Workplace Politics, Ethical Leadership & Employee Behavior

Ethical Leadership and Workplace Politics Effects

Political behavior at work moderates the effects of ethical leadership. One study found male employees were more responsive to ethical leadership and showed the most citizenship behavior when levels of both politics and ethical leadership were high. Women, on the other hand, appeared most likely to engage in citizenship behavior when the environment was consistently ethical and apolitical.

Defensive Behaviors in Political Environments

When employees see politics as a threat, they often respond with defensive behaviors—reactive and protective behaviors to avoid action, blame, or change. In the short run, employees may find that defensiveness protects their self-interest, but in the long run, it wears them down. People who consistently rely on defensiveness find that eventually, it is the only way they know how to behave. At that point, they lose the trust and support of their peers, bosses, employees, and clients.

Impression Management (IM) Techniques

Defensive IM Techniques

• Excuses: Explaining a predicament-creating event aimed at minimizing the apparent severity of the predicament. Example: A sales manager says to her boss, “We failed to get the ad in the paper on time, but no one responds to those ads anyway.”
• Apologies: Admitting responsibility for an undesirable event and simultaneously seeking to get a pardon for the action. Example: An employee says to his boss, “I’m sorry I made a mistake on the report. Please forgive me.”

Self-Focused IM Techniques

• Self-promotions: Highlighting your best qualities, downplaying your deficits, and calling attention to your achievements. Example: A salesperson tells his boss, “Matt worked unsuccessfully for three years to try to get that account. I sewed it up in six weeks. I’m the best closer this company has.”
• Enhancement: Claiming that something you did is more valuable than most other members of the organization would think. Example: A journalist tells his editor, “My work on this celebrity divorce story was really a major boost to our sales” (even though the story only made it to page 3 in the entertainment section).

Assertive IM Techniques

• Flattery: Complimenting others about their virtues in an effort to make yourself appear perceptive and likeable.