Organizational

Politics

Presented By:
Bilal Raza 04
Tahir Latif 18
Waqas Shahid 01
 Organizational Politics
Behaviors that others perceive as self-serving
tactics for personal gain at the expense of other
people and possibly the organization.

Organizational politics involves those

activities to acquire, develop, and use power
and other resources to obtain ones preferred
outcomes at the cost of organizational goals.
(Pfeffer, 1981)
 What is Power?

Power is the ability to

Get someone to do something you want
done.
Make things happen in the way you want.
The capacity of a person, team, or
organization to influence others.
Power requires one persons perception of
dependence on another person
 Power and Politics

In understanding organizational behaviour,

powers link to organizational politics needs
to be understood.

Organizational politics is important because

it is used for acquisition of power.

Organizational politics is described as

behaviour to satisfy self-interest.
 Power and Politics
Power is used to influence flows of the available
energy and resources towards certain goals as
opposed to organizational goals.
Politics refers to the use of authority and power
to effect definitions of goals, directions and
other parameters of organization.
Politics involves management of influence to
obtain ends not sanctioned by organization or to
obtain sanctioned ends through non-sanctioned
influence means.
Politics is always concerned with power.
Types of Power
Legitimate Power
The power based upon position in the formal
hierarchy of an organization.
it is identical to authority

Reward Power
Compliance achieved based on the ability to
distribute rewards.
Managers have many potential rewards, e.g., pay
increase, promotions, favourable work
assignments, etc
 Types of Power
Coercive Power
Coercive power is dependent on fear.
People with coercive power have ability to inflict
punishment on other person or make threats about
punishment

Expert Power
Influence based on special skills or knowledge in certain
well-defined areas.
All sources depend on targets perceptions of agent to
be credible, trustworthy and relevant.
Credibility comes from having right credentials and
display of tangible evidence of knowledge
Types of Power
Referent Power
Influence based on possession by an individual
of desirable resources or personal traits.
Power comes from desire on part of other
person to identify with agent wielding power.

Information Power
Power comes from control over flow of
information to others.
Higher for those who can cope with
organizational uncertainties.
Types of Power
Charismatic Power
Is an extension of referent power
Stemming from an individuals
personality and interpersonal
style.
Followers develop respect for and
trust in the charismatic individual.

Consequences of Power
Sources Consequences
of of Power
Power
Expert
Power
Commitment
Referent
Power
Legitimate
Power Compliance

Reward
Power
Coercive Resistance
Power
Causes to Political Behavior :
no opposition, no need for politics
I. Ambiguous goals VII.Unclear
II. Role Ambiguity performance
III.Role Conflict evaluation system
IV.Role Overload VIII.Zero-sum reward
V. Scarce resource practices
VI.Non programmed IX.Organizational
decision change
X. High performance
pressures
 Causes of organizational politics

Ambiguous goals:
Ambiguous Goals are always confused with the
conflict and conflict encourages politics.
Superordinate goals should be emphasized in order
to avoid this negative outcome.

Role Ambiguity:-
People involve in organizational politics when the
have ambiguity regarding their roles.
The dont know what is expected of them and what
are their contributions required for achieving
organizational goals.
Causes of organizational politics

Role Conflict:-
Organizational politics occurs when
expectations are different from actual role.
Conflict exists between actual and
perceived role.
Role Overload:-
Organizational Conflict also occurs because
of role overload.
More is expected from employees abilities
to perform tasks.
Causes of organizational
politics
Scarce resource:
Scarce resource has the pursuit of maximum
sharing of resources.
It deals with negativity.
Employees will talk about the organization and
its related demand, supply and the allocation
of resources.

Non programmed decision:

Non programmed decisions are the obstacles
to an organization to achieve its goals.
Improper decisions are made for translating
power into actions regarding opinion of an
individual.
Causes of organizational
politics
Unclear performance evaluation
system:
Subjective performance criteria lead to
unclear performance evaluation systems
Triggers political behavior.

Zero-sum reward practices:

Treats the reward pie as fixed.
Any gain one person or group achieves has
to come at the expense of another person
or group.
Causes of organizational
politics
Organizational change:
Organizational change leads to
revolution within the organization.
People are resistant to change and want
to maintain their status quo
Resistance is proportional to time
invested in the organizations because
senior employees want to maintain their
status quo.
Causes of organizational
politics
High performance pressures:
The more pressure that employees feel to
perform well, the more likely they are to
engage in politics.

