Political Skill Research Articles

The Art of Being Governed: Everyday Politics in Late Imperial China by Michael Szonyi

Reviewed by: The Art of Being Governed: Everyday Politics in Late Imperial China by Michael Szonyi Kenneth M. Swope The Art of Being Governed: Everyday Politics in Late Imperial China by Michael Szonyi. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2017. Pp. xv + 303. $35.00 cloth, $24.95 paper, $24.95 e-book. At its heart, this book is a social history of an institution viewed through a local prism. The institution under consideration is the hereditary military system of the Ming dynasty. Much maligned by both contemporaneous and later historians, this complex institution was intimately intertwined with Ming society at all levels, and it impacted far more [End Page 278] individuals than has generally been appreciated. The Art of Being Governed is the first book in English to explore the social, economic, political, and even religious ramifications of this state of affairs. The book is of tremendous value not only to Ming historians but also to others more generally interested in the evolution of state-society relations in imperial China. In essence, the author wants to examine how military institutions influenced the lives of local people, focusing on the southeastern coast, most specifically Fujian and, to a lesser extent, Guangdong. The study is framed around two basic questions. First, how did ordinary people deal with obligations to provide manpower to the army? Second, what were the broader consequences of their behavior? Szonyi uses genealogies, contracts, and stone inscriptions on temples and gravestones, in conjunction with standard military and population registers, local gazetteers, and official histories, to investigate the ways that common folk reacted to state initiatives and obligations as well as how they created and seized opportunities to advance their own interests while legally meeting their obligations. He bolsters this research with fieldwork and even interviews with contemporary descendants of people he profiles in the book. Borrowing techniques from microhistory and consciously drawing upon the works of Michel Foucault and James Scott, Szonyi adapts the notion of "everyday politics" from Ben Kerkvliet (pp. 7–8) to argue that individuals acquired and transmitted political skills and competencies—an art of being governed. In other words, people learned how to both work within and manipulate the Ming military conscription system. Each family designated as a military household was obligated to provide one able-bodied male for service per generation. Szonyi creates a typology of family strategies that were adopted to deal with these military obligations, which ran the gamut from concentrating service to certain family lines to compensating others for meeting the obligation. Of course, these strategies could overlap and change over time. The author deliberately avoids focusing on more extreme strategies, such as desertion and turning to banditry, both due to a dearth of records (since clan genealogies tend to omit these details) and his interest in seeing how the system actually functioned at the local level. Overall, Szonyi finds that people sought to maximize the advantages of military registration and increase the predictability of their [End Page 279] obligations via multilevel calibrations and calculations (p. 61). He concludes that "long before the systematic efforts of modern state regimes penetrated society, ordinary Chinese people had developed a sophisticated economy of state interaction, a system of managing state exactions and expectations" (p. 62). This analysis should come as little surprise to most serious social historians of the Ming. But the details of how these strategies of engagement unfolded within this sphere is of great use and interest to historians of not only the Ming but also other early modern polities, even though little is offered in the way of potential comparisons herein. Moreover, to his credit, Szonyi also realizes that the Ming state and its officials recognized what was going on; they were both flexible and adaptable in allowing for a certain degree of negotiation, so long as the state's needs were being met and its goals were realized. The picture that emerges is one of a dynamic state that is far different from the tradition-bound, ossified imperial colossus posited by Ray Huang a generation ago.1 In terms of the institutional side of things, Szonyi draws heavily upon the pioneering works of Yu Zhijia 于志嘉 and Wang Yuquan 王毓铨.2 While...

Elucidation of the concept of organizational silence

Organisational silence is defined as the motivation to withhold or express ideas, information and opinions about work-related improvements. This study discusses the conceptual, theoretical and methodological aspects of the elusive concept and its importance in the organisational setup. Fear, embarrassment, narrow conceptions of ethical responsibility, lack of opportunity for voice, lack of organisational political skills, etc. are factors that are identified as leading to silence. It has also been seen that a host of socio-cultural, political and structural characteristics within organisations could hamper the space for exercising voice and result in silence. The paper also, based on theoretical and empirical evidences, analyses the factors that lead to silence in organisations, it effects and outcomes. The paper has succeeded in identifying the gaps in literature and makes certain suggestion that could facilitate further examination of the concept in an objective manner.

