Developing Political Skill and Leadership: A Longitudinal Study

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Short Description

This study examined the influence of political skill on the leadership of students in a leadership education course. Data were collected from students at three points throughout the semester and results indicated that student’s political skills significantly predicted their self-reported levels of transformational leadership at the end of the course.

Detailed Abstract

Due to the nature of modern organizations, political behaviors are elicited between hierarchical groups which must compete for limited resources. These behaviors, such as informal negotiating, exchanging favors, and building alliances, are increasingly needed in order to accomplish group and organizational goals. In turn, these behaviors require political skills, a term that covers a family of skills which can be used to influence others to act in ways one desires (Ferris, Davidson, & Perrewé, 2005). As Yukl (2013) notes “Most definitions of leadership reflect the assumption that it involves a process whereby intentional influence is exerted over other people to guide, structure, and facilitate activities and relationships in a group or organization.” (pg. 2). Therefore, political skills have been shown to be crucial to the ability to be an effective leader (Ferris, Davidson, & Perrewé, 2005).
Formally defined, political skill is (Ferris, Davidson, & Perrewé, 2005: p. 7), “…the ability to understand others at work and to use that knowledge to influence others to act in ways that enhance one’s personal or organizational objectives.” Political skill is comprised of four components (Ferris et al., 2005b): 1) social astuteness means that one is an astute observer of others and is sensitive to others; 2) interpersonal influence refers to a subtle and convincing personal style that is adaptable to the situation; 3) networking ability is the skill of developing and using networks and is associated with making deals; 4) apparent sincerity is reflected through one’s actions that are perceived as authentic, sincere, and honest.
Political skill is an important variable for organizational research and has been linked to important work outcomes such as team performance (Ahearn, Ferris, Hochwarter, Douglas, & Ammeter, 2004); leader/manager effectiveness (Douglas & Ammeter, 2004; Harris, Kacmar, Zivnuska, & Shaw, 2007); and individual performance (Andrews, Kacmar, & Harris, 2009). Given the nature of political skill and its demonstrated relationship with leadership (E.g.: Douglas & Ammeter, 2004; Harris, Kacmar, Zivnuska, & Shaw, 2007; Treadway, Hochwarter, Ferris, Kacmar, Douglas, Ammeter, & Buckley, 2004), the authors examined whether interventions targeted at enhancing political skill would lead to more effective leadership, specifically transformational leadership. This leadership framework encompasses the types of behaviors that should be positively enhanced by the four components of political skill. Transformational leadership is comprised of four specific actions; idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individualized consideration (Judge & Piccolo, 2004). Conceptually, these behaviors should be predicted by the components of political skill in that they are both concerned with being responsive to individual needs in order to exert influence on followers to facilitate goal attainment.
Participants for this study were recruited from students enrolled in a capstone leadership class for a leadership minor at a large, Midwestern University. Additionally, over the semester, the course instructor lead students in several exercises aimed at allowing them to identify their own political skill as well as improve it. For instance, prior research (Ferris, Davidson, & Perrewé, 2005) has shown that the various aspects of political skill can be taught with one technique being the use of acting classes. Therefore, the course instructor utilized improvisational acting exercises to help identify and develop political skill among the students. The exercises, which will be detailed in the poster if accepted, included improvisational warm up exercises and role playing exercises which focused on developing nonverbal skills. Additionally, students were required to engage in a service learning project during the course which required students to engage their political skill and leadership capabilities to solve real problems with a local organization and their constituents. With each exercise and each contact with the community partner, students wrote reflection papers on their experiences and had group discussions with the students on their experiences with the community partner and how they utilized their political skill in their work.
In order to track student development over the course, students were asked to complete numerous surveys throughout the semester. Students were provided with informed consent information prior to each data collection, participation was voluntary and all responses were anonymous. Data were collected in the first week of the semester, 8 weeks in, and in the final week of the semester. Various measures were used to collect information regarding subject personality, political skill, civic attitudes, motivation to volunteer, and leadership.
Preliminary analysis of the correlations among measures indicated that individual political skill was significantly related to self-reported transformational leadership at various points in the course. See Table 1 for all correlations.
Following a preliminary examination of the bivariate correlations, a regression analysis was conducted to determine if political skill predicted self-reported leadership at the end of the course. In other words, did the targeted interventions enhance political skill and did that political skill predict leadership. In order to test this relationship, a four-step hierarchical linear regression was conducted with overall personality (as measured by the Big 5) being entered in the first step and the subsequent three steps entering the political skill measures in chronological order. See Table 2 for complete regression results. Results indicated that controlling for student personality and their initial political skill, the political skill they developed over the course was significantly predictive of their transformational leadership upon leaving the course.
Results of the study have several implications. First, it shows researchers and educators alike that political skill is valuable to leadership, and more specifically, that directing attention too and developing political skill can have an effect on leadership behaviors. Additionally, results indicated that political skill had the strongest influence on self-reported transformational leadership at the second and third data collections indicating that leaders may need to be made aware of their political skill in order for it to have a strong influence on their leadership behaviors. In sum, political skill appears a valuable trait in regards to leadership, however, unlike most traits, political skill is open to intervention and development which could prove valuable to leadership educators and practitioners alike.

Participants

• Andrew Wefald, Kansas State University

• Kyle W van Ittersum, Angelo State University