Self-serving senior managers:

Employees see the people on top engaging
in political behavior are successful
Therefore, A climate is created that supports
politics
 Defensive
Actions

Avoiding
AvoidingAction
Action: :
Playing
Playingdumb
dumb
Stretching
Stretching
Buck
Buckpassing
passing
Avoiding
Avoiding
Blame
Blame: :
Playing
Playingsafe
safe Avoiding
Avoiding
Justifying Change
Justifying Change: :
Prevention
Prevention
Self-protection
Self-protection
Scapegoating
Scapegoating
 Defensive Actions of Employees
When employees see politics as a threat, they
often respond with reactive and protective
behaviors to avoid action, blame, or change.

Avoiding Action:
Playing dumb:
Avoiding an unwanted task by falsely pleading
ignorance or inability.
Stretching:
Prolonging a task to represent himself occupied. E.g.
turning a 2 week task into 4 month job.
(Contd)
Buck Passing:
Transferring responsibility for the execution of task
or decision to someone else.

Avoiding Blame:
Playing Safe:
Show high conservatism
Taking on only projects with a high probability of
success
Taking neutral positions in conflicts.
(Contd)
Justifying:
Developing explanations that lessen ones
responsibility for a negative outcome.
Avoiding Change:
Prevention:
Trying to prevent a threatening change from
occurring.
Self-protection:
Acting in ways to protect ones self-interest during
change by guarding information or other
resources.
Scapegoating (External Attribution):
Placing the blame for a negative outcome on
Extent to Which Political Activity is Likely (range 0-3) Organizational Politics: More Likely at the Top

1.3 Political activity (1.22)

1.2 is perceived to
increase at higher (1.07)
1.1
organizational levels
1.0
.9
.8 (.73)
.7
.6 (.54)
(.50)
.5
.4
.3
(.18)
.2
.1

Production and Clerical and Technical and Lower Middle Upper

blue collar white collar professional management managementmanagement
Negative effects of
Organizational Politics
Decrease in overall Changes the Attitude of
productivity employees

Spoils the Ambience Affects Concentration

Increases Stress
Demotivated employees

Wrong Information
Negative effects of Organizational Politics

Decrease in overall productivity

Politics lowers the output of an individual
Also affects the overall productivity of the
organization.
People engaged in politics spend most of
their times criticizing their fellow workers.
Employees fail to achieve targets within the
stipulated time frame.
Negative effects of
Organizational Politics
Affects Concentration
Individuals find it difficult to concentrate
on their work.
They are more interested in spoiling the
other persons image in front of the
superiors.
An individual involved in politics is
bound to make more mistakes as his
focus is somewhere else.
Negative effects of
Organizational Politics
Spoils the working environment
Politics leads to a negative
environment at the workplace.
It spoils the relationships amongst
individuals.
An individual playing politics at the
organization is disliked by all.
Negative effects of
Organizational Politics
Changes the Attitude of
employees
Politics changes the attitude of the
employees.
Even the serious employees lose interest
in work and attend office just for the
sake of it.
Internal politics do not allow employees
to give their hundred percent at work.
Employee hard work is not recognized in
a politically driven organization.
Negative effects of
Organizational Politics
De-motivated Employees
A non performer can be the apple of his
bosss eye simply due to politics, thus
de-motivating the performers.
Employees playing politics try to tarnish
the image of the fellow workers.
Employees feel de-motivated when
someone who has not worked hard gets
the benefits due to mere politics.
Negative effects of
Organizational Politics
Increases Stress
Stress is the adaptive response to a
situation that is perceived as
challenging or threatening to the
persons well-being.
Stress negatively affects employee
satisfaction and loyalty.
Individuals fail to trust each other due
to politics.
Individuals stop communication with
each other due to the fear of their
secrets regarding politics getting leaked.
Negative effects of
Organizational Politics
Wrong Information
Employees indulged in politics
manipulate information and it is never
passed on in its desired form.
Superiors get a wrong picture of what is
actually happening in the organization.
A wrong person walks away with the
credit in an organization where
employees are indulged in politics.
Limiting the Effects of Political
Behavior
Open communication
Provide Sufficient Resources
Introduce Clear Rules
Free Flowing Information
Introduce Clear Performance Standard
Remove Political Norms
Increase Opportunities for Dialogue
Peer Pressure Against Politics
Importance of Organizational
Politics

