FIRST SEMESTER SESSION 2022/2023

GMGM 3013 GROUP B HUMAN RELATIONS IN SOCIAL SCIENCE

GROUP ASSIGNMENT
TOPIC 1: LEADERSHIP AND POLITICS

TITLE:
CASE STUDY ON LEADERSHIP STYLE, ORGANISATIONAL POLITICS AND EMPLOYEES
PERFORMANCES; AN EMPIRICAL EXAMINATION ON TWO COMPETING MODELS.

PREPARED FOR:
MADAM NOOR “FAIZZAH BINTI DOLLAH

PREPARE BY:

KHARTHIKA A/P PARAMASIVAN 279526

LAVANIYA A/P BHATMANATHAN 279326

VISALINI A/P SUBRAMANIAM 278333

AIMAN BIN KAHAR 278091

 TABLE OF CONTENTS

NUM TITLE PAGE

NUM

1.0 INTRODUCTION

2.0 DISCUSSION

2.1 THEORY

2.2 IMPACTS

2.3 ALTERNATIVES

3.0 CONCLUSION

4.0 REFERENCES
1.0 INTRODUCTION

Although leadership and politics are two different dimensions, they may complement one

another to the advantage of a company. This article provides an empirical comparison of two

competing theories and presents a case study regarding leadership style, organisational politics,

and employee performances. To start, there are many different types of leadership, including

authoritarian, democratic, paternalistic, and others. The capacity of an organisation's

management to set and accomplish challenging objectives, act quickly and decisively when

required, maintain a competitive edge, and inspire people to perform to the best of their abilities

is referred to as business leadership (Twin, 2020). Organisational politics are a part of the case

study, therefore we first need to understand what politics are. Politics, according to Brandon and

Seldman (2004), is an informal, unofficial, and behind-the-scenes effort to spread ideas,

influence organisations, consolidate power, or accomplish other specific goals.

Related to that, when both leadership and politics takes place at one moment, not only the

organisation will get benefit but the employees also will get benefit. From a different

perspective, recent research has shown that organisational politics are a significant predictor of

employees' performance, both formally and informally. Based on the case study that has been

chosen, studies on leadership in organisations have moved in several directions, but two

approaches have dominated. The first approach has focused on the leader’s characteristics and

behaviour, and the second on the circumstances necessitating the demonstration of leadership

and the possible results of different leadership styles.

According to the case study, leadership is a behaviour that offers collective guidance,

meaning, and purpose by articulating a shared vision that appeals to followers' ideological
beliefs, motivations, and self-perceptions. The case study goes on to say that the results of this

behaviour include increased awareness of organisational ideals, unusually high levels of effort,

and followers who sacrifice their own interests for the sake of the group. The majority of these

studies, as well as others, have referenced the definition of organisational politics, which states

that it is behaviour that is strategically designed to maximise self-interests and, as a result, is at

odds with the organisation's overall objectives or the interests of other people. This point of view

reflects how the majority of organisation members see workplace politics, which they see as

mostly negative. Even though they were seen as distinct entities, several studies have linked

organisational politics to the concepts of justice and fairness in the workplace. Thus, this article

will analyse the contribution of leadership style and politics to an organisation and how it affects

the employee's performance.

2.0 DISCUSSION

2.1 THEORIES OF LEADERSHIP AND ORGANISATIONAL POLITICS.

In human relations, leadership and politics may be connected to organisational

leadership, which is the capacity to convince individuals to accomplish tasks over time through

motivating approaches rather than force or command (Kotter, 1996). This concept underlines the

subordinate’s option to fulfil a job of his or her own free will and essentially opposes the use of

power, force or aggressive activities by managers who are labelled "leaders". Whereas politics in

organisation is a "intentional act of influence to advance or preserve the benefit of specific

groups". The effort required to get what one desires determines the kind of political

strategy/tactics that must be used. A definition like this leads to organisational politics as

political behaviour. Further, Harvey and Mill (1970) defined organisational politics as "activities

that claim the organisation's resources sharing system". According to Zhou and Ferris (1995),

this definition still pertains to political behaviour, which is merely one component of

organisational politics. Thus, along with this idea, Meyes and Allen (1997) defined

organisational politics as "the management of influence to accomplish purposes not sanctioned

by the organisation or to obtain sanctioned ends using non-sanctioned influence techniques".

