A Study On The Impact of Organizational Politics On Employee Engagement and Stress

A Study On The Impact Of Organizational Politics On
Employee Engagement and Stress
NTCC DISSERTATION REPORT
SUBMITTED IN THE PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE
REQUIREMENT FOR THE AWARD OF THE DEGREE OF
M.COM
BY:
STEFFY LAWRENCE
(Enrolment No- A3157621001)
UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF
DR. RUPALI MISRA
AMITY UNIVERSITY, CAMPUS
AMITY COLLEGE OF COMMERCE AND FINANCE
AMITY UNIVERSITY UTTAR PRADESH
NOIDA (U.P)
(2021-2023)
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AMITY COLLEGE OF COMMERCE AND FINANCE NTCC DISSERTATION (PG)
MSDS600 On “A study on the impact of organizational politics on employee
engagement and stress”.
Name of the Student: Steffy Lawrence
Enrolment Number: A3157621001
Class Roll Number: 01
Program: M.COM
Batch: 2021-23
Faculty Supervisor: Dr. Rupali Misra
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The satisfaction that accompanies that the successful completion of any task would be
incomplete without the mention of people whose ceaseless cooperation made it possible,
whose constant guidance and encouragement crown all efforts with success. I would like to
thank Dr. Sujata Khandai, Head of Department ACCF, and Amity University for giving me
the opportunity to undertake this project. I would like to thank my faculty guide Dr. Rupali
Misra who is the biggest driving force behind my successful completion of the project. She
has been always there to solve any query of mine and also guided me in the right direction
regarding the project. Without his help and inspiration, I would not have been able to
complete the project. Also, I would like to thank my batch mates who guided me, helped me,
and gave ideas and motivation at each step.
Steffy Lawrence
M.COM
A3157621001
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FACULTY GUIDE CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that Steffy Lawrence A3157621001 student of the M.COM program at
Amity College of Commerce and Finance, Amity University Uttar Pradesh has carried out
work presented in the project entitled “A STUDY ON THE IMPACT OF
ORGANIZATIONAL POLITICS ON EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT AND STRESS” in
Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of M.COM under my supervision.
The report has been checked and it is acceptable.
DR. RUPALI MISRA
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR
Amity College of Commerce and Finance, Noida
Date:
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DECLARATION
I, Steffy Lawrence, student of M.com hereby declare that the project titled “A study on the
impact of organizational politics on employee engagement and stress” which is submitted by
me to Amity College of Commerce and Finance, Amity University Uttar Pradesh, Noida, in
partial fulfilment of requirement for the award of the degree of master’s in commerce, has not
been previously formed the basis for the award of any degree, diploma or other similar title or
recognition.
The Author attests that permission has been obtained for the use of any copyrighted material
appearing in the Project report other than brief excerpts requiring only proper
acknowledgement in scholarly writing and all such use is acknowledged.
Date:
Steffy Lawrence
A3157621001
M.COM (2021-23)
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTERS PARTICULARS PAGE NO.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 3
FACULTY GUIDE CERTIFICATE 4
DECLARATION 5
ABSTRACT 8
Chapter 1. Introduction 10
Chapter 2. Literature Review 15
Chapter 3. Objectives of the study 35
Chapter 4 Theory applied 35
Chapter 5 Research Methodology 38
Chapter 6 Data Analysis 40
Chapter 7 Discussion 56
Chapter 8 Conclusion 56
Chapter 9 Research Limitation 57
Chapter 10 Future Suggestions 58
Chapter 11 References 58
Chapter 12 Abbreviations 60
Chapter 13 Appendix A and B 61
TABLE OF FIGURES
TABLE NO. PARTICULARS PAGE NO.

1. Reliability Analysis showing Cronbach Alpha 41
2. Mean and Standard Deviation 41
3. Chi- square tests, correlation, and cross-tabulation of 42
engagement and stress with gender and educational
qualification. Cross tabulation of politics with gender
4. Multiple regression between the abusive relations, 46
communications, decision making, reputation and resources
on politics
5. Multiple regression of politics on engagement 47
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6. Multiple regression of politics on stress 48
7. Multiple regression of stress on engagement 50
8. Correlation between all variables 51
9. Pivot table showing count of education qualification of both 54
genders
10. Pivot table showing the influence of variables of political 54
behaviour on genders
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ABSTRACT
This study describes the understanding of various causes and measures dealt with
organizational politics like misuse of relationships, allocation of resources, building
reputation, making decisions, faulty communication channels, etc. This study’s main aim is to
analyze the political behavior in organization influencing or affecting employee's effective
engagement and stress. It also analyses the relationship between employee engagement and
stress. It further assesses the factors that influence employee engagement and stress. It also
aims to understand employee's reaction towards negative political behaviour in organization.
