Sucking Up is Savvy

What’s the Latest Development?

A recent studysuggests that politically astute professionals who use ingratiation to help them climb the career ladder may also avoid the psychological distress that hampers those who are less cunning in their workplace behavior. The research shows that ingratiation may neutralize ostracism— an adult form of bullying—which is usually associated with increased job tension, emotional exhaustion and depressed mood at work.

What’s the Big Idea?

But flattery won’t get you everywhere, well not unless you’re really good at it. “We found that ingratiation neutralized the relationship between workplace ostracism and psychological distress when used by employees with a high level of political skill, but exacerbated the association when ingratiation was used by employees with low political savvy.”