Organisational Politics: a Group Role Play - Case Study Example

 Reflective Essay on Organizational Politics Organizational politics refers to the making use of power or social networks at work place with the aim of achieving some development for the sake of the organization or an individual. Individual’s influence might be used to attain personal goals without any consideration of how it is going to affect the organization in question. However, organizational politics, also known as workplace politic can be effective in increasing efficiency in an organization. With reference to the case of Fran Gilson, Ken Hamilton, and Jennifer Chung, this paper seek to give a reflective statement on what the three individuals would have done in accordance to the situation stated in the group role play. Looking at Fran Gilson’s case,I can clearly notice that there are two sides of having social networks as a work place. She finds herself in a situation where she wants to consider a higher paying job elsewhere. Because she is not sure whether or not she will get the job she decides not tell anyone at the office apart from Ken Hamilton whom she has some social ties with. This works out well for her because she is able to use him as a referee. Ken Hamilton, the director of finance at the organization where she works agrees to be Gibson’s referee. This was a good move because getting a referee from that organization would have been a hard task. If it would have happened then she would fall short of the favor of the organization’s top management if her job seeking mission would have failed (Bacharach 2000, p. 204). As for Ken Hamilton, there are allot of risks that he is taking by agreeing to be Gibson’s referee. If in any case something would have happened that this information got to the top management then he would be treated almost in the same manner in which Gibson would be treated. This means that in a way he would have considered declining to be her referee. The fact that she was leaving is a clear indication that this was an alliance that will not be of any political significance to him in the organization. He would have instead chosen to convince her to face the relevant authorities and request for reference. Jennifer Chung finds herself in a dilemma as a result of misuse of power in an organization. Ken Hamilton uses his powers as the director of the finance department to sexually harass Jennifer. In such cases, people usually find themselves in a dilemma of choosing between what is morally and ethically acceptable and what it takes to keep their job. In this case, I feel thatJennifer has made the most prudent information given the situation at hand. Given that Fran Gilson is a woman and a senior member of the staff, she will be able to understand what Jennifer Chung is going through. The social tie between Fran Gilson and Ken Hamilton makes the decision even better. This is because she would find a way of making the advances by Ken Hamilton stop in a more peaceful way. When Fran Gibson receives this information she is shocked. However, it is at this point that she realizes that she does not know much about Ken Hamilton. She finds out that she did not know much about his social life. However, the dilemma here is that she can lose the support of Ken Hamilton if she chooses to confront him about this issue. On the other hand, she would not want to disappoint Jennifer. Being there for people like Jennifer is part of her moral obligation (Schermerhorn 2011, p. 123). In this case, the best thing I would do will be upholding my moral and ethical values. This implies that I will go and discusses this issue with Ken Hamilton. I made sure that she does it in a polite way in order to avoid there being any further damage. When doing such a thing Itook into consideration the fact that both my career and Jenifer’s are on the line here. I do not know what the Ken Hamilton’s reaction will be. Hamilton might decide to retaliate by either making her career or Jenifer’s career miserable. He might also decide to make both their my referee and revealing to the top management that I am planning to leave the organization. For Jenifer he might decide to use her probationary review to make her life miserable. The best way to go around this is making sure that Hamilton is aware of how much whatever he has been doing is affecting Jenifer. I can then try to convince Hamilton to be fair toJenifer regardless of whether she accepts his advances or not. Given the social ties that have already developed between Ken Hamilton and I, it will be easy for I will be seeking to have a win-win situation where everyone is likely to benefit from the outcome. Jenifer is likely to be free from being unfairly treated by Ken Hamilton. Ken, on the other side will also be free from being reported to the higher authorities. I think that if Jenifer is not able to get a solution through Fran Gilson, she might opt for other means, including going to the human resource manager. This might lead to a scenario where Ken might be investigated and eventually lose his job. As a friend, Fran Gilson should make this understandable to Ken so that he considered changing his stand about the advances he had made on Jenifer. By making an understanding of the risks involved, they will be able to come up with a solution for the situation at hand. The solution that they should seek is that which will not end up making any of the individuals involved uncomfortable in any way. One thing that is for sure is that even with such solutions, there will be some tension between Ken and Jenifer at least for some time. If I was Jeniferrwhaterver I decide to do she should make sure that I do not let Ken have his way. If I do this then it will be a problem that will never be resolved because it will always be recurring. Even if I gave in to Ken’s demands, the problem will not have been solved. Ken might keep asking for the same kind of unethical and immoral favorfor the rest of my career at the organization. This means that if going through Fran Gilson was unsuccessful, I should then consider other means of bringing an end to such immoral behaviors (Aamodt&Aamodt 2010, p. 89). If I accept to do as Hamilton demands, there will be no moral and ethical difference between the two of us. Both of us will be going against the moral and ethical standards of organizational behavior. If I were Ken Hamilton, he would carefully think before making a decision on what I will do after being approached by Fran Gilson. As much as Jenifer’s career is on the line, mycareer is also on the line. If investigationscan prove that I have been sexually harassingJennifer then I will be the one to lose his job. When people are involved in unethical behaviors such as sexual harassment at work places, there are always very many things at stake. Apart from the fact that I might lose my job, I might also lose the confidence of the people who previously had trust in me in this organization. If in any case I donot lose my job Imightlose a number of alliances that I already had in the organization. This might also affect his social relation with people I used to be socially close by, in the organization. In my opinion, when making a decision on this issue, he should make sure that if this would not affect his working relationship with Jennifer. In case Jenifer will go past the probationary stage, both of them will have to have a good relation in order for them to of ultimate productive relevance to the organization. He should also make amends for such behavior because the occurrence of such behaviors will affect how the female employees in the organization view him (Nelson & Quick 2008, p. 111). For instance, Fran Gilson will always be cautious dealing with him because she will be living in the fear of ending up in Jenifer’s situation. It is clearly evident that each of the three individuals mentioned in this incident will be facing a dilemma in way or another. However, the good thing is that there is a way that they can come up with a solution that would suit each one of them. If Fran Gilson talks to Hamilton and he agrees on abandoning the habit of harassing Jenifer, Jenifer will not have to seek other means of solving this problem. This means that everyone will, therefore, be comfortable with the situation. This will be perfect if it does not affect the relationship between Hamilton and Fran Gilson. Bibliography Aamodt, M. G., &Aamodt, M. G 2010, Industrial/organizational psychology: an applied approach, Wadsworth, Belmont, CA. Bacharach, S. B 2000, Organizational politics, Jai Press, Stamford, Conn. Nelson, D. L., & Quick, J. C 2008, Understanding organizational behavior, Thomson/South-Western, Mason, OH, USA. Schermerhorn, J. R 2011, Organizational behavior, Wiley, Hoboken, N.J. Vigoda-Gadot, E., &Drory, A 2006, Handbook of Organizational Politics, Edward Elgar Pub, Cheltenham. http://public.eblib.com/EBLPublic/PublicView.do?ptiID=267577. Read More