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Leaders’ Political Skill, Organizational Politics Savvy, and Change in Organizations - A Constellation Servant Leadership Research Roundtable – May 2008 Imran Qaboos Cheema Hafsa Amin Cheema Kashif Ashraf School of Business and Economics University of Management and Technology Although leadership concept has been a topic of inquiry from the last one century particularly in business organizations, there has been relatively little research that addresses the impact of its different dimensions on organizational change. Some scholars have explored the effect of transformational leadership on cultural change but it is a broad effort. In this paper we develop a conceptual framework that articulate which specific dimensions of leaders will enable them to accept change and then mobilize and motivate their followers for its acceptance. In this paper we have limited the scope of discussion by defining leadership general influential role in all work settings without differentiating among its different theories and typologies. Then we focus on two important dimensions of leaders’ i.e. political skill and better understanding of organizational politics and their effect on organizational change. We have taken organizational change in broader sense that includes all forms of change e.g. mergers, acquisitions, culture etc. A few studies have attempted to conceptualize independent relationships between organizational politics, political skill, and different personal and organizational outcome. This paper searches into the effects of leaders’ political skill in conjunction with their organizational politics savvy on organizational change. We present a model that

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Page 1: Leaders’ Political Skill, Organizational Politics Savvy, and Change … · 2012-03-21 · 2 Leaders’ Political Skill, Organizational Politics Savvy, and Change in Organizations

Leaders’ Political Skill, Organizational Politics Savvy, and Change in Organizations - A Constellation

Servant Leadership Research Roundtable – May 2008

Imran Qaboos Cheema Hafsa Amin Cheema Kashif Ashraf School of Business and Economics University of Management and Technology

Although leadership concept has been a topic of inquiry from the last one century particularly

in business organizations, there has been relatively little research that addresses the impact

of its different dimensions on organizational change. Some scholars have explored the effect

of transformational leadership on cultural change but it is a broad effort. In this paper we

develop a conceptual framework that articulate which specific dimensions of leaders will

enable them to accept change and then mobilize and motivate their followers for its

acceptance.

In this paper we have limited the scope of discussion by defining leadership general

influential role in all work settings without differentiating among its different theories and

typologies. Then we focus on two important dimensions of leaders’ i.e. political skill and

better understanding of organizational politics and their effect on organizational change. We

have taken organizational change in broader sense that includes all forms of change e.g.

mergers, acquisitions, culture etc.

A few studies have attempted to conceptualize independent relationships between

organizational politics, political skill, and different personal and organizational outcome. This

paper searches into the effects of leaders’ political skill in conjunction with their

organizational politics savvy on organizational change. We present a model that

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2 Leaders’ Political Skill, Organizational Politics Savvy, and Change in Organizations - A Constellation

conceptualizes this leading process. It is argued on the basis of the research and theory of

leadership, political skill, organizational politics, and change that leaders who have political

skill can develop a better understanding of organizational politics and can also use different

influencing skills particularly their political skill to initiate, promote, and lead a positive

change in organizations. This “right stuff” will make them more effective in managing friction

and resistance against change and ultimately enable them to cope with dysfunctional

conflicts. We develop propositions regarding the political skill of leaders and its influence on

organizational change through better understanding of organizational politics. These

propositions also throw light that a leader with innate or developed political skill can develop

a better understanding of organizational politics and also a savvy of organizational politics

can brush up their political skill. To our view these both comprehend each other and can give

more favorable results if employed simultaneously. By this we have tried to explore the

leaders’ qualities and skills which motivate acceptance of change by individuals during and

after change process. Implications for practice, future potential research areas, and

limitations of the paper are also given.

A few studies have attempted to conceptualize independent

relationships between organizational politics, political skill, and

different personal and organizational outcome. This paper searches

into the effects of leaders’ political skill and their understanding of

organizational politics on organizational change. We present a

model that conceptualizes how organizational leaders manage the

change in organizations by using their political skill and

organizational politics savvy. It is argued on the basis of the

research and theory of leadership, political skill, organizational

politics, and change that leaders who have political skill can develop

a better understanding of organizational politics and can also use

different influencing skills particularly their political skill to initiate,

promote, and lead a positive change in organizations. This “right

stuff” will make them more effective in managing friction and

resistance against change and ultimately enable them to cope with

dysfunctional conflicts. After defining leadership, leaders’ political

skill, organizational politics, and change in organizations, we

develop propositions regarding the political skill of leaders and its

influence on organizational change through better understanding of

organizational politics. Implications for practice, future potential

research areas, and limitations of the paper are also given.

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Servent Leadership Roundtable – May 2008 3

Introduction

Leadership concept has been prevailing throughout the history of human. Normally

researchers start it from ancient Greece philosophers and try to find its traces in the philosophic

thoughts of Socrates. They make Plato’s The Republic as the starting point about their leadership

thoughts and articulate his view that the world’s problems would be solved only when philosophers will

become kings or kings would take up philosophy. In The Republic he also detailed some of the skills

and other relevant characteristics of the ruling class. After that the work of Machiavelli (1961) comes

as a “literary model of sorts” i.e. The Prince. Recently Keohane (2005) has proposed some better

qualities to prospective leaders. He takes Machiavelli’s The Prince as a model in terms of format for

his suggestions to organizational leaders, and offers his opinions either in agreement or

disagreement. He has adopted the normative approach in his thoughts same as of Machiavelli and

paid attention to what leaders actually do. The key of leadership is to influence and motivate others

(Iacocca, 1985) and their ultimate objective is to boost up the productivity of organization through

people. They are in the business of capital and they have one law: the business of money to make

money (Akbar, 2006).

