!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> Streamline Training & Documentation: Assessing Strategies of Upward Influence

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Assessing Strategies of Upward Influence

I've been looking into research on how people in business try to influence those above them in their organization. A measurement tool frequently used, especially for multicultural studies, is the Strategies of Upward Influence (SUI) instrument.

The SUI, developed by David Ralston and David Gustafson,1 has 38 items (pdf), representing types of behavior in which a subordinate might engage in an effort to influence a senior person.

As categorized in a 2005 study by Ralston, et al.,2 eleven of the items are organizationally beneficial behaviors:

3. Volunteer for undesirable tasks to make themselves appreciated by the superior.

8. Become well known within the organization by volunteering for high profile projects.

16. Demonstrate the ability to get the job done.

20. Help subordinates to develop their skills so that the subordinates, in turn, will be in a position to help them attain their objectives.

23. Dress the way successful business people dress.

28. Develop an in-depth knowledge of the work assignments.

30. Ask to be given the responsibility for an important project.

32. Not bypass the superior and go to someone at a higher level in the organizational chain of command for fear of alienating the superior.

34. Maintain good working relationships with other employees, even if they dislike these other employees.

35. Seek to build a relationship with a senior person who could serve as a mentor.

37. Work overtime, if necessary, to get the job done.


Sixteen of the items are self-indulgent (self-serving) behaviors:

2. Spread rumors about someone or something that stands in the way of their advancement.

5. Try to influence the boss to make a bad decision, if that decision would help them to get ahead.

9. Support the views of important people in the organization, even when they do not agree with these views.

10. Use their network of friends to discredit a person competing with them for a possible promotion.

11. Withhold information to make someone else look bad.

12. Identify and work for an influential superior who could help them get an advancement.

13. Attempt to act in a manner that they believe will result in others admiring them.

14. Take credit for a good job that was done by their subordinates.

15. Use their technical expertise to make the superior dependent upon them.

17. Threaten to quit the company if their demands are not met.

21. Offer sexual favors to a superior.

22. Blame another for their own mistakes.

26. Put false information on a job resume to make themselves look better than they really are.

29. Try to develop contacts who might be able to provide detrimental information about one of their competitors for a promotion.

31. Make sure that the important people in the organization hear of their accomplishments.

38. Quit the company to take a better job with a new company.


Eight of the items are destructive behaviors (behaviors, some illegal, that are extremely self-serving, directly hurting others and, perhaps, hurting the organization):

4. Hire a criminal to seriously injure a competitor for a promotion.

7. Use detrimental information to blackmail a person who is in a position to help them get ahead in the organization.

18. Put a listening device, such as a tape recorder, in the office of a competitor for a promotion to get information about this person.

19. Threaten to give valuable company information to someone outside the organization if their demands are not met.

24. Try to create a situation where a competitor for a promotion might be caught using illegal drugs or engaging in some other illegal activity.

25. Try to get the answers to a job promotion examination to insure that they would score higher than the others taking the exam.

33. Steal secret corporate documents and give them to another company in return for a better job at the other company.

36. Make anonymous, threatening phone calls to psychologically stress a competitor for a promotion.


Three of the items are behaviors that do not fit cleanly into any of the other three groupings:

1. Try to increase their credibility by obtaining a diploma or advanced degree, such as an MBA.

6. Learn the likes and dislikes of important people in the organization in order to avoid offending these people.

27. Behave in a manner that is seen as appropriate in the company.


Typically, researchers survey individuals about how acceptable they believe it is for co-workers to engage in each of the 38 behaviors. (The assessment is made in terms of co-workers, since asking individuals what they consider acceptable behavior for themselves is apt to elicit responses that are too shaded to be useful.) The researchers then use the responses to test hypotheses concerning what might determine differences from one person to the next in assessment of the various behaviors. I'll report on some of this research in upcoming posts.

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1 David A. Ralston, David J. Gustafson, Lisa Mainiero, and Denis Umstot, "Strategies of Upward Influence: A Cross-National Comparison of Hong Kong and American Managers" (pdf), Asia-Pacific Journal of Management, Vol 10, No. 2 (1993), pp. 157-175.

2 David A. Ralston, Philip Hallinger, Carolyn P. Egri, and Subhatra Naothinsuhk, "The Effects of Culture and Life Stage on Workplace strategies of Upeward Influence: A Comparison of Thailand and the United States" (pdf), Journal of World Business, Vol. 40 (2005), pp. 321-337.

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