Employee Political Skill, Organizational Citizenship Behaviour and Performance among Employees in Kenyan Universities: Moderation Approach

The main aim of the study was to assess moderating role of organizational citizenship behaviour on relationship between employee political skill and employee performance in Kenyan universities. The study was grounded on social exchange theory. The study used positivism paradigm, explanatory research design, and combination of simple random and stratified sampling on a target population of 6147 employees in selected universities in Kenya. A sample size of 567 academic and non-academic staff selected based on Yamane’s formula to determine selection of respondents to be served with structured questionnaires. The reliability of the data collection instrument was presented using Cronbach Alpha while factor analysis was used to validate the instrument. Data was analysed quantitatively with the aid of the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS 24.0). Findings from Hayes model 1 showed that there is a positive and significant moderating effect of Organizational Citizenship Behaviour (R-sqΔ=.14, β= .48, p=.00) on the relationship between employee political skill and employee performance. Conclusively, Organizational Citizenship Behaviour significantly affects the relationship between Employee Political skill and Employee Performance. The study recommends leaders in institutions to instil the resource of employee political skill through a blend of organizational citizenship behaviour so as to enrich performance among employees. Additionally, it calls for broadening research and utilizing the existing theories on this topic on a global view.

Apologiia politika

This article studies how the apology of the politician came about in eighteenth-century Russia. According to this apology, courtiers integrated Christian ethics with political mastery. The concept of duty developed by Christian political theology presupposed observation of moral norms pending a reward from Providence. In Modern Europe, reactions to N. Machiavelli’s ideas advocating that the state’s interest be free from Christian morality led to devising what a courtier’s specific political skills would be that consisted in recurring to rhetoric to serve the state’s interests as well as his own while remaining a moral person. Texts written by eighteenth-century Russian politicians or their wingmen show an adaptation of elements of this approach. However, the development of such an apology of the politician was hampered by the conceptual foundations of the political culture of Russian monarchism, in which, according to E. Wirthshafter, morality stood against politics.

Social Capital and Success of Minority Entrepreneurs

Scholars and policymakers can use this research to understand the relationship between successful performance of minority entrepreneurs and social capital. Entrepreneurship is a driving force that can create a society of self-supporting individuals. Minority entrepreneurship is an avenue for individuals to lift themselves out of poverty and create job opportunities for others. Social capital is economic and social networks used by people to promote transactions and alliances as a means to produce goods and services for themselves and for a common good. Social capital involves networking and political and social skills. Social capital networks consist of operations that include mutual benefits, trust, and cooperation. A quantitative analysis was conducted of a sample that included 287 minority male and female business owners to measure business revenues, company size, and self-reported assessment. The findings noted political and social skills significantly impact internal or intrinsic success measure. However, social networking did not relate to external or extrinsic success (revenue and size of company) among minorities in this study. Explanations are included about the findings and future research suggestions are also provided.

Why dark personalities can get ahead: Extending the toxic career model

Low honesty-humility is a broad indicator of the common core of dark personality traits. The toxic career model explains how dark personalities successfully climb the organizational ladder. It suggests that dark personalities can get ahead at work via self- and other-rated political skill, which results in improved job performance ratings by supervisors. We extended this mediation model by adding targets’ hierarchical organizational position. Additionally, we specified two moderating conditions that can explain how individuals with low and high honesty-humility can get ahead. First, enterprising job characteristics facilitate higher self-other agreement regarding political skill, thereby promoting the rise of individuals low in honesty-humility. Second, high honesty-humility compensates for low other-perceived political skill. We successfully tested the moderated-mediation hypotheses from the extended toxic career model in a multi-source design with 203 target-peer-supervisor triplets.

