Schmoozing is something I’ve covered a few times on this blog in the past, with one particular study identifying the seven different types of schmoozing that are commonly found in the modern workplace.  Whilst kissing up to your boss might help your career, it’s not without risks, as a recent study from Oregon State University highlights.

The study finds that when we kiss up at work, it has a knock-on effect on our self-control, making us much more likely to behave badly at work, whether that’s slacking off, stealing from the stationary cupboard or various other nefarious habits.

As my previous articles on so called impression management have shown, it can be beneficial to your career, whether in terms of favorable performance reviews, the nicest projects or even promotions and pay rises.

“Generally, impression management in the workplace is about wanting to be liked and appearing capable,” the authors say.

Unintended consequences

The researchers tracked a bunch of Chinese employees who were using a couple of impression management tactics: ingratiation and self-promotion.

Ingratiation is typically performed in the form of flattery, agreeing with your boss or doing them favors.  By contrast, self-promotion is likely to include hoarding credit for success or otherwise boasting about your performance.

Each participant was asked to complete a daily diary of their work experiences alongside a survey measuring their level of political skill.  When the data was analyzed, it emerged that ingratiation levels varied considerably from day to day, but also that sucking up had a distinct negative effect on self-control resources.

The authors speculate that impression management requires the appearance of sincerity, which in turn requires a huge amount of self-control.  Unfortunately, self-control is something we have a finite amount of, and when it’s depleted we might bicker with colleagues, skip meetings, shirk our work or engage in other anti-social behaviors.  Interestingly however, this only occurred among the ingratiation group, with self-promotion having no such effect.

“It’s also important to note that the depleting effects of ingratiation are immediate, but the workplace benefits of those acts tend to build over the long term,” the researchers say.

Political acumen

The only time that ingratiation did not have such dangerous consequences was when the individual had high levels of political acumen.  Such operators were less prone to suffer the consequences of depleted self-control as ingratiation did not effect them in the same way.

The authors are careful not to judge those who decide they wish to try and ingratiate themselves in whatever way, but do nonetheless point out some of the risks involved in doing so that go beyond coming across as a sneak.  What’s more, if you’re in a situation where your reserves are depleted anyway, then ingratiating yourself might not be the best idea.

“If you’re feeling depleted you may want to take steps to restore yourself – take a walk, talk to a friend, eat a snack,” they say. “That’s typically better than the allowing the depletion to manifest in other ways, like skipping a meeting or being rude to a co-worker.”

They also urge managers to be aware of the consequences of ingratiating behavior, and so even if it can be flattering to be sucked up to, it is perhaps not the sort of behavior you want to encourage from employees.