Organizational and Office Politics

ORGANIZATIONAL OR
OFFICE POLITICS

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 Politics
– closely related to the
concept of power, authority
and influences.

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ORGANIZATIONAL POLITICS

- due to behavioral changes among organizational
members

- in organization-leaders are selected based on
their credentials.

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BEHAVIORAL CHANGES

 Could lead to:
interpersonal conflicts
inter-group conflict

 This phenomena indicate the political condition
in an organization.

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PERCEPTION TOWARDS POLITICS
 In general- politics are tarnished by activities
like:
 Suppression
 Individuals negative attitude
 Competition for power , influence and status
 Injustice

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DEFINITION OF ORGANIZATIONAL
POLITICS
 Relationship between power and influence,
involving certain individuals and group from
within or outside of the organizational
environment.

 -It also refers to the tactics and activities
done by members of the organization in
order to fulfill their own objectivities and
interests in the workplace.

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THE NEED FOR ORGANIZATIONAL POLITICS

 To solve organizational conflict

 To create rules and order among organizational
members.

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ORGANIZATIONAL POLITICS (OP)

 Decision making process in an organization
is also a political process.

 This is because actors (employess) in an
organization tend to fulfill both the
organizational interest and their own
interest.

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 Political behavior is not rational in nature, in
terms of decision making.

 -OP management prioritize management
skills.

 -Effective OP management will lead to a win-
win situation – jeopardizing professional and
personal ethics.

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FACTORS INFLUENCING POLITICAL
BEHAVIOR
To understand the behavior of OP, Farrell and
Peterson (1982) introduced a three – 1
dimentional typology

1. the place where political activities happen-
in or outside of the organization

2. the direction of influence – vertical or
lateral

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3. the legitimacy of political action

 Political activities within in or outside of the
organization effect the organization and its
members

 -Tendency among members to be influenced either
vertical or laterally

 -Actions taken must be legitimate.
Otherwise, members of the organization will not
give their support.

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FACTORS INFLUENCING CHANGES
OF OP
1. INDIVIDUAL FACTORS
 -Machiavellianism
 -Locus of control
 -Need for power
 -Individual values

2.ORGANIZATIONAL POLITICS.
 -Organizational values
 -Ambiguity
 -Opposing norms
 -Competition
 Level in organization

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INDIVIDUAL FACTORS
1.Machiavellianism

 This stream believes that political behavior is
pragmatic

 Managers with high needs will be pragmatic
and engage in the “ends will justify means”
approach.

 Therefore, those who adopt this thought may
use others and even sacrifice their own
morals to achieve their interests.
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2.Locus of control

 able to change and adopt in different circumstances
and avoid threats.

 Behavioral changes could lead to positive reaction
from others

 able to present oneself accordingly and
communicate effectively with various level and
others in organization

 able to adjust to change in the leadership in
organization – align oneself with the head of
department

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3.Need for power

 Politics and power are closely related in an
organization
 Power has certain needs/relationship with specific
activities in organization
 Power is needed to influence and control the
behavior of others.
 Power may enable an individual to act and make
decision effectively
 May influence political behavior eg. Unethical.

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INDIVIDUAL VALUES
 Values:
 Basic beliefs that individuals have formally or
informally
 Could lead to conflict if attempt is made to
change them
 Very important to individuals society
 Values could act as a strong guidance on
individuals behavior

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ORGANIZATIONAL FACTORS
1.Organizational Values

 An organizational influence on political behavior

 Strength- existin an organization due to its
development aspect on to groups.

 eg. Organization that focus on handwork-affect
changes in political behavior.

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2. Ambiguity

 Ambiguity results in poor organization mission and
objectives

 Ambiguous and unclear changes in organization
lead to employees unable to adjust and in turn
exploits the poor decision

 -Making in to their personal advantages and
influence.

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3. Opposing Norms

 Situation where norms are opposite one another
(counter norms)

 Positive norms-factor rules, honest, open

 Negative norms- not disciplined, bribery, autocratic

 In organization-positive and negative norms may
occur separately but they affect organizational
development tremendously.