The literature of political theory reveals that at first the leadership concept was built up on the

phenomenological level i.e. the society then it boiled down to a concept at the organization level and

in the end it became a practice concept for leaders. For our paper we attempt to theorize it for all

categories and typologies of leadership without any differentiation (e.g. between leadership concept

from dispositional point i.e. Transformational, Transactional, Charismatic, and from situational point

i.e. Autocratic, Democratic, Bureaucratic, and Laissez-Faire) because according to Simon (1952)

sometimes every arbitrary selected unit does not define a suitable level for scientific study. Much of

the leadership is a social influence process. This requires a broad set of skills and knowledge of when

to apply them. This is the realm of political skill and organizational politics savvy. Political behavior is

also an influencing behavior in a sense that in this an individual attempts to influence others to

achieve some ends, either personal or organizational. Therefore it is the intention of the influencer

that qualifies the influencing behavior. Politics is an inevitable part of organizations and political skill is

essential for all types of leaders. Therefore for inborn or learned political skill and understanding of

organizational politics phenomenon the concept of leadership is taken here in its generic influencing

role. Same is the case for all the organizational situations because every situation requires political

skill. Change is the only constant factor in this world (Iqbal, 2003) and same is the case with

organizations as Berquist (1993) argues that in postmodern world, organizations have to deal with as

much chaos as order and change is a constant dynamic. Change has been an ongoing process due to

environment threats or within organizational forces. It has proven to be a significant and popular

mean for achieving organizational growth and corporate diversity and expansion (Cartwright & Copper,

1992). It is the responsibility of leaders to promote change and to create vision (Bass, 1985). Bass

and Avolio (1994) emphasize that change is accomplished through the leader’s implementation of the

unique vision of the organization through powerful persuasive skills, characteristics, and actions. As

Published by the School of Global Leadership & Entrepreneurship, Regent University

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4 Leaders’ Political Skill, Organizational Politics Savvy, and Change in Organizations - A Constellation

per demand of the change, for a more typical leader there appear to be many missing skills rather

than just one. Failure of leadership in managing change seems to result from an intricate synergy of

leadership deficiencies i.e. political skill and poor understanding of organizational politics. Hence the

purpose of this paper is to understand the role of leaders’ political skill and their understanding of

organizational politics in organizational change.

In the work of Ferris, Berkson, Kaplan, Gilmore, Buckley, Hochwarter, & Witt (1999), Ferris,

Perrewe´, Anthony, & Gilmore (2000), Ferris, Treadway, Kolodinsky, Hochwarter, Kacmar, Douglas, &

Frink (2005), Kolodinsky, Hochwarter, & Ferris (2004), Perrewe´, Ferris, Frink, & Anthony (2000),

Perrewe´, Zellars, Ferris, Rossi, Kacmar, & Ralston (2004), Perrewe´, Zellars, Rossi, Ferris, Kacmar,

Liu, Zinko, & Hochwarter (2005), and Ahearn, Ferris, Hochwarter, Douglas, & Ammeter (2004), by and

large political skill has been considered as having a direct or moderating role for different

organizational outcomes e.g. for team performance, role conflict, and job stress. Their research

sounds that this skill can give desired results exclusively. We will take the definition of political skill by

Ferris et al. (1999), Perrewe´ et al. (2004), and Ahearn et al. (2004) and will go a step further by

suggesting that this skill can give more favorable outcomes when combined with leaders

understanding of organizational politics. The second contribution of the paper is that we will try to find

the relationship of these two constructs with organizational change. To the best of our knowledge no

one has explored this area. In the next sections we will define the key constructs to develop our

propositions and to present our model.

Leadership

Leadership concept surfaced in the business world in the early 19th century (Davis &

Cushing, 1999). The apex of the leadership is to enable ordinary people to produce extraordinary

things while facing challenges and change and to constantly turn in superior performance to the long-

term benefit of all the concerned constituencies (Charlton, 2000). The following brief wording from

many definitions is chosen to describe the difference between management and leadership:

legitimate power and control vs. empowerment and change. The role of leaders in organizations has

been changed entirely due to change in global environment. Now the notion of leadership is not

attached with a person who only controls the employees. It is replaced with the leaders who are

visionary, assist employees to plan, organize, lead and control their activities. Michela and Burke

(2000) view is that leaders are hoped to initiate organizational change and to generate followers

acceptance by effecting and changing their perceptions. Yeo (2006) is of the view that the

development of employees in order to create a learning environment and to emphasize self-

management and entrepreneurial behavior is the responsibility of business leaders. Due to

unpredictable, diversified, and complex work situations different kinds of leaders will emerge to lead

in ways different from those of the past (Jooste, 2004). In the following discussion we will reflect on

the evolution of leadership and conceptualize it for this paper.

