| dc.description.abstract | The hypothesis that subordinate ingratiation and subordinate gender will interact to influence LMX
quality, such that ingratiation will have a stronger positive impact on LMX relationships for female
subordinates than those for male subordinates was tested with a sample of employees (N=164)
working in a large organization in Eastern India. Evidence in support of the hypothesis was found.
The implications of this result have been discussed.
Leader Member Exchange theory talks about a high degree of mutual influence and obligation
between superiors and subordinates, and asserts that such a relationship will result in several
important positive outcomes such as lower turnover, higher subordinate performance, citizenship
behavior, commitment and satisfaction. The theoretical concept is grounded in the social exchange
theory (Sparrowe & Liden, 1997). Leader-member exchange theory suggests that an interpersonal
relationship, based on social exchange evolves between supervisors and subordinates against the
background of a formal organization wherein "each party must offer something the other party sees
as valuable and each party must see the exchange as reasonably equitable or fair" (Graen &
Scandura, 1987: 182).
The ability to influence subordinates, peers and superiors is a major determinant of managerial
effectiveness. The success of an influence attempt by a manager is likely to depend on a number of things, including the influence tactics used by the manager, intrinsic attributes of the request that motivate the target person to comply with it, and manager’s power. Ingratiation is behavior that is intended to make someone feel better about you and more receptive to request. Some of the ingratiation forms that are useful for a proactive influence attempt are – agreeing with the person’s opinions, praising the person on past achievements, emphasizing on the person’s unique qualifications, being sympathetic about the problems caused by your request, being sensitive to person’s moods. | en |
