Effect of Political Skill on Job Performance in Self-managing Teams

Abstract

Based on the premise that self-managing team members need political skills, we examine the relationship between members’ political skills and job performance. We hypothesized that achievement-oriented motivation, degree of self-management, and pro-social motivation would each positively affect the relationship between political skills and job performance. Findings revealed that a degree of self-management positively affects the relationship between political skills and job performance. Also results suggest that team members with low political skills may experience a significant decline in job performance when the degree of self-management is high. This study contributes to the theory of the efficient operation of self-managed teams and suggests, vis-à-vis practice, that selecting team members with political skills is necessary when increasing the degree of team autonomy.