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Servent Leadership Roundtable – May 2008 5

The Past–Present–Future Leadership Scenario

In the past, patterns and characteristics of the organization were hierarchical structures and

authority, inflexibility, formalization, centralized controls, a stable environment, and less competition

within and outside. Organizations believed that change was for someone else. Most of the markets

were of selling nature and the philosophy to run an organization was to produce and dump into the

market. Due to the dynamism in the environmental forces, breadth and change in consumers’ needs,

desires and preferences, markets has become more turbulent and volatile. In these circumstances

organizations have to adopt outside-in approach and bring drastic changes (Day, 1990). For example

Cartwright and Schoenberg (2006) have reported that in 2004, 30000 acquisitions were completed

globally, equivalent to one transaction every 18 minutes. The total worth of theses acquisition was $

1900 billion, greater than the GDP of several large countries. In this new organizational context

positions and responsibilities are less static and more open-ended, and the familiar upper, middle and

lower level boundaries are being redrawn and even some of them are being removed to meet the

competition. In the past the emphasis has been on how leaders oversee the work of people within

fixed units (Chapman, 2001). Recently leadership competence is important, assessing past impacts

and current reality, matching job requirements with strategic human resource systems to address the

future. The main focus is on the identification of strategies and factors that may explain the

performance of individuals and organizations. Future departmental level leaders should undergo

transformation from implementers to aggressive entrepreneurs. The middle level managers are

playing the role of coaches and mentors instead of controllers, and top-level leaders are leading their

organizations by setting direction and objectives of business rather providing sufficient resources

(Chapman, 2001). The lesson of the past is that leaders should identify future trends in technology,

social and culture developments, demographics, economics, politics and market expectations that can

influence organization and force them to bring a change (Jooste, 2004). In this scenario leadership is

the art of mobilizing others to want to struggle for shared aspirations. Leaders therefore must be

skilled in change management process and motivate others to follow it (Van Kinppenberg & Hogg,

2003). Hence one of their prime jobs is to predict and lead or manage change by mobilizing and

motivating followers and for that purpose they need political skill and organizational politics

understanding.

When one goes through the leadership literature extensively he identifies that it has been

produced by two camps i.e. of dispositionalists and situationalists. The leadership theories produced

as the phenomenons of situation are Group and Exchange Theory of Leadership (Graen& Uhl-Bien,

1995), Contingency Theory of Leadership proposed by Fiedler, and Path-Goal Theory by Evans and

House. The theories of Leadership that are mediated from personality paradigm are Great Man

Theory, Transactional, Transformational, and Charismatic Leadership Theories. From the past few

years leaders skills has become the topic of research for theorists e.g. the work of House and

Podsakoff, and of Whetten and Cameron (Luthans, 2002).

Published by the School of Global Leadership & Entrepreneurship, Regent University

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6 Leaders’ Political Skill, Organizational Politics Savvy, and Change in Organizations - A Constellation

In addition to influence, leadership has been defined in terms of processes, personality

compliance, particular behaviors, persuasion, power, goal achievement, interaction, and role

differentiation, initiation of structure, and combination of two or more of these aspects. As a matter of

fact we do not undermine and deny any of the paradigms but for this paper we lean toward the later

view i.e. skills for leadership. We will develop our thesis in the later discussion that all types of leaders

need political skill and the leaders who have or can incorporate it in their personality will most likely

be able to develop a better understanding of organizational politics and as a result will be able to

manage change effectively.

By and large the researchers developed their theories of leadership by focusing on one

paradigm and ignoring the other. This approach can reveal the partial reality only. This paper

concludes that for a holistic view one should consider all the dimension of this construct and should

adopt an integrative approach i.e. the role of personality, situation, and skills in leadership. This

integrative approach is more real and comprehensive. That’s why for this paper we argue that two

constructs are of perennial importance for leadership i.e. political skill and organizational politics.

Political skill is an interpersonal skill that can be innate or learned and organizational politics is the

combination of both personality and situation. From the above discussion of leadership we can derive

our first proposition.

Proposition 1. The Leadership theories that are developed by integrative approach (situation,

disposition, and skills) are most likely to comprehend leadership concept.

Marketing of an idea, persuasion and allures are far better alchemists of social change than

political compulsion, remembering that researchers like Zalezink (1970) and Mintzberg (1983)

considered business organizations as social settings. In work settings it’s wise to get one’s job by

influencing others and making allies. Leaders who are equipped with social and interpersonal skills

are supposed to manage their activities effectively. So we propose our second proposition.

Proposition 2. The leadership theories that incorporate social and interpersonal skills are

most likely to give a real and practical approach.

In the subsequent part we will discuss political skill and will also attempt to articulate that it is

a different skill as compare to other interpersonal skills. Then we will give the details of organizational

politics and finally it will be concluded that leaders equipped with political skill and knowledge of

organizational politics are most likely to manage change more successfully and positively.

