Office Politics in the Organizational Workplace

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Individuals working for an organization may tend to use their powers and privileges in pursuit of selfish agendas and interests, and in which way affect the efforts of the organization, and those of other employees within the organization, to achieve organizational goals. Some of the undue advantages to which people misuse include access to company assets, hierarchical privileges, and status. This greatly affects the behavior of other employees within the organization who might feel undermined.

Office politics has a negative influence on information sharing, social grouping, employee cooperation, among other functions within an organization. One could simply define the relationship between colleagues at a time as the organization’s political landscape.

This results because of the formal established reporting structure in any organization (Treadway et al 2005). Take for an example, an electrical contracting company where the line of command starts at the managing director, then to the general manager, then to the project manager, down to the project engineers, the project supervisors, and lastly to the technicians. If one of the links in the command chain misuses his privileges, politics are bound to arise.

Suppose the managing director is personally spearheading a new initiative in the company, which should benefit all levels of the management structure. Rather, a technician makes some valuable innovation that he must report to the managing director through his seniors.

For a company experiencing these pockets of politics, none of these two scenarios would effectively help the company in achieving its organizational objectives. Politicizing of issues within the organization may end up destroying the company in many more areas. May at a certain instant the project manager may use. Whereas it is not possible to eliminate politics in any organization, it is important for companies to recognize weaknesses in their systems that contribute to the existence and growth of politics within these organizations.

Manipulation and gossiping are at the root of office politics. With manipulation, one of the parties involved uses unorthodox means to achieve selfish goals. Take for the case of the usual work place environment where resources are limited. People have the tendency of using these resources to achieve meet their expectations at the expense of their coworkers. For instance, if three people apply for a promotion, the expectation is that promotion will go the best person.

If either of the candidates believes that they are at a low possibility of getting the promotion, they will use such means as influence and coercion in order to get the promotion. If such acts of manipulation come to the light at any time, those executing the scheme of manipulation will have an explanation ready probably further tarnishing the image of their competitors. This forms into a bad cycle of gossiping and further manipulation, which strains both the work and social relations of the employees.

According to Treadway et al (2005), there are distinct political sub-climates in any organization. These are areas where political activity is more prevalent than others are. For instance, the authors observe that supervisors are less likely to spread gossip, are more committed to the quality of the workplace than the subordinates are. The authors suggest certain theories to explain the formation of these sub-climates within an organization that include the “structuration theory”, the “symbolic interactionism” and the social identity theory.

Bolman & Deal (2008) describe the organizational work place as a political landscape where politics is at the core of their existence. This brings the essence for the manager to understand the political landscape and be in a position to effectively deal with the problems arising from the office environment. Further, the authors offer a positive inclination towards politics and equip managers to be “effective politicians”. The first point towards achieving this is setting agendas that provide direction and a workable strategy that addresses the concerns of all stakeholders. As well, managers should map out the political landscape and in which way identify major players, their interests and resources. Thirdly, the authors should be able to network and build coalitions within the organization, which facilitate communication and teamwork.

Lastly, managers should be good at bargaining and negotiating whereas making choices that are not only effective, but also ethical. The authors’ last emphasis is on the leaders to understand that they are the shapers of the playing field who influences how to play the game determines the contestants and puts in place rules and regulations governing the game, and awards the prize.

Kotter and Cohen (2002) offer invaluable advice on how to change people and with regard to politics. The authors delve into the issue of changing the behavior of people and the problems people face in the in embracing change. The emphasis is “talking to people’s feelings”. The authors address the need for change and the need to help others embrace the behavior change process. As well, they discuss the reasons people succeed and why others fail at a large-scale.

They offer an eight-step process to guide the change process. These are, create a sense of urgency, pull together a guide team for the change process, create clear visions and strategies, and as well communicate the vision through simple heartfelt messages so that people can feel the need to buy into the change process. It is also important to empower people whereas creating short term wins which create the change momentum. The other process in the change process is maintaining the momentum. Lastly, the guide team should be able to make the change stick.

On their part, Gershon & Straub (2009) provide a framework and methodology for changing behavior, developing talent and transforming a culture. The authors bring out the symptoms of an organization where pockets of politics persist and why change is unlikely to occur in such situations. In such organizations, blame game and victim mentality take first place. In turn, individuals fear making decisions or do not participate in the decision making process due to the fear of being blamed.

As well, there exists a lot of suspicion and distrust among the colleagues. Most employees in this organizations end up in apathy and burn out. More so, there is constricted flow of information and ideas within the organization and which results to gossiping and backbiting leading to a bad work environment. Further, employees feel unappreciated for their contributions. Lastly, people end up with many unresolved issues that linger on for long periods creating animosity among the employees.

In conclusion, it is important for both employers and employees to understand the dynamics at play in the work environment in order to achieve organizational efficiency and competitiveness. In which way both the employers and employees will actively work towards making the work place a convenient place to be. It is important to remember that it is the work environment rather than the particular work demands that determine how difficult a certain job is.

References

Bolman, L. G., & Deal, T. E. (2008). Reframing organizations: Artistry, choice, and leadership. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Gershon, D., & Straub, G. (2009). The empowering organization: Changing behavior and developing talent in organizations. Empowerment Institute. Web.

Kotter, J. P. & Cohen, D. S. (2002). The heart of change: Real-life stories of how people change their organizations. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.

Treadway, D. C., Adams, G. L., & Goodman, J. M. (2005). The formation of political sub-climates: Predictions from social identity, structuration, and symbolic interaction. Journal of Business and Psychology, 20(2), 201-219. Web.

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Office Politics in the Organizational Workplace

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