Influence and promotability: the importance of female political skill

Servant versus directive leadership and promotability: does leader gender matter?

Are leaders more promotable when they show servant or directive leadership - and does this hold for women and men alike? Servant leaders are likely seen as more effective, likable, and thus promotable but less prototypical than directive leaders. We argue that differing degrees of communion (i.e., warmth, morality) and agency (i.e., competence, dominance) underlie the relationship of servant and directive leadership with leaders' promotability. Based on expectancy-violation theory, we assume that men benefit more from servant leadership and women benefit more from directive leadership. Servant leadership aligns more with communion and stereotypes about women. In contrast, directive leadership aligns more with agency and stereotypes about men. These differences may result in gender-biased evaluations threatening fairness in leadership promotions. In a pre-study, servant leadership was more expected of women leaders than of men leaders. However, directive leadership was equally expected of women leaders and men leaders. An experimental vignette study (N = 454) revealed that servant leaders were seen as more effective, likable, and promotable than directive leaders, regardless of gender. Perceived leader warmth, morality, and competence were positively, and dominance was negatively, related to leader effectiveness and leader liking, which were positively related to leader promotability. We also investigated whether raters' gender role beliefs influenced the evaluations, which they did not (as reported in the Supplementary material). Concluding, women and men profit equally from exhibiting servant compared to directive leadership.

Perceived organizational politics, knowledge hiding and diminished promotability: how do harmony motives matter?

Purpose

This study aims to investigate an underexplored behavioral factor, knowledge hiding, that connects employees’ perceptions of organizational politics (POP) with their diminished promotability, while also considering the moderating role of employees’ harmony motives in this process.

Design/methodology/approach

The research hypotheses are tested with multisource, three-round data collected among employees and their supervisors.

Findings

Employees’ beliefs about self-serving organizational decision-making increase their propensity to hide knowledge, which, in turn, diminishes their promotability. This intermediate role of knowledge hiding is more prominent when their disintegration avoidance motive is strong but less prominent when their harmony enhancement motive is strong.

Practical implications

A refusal to share knowledge with organizational colleagues, as a covert response to POP, can create a negative cycle for employees. They are frustrated with decision-making practices that are predicated on favoritism, but by choosing seemingly subtle ways to respond, they compromise their own promotion prospects. To avoid this escalation, employees should adopt an active instead of passive approach toward maintaining harmony in their work relationships.

Originality/value

This research contributes to extant research by detailing a hitherto overlooked reason that employees’ frustrations with dysfunctional politics may escalate into an enhanced probability to miss out on promotion opportunities. They respond to this situation by engaging in knowledge hiding. As an additional contribution, this study details how the likelihood of this response depends on employees’ harmony motives.

Team political skill and team performance

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relation between team political skill, i.e., the mean level of political skill among team members, and team performance. Specifically, it proposes that the link between team political skill and team performance is ambiguous and contingent upon a common professional background as well as collective team commitment within the team.

Design/methodology/approach

Data from 45 service teams with 295 team members and their supervisors were analyzed. Hypotheses were tested using OLS regression.

Findings

The results show that a common professional background and collective team commitment serve as crucial contingencies for the relationship between team political skill and team performance.

Research limitations/implications

This study complements previous individual-level research demonstrating a positive relation between political skill and relevant outcomes by highlighting that the link between team political skill and team performance is ambiguous and contingent upon other team characteristics.

Practical implications

To enhance team performance, managers should carefully consider the interplay between team political skill and other team characteristics when making staffing decisions.

Originality/value

The study highlights the relation of political skill with team performance and points to a potential downside of political skill in organizations.

A Framework for Developing Women Leaders

Informed by extant literature, we develop a framework of women’s leadership development that integrates the key factors affecting women’s leadership development (challenging organizational contexts, work–life integration and career/life-stage concerns) and the characteristics of women’s leadership presence. We define leadership presence as a combination of a woman’s unique voice, style of engagement, and positive contributions—composed of her self-confidence, self-efficacy, influence, and authenticity. We apply the framework to three composite executive coaching scenarios developed from our collective executive coaching experiences. The applications illustrate how a coach’s guiding questions, focused on appropriate combinations of key factors and leadership presence developmental needs, can effectively facilitate women’s leadership development. Practical implications for executive coaching practice as well as directions for future research are discussed.

Paths from leadership to upward influence

Purpose

– This inquest into consumer goods companies in Vietnam aims to examine if leadership influences corporate social responsibility (CSR) and emotional intelligence (EI), which in turn influences upward influence behavior. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach

– Structural equation modeling approach contributed to the analysis of 406 responses returned from self-administered structured questionnaires sent to 690 middle level managers.

Findings

– From the findings emerged a model of upward influence behavior and its antecedents such as leadership, CSR, and EI. Transformational leadership, ethical CSR, and high level of EI were found to nurture organizationally beneficial upward influence tactics.

Originality/value

– Through the findings of the study, the insight into the leadership-based model of upward influence behavior underscores the role of transformational leadership style, ethical CSR, as well as team EI in the cultivation of organizationally beneficial upward influence tactics in consumer goods companies in Vietnam business context.

Importance of women's political skill in male-dominated organizations

Purpose

– The aim of this paper is to investigate whether or not political skill helps women working in a male-dominated environment to obtain positions with authority.

Design/methodology/approach

– Surveys were emailed to female lawyers working full-time in a variety of law firms across the USA. Participants were 140 lawyers with an average of ten years of practicing law.

Findings

– In support of their hypotheses, the authors found that when working in male-dominated organizations, women with high levels of political skill fared better than women with low levels of political skill in terms of obtaining positions with authority.

Research limitations/implications

– Because the research design was cross-sectional, direction of causality cannot be established. Second, common method bias may have affected the observed relationships.

Practical implications

– Given that women with political skill may be able to recognize and break down the barriers that are especially present in male-dominated organizations, women and managers alike should consider training to help women understand and enhance their political skill.

Social implications

– This research highlights the particular challenge of workplace politics for women and presents political skill as a potential solution.

Originality/value

– This research is the first to demonstrate the benefit of having political skill for women working in male-dominated organizations.