Politics and Politicking

3. Political Behavior in Organizations

According to Mitchel organizational politics are as a result of the fact that people think and act differently and these create tension that must be resolved through organizational politics. This can be done autocratically "we will" do it this way, bureaucratically, "we are supposed to do it this way"; technocratically, "it is best to do it this"; democratically, "How shall we do it". According to Mitchell, several individuals and organizational factors contribute to political behavior in an organization and some of them are:

3.1 Pyramid Shaped Organizational Structure

This structure concentrates power at the top to the extent that each successive layer on the organizational chart has less power than the layer above. At the bottom of the organization, workers have virtually no power. Therefore, the fewer the layers the more intense the competition for power.

3.2 Subjective Standards of Performance

Subjectively at times, people resent organizational politics because they do not believe the organization has an objective way of evaluating their performance and suitability for promotion. In the absence of objectivity on the part of management, then, they will resort to favoritism.

3.3 Environmental Uncertainty and Turbulence

In an unstable and unpredictable environment, people seem to behave politically and tend to rely on organizational politics to create a favorable impression because uncertainty makes it difficult to determine what they should really be accomplishing. Uncertainty, turbulence and insecurity created by mergers or downsizing is a major contributor to organizational politics.

3.4 Emotional Insecurity

Some people tend to resort to political maneuvering to ingratiate themselves with superordinates because they lack confidence in their talents and skills.

3.5 Manipulative Tendencies

Some people tend to engage in politics because they want to manipulate others for their own personal advantage.

3.6 Disagreements

Rational decision making is at times constrained by major agreement over what the organization should be doing. Except strategy and goals are shared strongly among key organizational members, political motivation is inevitable in organizational decision making.