Organizational Politics

10 Key excerpts on "Organizational Politics"

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  eBook - ePub

  Organizational Influence Processes

  • Robert W. Allen, Lyman W. Porter, H.L. Angle(Authors)
  • 2016(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  An operationally useful definition of organization politics may include elements that Mayes and Allen (1977) called the management of influence. For them, Organizational Politics is a process that involves formulating political goals, decision strategies, and tactics. It entails executing those tactics and setting up feedback loops to ensure effective results. Organizational power politics is also defined in terms of a process of change (Coenen and Hofstra 1988). Defined in this way we can say that Organizational Politics is the essence of leadership.

  Organizational Politics therefore includes actions taken to gain and use power to control organizational resources to achieve our preferred results instead of those of others. This definition places Organizational Politics in the classroom when a teacher “teaches.” It is in the home as a father asks his child to do something. It is in the office as the subordinate “manages” his or her boss by couching interaction upward in ways calculated to induce the boss to respond favorably. And it is present when the manager orders employees to adopt a new procedure.

  David Bell emphasizes the “talk” aspect of Organizational Politics (1975). He says traditional definitions of politics as who gets what, when, where, and how is not helpful. Getting control over needed resources can be, and often is, an intensely personal and private (even solitary) affair, not a public one. Talk, on the other hand, always involves others and more consistently conforms to the definition of politics. Talk affects others (Duke 1976), and to that extent it is power. To the widest extent possible, Organizational Politics concerns how people affect each other.

  Political Behavior

  Given our definition of Organizational Politics, it is a commonplace activity in organizations. Research by Madison (1980) and others supports the idea that Organizational Politics is fully a part of organizational life. Sixty percent of managers he surveyed averred that it was “frequently” or “very frequently” a part of organizational life. Most managers see Organizational Politics as a part of work life at the middle and upper management levels and less so at the lower levels.

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  The Manager as Politician

  • Jerry W. Gilley(Author)
  • 2005(Publication Date)
  • Praeger

    (Publisher)

  TWO Understanding Power, Politics, and Influence in Organizatio ns The study of power, politics, and influence and its effects is critical to un- derstanding how organizations operate. The terms power and influence are often used interchangeably in the management literature; however, there are subtle, yet important, differences between these terms. For example, if an employee accepts a work assignment from you, that employee has been influenced by you. Power represents the capability to get someone to do something; influence is the exercise of that capability. Organizational Politics can be defined as those actions taken within an organization to acquire, develop, and use power and other resources to obtain one's preferred outcome in a situation in which there is uncertainty (or lack of consensus) about choices. Organizational Politics arise when different groups pursue differing goals, and/or goals are unclear or am- biguous. It also arises when organizational and individual effectiveness is difficult to assess or goal achievement is prevented due to environmental turbulence. Organizational influence refers to your ability to acquire the needed power to achieve results within the organization. It also includes the abil- ity to motivate others and to persuade them to engage in activities or pro- duce results they would otherwise not produce. Organizational influence 20 / The Manager as Politician sometimes refers to your ability to resolve conflicts, enhance communica- tions, and build collaborative, synergistic relationships. To become a success political navigator, you need to develop an un- derstanding of several critical components of organizational survival: (1) power, (2) power tactics, (3) political behavior, (4) political influence tactics, (5) political conflict, and (6) conflict management styles.

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  An Introduction to Organisational Behaviour for Managers and Engineers

  A Group and Multicultural Approach

  • Duncan Kitchin(Author)
  • 2017(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  CHAPTER 6 Organisational Politics    

  There tend to be strong overlaps and interconnections between all topics in organisational behaviour, but this is particularly so when we come to look at organisational politics.

  Organisational politics arises when people think differently and want to act differently.

  (Morgan, 1997, p. 160)

  Politics is the process by which these differences are resolved. People think and want to act differently because they come from different national cultures and different subcultures within organisations and because they are unique individuals with their own agendas in life and in organisations. There are other reasons why people want to act differently within the process of decision-making. Decisions can change who benefits and who loses from the organisational changes which result from decisions about changing the organisation’s structure, systems, strategy, products, markets or production process. We can already see that this chapter should be read together with the chapters on Groups and Group Processes (Chapter 1 ), Organisational Culture (Chapter 2 ), International Cultural Differences (Chapter 3 ), Leadership (Chapter 7 ) and Managing Change in Organisations (Chapter 10 ). Organisational politics is about the processes that change organisations, and the processes that try and prevent change or resist change.

