泉, which says:
４ （「…のほど」の形{かたち}で）断定{だんてい}を避{さ}け、表現{ひょうげん}をやわらげるのに用{もち}いる。
My TL of that would be:
"In the form of 「…のほど」, it is used to soften the expression by avoiding a declaration."
Thus, this means that it sounds softer and slightly more sophisticated to say, for instance:
「ご協力{きょうりょく}のほど、よろしくお願{ねが}いいたします。」
than to say:
「ご協力、よろしくお願いいたします。」
because the latter can sound too direct.