Mentoring in the workplace has become an increasingly popular trend because of its touted success at addressing the career and social related needs of employees. While the majority of the research on mentoring has examined protege benefits, far fewer studies have examined the potential negative effects of mentoring. Moreover, little is known about the antecedents of negative mentoring experiences. A primary objective of the present study was to investigate relations between mentor and protege perceptions of organizational politics and reports of functional and dysfunctional mentoring. In addition, I examined the joint contribution of functional and dysfunctional mentoring to a number of protege outcomes. Data were collected from 93 mentor-protege dyads employed across the United States by a marketing communications business. Results indicated that mentors who perceived their climate to be more political expressed greater motivation to mentor for their own self-enhancement and lesser motivation to mentor for their own intrinsic satisfaction. proteges who perceived their climate to be more political reported a greater incidence of dysfunctional mentoring. protege reports of the functional mentoring they received accounted for unique variance in predicting supervisor ratings of their performance, whereas dysfunctional mentoring accounted for unique variance in predicting turnover intentions, stress, and job satisfaction. The results of this study broaden our understanding of the manner in which mentoring relationships can go awry.

Dans les organisations d'aujourd'hui, les structures hiérarchiques traditionnelles ont cédé leur place aux relations latérales. Ainsi les mécanismes de coordination et de contrôle sont devenus plus horizontaux. La dynamique du fonctionnement des organisations s'en trouve transformer [i.e. transformée] et devient de nature sociale. Dans ce contexte, pour favoriser la performance et prendre en compte l'omniprésence des phénomènes politiques dans les organisations, la maîtrise d'habiletés interpersonnelles dont l'habileté politique devient incontournable. De nombreux impacts positifs pour l'individu et l'organisation sont associés à son utilisation. Pourtant, une seule mesure de cette compétence a été répertoriée : le Political Skill Inventory (PSI, Ferris et al., 2005a). Afin d'en faire bénéficier les organisations francophones du Québec, la traduction et validation de l'outil est nécessaire. L'objectif général de cette recherche est d'effectuer la validation transculturelle en français du questionnaire PSI au moyen de la méthodologie de Vallerand (1989). Les hypothèses émises visent à vérifier les validités de contenu, concomitante et de construit ainsi que, la fidélité de la version expérimentale. La traduction du questionnaire PSI constitue la phase 1 de la méthode de Vallerand et la validation du PSI-FR représente la phase 2. Pour la traduction en français du questionnaire, la responsable du projet de recherche avec quatre traducteurs bilingues auquel [i.e. auxquels] s'ajoute un doctorant en psychologie organisationnelle constituent un comité d'experts et 20 travailleurs participent au pré-test. Quant à la validation du PSI-FR, elle s'est déroulée en deux temps de mesure et avec deux échantillons de participants bilingues. L'échantillon du premier temps de mesure comprend 208 travailleurs et pour le second, 147 travailleurs. La version originale du PSI, de langue anglaise, ainsi que sa version traduite en français ont été utilisées. Un second questionnaire utilisé pour la présente recherche est le Machiavelianism Personality Scale (MPS, Dahling, Whitaker, & Levy, 2009). Il sert à mesurer la variable de machiavélisme, concept connexe mais distinct de l'habileté politique. Les résultats démontrent une congruence entre les versions française et anglaise et ce, aux deux temps de mesure. Les mesures de fidélité du questionnaire expérimental, soit les indices statistiques de consistance interne et de stabilité temporelle confirment sa fidélité. Les résultats liés à la validité de construit aux Temps 1 et 2 suggèrent une solution d'ordre supérieur prometteuse (Temps 1) et la supériorité d'une solution à quatre facteurs primaires (Temps 2). Les mesures prises au Temps 2 sont plus près des résultats des études de Ferris et al. (2005) que celles du Temps 1, notamment aux relations entre les dimensions. Finalement, les résultats confirment l'inexistence de lien entre le machiavélisme et l'habileté politique. Si des études complémentaires s' avèrent nécessaires pour obtenir un instrument fidèle et valide de l'habileté politique, cette recherche a par ailleurs apporté des contributions notables : l'accès à un court questionnaire mesurant l'habileté politique, le PSI-FR et une validation supplémentaire du modèle théorique du construit tel que décrit par Ferris et al. (2005a). Quant à l'application pratique, la présente étude offre un outil prometteur pour les travailleurs francophones du Québec, utile pour le développement des compétences en matière d'habiletés politiques.