Interpersonal Control

Leaders in organizations are viewed as desirous of increasing their control; they can gain and

exercise it if they apply their interpersonal skills properly particularly their political skill. They make

decisions and consult other proposals and petitions. They motivate their team by giving incentives and

sanctioning resources. They identify and share strategies that can solve organizational problems. They

are determined to achieve the desired goals and for this they persuade or force others to follow a

course of action. All these activities have to be performed in work setting and the scope of leadership

also differs from that of most others activities. According to Keohane (2005) the issues that leaders

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Servent Leadership Roundtable – May 2008 7

must address have broad implications, and a large number of human beings are affected. Kotter

(1998) stresses that leadership in contrast to management is the process of motivating people to

change. It has been suggested that by influencing the nature of the work environment and

organizational culture, leaders can have an effect on employees’ attitude to work related change. The

challenge then is to select and acquire a particular set of skills and actions that are prone to absorb

change and resources in organizations (Amabile, 1998). Thus they require interpersonal and social

skills.

Research in the areas of social capital, emotional intelligence, positive psychology, and

knowledge management has revealed that interpersonal relationships are critical to one’s

performance at work and career success (Ferris et al., 2000). Perrewe et al. (2000) proposed that the

ability of an individual to form positive interpersonal relationships should leverage their ability to cope

with stressful job demands. This ability gives leaders a sense of self-confidence and personal security

by developing a deep understanding and control over events. Fredrickson (1998) accentuates that it

enhances individuals’ psychological well-being, performance, and generates tangible benefits. It also

recovers the bad experience of negative effectiveness. In this paper, this ability of the leaders is

referred as political skill, which is discussed in the following part.

Political Skill

Over two decades ago, Pfeffer (1981) argued for a political perspective on organizations that

introduced “political skill” as a critical competency for effectiveness in the ambiguous and often

turbulent environments of political organizations. Mintzberg (1983, 1985) also coined the term

“political skill” and suggested that organizations could be characterized as political arenas, and for

survival and success in such work settings the possession of “political will and political skill” is

required. Mintzberg made reference to political skill as the exercise of influence using negotiation,

manipulation, and persuasion. How-ever, Pfeffer and Mintzberg work was of basic nature and they did

not contribute in the conceptual or empirical development of this construct. After their work we find a

gap of almost fifteen years until Ferris et al. (1999) broke the ice and made an initial attempt to more

fully conceptualize, establish the construct domain, and empirically assess political skill. They have

further developed and validated the political skill inventory (Ferris et al., 2005). Therefore, building on

the early work by Pfeffer (1981) and Mintzberg (1983), and as well as the work of Ferris et al. (1999,

2005), the next section presents the definition and construct validity of political skill.

Definition and Origin

Political skill is characterized by social perceptiveness and the ability to adjust one’s

behaviors to different and changing situational needs (Ferris et al., 1999, 2005) and the

ability to effectively understand others at work, and to use such knowledge to

influence others to act in ways that enhance one’s personal and/or organizational

objectives (Perrewe´ et al., 2004, p. 142, and Aheran et al., 2004, p. 311).

Published by the School of Global Leadership & Entrepreneurship, Regent University

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8 Leaders’ Political Skill, Organizational Politics Savvy, and Change in Organizations - A Constellation

Although other dimensions of social skills like social intelligence, emotional intelligence, ego-resiliency,

social self-efficacy, self monitoring and practical intelligence can influence political skill (Ferris,

Perrewe´, Anthony, & Gilmore, 2000; Ferris, Perrewe´, & Douglas, 2002), but research has

demonstrated that political skill is a distinct construct with respectable psychometric properties (Ferris

et al., 1999, 2000, 2005; Perrewe´ et al., 2004, 2005).

Issues pertaining to the derivation of political skill are concerned with whether this construct

reflects a skill, an ability, or a trait, and therefore whether it is a learned competency or innate. We

conceptualize that leaders can be predisposed to political skill, but it can be shaped and developed

through training. This view is consistent with contemporary integrative dispositional–situational

approach which we have discussed throughout the paper.

Construct Validity

Basically political skill was designed to focus on interactions in work organizations; on the

contrary we also see it as conceptually unique to other social effectiveness constructs typically

characterized as more general competencies affecting social interactions in a broad array of everyday

contexts (e.g., Ferris, Perrewe´, & Douglas, 2002). There is some natural overlap of the construct

domains of political skill and some other social effectiveness measures. Therefore, it is expected that

modest relationships would be found between political skill and particular personality characteristics

that tend to focus on social interactions, as well as with some other social effectiveness measures e.g.

understanding of organizational politics.

Ferris et al. (1999) argued that politically skilled individuals develop an intuitive savvy, and

they reflect positive interpersonal effectiveness that might relate to other social effectiveness

constructs, as well as to some personality characteristics. Ferris et al. (1999) reported that political

skill was modestly related to self-monitoring (r = .13 and .21, p < .01, in two samples), positive

affectivity (r = .36, p < .001), extraversion (r = .28, p < .01), empathy (r = .28, p < .01), and

conscientiousness (r = .25, p < .01). They also argued that politically skilled individuals enjoy a sense

of personal security and self-confidence from prior experience in, and mastery over, their work

environments and the individuals with whom they interact. Perrewe´ et al. (2004) found significant

negative relationships between political skill and both cognitive anxiety (r = –.30, p < .01) and somatic

anxiety (r = –.23, p < .01).

Such personal security and self-confidence may contribute to politically skilled individuals

experiencing more control in organizational change process. Such individuals appear to be more

resistant to the potentially dysfunctional conflicts and thus can deal with chaos and disturbance while

initiating, leading, and promoting change. This would suggest an inverse relationship between political

skill and problems of change.

