Organisational Politics - Essay Example

Organizational politics The entire process of the role play was all driven by the main aspect of political organisation which was developed around various events in our team. In forming a group of three students, the model of our play was based on a grocery company which we named it Thompson Grocery Company. We then set to choosing characters for the play and we came up with the three characters; Fran Gilson the regional manager in Thompson Grocery Company, Ken Hamilton the director of finance and Jennifer Chung a financial analyst in Ken’s department. I played the role of Fran where I was the boss to Ken and Jennifer having worked in the company for fifteen years. Ken was my good friend whom I trusted a lot that I even asked him to allow me to use name as a reference when I was looking for the job position of vice president and regional manager for a national drugstore chain. Ken introduced me to Jennifer who then became my friend. One day Jennifer comes to me asking me to listen to her problem as I was Ken’s friend and she thought that being the highest ranking woman in the company I was in a position to help her. I then sat down with Jennifer in my office to listen to what she had to tell me. Jennifer then told me that Ken had been making poor comments about her and his behaviour even became was that he started leering and sexually harassing Jennifer. She went on to explain to me that Ken had even threatened her that she should not expect favourable evaluation on her probationary review if she refused to sleep with him. It was heard to believe Jennifer’s story because I had never thought of Ken to do such a thing. However, I had no reason to doubt her and so I set to confront Ken right away. On hearing what I had to tell him, Ken seemed was frightened and told me that he had no idea about Jennifer’s claims and this made me more furious. However, Ken thinking that I had found out that he had initial stolen Jennifer’s project, decided to tell it out. It was at this point that I discovered that Ken stole Jennifer’s innovative report for analysing company financial statements and presented it before the board of director’s and I to get a promotion and received a good money reward. This was what prompted Jennifer to take a vengeance on him. I then concluded that Ken having lied to the board of directors and I, he was definitely capable of sexual harassment. I needed no more proof to Jennifer’s claims. I then asked Ken to get me coffee to my office where would be waiting for him. Ken running to my office did not know that Jennifer was there. On opening the door he heard Jennifer talking to someone one phone. Later when I went to my office to try to solve the conflict between Ken and Jennifer, I realised that Ken looked angry while Jennifer seemed scared. It was when I spoke about Jennifer’s problem and Ken came up to proof that he did no sexually harass her by turning on the recording on Jennifer’s conversation on phone telling someone that her plan had worked well to revenge on Ken. It was clear then that both of them lied to me and I could trust neither of them. We terminated our contract and I had to decide what to do to them based on the reasons that I had for their actions. I understood that Jennifer being a woman was not able to deal with her emotions. Therefore, we agreed that she would resign on desire and I would provide her with a satisfactory recommendation. However, for Ken I dismissed him and gave him a record that he stole a project and was no disappointed at all. This would then ensure that he did not get a new job at all. I can hereby relate the actions of the event with theories of organisational politics. The decisions made by each participant regarding to the main problem can be explained in some form of organisational politics theory. Generally, the entire event revolved around internal politics. Sidhu et al (2011) define organisational politics as the rivalry that exists between individuals or interest groups of an organisation. The rivalry between Jennifer and Ken was therefore a form of organisational politics. According to Schwartz, D. G.( 2006). Managing organisational politics is an essential role of managers. In this regard, I as the manager had to take an effective approach in dealing with the conflict between Ken and Jennifer. However, understanding the system of politics in an organisation is crucial for a leader to work successfully and achieve their goals. Therefore as a manager with full knowledge of how the politics of Thompson Grocery Company are structured, I was able to handle the situation of Ken and Jennifer in a fair way. Negative organisational politics are destructive for any particular organisation Vigoda, E. (2000). Negative politics include dissident methods to uphold individual agenda which may undermine the objectives of the organisation and compromise the welfare and performance of other employees. This clearly explains what Ken did just to for his own not considering its effects on Jennifer. When Ken stole Jennifer’s project, this undermined the accomplishments of Jennifer for she was seen not to be innovative and Ken was promoted. What Ken failed to understand is the