There are some subordinates that have a deep understanding of their supervisor’s world. More than others, they understand their supervisor’s work relationships, preferences, demands, and resources. The goal of this thesis was to predict and test how this collection of strategic and sensitive information, or follower political knowledge, develops. Using the active perspective-taking framework, I focused on a subordinate’s motivation, capacity, and opportunity to acquire follower political knowledge. In particular, I hypothesized that key individual, relational, and contextual factors would predict follower political knowledge. Two studies were conducted to test these predictions: a cross-sectional survey of 467 employees and a cross-sectional survey of 174 supervisor-subordinate dyads. Across studies, political skill, leader-member exchange, and supervisors’ trust were the strongest predictors of follower political knowledge. The implications of these findings present a case to be made for the role of follower political knowledge in effective followership. / October 2016

This study considered the effects of mentoring on protégés’ beliefs in their abilities to be leaders and on their development of interpersonal skills. This study explored, in 260 business graduate students, the relationship between (a) mentoring and leadership self-efficacy and (b) mentoring and political skill. Participants completed surveys including the Self-Efficacy for Leadership Scale, the Political Skill Inventory, and the Mentoring Functions Questionnaire. Comparisons between non-mentored and mentored individuals showed that having a mentor is associated with increased political skill (p < .05) but not increased leadership self-efficacy (p > .05). Among mentored individuals, higher quality mentoring relationships are associated with significantly higher leadership-self efficacy (p < .01) but not with significantly higher political skill (p > .05). The presence of a mentor is important for protégé development of political skill, but the quality of the mentoring relationship is important for protégé development of leadership self-efficacy.

Political skill has been described as using human resources and manipulating social exchanges to influence group outcomes (Mintzberg, 1983). Researchers have found that political skill has significant relationships with constructs such as contextual performance, career satisfaction and leadership. Based on these empirical findings it may be beneficial to include a measure of political skill as part of a selection process. In this study, different methods were explored for measuring political skill that may be appropriate for administrative purposes such as the self-rated questionnaire called the Political Skill Inventory (PSI), a situational judgment test (SJT) and the structured interview. A sample of 100 graduate business students, most of whom had extensive managerial experience, completed the previously mentioned measures in exchange for feedback on their assessments. The participants were subsequently rated on political skill by their coworkers. The only significant association with the coworker scores was the PSI; neither the SJT nor the structured interview showed a significant relationship with the peer ratings of political skill. However, there were unforeseen technical limits to the measures that might explain the negative findings. The paper concludes with recommendations for improving the measures prior to a follow-up study.

This thesis explores engagement in organizational politics among managers. There is increasing recognition that organizational politics are ubiquitous in organizational life and critically important in managerial roles. Drawing on micro perspectives in extant literature on organizational politics, this research attempts to better understand managerial engagement in politics by focusing not only on managers’ ability to engage in politics, but also on their willingness to do so. As such, the research examines what managerial political will and political skill entail, as well as how political will and skill develop. In doing so, special consideration is paid to gender, an aspect largely ignored in extant research on organizational politics. Adopting a qualitative exploratory approach, the empirical study consisted of semi-structured interviews with 38 managers (20 women and 18 men) in two global companies. The thesis makes four key theoretical contributions. First, it conceptualizes and identifies three dimensions political will, a previously neglected factor pertaining to managerial political engagement. Second, the study reconciles and refines the dimensionality of political skill, as related to existing models in field. Third, the thesis introduces a novel developmental perspective on political will and skill, proposing an initial model of political maturation. This model outlines three stages of political maturation by mapping out developmental patterns in managers’ political will and skill. The model also identifies triggers of political maturation. Finally, the thesis unpacks the role of gender in managers’ political will, skill and their maturation, demonstrating the importance of making gender visible and voiced when investigating managers’ engagement in organizational politics. In articulating these contributions, the study thoroughly accounts for the impact of organizational context on the political will, skill and maturation journey of male and female managers.

O comportamento político é uma característica da vida nas organizações, no entanto é preciso reconhecer que diferentes gestores são mais ou menos efetivos no uso desse comportamento, como consequência de suas habilidades. A competência política é vista como fator crítico para a efetividade e o desenvolvimento da carreira de lideranças. Esta pesquisa visa compreender melhor essa competência, sua relação com o desenvolvimento na carreira, o aumento da reputação e a atribuição de legitimidade das lideranças no contexto das organizações brasileiras. Para tanto, foram utilizados métodos mistos (quantitativo e qualitativo). A pesquisa foi desenvolvida em duas etapas, sendo a primeira a validação de questionário pré-existente em inglês para o português, o qual possibilita a avaliação da competência política (obtiveram-se 200 questionários válidos). Na segunda etapa, foram realizadas entrevistas com 21 gestores, com um roteiro de 12 perguntas abertas e aplicação do questionário. As questões foram elaboradas com o objetivo de identificar como as organizações e os gestores brasileiros percebem o ambiente político e como eles se sentem em relação ao aspecto político da função do gestor e se as lideranças brasileiras se consideram politicamente competentes e como elas são percebidas por seus pares e superiores nesse quesito. Buscou-se ainda verificar se a competência política é reconhecida como uma competência importante e positiva para os gestores. Para tanto, explorou-se a perspectiva positiva da política nas organizações, nos sistemas de carreira e na liderança. Outro ponto avaliado foi se as descrições feitas pelos entrevistados a respeito da reputação e legitimidade podem ser associadas à caracterização de lideranças consideradas politicamente competentes. Embora a visão mais comum da política seja negativa, os resultados mostraram que os profissionais brasileiros reconhecem o ambiente político nas empresas, seus aspectos positivos e a importância da competência política no desenvolvimento de suas carreiras. Na conclusão, discutiram-se as contribuições da pesquisa, suas limitações e sugestões de estudos futuros. / Although political behaviour is an intrinsic characteristic of organizations, it is necessary to recognize that different managers can use such a competence more or less effectively, according to their personal abilities. Political Skill is perceived as an essential aspect for the efficiency and the development of the leadership career. This research looks at such a competence and its relation to aspects as career development, increase in reputation and granting leadership legitimacy in the context of Brazilian organizations. To this end, mixed methods (qualitative and quantitative) were used. The research was carried in two stages, and the first one was the approval of a pre-existing questionnaire, translated from English into Portuguese, which allows the evaluation of political skill (we obtained 200 valid questionnaires). At the second stage, interviews were made with 21 managers, and they included a script of 12 open questions, as well as the completion of the questionnaire. The questions were created with the objective of identifying how Brazilian organizations and managers perceive the political environment and how they feel about the political aspect of the manager\'s role. Another debated issue was if Brazilian leaders consider themselves politically competent and how they are seen by their peers and superiors with regards to this matter. Besides that, another goal was to verify whether a political skill is recognized as an important and positive competence for managers. To do so, we looked into the positive outlook of politics in organizations, career systems and leadership. In addition, we evaluated whether the interviewees\' descriptions of reputation and legitimacy could be associated with the characterization of politically skilled leaderships. Even though most were under negative impressions regarding politics, the results showed that Brazilian professionals recognize the political environment in companies, their positive aspects and the importance of political skill in the development of their careers. In the conclusion further contributions of the research will be discussed, as well as its limitations and suggestions for future studies.