Positive politics and negative politics are the two types of organisational politics. Positive

politics are behaviours that are intended to influence people in order to benefit both the

organisation and the individual engaging in the politics. Posing a professional image, publicising

one's achievements, volunteering, and complimenting others are all examples of positive politics.

Negative politics in organisations, on the other side, are meant to further one's own interests at

the expense of those of others and the organisation. Bad politics includes things like spreading
unfounded rumours, discussing behind someone's back, and blocking vital information from

someone. Consequently, leadership is impacted by workplace politics.

Besides definitions, there are types of leadership and political theories that are used in an

organisation. For instance, ideas include the behavioural leadership theory, transactional

leadership theory, great man leadership theory, and contingency theory of leadership. Next, the

work environment also includes political theories such as political behaviour theory, procedural

justice theory and others.

In connection with that, the researcher considers that transactional and transformational

leadership theories are the fundamental concepts in their respective disciplines, which is why

they are highlighted in the case study. Burns (1978) initially established these ideas of

transactional and transformational theory, which were later extended by Bass and Avolio to

include the full range model of leadership. The interplay between the leader and the led may be

seen to exhibit two fundamental degrees of influence. When a leader is aware that his followers

have a cost-benefit connection, it has an impact. This kind of control, referred to as

"transactional leadership" by Burns (1978), occurs when followers cooperate with the leader's

instructions because they perceive it to be in their best interests. Emotional excitement, often

known as transformational or charismatic leadership, is the second factor that affects a leader.

This leadership approach is founded on an inspiring rapport between the boss and his staff,

which disrupts the cycle of fundamental expectations among the workforce. This kind of

leadership may enthral staff members and motivate them to work for novel and difficult goals.

These descriptions of the various leadership styles from the case study make it

abundantly evident that transformational leadership increases an employee's awareness of their

needs for personal development, validates their expression of themselves, and inspires them to
reach new heights of performance. This is due to the fact that a transformational leader lifts his

followers in the hierarchy of needs, alters their beliefs and values, and impacts their expectations

of him. The hierarchy of needs is the cornerstone of the transformative process, according to

Burns (1978). Thus, the results of transformational leadership is a connection of corresponding

stimulation that develops both the follower and the leaders into moral actors. Thus, the character

of the leader, the tenacity of his convictions, and his or her capacity to articulate a compelling

vision of the company's ideal conclusion are what lead to transformational leadership.

Organisational politics have also been highlighted in the case study. Based on the case

study, a wealth of information regarding organisational politics and their connection to

organisational performance has been gathered recently. Employees in an organisation hold the

view that organisational politics is connected to managerial or superior behaviours that are

purposefully geared to maximise their self-interests and, as a result, conflict with the overall

objectives of the organisation or the interests of other people. According to the case study,

politics in organisations is a destructive process. For instance, studies often indicated that

workplace politics was regarded as individuals engaging in self serving behaviour to advance

their own interests, advantages, and benefits at the cost of others and perhaps going against the

interests of the whole organisation or work unit. In-depth, this behaviour was commonly linked

to subversion, slander, manipulation, and illegal tactics to abuse authority in order to further

one's goals.

Organisational politics, however, may also be a useful indicator of an organisation's

effectiveness since it produces its own benefits. This is so because procedural justice theory is

involved in organisational politics. According to the procedural justice theory, connections

between leaders and members, the effectiveness of human resource management programmes,
and decision-making procedures are all factors in organisational politics. According to the

procedural justice idea, people will see and respect those in positions of power more legitimately

if they believe they are treated properly right away. Fair processes are used to demonstrate to

workers their importance as team members. By concentrating on the formal processes followed

while making decisions, procedural fairness may be investigated. Because it combines fair

processes, enables workers to participate in decision-making, treats them fairly, and offers them

more input in the assessment process, procedural justice, a component of organisational justice,

is essential in communication and the workplace. It may also be sufficient in certain

circumstances to give dissatisfied group members a voice whether instrumental which is a voice

that impacts decision making or non instrumental which is a voice that won't have any weight on

decision making. The relationship between having a voice and having the right to feel respected

and valuable highlights how crucial the interpersonal aspects of procedural justice are. This is

crucial for workers to feel valued and satisfied at work, which might improve their performance

on tasks and in other contexts. Since there is a focus on the interpersonal and social aspects of

the business, employee satisfaction is boosted when their perspectives are heard. Procedural

fairness is a key factor that promotes employee disagreement. It positively correlates with rising

management dissension. There is more fairness in the workplace with procedural justice.