  There are two broad schools of thought about organisational politics. One approach is to say that politics within organisations are undesirable and tends to lead to chaotic situations within organisations, and to increased stress levels, see for example Fandt and Ferris (1990). The second approach is to say that organisational politics is not only inevitable, but can also be functional rather than dysfunctional, see for example Ammeter et al. (2002) and Huff (1988). Ammeter et al. (2002) said “… politics … [is] … neither inherently good nor bad but rather a fact of life and a feature woven into the very fabric of organisations”. (p. 752).

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  21st Century Management: A Reference Handbook

  • Charles Wankel, Charles B. Wankel(Authors)
  • 2007(Publication Date)
  • SAGE Publications, Inc

    (Publisher)

  211 71 O RGANIZATIONAL P OLITICS IN M ANAGEMENT S ETTINGS H UNTER L. H ARRIS Vanderbilt University P olitical behavior is a phenomenon that has been pres-ent across interpersonal, group, and organizational settings for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. In fact, Aristotle argued centuries ago that man is an inherently political animal, and few have challenged that notion since. This phenomenon has become an increasingly important is-sue for business practitioners to understand and manage due to the changing organizational dynamics affecting today’s workforce. As managers become increasingly aware of the highly elastic nature of their organization’s investment in human capital, they realize how many important intangibles come into play and must bring newfound attention to these fac-tors. Organizational Politics is a significant factor that has a profound impact on the effectiveness of the workforce. Managers will need to know what factors are primary driv-ers in creating a consistently effective environment and minimizing negative political behaviors, thus predisposing their organizational members to achieve their maximum potential. This chapter will discuss views on how politics and po-litical behavior are defined, the life cycle of their complex dynamics in and across the organization, and how they can best be understood and managed in the workplace of the 21st century. Politics will be explored across macro and micro levels of analysis and will reflect the different primary streams of research. The topic will be investigated from different fields of research such as social psychol-ogy and sociology as well as from different points of view within and across disciplines. This perspective will illus-trate the evolution of this field that has come from a diverse background to a multidisciplinary approach that is gaining momentum.

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  Organization Behaviour for Leisure Services

  • Darren Lee-Ross, Conrad Lashley(Authors)
  • 2012(Publication Date)
  • Routledge

    (Publisher)

  Another definition is helpful because it suggests that politics is about achieving something effectively and efficiently. In addition, ‘cunning’ is a human trait which once again infers that politics is subjective but may have an additional and negative connotation (depending on who benefits from the act of cunning). Indeed, in a work-aday sense, individuals frequently talk of Organizational Politics in this way as a barrier to personal goal achievement, personal development and success.

  Having read through the chapters in this book, you will realize that organizations are an extension of the human psyche; that is:

  • they are irrational and fraught with contradictions and frailties
  • the workplace lives and breathes, contains paradoxes and conflicts because of the individuals who inhabit them
  • in a service context this metaphor is particularly appropriate because of the role members play in service delivery (for example, see Chapter 4 )
  • indeed, many writers consider that Organizational Politics exists and thrives because of the differences between the goals and aspirations of individual members (in addition to contextual matters).

  Thus, by way of summary, both Robbins’s (2001) and McShane and Travaglione’s (2003) definitions seem wholly appropriate for the purpose of this chapter: ‘Activities that are not required as part of an individual’s formal role in the organization, but that influence, or attempt to influence, the distribution of advantages and disadvantages within the organization’ (Robbins, 2001: 362); ‘The attempts to influence others using discretionary behaviours to promote personal objectives’ or ‘It [Organizational Politics] is the exercise of power to get one’s own way, including acquisition of more power, often at the expense of others’ (McShane and Travaglione, 2003: 411).

  Key point 3.1

  Organizational Politics concerns more than simply acknowledging models of political rule; rather, it is about understanding the infinite complexities and interplay between organizational members for their personal gain.

