Political Skill at the Bargaining Table: Linking Social Competence to Negotiation Outcomes

Keywords: negotiation teams; political skill; negotiation outcomes; deal implementation

Abstract: This study investigates whether a social competency measure called political skill relates to member effectiveness and team outcomes in negotiation teams. 263 MBA students were members of 84 teams negotiating a complex union-management simulation. Counterparts rated their opponents on several behaviors and results show that political skill predicted integrative behavior. At the team level, aggregate political skill predicted both subjective and objective negotiation outcomes. Contrary to the perception that political skill represents a dark side of human behavior, our results show that political skill is a positive and critical resource in team on team, mixed-motive negotiations.