Coaching Millennial Entrepreneurs in Tourism Industry: A glimpse of Political Skill

The main objective of this study is to determine whether coaching support plays a significant role towards millennial entrepreneurs’ political skill. It has been argued that political skill is a learned behavior that can be developed through various ways such as coaching, mentoring and role modelling which involves experience development. In achieving high political skill, there is a need to work with skillful coaches in order to provide successful mentorship. Since political skill is treated as multidimensional which are networking ability, interpersonal influence, social astuteness and apparent sincerity, four hypotheses were postulated in this study. This study applies Partial Least Squared method in analyzing the data that were distributed to 200 respondents through questionnaires. The findings of this study are that coaching support has positive relationships with networking ability, social astuteness and apparent sincerity. Only, interpersonal influence has a negative influence by coaching support.

Pretesting a political skill scale in a sample of teacher-leaders from polytechnics in northeast Nigeria

Although the Political Skill Inventory (PSI) is the benchmark measure of the political skill construct, the existence and frequent use of other measures suggest that the PSI fails to cover the content domain of the construct comprehensively. This study utilised the extant political skill measures in developing a robust and parsimonious political skill scale for assessing the political sensitivity of teacher-leaders in higher education. Cognitive tests, behaviour coding and respondent debriefing were conducted to evaluate a 38-item pool on political skill in a sample of 36 teacher-leaders drawn from nine polytechnics situated in Northeast Nigeria. The scale's interrater agreement was computed using Fleiss' κ statistic based on categorical data from five expert reviews. The results of our analyses revealed a 15-item Political Skill Scale (PSS) that reflects the social competence teacher-leaders need in performing the largely voluntary roles of teacher leadership. This work contributes towards contextual mapping of the political skill construct in an African setting. It also offers a new political skill measure.

Political skill: Consequences and theoretical explanation

Political skill: Consequences and theoretical explanation

“It is better to be loved than feared: Machiavellianism and the dark side of internal networking”

There is a wealth of evidence—from both practice and academic research—demonstrating the efficacy of internal networking for sales performance. However, scant research has examined whether particular individual difference variables may attenuate this relationship. In response, the current research explores an important boundary condition of internal networking; specifically, we examine trait Machiavellianism and its attenuating effect on the positive relationship between internal networking and sales performance. Using survey response data from 147 B2B salespeople employed at a large, warehousing equipment manufacturer, we find that internal networking has a positive effect on objective sales performance, but that this relationship is attenuated when salespeople are high in Machiavellianism, which is marked by flattery, deceit, and manipulative interpersonal behaviors. Additionally, we find that a salesperson’s political skill—specifically their social astuteness and interpersonal influence ability—fuel their desire to engage in internal networking. We conclude our study by providing implications for both theory and practice, and offering suggested avenues for future research.

More humility, less counterproductive work behaviors? The role of interpersonal justice and trust

Leader humility has emerged as an important topic in understanding the role of leadership in organizations in recent years. Though it was found to enhance subordinates’ work performance and positive work behaviors, we are unaware of the psychological mechanism and boundary conditions underlying leader humility and employees’ negative behaviors toward leaders. Drawing on social exchange theory and using a multistage sample including 273 employees and 55 supervisors in China, we demonstrated a negative indirect effect between leader humility and subordinates’ counterproductive work behaviors toward supervisors (CWB-S) via interpersonal justice and trust in supervisor. Furthermore, we find that leader political skill moderates the effect of leader humility on interpersonal justice and trust in supervisor. The indirect effect of leader humility on subordinates’ CWB-S through interpersonal justice is stronger when leader political skill is high, suggesting a moderated mediation model. Finally, we discuss the theoretical contributions and practical implications of this study, and highlight future directions for research on leader humility.