Regarding discriminant validity, the main challenge is to demonstrate that political skill is not

correlated with intelligence or cognitive ability. In psychology and the organizational sciences, cognitive

ability has dominated the category of individual differences, regularly explaining substantial variance

in personnel selection contexts and concerning other work outcomes. Research across several

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Servent Leadership Roundtable – May 2008 9

samples has revealed that there is a zero correlation between political skill and cognitive ability, thus

supporting its discriminant validity (Ferris et al., 1999, 2005).

Although there has been a proliferation of social effectiveness constructs in recent years, and

there is the need to theoretically and empirically distinguish among them, it is perhaps most important

to demonstrate the lines of demarcation between political skill and social skill, primarily because

these two constructs sometimes have been used interchangeably and are suggested to be redundant

because of similarity. However, in the research literature, scholars have made clear distinctions

between social skill and political skill (Luthans, 2002; Peled, 2000). Peled argued that social skill

refers to

the ease and comfort of communication between leaders and their employees,

peers, superiors, and clients (p. 27).

Alternatively, Peled suggested that political skill refers to

the manager’s ability to manipulate his or her interpersonal relationships with

employees, colleagues, clients, and supervisors to ensure the ultimate success of the

project (p. 27).

Because both political skill and social skill have their roots in the early work on social intelligence

there is bound to be some similarity in the two constructs, and perhaps reflected by modest

correlations. However, we see these as two distinct constructs with different derivations and

uniqueness.

With an ability to perceive others and the situation accurately, politically skilled people have

an intuitive savvy and understanding of people and events in organizations (Ahearn et al., 2004). The

tacit knowledge derived from such understanding helps to effectively regulate interpersonal

interactions. Consequently, politically skilled individuals enjoy a sense of personal security and

increased feelings of control (Ferris et al., 1999, 2005; Perrewe´ et al., 2004) over the process and

outcomes of interpersonal interactions. Politically skilled individuals combine social astuteness with

the capacity to adjust their behavior to different and changing situational demands in a manner that

appears to be sincere, inspires support and trust, and effectively influences and controls the

responses of others. Trust and transparency become more important when employee perceive

hypocrisy in various change processes.

Political Skill and Change in Organizations

Organizations are neither uniform nor static. They evolve over time, and so it seems

reasonable to posit that all work settings will exhibit continuous and incremental changes punctuated

on occasions by more episodic and radical changes (Weick & Quinn, 1999) e.g. mergers and

acquisitions represent major and sudden change. It would be problematic if employees will not follow

the change. There is a single right answer to all managerial problems. Some options may appear

better than others but outcomes invariably depend upon context, timing, and implementation.

Successful leadership is a process of continual adjustment to changing environment. The

leaders’ need is to establish and develop distinctive skills and competencies like political skill and

Published by the School of Global Leadership & Entrepreneurship, Regent University

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10 Leaders’ Political Skill, Organizational Politics Savvy, and Change in Organizations - A Constellation

organizational politics savvy through their personal analysis, and then match this very skill with best

opportunities for change in the organization. Simultaneously they must be sensitive to the politicking

and resistance from their subordinates.

Companies that manage change in their favor are run by leaders who have this skill, usually

because of their role in establishing the organization culture favorable to change. They make some

critical and some not-so-critical decisions in this regard e.g. real delegation of power and not only the

lip service, and intimating with their workers respectively. The political skill orientation is a very

important variable in influencing decisions than are the leaders with out this course. Political skill

enables them to scan the environment, establish sensitive controls, and facilitate internal

communication before and after change. They discuss organizational matters with middle and lower

level managers and also down the road with employees. Understanding of organizational politics

guides them the right situation and time for decentralization and delegation, and also sensitize on the

hoarding of power. Traditions in the organization may impede any attempt at radical change, but

leaders having this “stuff” can move the organization in the preferred direction.

Political skill reinforces individuals’ belief, at a given point in time, in their ability to act as a

causal agent to effect change in the intended direction on their environment (Greenberger & Strasser,

1986) and achieve what they desire (Perrewe´ et al., 2004). Political skill makes interactions more

predictable, reducing the pressures caused by uncertainty, and in turn, enhancing perceived control

over events (Ferris et al., 1999). Thus, it is reasonable to expect that, when facing daunting challenges

of change politically skilled people will find ways to solve the immediate problem or at least determine

how to “get by” i.e., cope (Perrewe et al., 2005).

Politically skilled individuals not only are successful at regulating interpersonal interactions

but also know exactly how to exert such influences in a manner that facilitates interpersonal

relationships characterized by confidence, trust, and sincerity (Ferris, Hochwarter, Blass, Kolodinsky, &

Treadway, 2002). Politically skilled people view interpersonal interactions as opportunities (vs.

threats), facilitating the establishment of friendships, connections, and alliances, which in turn

ensures a favorable social identity in their network (Perrewe´ et al., 2000) by the help of which they

can manipulate the environment in their favor for desired change.