It constituted the personal demographics like gender, and education and affecting
organizational politics. The study is basically relevant to and based on various theories of
power on this concern such as Social Exchange Theory, Equity Theory, Theory of Procedural
Justice, JD-R Theory, etc. The data was collected through a convenience sampling method on
Google forms. It concluded by explaining the findings of the research through data analysis
on IBM SPSS 28.0.1 Statistical tool and MS-Excel and discussed ways in which
organizational politics can be improved for the fulfilment of organizational objectives.
Discriptive statistics was used to calculate the mean and standard deviation between all the
variables. Correlation has been used on SPSS in finding the responses of demographic factors
towards politics, engagement and stress levels and multiple regession used on SPSS which
concluded that there is a considerable association between the different variables which
create political behaviour are correlated with each other and affect the level of engagement
practices and strain level of employees significantly and Bi- variate correlation was used to
check the correlation between all the variables which create political environment and the
variables they influence and the demographic factors of gender and educational qualification.
MS-Excel software was used to create pivot tables for summarizing the demographic factors
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and finding the percentage distribution of gender with all the variables which create political
behaviour in the organizational climate.
KEY WORDS: Politics, relations, decision-making, resources, reputation, communication,
engagement, stress, well-being
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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
Human Resources is believed to be the most valuable asset of an organization. With the
development of policies, practices and procedures in organization, it has become necessary
for the organization to focus towards providing job satisfaction, security and comfortable
work environment of employees. While achieving these needs, employees often come into
conflicts in order to get their work done and this results into shaping of politics in the
workplace.
Organizational politics often called as political behaviour in the organization can be referred
to as an activity or action to control, influence and build power over others in order to achieve
personal goals or targets. Organizational politics can cause less engagement within
employees which has been studied by few researchers. Organizational politics refers to
informal, unofficial, and occasionally covert actions taken to advance ideas, influence
organizations, consolidate power or accomplish other specific goals. It is a way of acting that
someone adopts when they want to feel good about themselves and act selfishly.
Workplace politics can have both positive and negative effects; however, in this study, we are
primarily focusing on the negative impact of politics on individual employees. Politics has
existed for thousands of years. Politics is a result of a variety of competing interests that must
be reconciled in some way. When interests are fundamentally at odds, "rational" decision-
making alone may not be effective, which leads to political behaviour and influence methods.
In both the public and private sectors, organisational politics is a topic that has received
extensive research and discussion. It basically happens when a worker employs devious
means to obtain a sizeable sum of money or resources, a promotion, advantageous tasks, etc.
We risk becoming trapped in bureaucratic wrangling, local politics, and destructive power
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struggles, which severely restrict organisational initiative, innovation, morale, and
performance if we lack political awareness and skill.
Workplace politics involves showing favouritism to a select group of influential employees,
getting things done without consulting authority, obtaining resources through improper
channels, and lobbying managers for promotions. These actions frequently result in conflicts,
jealousy, and rumours in the workplace, which hamper communication. Employees are less
devoted to the organisation, have far less job satisfaction, increased level of job anxiety, and a
higher prevalence of depressed mood, according to research, if they believe their organisation
is unduly influenced by politics. Organizational politics refers to individual or group
behaviour that is illegal, destructive, and, very importantly, technically unlawful - approved
neither by formal power, acceptable philosophy, nor verified knowledge. This is expressed as
the flow of power in which person gains countless things by undeserved ways. It never
encourages achieving objectives through acceptable methods of communication.
Organizational politics can occur for a number of reasons, including the abuse of
relationships for personal gain or self-interest, the scarcity of resources to complete tasks, the
need to establish one's reputation or self-worth, the need to make decisions, the use of
authoritative behaviour, inadequate communication channels, etc. Organizational politics are
thought of as an informal fight for power. Organizational politics is the manner of acquiring
power through a variety of methods as compared to through ability or fortune. It is only
utilized to attain power improperly. It is the assessment of how power is used. It is a
significant management skill to take instruction from others. There are a number of ways to
rise in politics, including using methods for personal advantage, limiting influence, and using
simple tactics. Increased levels of feedback boost worker morale and productivity while
reducing the perception of office politics.
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Organizational politics are influenced by a variety of different social categories, including
age, gender, education, and income. These elements all depend on how satisfied employees
are with their jobs and what makes them satisfied. The political decision-making at the office
is impacted by the views and thinking of each individual, which differ depending on their
status and place in society.
The nature of the activity or people's judgment of what is political indicates political
behaviour. The way people interact and handle issues is a result of their awareness of reality.
The ultimate objectives are to secure or maximize selfish interests while minimizing
undesirable group outcomes. Employee engagement is one of the significant repercussions of
office politics, which hinders an employee's participation in the workplace. Organizational
politics is defined as an undesirable event within an organization. That if anyone tells
somebody they think you're a political person, the person perceives it an insult.
HR's gold standard has been described as engagement. Engagement enables and provides
improved productivity, minimising absenteeism, increases worker turnover, and enhance
work quality, etc. As politics overlaps with employee engagement, it begins to have an
adverse effect on performance and the work environment, resulting in jealousy, power
dynamics, rumours, conflicts, lack of effective decision making, conflicting relationships,
failure to fulfil responsibilities, demotivation towards work, lack of confidence,
misunderstanding, lack of agreement towards a goal, lack of unity, and so on.