The antecedents and consequences of employees\u2019 followership behavior in social network organizational context: a longitudinal study

The social network is a social structure made up of individuals who are tied by social links. With the rapid development of information technology, online social networking services and microblogging service received a lot of attention. Social networks provide a comprehensive communication platform of interaction, knowledge sharing, information dissemination to people, etc. They also bring a significant impact on people’s working style and interpersonal communication. Drawing from trait theory, regulatory focus theory, followership theory, political skills, self-construal theory, and performance theory, this study systematically investigates the antecedents that induce the difference in followership behavior and the different consequences of behavior on job performance. We introduce a novel hybrid similarity measure, and the best matching based supervised learning process is conducted for training the time series. The events before the current timestamp can be adopted as a training set, and an early predictor will be generated by learning the rules from the training set. The newly coming events will be used for verifying the predictor, or assessing and tuning it. This paper clarifies the antecedents’ mechanism for differences in followership behavior and the consequence mechanism that followership behavior differently impacts job performance.

組織成員の主要5 因子性格が組織市民行動に及ぼす影響における 政治スキルの媒介効果

組織成員の主要5 因子性格が組織市民行動に及ぼす影響における 政治スキルの媒介効果

A self-regulation model of leader authenticity based on mindful self-regulated attention and political skill

Despite much research on leader authenticity, its antecedents remain poorly understood. We develop a self-regulatory model of leader authenticity. The model explains how both mindful self-regulated attention and political skill, as well as their interaction, are important for leaders to be authentic, and ultimately effective. Mindful self-regulated attention—a core dimension of mindfulness defined as sustained attention centered on the present moment—helps leaders stay connected to their core self amid the busyness of their (work) lives, allowing leaders to feel authentic. And, particularly in combination with political skill—a social effectiveness construct—it helps leaders interact with their employees in a way that is experienced as authentic and effective. In an experimental study (Study 1), we found that leaders who mindfully self-regulate their attention feel more authentic. In a two-wave multi-source field study (Study 2), we found that leader self-regulated attention was positively associated with employee perceptions of leader authenticity and effectiveness. Further, this relation was stronger when leader political skill was high. We discuss theoretical and practical implications of this research.

SALADIN'S ‘SPIN DOCTORS’

ABSTRACTWe might flatter ourselves that the idea of a spin doctor is rather a modern one, but I wonder. Obviously enough, powerful rulers have always had their coterie of close advisers. But in the medieval Muslim world there is one outstanding example of something rather more than this: the team of three counsellors that Saladin assembled who watched over his interests and, crucially, his reputation, with unflagging devotion for decades. Two of them were, by any standard, intellectual stars who could have turned their multifarious talents in many directions but who chose rather to dedicate them to a man whom they not only admired but also loved. One of them, the poet ‘Imad al-Din al-Isfahani, was a Persian with a truly awesome command of Arabic, a gift which he delighted to exhibit in and out of season. His pyrotechnic performances, solid with metaphor, saturated with puns, wordplay, alliteration, assonance and verbal acrobatics, are such a nightmare to understand that generations of Western Orientalists – and indeed Arab scholars too, for that matter – have recoiled from the task of editing certain of his works. Sometimes in his writings manner eclipses matter, but he is also capable of reaching heights of solemn eloquence, as in his paean of triumph at the recapture of Jerusalem, or his threnody on the death of Saladin. The other, the Qadi al-Fadil – his title means ‘The Excellent Judge’ – though only a somewhat pedestrian poet, was an acknowledged master of the epistolary prose that was de rigueur in Islamic chanceries, and for centuries his letters were regarded as models of their genre. His appearance, hunchbacked and skeletal, made him the butt of the court's satirical poets, but his political skills were beyond reproach, and indeed in his master's absence he governed Egypt for a time. It has been said that biography adds an extra terror to death, but in that respect Saladin need not have worried. For Ibn Shaddad, the third member of this distinguished triumvirate, who joined the team after the fall of Jerusalem but thereafter never left Saladin's side and therefore saw him in good times and bad, was a plain man with a plain style. But he rose to the occasion and crafted a biography of his hero Saladin that lets the facts speak for themselves. He has no time for stale panegyric; instead, his admiration for Saladin shines through his account at every turn, and it is he who laid the foundations for his master's posthumous celebrity. The lecture will explore the impact of these three men on the Saladin legend, which transformed a minor Kurdish warlord into an emblem of chivalry, piety and military glory which captured the hearts and the imaginations of Muslims for centuries to come – and still does.