Contrarily, it was discovered that one of the main reasons for poor organisational

performance was a lack of minimum justice and fairness in the organisational structures.

Therefore, in order to improve the working environment, employees need to be aware of

procedural justice theory or the positive aspects of organisational politics. This is due to the fact

that politics in organisations should be defined in terms of what people believe rather than what
it truly stands for. Views of justice and fairness, according to study, may often reflect the

political climate at work and may also be related to formal and informal job performance.

In order to anticipate improved organisational performance, there is a link between

transformational leadership and organisational politics. In summary, the transformational

management leader may raise political consciousness inside an organisation by providing a clear

vision, a clear objective, and a workable strategy for achieving those goals. By doing so, the

leader may lessen professional confusion and ambiguity and confirm the notion that it is feasible

to handle organisational difficulties in a respectable manner based on justice and fairness. Thus,

transformational leadership may create an environment in the workplace that encourages

professionalism and quality, diminishing the notion of organisational politics.

2.2 IMPACTS OF LEADERSHIP AND POLITICS

Politics within an organisation can lead to a decrease in morale as well as an

unproductive and unpleasant working environment. It is essential for one, as a leader, to have an

understanding of the motivation behind political behaviour and to adopt the proper method to

silence it. This will allow employees to maintain their focus on the outcome of the organisation.

One can help to set a good example for others by demonstrating effective leadership qualities

like honesty and integrity, as well as by motivating your team members to achieve their full

potential. In addition, people contribute to the possibility of having positive encounters by

gaining an understanding of the preferences, predilections, and goals of other people.

The impact of leadership and politics in an organisation is misusing of power. When a

leader utilises their position of authority to praise or reprimand someone in a lower standing

position based not on performance but rather on personal feelings, this is an example of an
inappropriate use of power that can be found in certain situations. An unsuitable reward would

be, for instance, to give a buddy a choice assignment or task rather than developing a measuring

system that evaluates the qualifications and levels of experience of many applicants. This would

be an example of something that would be considered unethical.

An example of the improper use of the power of punishment is when someone gives

another person a poor performance rating on the basis of a personal distaste instead of on the

basis of effective performance measurement. Because of expertise, partiality, and ineptitude,

authority can be abused or misused, which can have much further effects on groups, teams,

peers, employees, and the company as a whole. In other words, when a leader misuses their

authority, it can have an effect on the bottom line, employee productivity, participation,

confidence, and efficiency. The kind of control a leader is able to maintain over their

subordinates is directly proportional to the amount of influence the leader has within the

organisation. The capacity to exert an influence is the essence of power. According to Okafor, E.

(1981), power is defined as the capacity to influence another individual through the control of

necessary resources. The use of power is a technique that helps to describe how various people

might exert influence over the actions and behaviour of others.

In addition, the impact of leadership and politics is improving the employee’s work

performance. Leadership is absolutely necessary for achieving excellence in both employee

performance and corporate operations. As a consequence of this, businesses invest significant

sums of money in the search for successful leadership and in the training of their employees in

effective methods. There is also a roughly comparable lack of effective leadership, which is why

organisations are constantly on the hunt for it. This drives organisations to effect, structure, and
develop all of the effective leadership potentials that are conceivable for those who are connected

with corporate leadership. Because there is a comparison of lack of effective leadership.

Next, achieving an organisation’s goal effectively is also an impact of good leadership.

Leadership is the part of management that is involved with continuously searching for the best

way to influence employees to achieve goals and objectives within the continuous process of

coordinating person, finances, and resources. This search takes place within the context of the

continuous process of organising person, finances, and resources. It encompasses a person's

whole attitude in his or her direct interactions with subordinates and is performed by executives.

