Psychologists in America have called on organisations to train their staff in political skills. Vickie Gallagher and Mary Laird made their recommendation after reporting evidence that the job satisfaction of staff with low political skill suffers when they are operating in what they perceive to be a highly political work environment - that is, one where employees tend to form pacts and to make organisational decisions that are in their own interest. Gallagher and Laird asked 220 staff at a financial-management firm about their political skills, their sense that organisational decisions are taken politically, and their job satisfaction. Political skill was measured by participants agreement with statements like "I spend a lot of time and effort at work networking with others". A sense that the organisation s decisions are influenced by internal politics was measured by participants agreement with statements like "I have seen organisational decisions based on things other than business necessity, like the wants of a certain few." Finally, job satisfaction was measured as you d expect by agreement with statements like "I feel fairly well satisfied with my present job." One hundred and five staff (average age 44 years) returned their answers to these questions. Among staff with self-reported political skills, a sense that decisions were affected by internal politics had no association with their levels of job satisfaction. By contrast, among staff with low self-reported political skills, a perception that organisational decisions were affected by politics was associated with their having lower job satisfaction. The researchers said political ability remains an under-researched area in organisational psychology and that their findings have practical implications for the training, 0selection and communication procedures of organisations. "By taking proactive measures to develop employees political skill, considering the skills and abilities of new hires, and communicating the nonpolitical reasons for decisions, organisations can help individuals to maintain a productive level of job satisfaction," they concluded. 美国的心理学家已呼吁各大企业培训员工的政治手腕。Vickie Gallagher和Mary Laird提出这样的建议，是基于他们发现政治手腕比较欠缺的员工在一个他们认为政治意味浓厚的工作环境中往往工作满意度很低，而在这样的工作环境中员工常常会依据他们各自利益达成协议并作出组织决定。 Gallagher和Lairdasked向一个财务管理公司的220名员工提了一些问题，是关于他们的政治手腕、对于组织政治意义上做的决定的看法以及工作满意度。 政治手腕是通过计算参与者对一些陈述的认同度来衡量的，这些陈述有像“我在工作中会花时间和精力与别人打交道”。参与者如何看待组织决定受内部政治影响，这个则通过考察他们对于类似陈述的认同度：“我曾目睹组织决定是基于某些事情，如一部分人的期望，而不是基于商业需要”。最后，工作满意度是通过考察参与者对于如“我对于目前的工作感考试.大到相当满意”等陈述的认同度。 有105名员工（平均年龄44岁）回答了这些答案。在自认为拥有政治手腕的员工中，他们对于内部政治会影响决策的看法与他们的工作满意度没有联系。相反，在那些自认为政治手腕欠缺的员工中，组织的决策受政治影响--这种观念会导致他们较低的工作满意度。 研究者说，政治能力在组织心理学中仍是有待研究的一部分内容，而他们的研究结果在培训员工、筛选员工和组织沟通流程上有着现实意义。他们总结说：“主动去发展员工的政治手腕，招聘新员工时考察政治技巧和能力，做决策时融入一些非政治性的原因，这些措施都能帮助使员工工作效率更高，工作满意度也更高。”