Communications skills from methodology creative and model of the united nations

this article is result of the research which main objective was analyzed factors and influence of methodology creative and nations united model in the development of abilities in communication of the students of the ninth grade. the methodology incorporates writing texts, set ups, and descriptive researches. The investigation was oriented quantitative focus with an analysis technique of multiple results factorial, identified profiles of students with character of leaders; the sample incorporated 150 students of educational institutions in Norte de Santander-Colombia. The results allow us to observe four factors associated with communicative skills: pragmatic, with the practice skills for the readings production; factor normative, belongs to etic based parameters, factor diplomatic negotiator, skill to intercede in conflicts and factor communicative in assign tasks to groups and planning. Apply the methodology denominated creative and United Nations model, developed and enhance political communications skills, democratic, of planning communicative and ethical.

Workshop: Paving the path to the health systems of the future

Abstract Reforming health systems is a priority that is being addressed at local, regional, national and European level. Health system reforms are complex; they require political commitment, know-how, skills and sustained financial investments. The EU can provide support in various stages of such reforms: from initiation to design and to implementation. The session will describe the main EU tools for this, such as the European Semester, programmes that can offer technical assistance, as well as programmes that provide opportunities for financial support. EU tools to support health system reforms Loukianos Gatzoulis DG SANTE Technical support / twinning Sonia Mueller VIGOUR Financing support Dita Protopopová Mental Healthcare reform project, Ministry of Health, Czech Republic

호텔구성원이 지각하는 정치기술이 조직정치지각 및 직무소진에 미치는 영향: 성별의 조절효과

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between political skill(PS) and perceptions of organizational politics(POP) and the relationship between perceptions of organizational politics and job burnout. To examine the effect of gender on the relationship between (PS) and (POP), 327 research samples were verified from hotel employees in Seoul and metropolitan areas. The results of this study are as follows. First, the influences of perceived political skills and (POP) of hotel companies were partially influenced negatively in each factor. Political skill is the result of reducing the (POP). Second, the perceived organizational politics perceptions were more influenced by the job burnout than by the superiors. Finally, as a result of verifying the moderating effect of gender on the relationship between (PS) and (POP), it is found that there is a significant moderating effect. The findings suggest that gender plays a role in the management of political skills and organizational politics that the hotel employees perceive and provide practical implications for human resource management.

Attaining Sustainable Organization in an Era of Technology Disruption through Leadership and Strategic Decision Making: Mediating Role of Organizational Politics

In an environment of constant accelerating change, organizations need to ensure they continually invest in their internal capabilities. Upskilling staff, and ensuring the leadership style is adaptive and responsive to change is key to ensuring sustainability in the organization. This study aims to examine the effect of blue ocean leadership style on strategic decision making, mediates by organizational politic. The questionnaire was adopted from previous study and distributed to middle to top level manager in the Malaysian 20 largest Government Link Companies (GLCs). A stratified random sampling technique is adopted to ensure the sample represent the actual population. PLS-SEM was used to test the hypotheses. The findings of this study show that there is a partial mediating effect of organizational politics on the relationship of blue ocean leadership styles and strategic decision making. Organizational politics has its ambivalence, but it can be exploit by developing its proper understanding and political skill amongst leaders, which can be used for strategic decision making and implementation, to deliver an excellent and effective change.

The Influence of Perceptions of Organizational Politics on Job Performance: Focused on the Mediating Effect of Affective Commitment and the Moderating Effect of Political Skill

The Influence of Perceptions of Organizational Politics on Job Performance: Focused on the Mediating Effect of Affective Commitment and the Moderating Effect of Political Skill