Organizational Politics

Graphics courtesy of PM Study CircleOpens in new window As if the stress of the work were not enough, an increasing number of employees rank workplace politics as a major source of stress in the workplace. “Whether we like it or not, office politics always has been, and will continue to be, a fact of life—and the first step to beating it is accepting its presence” says Hanan Nagi, coach, speaker, founder, and CEO of HNI Training & Coaching, a Dubai-based training organization.

Research also shows that HR administrators spend more than nine weeks out of the year resolving conflicts among employees caused by office politics. Once again this translates into more time, energy, and productivity wasted.

Organizational leaders must develop the skills necessary to manage organizational conflict for an organization to be effective. Suppose, however, that senior leaders are in conflict over the best strategy for an organization to pursue or the best structure to adopt to use organizational resources efficiently.

In such situations, resolving conflict is often difficult, and the parties to the conflict resort to organizational politics and political strategies to try to resolve the conflict in their favor.

People typically view organizational politics as consisting of negative counterproductive behaviors such as manipulation, controlling of information, and undermining. But it is important for leaders to realize that organizational politics also include positive outcomes, such as restoring justice, providing opportunities and resources for followers or direct reports, and affecting change. When a leader understands organizational politics they can realize the benefits and avoid or manage the shortcomings.

What then is organizational politics?

Alternatively, organizational politics are intentional actions to improve individual or organizational interests. The latter definition clearly allows for positive behaviors. Leaders often engage in organizational politics to resolve conflicts in their favor.

Political strategies are especially important when leaders are planning and implementing major changes in their teams, departments, or those that are happening in the broader organization.

Leaders not only need to gain support for their change initiatives and influence organizational members to behave in new ways (or in most situations to sign off on or support their proposed changes), but also need to overcome often strong opposition from people who feel threatened by the changeOpens in new window and prefer the status quo.

By increasing their power, leaders are better able to make needed changes. In addition to increasing their power, leaders also must make sure they use their power in a way that actually enables them to influence others.

Why Organizational Politics Are Important

The word politics often elicits more negative than positive connotationsOpens in new window for many people. Some think leaders and other managers who are political have risen to where they are not because of their own merit and capabilities but because of whom they know.

Or people think that political leaders are self-interested and wield power to benefit themselves, not their groups, teams, departments, or organizations.

There is a grain of truth to this negative connotation. Some leaders do appear to misuse their power for personal benefit at the expense of, for example, their organizations’ effectiveness.

Nevertheless, organizational politics are often a positive force. Leaders striving to make needed changes often encounter resistance from individuals and groups who feel threatened and wish to preserve the status quo.

Effective leaders engage in politics to gain support for and implement needed changes. Similarly, leaders often face resistance from other managers who disagree with their goals for a group or for the organization and with what they are trying to accomplish. Engaging in organizational politics can help managers overcome this resistance and achieve their goals.

Indeed, leaders cannot afford to ignore organizational politics. Everyone engages in politics to a degree—other leaders, co-workers, and direct reports, as well as people outside an organization, such as vendors or supplies.

Those who try to ignore politics might as well bury their heads in the sand because in all likelihood they will be unable to gain support for their initiatives and goals. Whether a leader chooses to engage in or avoid it, organizational politics is a reality in the workplace.

When are politics bad?

Organizational politics can negatively affect outcomes across all levels in an organization: individual, group organization.

At the individual level, politics can increase stress and turnover intentions and reduce job satisfactionOpens in new window, organizational commitmentOpens in new window, and organizational citizenship behaviors. Undesirable effects on the group and organizational levels include wasted time and resources, diverted decision-maker attention, and restricted and distorted information flow among decision makers (Kreutzer, Walter, & Cardinal, 2015).

How do people behave when they are engaging in political behaviors?

Political behaviors include

• ingratiation,
• self-promotion,
• strong influence tactic,
• coalition building,
• the forging of connections with powerful allies,
• taking credit for positive events and the success of others, and
• the circumvention of legitimate channels to secure resources that would otherwise be unattainable.