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4.Competition

 Behavior in organization is also influenced by
competition to achieve one’s objectives, interests
and needs.

 -Individuals will want to win against their opponent
in order to achieve their goals- this problem will
influence organizational politics.

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5.Levels in organization

 Hierarchy and levels in an organization may
influence political behavior in organization

 e.g transmission and delivery of information from
top management to employees/bottom management

 Any interference (e.g unclear
information, misconception, delay) may create
confusion-organizational politics factors

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POLITICAL STRATEGY
3 Political strategies in an organization
Jeffrey Pfeffer (1981)

1.Develop power

 The leader used power for controlling through the
rules, procedure and instruction.
 The leader used maximum power and autocratic.
 Used power rightful–output in organizational will
increase.

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2. Develop Legitimacy

 Legitimacy- followers accept a leader’s power
because they believe it to be sufficiently just and
rightful to comply willingly, rather than to submit
grudgingly or to oppose the leader.

 Legitimate power – the power that someone has
because others recognize and accept his or her
authority.

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 The manager’s action is consistent with the
organizational values.

 Legitimacy is essential to the successful conduct of
leadership.

 The power of managers may appear to flow from
higher authorities in the organizations, but true
power ultimately is obtained by gaining the support
of subordinates.

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 Legitimacy of supervisors influencing various types
of subordinate behaviour.

 Legitimacy can fulfill the needs of democratic values
in the organization.

 When legitimacy is lost, the influence of the leader
will usually wane.

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3. Develop Base Support

 The strategy to build basic support- important in
the organizational to increase the power of the
managers.

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TACTICS OF ORGANIZATIONAL
POLITICS.

 To understand organizational politics, we must
recognize the various forms political behavior can
take. Five major techniques of organizational politics
are used most often.

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1. Restricting access to information

 People can control access to information in ways that
enhance their organizational position.

 Some of the information are secret but some are open.
 The person that can withholding information be able to
control the power.
 The person who has crucial knowledge and information
in an organization may as well develop power.

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2. Cultivating a favorable impression

 People interested in being highly influential tend
to go out of their way to engage in some degree of
image building-attempts to enhance the goodness
of one’s impressions on others.

 Associating oneself with the successful
accomplishments of others.

 Drawing attention to one’s own successes and
positive characteristics, making others are aware
of them.

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3. Developing a base of support

 To successfully influence people, it is useful to
gain the support of others within the organization.
 Support from employee to the managers.

1.Managers may lobby for their ideas before they
present at meeting.

2.Doing favors for others who may feel obligated
to repay them in the form of supporting their
ideas.

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4. Blaming and attacking others.

 A scapegoat-someone who could take the blame
for some failure or wrongdoing.
 Ex: A supervisor, may explain that the failure of a
sales plan designed was based on the serious
mistakes of a subordinates-even if this is not
entirely true.

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5. Aligning oneself with more powerful others

 One of the most direct ways to gain power is by
connecting oneself with more powerful others.

 Finding a very powerful mentor who can protect
one’s interest

 Relatively powerless groups or individuals that
derive strength by banding together to achieve
some common goal.

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ETHICAL BEHAVIOR IN
ORGANIZATIONS

1. Managers have to prioritize employees’ welfare

2. Managers have to uphold justice

3. Managers have to respect employees’
fundamental rights

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COST AND BENEFITS OF POLITICAL
IN ORGANIZATIONS
Minimize Political organizational

 Managers must consider ways to minimize
the effect of political behavior- do several
things to limit its effects.

1. Do not turn a blind eye to game players.
2. Suppose you see one of your subordinates
attempting to gain power over another by
taking credit for that individual’s work. Do
not ignore what he or she did.
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3. Confront political behavior
4. Decrease ambiguity
5. Fulfill pledges
6. Minimize political behavior
7. Clarify job expectations

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SUMMARY
 Management or the leader and workers
needs to master the skills of OP
 The best OP management can avoid conflicts
that might jeopardize the organization
performance
 Consultation and patience is important to
achieve a win-win situation

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Organizational and Office Politics

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