• Political behavior: activities that
are not required as part of one’s
formal role in the organization,
but that influence the distribution
of advantages within the
organization.
• Outside of one’s specified job
requirements.
• Encompasses efforts to
influence decision- making
goals, criteria, or processes.
• Includes such behaviors as
withholding information,
whistle-blowing, spreading
rumors, and leaking
confidential information.
• POLL says Politics are not only
inevitable; they might be
essential, too
Cause and consequence of political behaviour
Employee response to organization politics
when employees see politics as a threat, they often respond with defensive
behaviors—reactive and protective behaviors to avoid action, blame, or change
Defensive Behaviors
Avoiding Action
Overconforming. Strictly interpreting your responsibility by saying things like “The rules clearly state...”or “This
is the way we’ve always done it.”
Buck passing. Transferring responsibility for the execution of a task or decision to someone else.
Playing dumb. Avoiding an unwanted task by falsely pleading ignorance or inability.
Stretching. Prolonging a task so that one person appears to be occupied—for example, turning a two-week task
into a 4-month job.
Stalling. Appearing to be more or less supportive publicly while doing little or nothing privately.
Avoiding Blame
Bluffing. Rigorously documenting activity to project an image of competence and thoroughness, known as
“covering your rear.”
Playing safe. Evading situations that may reflect unfavorably. It includes taking on only projects with a high
probability of success, having risky decisions approved by superiors, qualifying expressions of judgment, and
taking neutral positions in conflicts.
Justifying. Developing explanations that lessen one’s responsibility for a negative outcome and/or apologizing
to demonstrate remorse, or both.
In the short run, employees may find that defensiveness protects their self-interest, but in the long run it
wears them down. People who consistently rely on defensiveness find that eventually it is the only way
they know how to behave. At that point, they lose the trust and support of their peers, bosses, employees,
and clients.
Scapegoating. Placing the blame for a negative outcome on external factors that are not entirely blameworthy.
Misrepresenting. Manipulation of information by distortion, embellishment, deception, selective presentation,
or obfuscation.
Avoiding Change
Prevention. Trying to prevent a threatening change from occurring.
Self-protection. Acting in ways to protect one’s self-interest during change by guarding information or other
resources.
Impression Management
• The process by which individuals attempt to control the impression others form
of them.
– Mostly high self-monitors.
– Impressions people convey are not necessarily false – they might truly
believe them.
– Intentional misrepresentation may have a high cost.
• The effectiveness of IM depends on the situation.
• North Americans spend billions of dollars on diets, health club memberships, cosmetics,
and plastic surgery—all intended to make them more attractive to others.
• Being perceived positively by others has benefits in an organizational setting
Techniques of IM
• The Ethics of Behaving Politically
• Questions to consider:
• What is the utility of engaging in politicking?
• How does the utility of engaging in political behavior balance out any
harm (or potential harm) it will do to others?
• Does the political activity conform to standards of equity and justice?
• Politics is not just for politicians.
• You can use the concepts in some
very tangible ways in your
organization.
• However, they also have another
application: You.
• One of the most useful ways to
think about power and politics is in
terms of your own career. What are
your ambitions? Who has the power
to help you achieve them? What is
your relationship with these
people?
• The best way to answer these
questions is with a political map,
which can help you sketch out your
relationships with the people upon
whom your career depends
Implications
• To maximize your power, increase others’ dependence on you. For instance, increase your power in relation to
your boss by developing a needed knowledge or skill for which there is no ready substitute.
• You will not be alone in attempting to build your power bases. Others, particularly employees and peers, will be
seeking to increase your dependence on them, while you are trying to minimize it and increase their dependence
on you.
• Try to avoid putting others in a position where they feel they have no power.
• By assessing behavior in a political framework, you can better predict the actions of others and use that
information to formulate political strategies that will gain advantages for you and your work unit.
• Consider that employees who have poor political skills or are unwilling to play the politics game generally relate
perceived organizational politics to lower job satisfaction and self-reported performance, increased anxiety, and
higher turnover. Therefore, if you are adept at organizational politics, help your employees understand the
importance of becoming politically savvy