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  Informal Coalitions

  Mastering the Hidden Dynamics of Organizational Change

  • C. Rodgers(Author)
  • 2006(Publication Date)
  • Palgrave Macmillan

    (Publisher)

  CHAPTER 5 Acting politically It’s almost as if people treat Organizational Politics as a low-grade virus infection, hoping that if they ignore it and think positively it will go away. – Samuel Culbert Introduction Of the six guiding principles that provide an informal coalitions agenda for leading change, “acting politically” is the one that is likely to cause managers the most discomfort. By convention, political behavior is not what one would expect to see championed as a vital component of effective leadership. Typically, Organizational Politics are thought of in terms of conflicting agendas, self-serving behaviors and “spin.” In contrast, models and stories of high-performance leadership are usually constructed in terms of co-operative mindsets, organization-enhancing behaviors and open, honest communication. The initial paragraphs below summarize some of the central elements of this more conventional view of Organizational Politics, as a backcloth to what follows. However, the informal coalitions view of organizational dynamics, as set out in Chapters 1 and 2, unapologetically places power and politics alongside conversation and thinking culturally as the central pillars of effective, transforming leadership. Politics as “playing dirty” Stone (1997: 1) is quite clear about both the pervasiveness of organiz- ational politics and its negative effect on organizational processes and performance: The term “company politics” refers to all the game-playing, snide, “them and us” aggressive, sabotaging, negative, blaming, “win–lose”, 114 Acting politically 115 withholding, non-cooperative behaviour that goes on in hundreds of interactions everyday in your organisation. This view of politics, which sees it as an illegitimate distortion of the formal structures and functions of organization, is widely held. Whenever I have asked managers what words and phrases come to mind when they think of Organizational Politics, they have been quick and eager to offer their opinions.

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  Handbook of Work Stress

  • Julian Barling, E. Kevin Kelloway, Michael R. Frone, Julian Barling, E . Kevin Kelloway, Michael R. Frone(Authors)
  • 2004(Publication Date)
  • SAGE Publications, Inc

    (Publisher)

  Organizational Politics Ken Harris K. Michele Kacmar 353 14 L ike stress, politics is ubiquitous in organizations. Perhaps because of its omnipresence, agreement on a definition of politics is difficult to reach. There have been numerous definitions of Organizational Politics presented in the literature including an entire article devoted to defining the construct (Drory & Romm, 1990). Although a number of different aspects of the def-inition were discussed by Drory and Romm, they failed to offer their own definition. In a recent review piece, Kacmar and Baron (1999) drew on the work of Drory and Romm as well as other conceptualizations to arrive at the following definition: “Organizational Politics involves actions by individuals which are directed toward the goal of furthering their own self-interests without regard for the well-being of others or their organization” (p. 4). We will use this as the working definition for this chapter. In addition to both being ever-present in organizations, stress and politics share a number of other common characteristics. For example, politics, like stress, is subjective and rests in the eye of the beholder. Exposure to a particular person, event, or environment often results in different levels of perceptions of political activity and experienced stress. Events perceived as political or stressful also produce different behavioral reactions in individu-als. Some may try to flee the political or stressful situation by permanently (i.e., turning over) or temporarily (i.e., increased absenteeism or mentally checking out) exiting, whereas others may be invigorated by the situation and use the resulting adrenal rush that comes from being exposed to political behavior or a stressor to motivate themselves to rise to the challenge or use the situation to their advantage.

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  Smart Management

  Using Politics in Organizations

  • D. Butcher, M. Clarke(Authors)
  • 2008(Publication Date)
  • Palgrave Macmillan

    (Publisher)

