Organizational Politics slp - Assignment Example

Organisational politics Introduction Politicking involves attempts by individuals to sway the of events and behaviours of others in order to attain their own goals and defend their interests. The political indifference within our organisation arose because of a vacancy in our organization. The sales manager left the company as he had acquired a better deal. Due to the privileges and salary allocated to this position it attracted many prospective suitors. As an organizational policy, the persons to fill the vacant position are first chosen from within the organization.

In cases where there are no willing staff members, the company outsources for labour. In this case, six individuals wanted to be selected as the new sales manager, as a result, leading to a political battle. Political behaviour might be due to individual and organisational factors (Nair, 2010). Personal factors include the need for power, incremental reward, increase in scope of control and Machiavellianism. Organizational factors may be situational or organisational culture. Situation factors encompass performance evaluation, promotion seeking and resource allocation.

In this case, there was a situational cause for the political behaviour as the workers were seeking promotion to the vacant position. Politicking arises because of the organisation culture whereby it is practised from the top management to the subordinates that was the case in the company. Some of the prospective staff members to the position went ahead tarnishing the other party’s credibility. It was through trying to reveal fraudulent activities that were they took part in the past. It led to some of the candidates getting disqualified and some were dismissed as well from the organisation after commission of enquiry set up found them guilty.

If someone substantially invested in an organization, both emotionally or financially is likely to employ political behaviour due to care of the organisation’s destiny. Although politicking within the organisation is healthy, it also has its adverse effects as rift between employees’ increases. In this case, the working relationship within the organization became poor hence ultimately affecting the overall performance of the organisationIn 2002, during the merger between HP and Compaq there was politicking within the board as some were opposed to the merger.

The infighting was so bad that some of the board members leaked secretive information to the public. One of the main reasons for the conflict was the appointment of the CEO of the merged grouped. It led to factions arising as all wanted their interests upheld. According to Nair (2010), such kind of political behaviour exhibited by the HP board, was a defensive response to avoid action or blame for the CEO chosen to represent the group. In addition, it might have been due to situational factors as the top management were resistant to change.

Top management did not want to dilute their powers as it was inevitable due merging. Hence, politicking was necessary by the board members to try retaining their power. ConclusionIn the end, the individual selected to fill up the position was not a viable candidate. The individual was the assistant sales manager who was part of the board of directors hence was able to influence decision-making within the organisation. There was no equal playing ground for the candidates like the one who ended up successful was able to influence the decision making process.

As much politicking is healthy, there are also negative effects such was the case in our organisation as the candidate selection was not based on merit. References Nair, Suja. R (2010) Organisational Behaviour Mumbai, India: Himalaya publishing house.