UNDERSTANDING ORGANIZATIONAL POLITICS - AN INTEGRATED MODEL OF TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP EFFECTIVENESS

Abstract

Present dissertation is built on integrating two streams of research organizational politics and transformational leadership. Organizational politics research has been receiving research attention since the last three decades. The literature has primarily focused on its negative consequences. Leadership plays a critical role in increasingly complex and political environment of the organizations. The dissertation is a correlational study designed to examine the influence of leadership behavior, on a chain of work place issues including psychological empowerment, organizational politics, and a series of work outcomes in both governmental and private organizations. The work outcomes include, work attitudes (organizational cynicism, job involvement, organizational commitment), and work behaviors (in-role performance, organizational citizenship behavior and counterproductive behaviors). A cross sectional survey based on questionnaire/interview is conducted on a sample of 709 employees including male/females, of age range (25-60), selected from public and private sector organizations. The overarching goal of this research is to test the linkage between transformational leadership, organizational politics and work outcome via structural equation modeling while taking into account the moderating and mediating role of leader political skill and employee psychological empowerment. It is assumed that transformational leadership is a predictor of reduced organizational politics and that transformational leadership through psychological empowerment moderates the adverse impacts of organizational politics on work attitudes, and work behaviors. Analysis of causal relationships is based on structural equation modeling and path analysis, carried out to test the hypotheses in two different settings (private and public sector employees). The originality of this study concerns testing interactive xxviirelations among variables by examining the moderating and mediating influences through advance statistical procedures. Structural equation modeling is quite new approach to social sciences research. Empirical evidence for indirect effects and reactions to organizational politics tested through structural equation modeling (SEM) is scarce in the past. The dissertation results provide support for the hypotheses set forth to test the direct relations among the constructs. However the mechanism proposed to explain the influence of leadership on organizational politics did not receive support from data. The data failed to provide support to some of the mediating and moderating hypotheses. Overall the assumption of the dissertation that transformational leadership influences organizational politics which in turn influences work outcomes is supported. The implications of the findings for future research are that it will further extend empirical research and methodology on organizational politics, in general, and will initiate research in this area in Pakistan, in particular. The study has practical implications for the training and management development practitioners, to develop techniques and strategies to cope with detrimental effects of politics in organizations by developing constructive climate through leaders‘ behavior.