  These images are just too powerful not to spill over into parallels with organisational life, where formal authority is similarly often seen to be abused for personal gain. This pers- pective is amply demonstrated by the results of a survey under- taken by the authors 6 among senior managers from a diverse range of organisations, who had all embarked on substantial change initiatives. 16 Smart Management The managers were asked questions about how they intro- duced their changes, what resistance and co-operation they experienced and how this was managed. Well over half the survey reported that key decision-makers and bosses were resistant to the ideas put forward by managers. In forty-four per cent of these cases, formal authority was used to block the ideas, rather than good logical argument. Just old-fashioned ‘I’m the boss’, with no further explanation offered. The interpretations placed on this resistance from decision-makers by those introducing the change were very revealing. To them, the underlying causes were to do with personal self-interest It is not surprising, therefore, to find managers using words such as ‘secrecy’, ‘lobbying’ and ‘spin’ to describe organisational and governmental politics alike. Even in the world of business schools, where such emotive descriptions should be replaced with analytical enquiry, politics have been viewed as an ‘ugly duck- ling’, ‘a distasteful but persistent phenomenon’ and an ‘irrational intrusion’. 7 Certainly, many academics recognise the pluralistic nature of organisations, but nevertheless, in standard texts on organisational behaviour, politics usually only warrant a sub- heading in a chapter with a title such as ‘power and conflict’. Cast as merely another aspect of organisational life to be considered by the student of human behaviour, the centrality and role of politics tend to be obscured and marginalised. All these factors combine to create a negative conception of political activity in organisations.

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  Leadership

  Research Findings, Practice, and Skills

  • Andrew DuBrin(Author)
  • 2018(Publication Date)
  • Cengage Learning EMEA

    (Publisher)

  194 CHAPTER 7 • POWER, POLITICS, AND LEADERSHIP READER’S ROADMAP So far in this book, we have examined the nature of leaders, their ethics, and how they acquire power. The next chapter explains influence tactics, or ways of converting power into action. continues to shift in a positive, constructive direction. Contributing factors to Organizational Politics include the pyramidal shape of organizations, subjective per-formance standards, environmental uncertainty, emotional insecurity, Machiavellian tendencies, and encouraging admiration from subordinates. To make effective use of Organizational Politics, leaders must be aware of specific political tactics and strategies. Ethical methods can be divided into those aimed directly at gaining power, those aimed at build-ing relationships, and those aimed at avoiding politi-cal blunders. Unethical and devious tactics, such as the embrace or demolish strategy, constitute another cate-gory of political behavior. Carried to extremes, Organizational Politics can hurt an organization and its members. Being aware of the causes and types of political behavior can help leaders deal with the problem. Setting good examples of nonpolitical behavior is helpful, as is achieving goal congruence and threatening to publicly expose devi-ous politicking. It is also good to hire people who have integrity. Emphasizing that success can mean a lateral move as well as a promotion might work. SUMMARY Organizational power is derived from many sources, including position power (legitimate, reward, and coer-cive) and personal power (expert, reference, and pres-tige). Power also stems from ownership, dependencies, capitalizing on opportunity, managing critical problems, and being close to power. A problem with leadership power is that it can be self-serving. People with a strong moral identity are less likely to use power for self-interest.

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  Strategic Leadership Development

  Building World Class Performance

  • Colin Carnall, Chris Roebuck(Authors)
  • 2017(Publication Date)
  • Red Globe Press

    (Publisher)

  Thus, while traditional logic-based analysis gives us some part of the decision picture it is only part of that picture, and the fuzzier elements, made up of perception, power and politics, cannot be ignored even if they are difficult to deal with. Actually, much of what happens in organisations is exam-ined more effectively within a framework devoting more attention to these areas. Further, as power and politics are more appropriate to understanding how choices are made and framed, and link to legitimacy overall, culture models seem to provide a more useful form of framework to get to grips with what happens day-to-day in organisations. This therefore emphasises the need for approaches to leadership that focus on the way management is practised in the organisation. Moreover, the need to position such efforts within the real organisational context is obvious enough. These also need to take into account that despite the fact we do not like the idea, emotions do play a part and these must be dealt with and leveraged, just as with the rational elements. Only by working in this way, grounded in reality, can we hope to make progress. 8 Politics, power and perception 215 Questions 1 What does ‘organisational culture’ mean to you, and how does it impact on your actions and behaviour in the real world? 2 Do organisations have one culture, or many? 3 What is the impact of politics in organisations? Is it always negative? 4 Do perceptions matter more than reality? 5 How often have you seen observation leading to incorrect inference and perception? Why does this happen? 6 Do you think decision-making by leaders could be better, given inherent bias? How could that be achieved? 7 What is the key driver of leaders’ decision-making and organisational culture: the common good or individual self-interest? 216 Strategic leadership development

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