For example, politically skilled individuals may enjoy network centrality, enabling them to gain

access to important information. Moreover, the confidence and trust placed in politically skilled

individuals likely increase cooperation from others in the network. Therefore, in addition to

contributing to a greater sense of perceived control, political skill, and the accompanying interpersonal

influence, may enable individuals to gain actual control over events, thus helping individuals to cope

with job demands fitting to organizational change.

Collectively, the literature suggests that political skill provides a unique type of control in work

settings, that is, interpersonal control. With their social perceptiveness and the ability to productively

use insights gained, politically skilled individuals are at a vantage point in controlling the outcomes of

interpersonal interaction, enhancing their ability to cope with job demands. Through effective

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Servent Leadership Roundtable – May 2008 11

regulation of interpersonal interactions, political skill may act as a coping resource, thereby

attenuating the negative effects of change process. From the analysis of body of literature of political

skill we can posit our third proposition i.e.

Proposition 3. The leaders who are predisposed with political skill or who can develop it later

are most likely to manage change effectively in organizations.

Perrewe´ and her colleagues (2000) found that political skill served as an antidote to

workplace stressors, its role for the negative influences of role conflict on strain (Perrewe´ et al.,

2004), and it also takes away the bad effects in the role overload-strain relationship (Perrewe´ et al.,

2005) . Kolodinsky, Hochwarter, and Ferris (2004) found that moderate levels of political skills were

associated with higher levels of job satisfaction and lower levels of job tension, they also conclude that

in comparison to more moderate levels higher and lower levels of political skill were adversely related

to these outcomes. In another important study by Ahrean et al. (2004) leader political skill explained a

significant proportion of variance in team performance of casework team in a large state child welfare

system. Although these all are important findings and explained the prediction power of leader’s

political skill but more studies were needed to examine the effect of this skill on other organizational

outcomes e.g. organizational change. We hope that this paper will fill this gap. This skill can produce

more favorable results if it is combined with leader understanding of organizational politics.

One of the axiom of this study is that leaders having political skill can manage change in a

more effective way if they can develop a better understanding of organizational politics, as it is also

about the influence processes in organizations. These two concepts are very much related to each

other in a sense that through political skill one can understand organizational politics and the other

way is that by developing a better understanding of politics in organizations leaders can develop and

brush up their political skill. The first step in this direction is that leaders should develop a true picture

of organizational life.

People are the most important ingredient of the organizations. This is the human capital that

gives a competitive edge to an organization in the presence of abundant capital and technological

resources. Studies support this view that organizations are the functions of the different kinds of

people; and not vice versa (Schneider, 1987).

When an individual joins an organization and becomes a part of the workplace community, he

only does this to fulfill his self-interests. This supposition is presumably false that people enter in the

jobs to serve the organization (Cheema, 2006). In fact the prime motive of joining an organization is to

serve one’s own interests (Mayes & Allen, 1977; Mintzberg, 1985; Pfeffer, 1981).People come to work

situations with many goals and preferences. These goals invoke conflict and competition among

workers to utilize the scarce resources. This competition, in turn, affects the use of power and politics

in organizations (Wilson, 1995). Some researchers have associated political activity in organizations

with the distribution of resources or other advantages (Harvey & Mills, 1970; Pettigrew, 1973; Pfeffer

& Salancik, 1974; Pfeffer, 1981 Wildavsky, 1964).

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12 Leaders’ Political Skill, Organizational Politics Savvy, and Change in Organizations - A Constellation

Consideration of the human factor involved should guide the formulation and implementation

of the change process. The key to choosing the right approach to change is to keep in mind how

organizations function. As a social system comprising of work, people, formal and informal systems,

organizations are inherently resistant to change and designed to neutralize the impact of attempts at

change. Leaders can play a critical role in selecting and planning appropriate change management

approaches. They can do this job if they have organizational politics savvy by encompassing a real

picture of the organizational life.

During the last two decades the concept of organizational politics has received an increased

attention in management literature. This attention relied partly on the expectation of finding new

answers to some old questions, such as what motivate or demotivate individuals at work and how can

we explain variations in employees’ behavior and their performance in a better way. In the following

part we will discuss organizational politics in some details and its relation with political skill and

organizational change.

Organizational Politics

Michela and Burke (2000) argue that to change an organization, one must first understand

the organization. Leaders’ organizational politics savvy will provide them opportunity to fully

understand the work settings. In term, organizational politics is built upon intra-organizational

influence tactics used by organizational members to promote self-interests or organizational goals in

different ways. It is usually associated with phenomenon such as power, struggles, and conflicts over

the sources of power, influence, and planned and directed attempts to actualize warring interests in

the workplace (Vigoda, 2003; Ferris, Russ, & Fandt, 1989; Ferris, Fedor, Chachere, & Pondy, 1989a).

A politically oriented manager might use the performance evaluation system for self-promotion or

show favoritism to a personal friend. According to this definition politics is generally perceived as

dysfunctional (Cropanzano, Howes, Grandey, & Toth, 1997; Gandz & Murray, 1980; Randall,

Cropanzano, Borman, & Birjulin, 1999).

Therefore one can say that conflicts in workplace are almost inevitable and theories of

organizational conflict are helpful in analyzing the possible consequences of organizational politics

(Vigoda, 2000). This is the political skill of the astute managers that help them to resolve these

conflicts. It also has the potential to enhance growth and stability and facilitate effective decision-

making and effective management of organizational change.