This research relies on Ferris et al. (2002) proposed the organization politics perceptions revision model, the discussion organization politics behavior, between the organization citizen behavior, the political skill and the organization politics perceptions 's relations, and further confirm the political skill in the political behavior, the organization citizen behavior to organize the political perceptions the disturbance effect. This research take the Taiwan area 40 institutions as an object, altogether recycles 1,940 questionnaire, the effective questionnaire is 1,890, respectively by methods and so on item analysis, factor analysis, reliability analysis, correlation analysis, multiple linear regression and hierarchical regression analyzes. The findings discovered: (¤@) the political behavior, the political skill and political perceptions are not remarkable are related, the citizen behavior and political perceptions present negative remarkable related, the political behavior, the citizen behavior and the political skill present postive remarkable related; (¤G) the political skill assumes the remarkable disturbance between the political behavior and political perceptions, the political skill does not have disturbance of effect the whole to the citizen behavior and organization politics perceptions, the political skill ¡§pay and promotion policies¡¨ to the citizen behavior and organization politics perceptions it to assume the remarkable disturbance effect.

District and school leadership are essential to the success of our students and our schools. While extensive conceptual literature describes leadership characteristics, there are few empirical studies that address the daily reality of schools. In addition, additional research is needed describing how principals maneuver within the context of schools and school districts. This phenomenological study explored how one elementary school principal understands and enacts leadership and to what extent she employs intentional strategies to facilitate change. The purpose of the study was to offer a rich profile of one elementary school principal's practice to understand how a principal constructs meaning, deploys action, and employs strategies to affect change. The results reveal this principal uses vision, the intentional strategies of expectations, modeling, decision-making processes, reflection, authentic conversations, and stories to facilitate change within her school. In addition, she maintains a human resource focus establishing relationships and building capacity in others as leadership strategies. The principal did not employ the same intention or strategies in relationship to the district or community, however. Results further indicated the district is also acting as a barrier to the implementation of leadership for change. Results of this study have implications for practitioners and future research. Practitioners can employ similar strategies as well as gaining awareness of the importance employing intention and political skill with the district. The results also highlight the need for additional leadership research as well as research investigating the role of the district in support of schools.

This thesis explores engagement in organizational politics among managers. There is increasing recognition that organizational politics are ubiquitous in organizational life and critically important in managerial roles. Drawing on micro perspectives in extant literature on organizational politics, this research attempts to better understand managerial engagement in politics by focusing not only on managers’ ability to engage in politics, but also on their willingness to do so. As such, the research examines what managerial political will and political skill entail, as well as how political will and skill develop. In doing so, special consideration is paid to gender, an aspect largely ignored in extant research on organizational politics. Adopting a qualitative exploratory approach, the empirical study consisted of semi-structured interviews with 38 managers (20 women and 18 men) in two global companies. The thesis makes four key theoretical contributions. First, it conceptualizes and identifies three dimensions political will, a previously neglected factor pertaining to managerial political engagement. Second, the study reconciles and refines the dimensionality of political skill, as related to existing models in field. Third, the thesis introduces a novel developmental perspective on political will and skill, proposing an initial model of political maturation. This model outlines three stages of political maturation by mapping out developmental patterns in managers’ political will and skill. The model also identifies triggers of political maturation. Finally, the thesis unpacks the role of gender in managers’ political will, skill and their maturation, demonstrating the importance of making gender visible and voiced when investigating managers’ engagement in organizational politics. In articulating these contributions, the study thoroughly accounts for the impact of organizational context on the political will, skill and maturation journey of male and female managers.