ORGANIZATIONAL POLITICS

WHAT IS ORGANIZATIONAL POLITICS ??

Actions by individuals that are directed toward the goal of furthering their

own self interest without regard for the well being of others or their

organizations

ANTECEDENTS OF POLITICS

• Personal and organizational variables

• Politics in human resource management

• Politics and the organizational lifespan

PERSONAL CHARACHTERISTICS

High Machiavellianism

• It is acceptable to use others for personal needs

High self-monitoring

• Those who do what ever it takes others to like them

Ambition

• Strong drive for success

Extraversion

• Talkative

• Ability to act naturally with the people

Popularity

• The one who want to be liked admired and supported by others

ORGANIZATIONAL FACTORS

• Ambiguous roles, and goals• Scarce resources• History of political behavior• High centralization• Conflicting goals• Organizational maturity

POLITICS IN HRM

• Performance appraisals

• Personnel selection

• Compensation decisions

POLITICS AND THE ORGANIZATIONAL LIFE SPAN

• Introduction

• maturity/growth

• decline

POLITICAL TACTICS

Gaining control and selective use

of infoCultivating a

favorable impression

Building powerful coalitions

Blaming and attacking others

Associating with powerful others

Creating obligations and

using reciprocity

Gaining control over and effective use of info

• Withhold information

• Avoid contact

• Be very selective

• overwhelm

Cultivating a favorable impression

• Dressing for success

• Associating with success of others

• Calling attention

Building powerful coalitions

• Lobbying for ideas

Blaming and attacking others

• Blaming lower ranking individuals

• scapegoats

Associating with powerful others

• Agreeing with someone powerful

• Forming coalitions

Creating obligation and reciprocity

• do favors and wring benefits

EFFECTS OF ORGANIZATIONAL POLITICS

• Low job satisfaction

• Low organizational commitment

• Low conscientiousness

ETHICS OF ORGANIZATIONAL POLITICS

• More powerful an individual is, uses more power towards some immoral or unethical purpose

Political Antics Top the “Most Unethical List”: Survey Results

Gender discriminationin recruitment or hiring

Arrangements with vendorsleading to personal gain

Nonperformance factorsused in appraisals

Gender discriminationin compensationNot maintaining

confidentialityUsing discipline

inconsistentlyGender discrimination

in promotionSexual

harassmentAllowing differences in pay

due to friendshipsHiring, training, or promoting

based on favouritism

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35

Situation

Percentage Responding with a 4 or 5 on a five-Point ScaleMeasuring Degree of Seriousness (where 5=“very great”)

(22.6)

(23.1)

(23.5)

(25.8)

(26.4)

(26.9)

(26.9)

(28.4)

(30.7)

(30.7)

Potentiallypolitical

behaviours