From the literature it is evident that organizational politics has two connotations i.e. positive

and negative and both will be considered here. The common perception is that politics in the

workplace is a necessary evil, unfair and irrational and thus have impression of harming the

organization and its members that led to definition of negative organizational politics (Drory & Beaty,

1991; Ferris & King, 1991). One can also define it as manipulation, achievement of goals in improper

ways, and perceive it as unhealthy behavior (Gandz & Murray, 1980). Therefore, management

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Servent Leadership Roundtable – May 2008 13

literature considered politics relating among stakeholders as illegitimate, informal and dysfunctional.

On the other hand Ferris and King (1991) found that

use of influence in the organization is positively related to the manager’s positive

attitude toward his employees, that is, the more an employee uses influence in the

organization, the better employee he is perceived to be and the more his

performance is appreciated. Organizational politics is sometimes perceived as a

legitimate fight response in times of crisis in the organization.

It is also considered as a positive process for decision-making and implementations. This is the

particular domain of organizational politics where political skill of leaders can play a role for better

performance of organizations (Cheema, 2006) which may also include leading change more

effectively.

Available research on organizational politics have mainly considered it as an independent

variable predicting personal and organizational outcomes such as satisfaction, organizational

commitment, in-role performance, organizational citizenship behavior, job stress, and turnover etc.

(e.g. Byrne, Kacmar, Stoner, & Howchwarter, 2005; Randall et al., 1999; Vigoda, 2002). Some of the

research has tried to dig out the underlying situational factors that promote the political behavior

among employees. These situational variables are ambiguous roles, policies, and discrimination for

promotion and rewards. Personality has also been cited as a role player in organizational politics

(Vredenburgh, & Maurer, 1984) but it’s Cheema (2006) who recently has tried to conceptualize the

role of personality in organizational politics and tried to make a relationship of Big-Five personality

dimensions with different categories of organizational politics.

In short, these attempts correlate organizational politics with personal struggles, conflicts,

influential activities, political skill of leaders, inequity, unfairness, and effective management that

result from the strong ambitions or aspirations of those who hold power in the workplace.

It is not wrong to say that based on the interactional and political skills and their beter

understanding of organizational politics, leaders have the ability to manage the change by reducing

system uncertainty, friction and even by breaking existing political fiefdoms. They can also generate

programmed conflicts, conflicts that raise different opinions regardless of the personal feeling of the

employees, for decision making, decision-adoption, policy implementation, and change management

(Singh, 2003). Fry (2003) has examined leadership as motivation to change and concluded that, to

motivate followers, leaders must get in touch with their core values and communicate them to

subordinates through vision and personal actions. House and Shamir (1993) and Judge and Avolio

(2000) have found that leaders who display behavioral components of inspirational motivation,

intellectual simulation, idealized influence, and individualized consideration are able to align their

followers’ values and norms and promoter both personal and organizational change. Organizational

politics is all about the influence process and is also one of the important domains of the leaders. We

expect that its understading will enhance their ability to accept and implement change because

leaders having political skill and understanding of organizational politics will go beyond exchanging

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14 Leaders’ Political Skill, Organizational Politics Savvy, and Change in Organizations - A Constellation

contractual agreements for desired performance by engaging employees in the change process. From

the preceding discussion we can infer that

Proposition 4. The leaders with political skill and better understanding of organizational

politics might be able to manage change more effectively.

A Model of Leaders’ Political Skill, Organizational Politics Understanding, and Organizational Change

Drawing from the literature of leadership, political skill, organizational politics and change, a

theoretical framework has emerged which explains how leader’ political skill and understanding of

organizational politics would influence organizational change. The proposed relationship is illustrated

in figure 1.

Figure 1

A Model of Leaders’ Political Skill, Organizational Politics Understanding, and Organizational change

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Servent Leadership Roundtable – May 2008 15

Leadership Dispositional

• Transformational

• Transactional • Charismatic

Situational • Autocratic • Democratic • Bureaucratic • Laissez-Faire

As shown in Fig 1, the leaders who have political skill and savvy of organizational politics

would be better equipped to manage change in a more effective, smooth, and productive way. For this

paper we have assumed leadership in its general influential role and have not differentiated among its

different forms both dispositional i.e. transformational, transactional, and charismatic; and situational

i.e. autocratic, democratic, bureaucratic, and laissez-faire. This model also explains that a leader can

be predisposed to political skill or it can be developed later through training. Furthermore it throws

light on different sources of politics in organizations which means that employees and leaders can

engage in it because of their personal traits or due to work situations. A close relationship is also

portrayed between leader’s political skill and understanding of organizational politics. The leaders with

political skill can have a better understanding of organizational politics and organizational politics

Political Skill • In-borne • Learned

Understanding of Organizational Politics

• Dispositional • Situational

Organizational Change (Smooth, Effective, and Productive)

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16 Leaders’ Political Skill, Organizational Politics Savvy, and Change in Organizations - A Constellation

savvy can provide the right assessment of the situation and can make ground for the development

and exercise of political skill. These two constructs support and comprehend each other and the

leaders who can deploy them simultaneously would be able to manage organizational change

effectively in favor of all the stakeholders of organization. Leaders of organizational change should be

competent and trained in the process of transforming organizations if changes are to succeed. This

model specifies that this competency can stem from leader political skill and his understanding of

organizational politics.

