The politics of leadership: The relationship between task‐people leadership and subordinate influence

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Abstract
The purpose of the present research was to investigate the political nature of leadership by examining the association of the task‐people leadership approach with strategies used by subordinates to influence their superiors. Forty‐eight faculty members (31 males and 17 females) from a school of higher education completed the T‐P Leadership Questionnaire and Profile of Organizational Influence Strategies. Reponses were analyzed using Pearson product‐moment correlations. The results indicated that as perceived task‐centered leadership increased, employees reported a significantly greater use of bargaining, assertiveness, higher authority, and coalition as strategies to influence their superiors. The relationships were observed only during second influence attempts. Further, it was observed that as the perceived level of people‐centered leadership behavior rose, subordinates reported a significantly decreased use of bargaining and higher authority as influence strategies during first influence attempts. The findings are discussed in terms of the reciprocal and political character of managerial‐ subordinate relationships.