Successful bargaining:
Successful bargaining may take place in the
presence of organizational politics and
democratic system.
Using group effort:
Organizational politics can use group effort
successfully for achieving goals of any
enterprise.
Selection of suitable leader:
If organizational politics works well, suitable
 Empirical
Studies
on
Organizational
Politics
 1-ORGANISATIONAL POLITICS: by Karen
Cacciattolo D.Soc.Sci.(Leic.), M.Sc. (Trng&
HRM) (Leic.) University of Malta
Positive side of organizational
politics
It has been suggested that politically skilled
management successfully manages stress.

Effective political environment that does not suffer

from injustice, unfairness and inequity. (Drory &
Vigoda-Gadot 2010)

Political behavior is seen as a necessity to bring

together the dissimilar interests of stakeholders.
1-ORGANISATIONAL POLITICS: by Karen
Cacciattolo D.Soc.Sci.(Leic.), M.Sc. (Trng&
HRM) (Leic.) University of Malta

Positive sides of organizational
politics
Political environment make managers able to
promote equality among employees.

Good politics may have a positive effect on

learning, regardless of the role and status of
individuals in their organization.

An open form of politics stimulates individuals of

an organization to become more persistent
1-ORGANISATIONAL POLITICS: by Karen
Cacciattolo D.Soc.Sci.(Leic.), M.Sc.
(Trng& HRM) (Leic.) University of Malta
This study also implies that organizational politics might enhance
the flexibility and innovativeness of organization.

Vigoda-Gadot & Kapun (2005) provide a set of positive outcomes

of politics, namely career advancement, recognition and
status, enhanced power and position, attainment of
personal and organizational goals, successful
accomplishment of a job or policy implementation, and
feelings of achievement, ego, control and success.

According to the findings of Luthans et als study (1985) there is a

relationship between successful managers and the use of politics.
2-Organizational Politics and Stress:
Perceived Accountability as a
Coping Mechanism
(By JOSEPH M. GOODMAN, W.
RANDY EVANS, and CHARLES M.
CARSON)

This paper investigates the interaction of

perceived accountability on the politics
perceptions-job stress relationship. Four
dimensions of stress are studied that include:
(1) Quality concerns
(2) Responsibility pressures
(3) Role conflict
 Findings indicate that:

Individuals perceiving organizational politics and

high levels of accountability reported more
quality concern stress and job vs. non-job
conflict.
Individuals perceiving organizational politics and
low levels of accountability reported less quality
concern stress and job vs. non-job conflict.
Analysis failed to support two of the four
interactive hypotheses. The study failed to
demonstrate an interaction effect for
responsibility pressures and role conflict.
 3-Affects of Organizational Politics
on Organizational Goals and
Objectives by Olorunleke G.K
(Ph.D.)

This study concludes that politics have a

significant negative effect on achieving
organization goals and objectives.
Organizational performance can be enhanced
by providing a working environment free of
politics in organizations.
Working environment free of politics will not
only help the employees to perform better
and take decisions freely
 3-Affects of Organizational Politics
on Organizational Goals and
Objectives by Olorunleke G.K
(Ph.D.)

But it will also help the organizations to grow by

achieving its goals and objectives efficiently and
effectively.
Politics free environment makes employees
responsible towards their duties, therefore, they
work for the benefits for all stakeholders.
In conclusion, in as much as we cannot remove
politics in an organization, the management
must use skills and competencies as a yardstick
for politics free decision making.
 4-Job related outcomes in relation to
perceived organizational politics by
shazia khalid and sadia ishaq*

Model of the study explained that perceived

organizational politics influence job satisfaction,
organizational commitment and turnover
intentions

Job satisfaction and organizational commitment

were negatively predicted by Perceived
organizational politics

Organizational politics positively predicted

turnover intention.
 4-Job related outcomes in relation to
perceived organizational politics by
shazia khalid and sadia ishaq*

Work place politics arises when employees tend

to misuse their power to gain attention and
popularity at the workplace.
It affects employees job performance and
attitude negatively which ultimately affects the
organizations overall performance.
One limitation of the study is that politics is very
sensitive phenomenon. People usually avoid
sharing their views about this issue. So it
became difficult to get their clear point of view.