Preview

Workplace Politics in Organizations

Powerful Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1607 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Workplace Politics in Organizations
Workplace Politics in Organizations

Abstract:

In any organization, it is naive to expect a politics-free zone. And business schools can never prepare you for the manipulations and mind games that work in a corporate set-up. Author and banker Ravi Subramanian says, "People who whine about politics are, more often than not, people who have played politics and lost the game."
Workplace politics, (office politics or organizational politics) is the use of power within an organization for the pursuit of agendas and self-interest without regard to their effect on the organization's efforts to achieve its goals. Some of the personal advantages may include access to tangible assets, or intangible benefits such as status or pseudo-authority that influences the behavior of others.
Whether you hate it, admire it, practice it or avoid it, office politics is a fact of life in any organization. And, like it or not, it's something that you need to understand and master to be sure of your own success.
This paper deals with various aspects of workplace politics, how to avoid them and how to deal with them to come out on top.

Introduction:
Both individuals and groups may engage in office politics which can be highly destructive, as people focus on personal gains at the expense of the organization. "Self-serving political actions can negatively influence our social groupings, cooperation, information sharing, and many other organizational functions." Thus, it is vital to pay attention to organizational politics and create the right political landscape. "Politics is the lubricant that oils your organization's internal gears." Office politics has also been described as "simply how power gets worked out on a practical, day-to-day basis”
"Office politics" are the strategies that people play to gain advantage, personally or for a cause they support. The term often has a negative connotation, in that it refers to strategies people use to seek advantage at the expense of others

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    Dynacorp is a worldwide information systems and communications business. In 1990 the company started to have fewer earnings than in the past, so the CEO tried to change the design of the company to run better. In this paper, I analyze this organization though the political lenses to better understand how changing the structure can help improve revenue and quality. As discussed in the book, the political lens sees the organization in terms of conflicts of interests, power, and goals among individuals and groups within the organization. The way to understand the dynamics of political conflict is to understand who has power, from where that power comes, the basis of the power and how much power the different parties in the organization have. “In the political perspective, the roots of conflict lie in different and competing interests, and disagreements require political action, including negotiation, coalition building, and the exercise of power and influence.” The key concerns of players in the political perspective of the organization revolve around who defines the problems and the agenda, and where they get the power to do so; who the parties advocating solutions are, and why they are advocating such solutions; how a particular group is to procure an outcome or outcomes that are favorable to its own interests (Ancona et al., 2009: M-2, 33).…

    • 2943 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Ap Gove Study Guide

    • 20135 Words
    • 81 Pages

    Political Power – the ability of one person to get another person to act in accordance with the first person’s intentions…

    • 20135 Words
    • 81 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Exam 1 study guide

    • 1178 Words
    • 5 Pages

    What is politics? The activities associated with the governance of a country or other area, especially the debate or conflict among individuals or parties having or hoping to achieve power.…

    • 1178 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    “It is political” is heard in areas from a little league ballfield to leadership in a house of worship. Politics is in almost everything we do, and that includes our…

    • 696 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Political ideas, economy and health care sometimes acts as precursors to conflict. Power facilitates the influence health care organizations experiences, and this can be derived from the structure of the organization and individuals involved in the organization. (Johnson 2009) Generally, actions taken outside the bounds of established organizational processes leads to political games. There are three political games that health professionals may pursue in their organization that would motivate their intent to gain power or influence control.…

    • 831 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    All work places of some kind of influence of power and politics. Without the right kind of power and politics in the place of business this could cause discord for people that work in the business. If this kind of behavior is not watched it could cause other people in the business to feel left out or not appreciated in the right way.…

    • 500 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Organizations are both arenas for internal conflict, they house an ongoing interplay of players and agendas; directives from the top with pressures from below…

    • 2622 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Political machine is an organization that “boss” or small autocratic group that commands the people who actually work and receive their payment. The power is upon on the boss, but it based on the workers so they can vote to impeach the executive officer.…

    • 316 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Power comes from an individual or group influence over another. The sources of power are divided into two general groups which are formal and personal. An individual’s position in an organization is based on formal power. Formal authority comes from the ability to coerce. Coercive power depends on the fear of negative results from failing to comply with rules and regulations. Political behaviors in organizations are activities that are not required as part of an individual’s formal role. Some factors that influence employee behavior are individual and organizational factors. When employees feel that politics are a threat they respond with defensive behavior to avoid blame or change. Employees can also behave with compliance when reward power is put into play.…

    • 264 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the case of “Thomas Green: power, office politics, and a career in Crisis”, it describes the dilemma of Thomas Green who works in a company called Dynamic Display. Thomas was recruited as an account executive, and then five months later, he was promoted as a Senior Market Specialist directly by the President Shannon McDonald. Thomas’s boss Frank Davis hadn’t expected to choose Green as the new senior market specialist, and he was very dissatisfied with Green’s work style and performance three months after the promotion. After being informed that Frank Davis had emailed McDonald about his concerns about Green’s performance, Green was getting really worried about his situation and not sure how to explain his perspective to McDonald. I’m going to analyze the issue for Green and suggest solutions to solve the problem.…

    • 914 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    References: * Morgan,G. (1998).Interest, Conflict and Power: Organizations as Political Systems. In: Images of Organization. California: Sage Publications, Inc, Executive Edition p147 – 179…

    • 4765 Words
    • 20 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Consequently, with bad workplace politics and performance, employees will often distance themselves and can become uncooperative if they feel discriminated against and unappreciated. In some cases, employees will resort to sabotaging the company name, and the organization will risk losing their high performers. Furthermore, employees will lose their motivation and productivity (Jones, n.d.).…

    • 570 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Power in Business

    • 533 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Power in a business situation can be described as having “the ability to influence people toward organisational objectives.” (US Navy, n.d.) There are many different forms of power that an individual may have within the workplace. Some examples of the various forms of power that an individual may exert are legitimate, referent, coercive, and informational. Each power source identified is used differently in managerial settings and subordinates react differently to each power type. These different forms of power help management in getting the required company objectives achieved. As each source of power is different the level of impact that it will have within the politics of business organisations will also differ.…

    • 533 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The Regulatory Process

    • 1850 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Both political and career executives have a limited set of tools available to achieve policy objectives. Specifically, executives can:…

    • 1850 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    It is a fact, one way or the other political contact can overwhelm the corporate strategy in both beneficial and negative ways. Political connections can break or make the corporate strategy of a company.…

    • 1741 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays