ABSTRACT
Power, politics, and influence in organizations have remained inextricably intertwined constructs for decades. Generally speaking, power is regarded as the exercise of influence over others, and it represents one of the most interesting aspects of the organizational sciences and has for several decades. Pfeffer’s (1981) position on the dynamics of these important constructs was that power reflects the exercise of influence, that politics encompasses the methods and techniques of influence, and that political skill provides the savvy and skill set to effectively leverage such tactics and resources and to transform them into power and influence over others. Indeed, “whereas Mintzberg tended to associate political skill explicitly with formal power, the political skill construct, as it is characterized today, fits better with the ideas of some scholars concerning the exercise of influence devoid of formal authority” (Perrewé, Zellars, Ferris, Rossi, Kacmar, & Ralston, 2004, p.142).
