Chapter 6: Supervisor Power X Subordinate Political Skill Interaction on Work Relationship Quality: Alternative Interaction Forms as a Function of Dyadic Influence Dynamics

The supervisor-subordinate dyad is one of the most important work relationships, and consequently has been studied with great interest and frequency (Ferris, Liden, Munyon, Summers, Basik, & Buckley, 2009). The quality of the supervisor-subordinate relationship most often has been studied in terms of leader-member exchange (LMX; Dienesch & Liden, 1986), although other paradigms for examining these dyads exist, such as mentoring, positive connections at work, social networks, and employee-organization relationships (Ferris et al., 2009). Regardless of how supervisor-subordinate relationships are conceptualized, the relational quality that defines these interpersonal interactions has implications for both members of the dyad as well as the organization.