aspect of impression management. Kinicki, A. (2008) puts it that it is important to maintain awareness on impression management. These are the ways of self-presentation where someone may intentionally control the information they present about themselves to be favourably rated by their supervisors. We could see from the role play that the project that Ken presented before the board of directors was note the real report on how he performed. Ken also acted trustworthy as my friend and I was not able to detect his capability to steal other people’s projects and present it for his personal gains. In that case, we realised that application of impression management is an ethical question relating to the reliability and integrity of leaders. According to Porter, L. W. et al (2003), promoting positive traditions that value truthfulness, respect and fairness in the organisation enable leaders or managers to channel the interests and energy of the people away from negative politics. Managers should allow their subordinates to express their commitment to organisation objectives. If I had given Ken a chance to express himself instead of declaring him not innovative, he would not have thought of stealing Jennifer’s project to fake his interests. Employees also need to talk about their troublesome issues, expel their frustrations and engage with others in a more transparent manner Alderson, J. C.( 2009).. If Jennifer had opted to speak out her frustration concerning the Ken stealing her project, she would not suffer the consequence of being fired too. Instead, it would have been to her favour to definitely get promoted to Ken’s position. Yates, D. (1985) suggests that, insights from economics of organisations should be used in order to emphasize the need for suitable motivation systems for aligning political interests and prompting individuals to share knowledge. In that case if Jennifer had taken a chance to share her experience and skills with Ken, he would have acquired new skills and knowledge to better his performance in the company and would not have stolen from Jennifer. This would then develop mutual dependence and oneness among co-workers. As the manager of Thompson Grocery Company, I needed to have proper knowledge on how to finally treat the situation of Ken and Jennifer. Any leader in an organisation requires adequate understanding on how to solve disputes among his her team. This includes identifying and investigating additional motives behind politics of organisations. From the role play I have learnt much about organisational politics and various aspects of it. I learnt that every manager in an organisation must be aware of impression management aspect of organisational politics to avoid people lying about their personalities and capabilities in various jobs. I had never thought before that conflicts between co-workers could be a major concern to objectives of an organisation. However, from the role play, it was clear that negative organisational politics affect the performance of employees and therefore hinder the attainment of organisational goals. It was also apparent that every leader has to be fair when dealing with his/her team members. Above all, a leader should be very influential enough to make team members. As a learner it therefore, enlightened on how to effectively perform in study groups and other team activities in school. The role play was also effective in making me realise the need of team members to speak out their problems and solve them in peaceful and a harmonious way that will ensure that fairness is administered at all costs and every individual is able to spell out their frustration with much honesty. Everything I learnt from the role play will also be useful to me in future when I will be working or managing a company. This is because I have got knowledge about organisational politics and how to solve issues of organisation politics arising in work places. References list Alderson, J. C. 2009. The politics of language education: Individuals and institutions. Bristol, UK: Multilingual Matters. Kinicki, A. (2008). Organizational behavior: Core concepts. Boston: McGraw-Hill/Irwin. Knights, D., and Murray, F. 1994. Managers divided: Organisation politics and information technology management. Chichester: Wiley. Porter, L. W., Angle, H. L., and Allen, R. W. 2003. Organizational influence processes. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe. Sidhu, J.S., Ansari, S.M., Volberda, H.W. and Oshri, I. 2011. “Managing Organisational Politics for Effective Knowledge Processes.” RSM Insight. Vol. 8, 4th quarter, pp. 12-13. Schwartz, D. G. 2006. Encyclopedia of knowledge management. Hershey, PA: Idea Group Reference. Vigoda, E. 2000. “Organizational Politics, Job Attitudes, and Work Outcomes: Exploration and Implications for the Public Sector.” Journal of Vocational Behavior, Vol. 57, pp. 326– 347. Vigoda-Gadot, E., and Drory, A. 2006. Handbook of Organisational Politics. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Pub. Provis, C. 2004. Ethic and organisational politics. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. Yates, D. 1985. The politics of management. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Read More