Conclusion

Theory and research on Leadership, organizational politics and political skill have progressed

considerably. Some of the researchers have also taken the political skill and different personal

outcomes as a topic of inquiry, but no one has tried to state its role in organizational change. A thread

of continuity through the existing literature is questioned and recognized i.e. leadership role in

organizational change. The present paper contributes to understanding of leadership concept which

has been the focus of research for several decades. Kirkpatrick and Locke (1991) have noted that

It is unequivocally clear that leaders are not like other people. Leaders do not have to

be great men or women by being intellectual geniuses or omniscient prophets to

succeed, but they do need to have the right stuff: and this stuff is not equally present

in all people (p. 58).

This paper indicates that political skill along with organizational politics savvy might represent a part of

the “right stuff,” and propose that a leader equipped with this stuff will most likely be able to manage

organizational change effectively. It also makes a close link between these two important dimensions

of leaders i.e. organizational politics savvy and political skill.

Management scholars recognized the existence of the informal organization that comprised

of spontaneous and discretionary choices (Peled, 2000). Pfeffer (1992) is of the view that power,

influence, and politics are the certain part of organizational life. By ignoring these issues we may miss

the opportunity to understand these critical social processes and may lose the chance to train

managers to cope with them. Organizational politics has its ambivalence, but we can exploit its good

aspects by developing its proper understanding and political skill among leaders, which can be used

for decision making and implementation, to bring a good and positive change.

Zaleznik (1970) also supported this view that organizations are politically structured. Scarcity

of the resources and competition over them become the bases of organizational politics and at the

same time organizations provide opportunities for people to develop their career by exercising power

and politics. Thus the leaders who have political skill in conjunction with organizational politics savvy

can excel at a higher pace than leaders who do not have this “right stuff”. It also suggests that leaders

can enjoy psychological and tangible benefits when they deploy them simultaneously to manage

change in organizations. They can also yield the same benefits for employees and organizations as a

result of positive change. our model infers that leaders need to lead in a positive manner, recognizing

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Servent Leadership Roundtable – May 2008 17

that change is an emotive process and followers are need to be changed by exercising their political

skill and organizational politics savvy.

Limitations and Future Research

Despite the strengths of the theory and proposed model this paper is not without limitations.

We have treated leadership, without any differentiation, in its general influential role. It may be well

explored for a particular type of leadership e.g. transformational leader may be more appropriate for

organizational change. At this point we can not look at it; if one can investigate; it will be a further step

toward understanding leadership.

Political skill and organizational politics both root in social intelligence and social interactions,

so they may overlap. However measuring these constructs by using exclusive scales may take away

this constraint. For example political skill scale/inventory by Ferris et al. (1999, 2005) can be used

and to measure one’s understanding of organizational politics, perceptions of organizational politics

scale (POPS) by Kacmar and Ferris (1997) and Kacmar and Carlson (1999) can be a useful

instrument.

As this is a theoretical paper so we are not sure about the effect size of leader’s political skill

on his/her understanding of organizational politics and vice versa.

A large body of academic research provides strong evidence that national culture plays an

important and enduring role in shaping the assumptions, beliefs, and values of individuals in the

organizations. According to the most celebrated work of Hofstede (1984) on cultural differences and

their effect on all the functions of organization, we assume that strength and size of leader’s political

skill and his/her understanding of organizational politics will be different in individualistic and

collective culture e.g. in USA and Asia. It is also a potential area for future research. For future

research we also recommend if one can test our constructed theory and model empirically.

Implications for Practice

This article has attempted to define the role of leader’ political skill and organizational politics

savvy in organizational change. The managerial applications of the proposed model are quite

extensive. The more important is that organizations should employ those leaders who are predisposed

with political skill and understanding of organizational politics at all managerial levels. Or the other

way is to develop them among leaders by proper training as Ferris, Anthony, Kolodinsky, and Harvey

(2002) have suggested some ways to develop political skill such as drama-based training,

developmental simulations, and behavior modeling. This implication is more congruent for the

organizations which are in the phase of drastic change e.g. mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures,

cultural, or technological change. Top and functional level leaders are responsible for smooth

changes. They are desirous to bring it preemptively by assessing the environmental requirements or

when facing them as challenges. As noted above that organizations are viewed as political arenas.

Thus leaders need to have an interpersonal control over employees so that they can mould individuals

and situations according to the desired change.

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18 Leaders’ Political Skill, Organizational Politics Savvy, and Change in Organizations - A Constellation

Another implication is for the promotion of leaders at higher ranks. Leaders equipped with

political skill and organizational politics savvy might be promoted to the upper levels. These leaders

can play the role of negotiators in business dealings with counterparties and also in resolving conflicts

in their and organization favor. In the model, double arrow between political skill and understanding of

organizational politics depicts a close relationship between them. Leaders with political skill can deal

with the negative effects of organizational politics and can also make use of its positive effects in their

own and organization interest. Organizational politics savvy can facilitate leaders to en-sharp or

develop their political skill. If this relationship can be approved empirically it will be a great

contribution to leadership and organization science.

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