Management, which is the organisational form of leadership, is responsible for determining the

policies, rules, and procedures that govern the relationships and activities within an organisation.

This, in turn, helps to determine the degree to which the organisation is successful in achieving

its goals and objectives.

A leader in the group is responsible for ensuring continuity, providing direction to the

group members, and coordinating the actions of the specific individuals that make up the group.

The reputation of the leader as well as the effectiveness of the leadership is represented through

the organisation as well as the attitude of the subordinates in the way that they carry out their

duties. Therefore, the leader, via the utilisation of his organisational authority, decides the style

of employee behaviour, task operation, and ethnic composition of subordinates. When

individuals within the group exist and associate for the achievement of a shared goal, as well as

when the group continues to exist for an adequate amount of time.

The organisation grows with time. Managers have the ability to either decrease or boost

efficiency, and there is no one management style that is universally considered to be "optimal".
Managers who have a habit of going over every detail with a fine-tooth comb will be at their

most effective when they are matched with workers who work rapidly; they have the ability to

slow down your employee and limit the number of mistakes that are made. Staff who work

slowly, on the other hand, will fare better with managers who encourage speed and who put

pressure on employees to keep up the pace – provided that the pressure is not overbearing or

punitive.

2.3 ALTERNATIVES

In this article only focus on perception of organisations politic but not explain on actual

political behaviour itself. The alternative should be done if we need to focus more on political

behaviour in organisations. The structure of any organisation or company must not be separated

with politics and power. A lot of staff or individuals always try to be dominant in any business in

order to achieve their personal interest. Domination in power needs political behaviour.

Organisation politics is the term used to describe actions taken by someone to achieve, improve

and use power and resources to solve any problems when conflict occurs in any organisation or

situation. There are a lot of techniques of political behaviour that can be used in organisations.

One of them is controlling the channel of communication. People who have control in

communication or influence can gain access to political power. For example, the secretary has

the power to decide who can see or meet the boss or not. She can use this skill to frustrate people

she doesn't like while favouring people she likes.

Second alternative should be used in this article is that political phenomena should be

explained in detail. One of the examples of explaining political phenomena is organisational

culture. Organisation culture is the set of beliefs, standards, and customs that regulate an
organisation's behaviour and serve as a basis for all team members' decisions is known as its

culture. Consider it as a collection of the qualities that define a business. In contrast to a

dysfunctional workplace culture, which may harm even the most successful firms, a strong

workplace culture displays positive features that boost performance. All aspects in organisational

are affected by organisation culture from its punctuality to employees benefits. Employees will

be more comfortable in the workplace when the organisation aligns organisational culture with

employees. Thus, it also can maintain the stability of the company in difficult situations.
3.0 CONCLUSION

Burns (1978) distinguished two fundamental elements in the relationship between

management and workers. The first element is the ability of the leader to give praise and

criticism which is transactional leadership. The second is the ability of the leader to unite his

team and persuade them to work together to meet the organisation's objectives, which is

transformational leadership. Results show that, in addition to the direct association between

leadership and performance already established in the literature, organisational politics can be

viewed as a significant mediating factor. There are also few alternatives to overcome this as well

such as focus more on political behaviour in organisation because the domination and the power

that needs to be exerted needs more political behaviour. Whereas, the second one explains the

political phenomena in detail as it can maintain the stability of the company in difficult situations

such as by implementing organisational culture. Hence, the managers should know and choose

which leadership styles to apply in the organisations.

4.0 REFERENCES
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Cambridge Dictionary. (2019, November 4). “POLITICS” meaning in the Cambridge

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Ferris, G.R., Frink, D.D., Bhawuk, D.P.S. and Zhou, J. (1996a), “Reactions of diverse
groups to politics in the workplace”, Journal of Management, Vol. 22, pp. 23-44.
Retrieved from,
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Kotter, J.P. (1996). ‘Leading Change’. Harvard Business School Press, Cambridge, MA.
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Mayes, B.T. and Allen (1980), “Organisational politics: an exploration of managers’

perceptions’”, Human Relations, Vol. 33, pp. 79-100. Retrieved from,
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Twin, A. (2020). Leadership: Achieving Goals, Tackling Competition, Inspiring

Employees. Retrieved from Investopedia website:
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