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This study examined relationships involving Machiavellianism, the career plateau, job satisfaction and salary in a sample of commercial bank officers in the United States. Results showed that American bankers had relatively low Machiavellianism scores compared to scores reported for other groups. While a negative relationship between job satisfaction and Machiavellianism was found, there was no association between salary and Machiavellianism. Those who scored high on Machiavellianism were more likely to believe that they had reached a career plateau than were those who scored low. Some results are explained in the context of the U.S. banking industry environment.

This study explored the relationships of the stages of moral development [pre‐conventional (i.e., low stage), conventionals (ie., middle stage), and post‐conventionals (i.e., high stage)] to the styles of handling interpersonal conflict [integrating (i.e., problem solving), obliging (i.e., accommodating), dominating (i.e., competing), avoiding, and compromising] in organizations. A field study with a collegiate sample of employed business students (N = 443) shows that the post‐conventionals used more integrating and less dominating and avoiding styles than conventionals. The conventionals used more integrating and less dominating and avoiding styles than pre‐conventionals. The conventionals used more compromising style than post‐conventionals, but post‐conventionals used more compromising style than pre‐conventionals. There were no differences in obliging style across the three stages of moral development. Implications of the study for management, directions for future research, and limitations were discussed.

Much of the commerce of state and local governments with private firms is fairly routine. Standardized procedures exist for its conduct. A trend to privatization of facilities and services, however, has created novel contexts in which government‐business relationships must be negotiated. In the absence of established ground rules, the balance of power between the local government and the firm is likely to be asymmetrical and unstable. This manuscript chronicles the dynamic nature of power distribution and the application of power in negotiations surrounding the privatization of a major distribution facility in one of the largest cities in the United States. The manuscript concludes with some cautionary comments for firms contemplating conducting business with local governments.