Job Demands-Resources theory offers a potentially beneficial explanatory perspective for
studying the connection between office politics and engagement. In essence, JD-R
theory suggests that work engagement, as a reliable predictor, regulates the connection
between the job and personal resources (like job independence and self-worth) and positive
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individual and institutional outcomes (e.g., individual well-being, job performance,
competitive advantage).
According to the JD-R framework, job demands can lead to burnout, which has a negative
impact on engagement and is linked to bad individual and material outcomes (such as
depression and absenteeism). Only a few scholars have objectively looked at the relationship
between organisational politics and lowered involvement.
Employee stress is another significant side effect of office politics. Stress can be driven by
the imbalance between what is expected and what is attainable in regard to outcomes.
Inflexible labour relationships, unmanageable anxiety, and demand are the main sources of
stress. Employees are under a lot of pressure because they feel excluded, their bosses don't
favour them, they're not accepted, they're not given opportunities, and they're worried about
their career advancements, where they fit in the organisation, how much work they have to
do, what it entails, how long they have to work, etc. Stress motivates workers to engage in
risky behaviours that negatively impact their health, such as drinking, smoking, being
depressed, or being anxious.
Stressed employees are less creative, easily angered, distrustful, disconnected from their jobs,
and feel ineffective, which has a negative impact on their emotional well-being. They are also
less ranked, which increases employee turnover and lowers employee satisfaction. Both stress
and employee strain can be used alternately. There are many approaches that can be used to
prevent stress at work, including putting an emphasis on working design and management
improvements, personnel training and development, and establishing an effective, dynamic
organisational structure with increased work-related medical issues.
In addition to affecting employee stress and engagement, organisational politics can also have
negative effects on employee job satisfaction, attrition, and other factors. The relationship
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between organisational politics, stress, and work engagement as well as the connection
between work engagement and stress level will be examined in the current study. We will
look at this relationship from the perspectives of many employees working in the public and
private sectors because organisational politics exist in every sector of business.
Although there has been little research on the employee engagement variable linked with
organisational politics, the most crucial goal would be to learn more about the components
connected with employee engagement.
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CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
1. Erin M. Landells and Simon L. Albrecht (School of Psychology, Deakin University,
Melbourne, VIC, Australia) (2019) published their article " Perceived Organizational
Politics, Engagement, and Stress: The Mediating Influence of Meaningful Work"
Relationships can be defined as the behaviour between employer and employee in an
organization of how they maintain associations with each other in order to effectively
perform and achieve a goal. Relations in general have both positive and negative effects in a
workplace environment. Positive relations can be fruitful and can help in building more
collaboration, interaction, creativity, best idea generation, team spirit, motivation, and an
overall wholesome place for the employees to work and achieve results by giving their best
performances. Although, when relations become abusive i.e., filled with selfish motives.
Such types of relations do not get any long-term results and benefit the organization which
may lead to conflicts and disagreements. Favouritism, disengagement, demotivation,
disinterest, etc.
This study describes the inappropriateness, unacceptability, abuse, and misconduct of
relationships in order to get desired selfish wants. Relations change when the mindset or
thinking of the employee changes at every level of position in the company as his needs,
wants and expectations become higher and different from what it was before. At an early
stage, an employee might think of having relations for achieving their small expectations like
being given responsibilities for projects, given good pay as compared to before but later, the
relations start to become for higher positions i.e., for more rewards and recognitions, for a
higher stake in the organization. So when different employees have different mindsets at
different career levels their relationships also keep on changing at a wider scale.
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This study focussed towards such relations which end up in favouritism in the workplace
environment. Favouritism is a situation in which an employee favours his subordinates or his
employees because of their level of work and performance. Research says that
subconsciously an employee always aims to build a healthy relationship with his employer
before thinking about the strengths they can offer in the organization’s success. To grow and
develop an organization, effective interaction and communication is very essential between
the stakeholders. Also, the information, knowledge and resources to be judiciously shared
and utilised is also very crucial for a business’s success. When an employer has built a
relationship with the employee, it gives him an understanding of the employee about his
personality, thinking, and way of work and because of his likeness towards him he tries to
provide him with the best opportunities and responsibilities and responsibilities beneficial for
him and this leads to an employee’s recognition and status in the organization where
everyone knows him and his work gets notices and he gets to have a presence in the
organization.
Employees try to build personal relations and create favouritism or partial; behaviour with
their respective employers for personal gains such as promotions, career progression
opportunities, monetary and non-monetary rewards, etc. But, this turns out to be a
demotivation factor for an employee who has worked hard in the organization and has not
looked at creating personal relations with his boss as a major concern as this a partial decision
made by the employer for an employee who might not be deserving for being given that
promotion. This creates an imbalance in the workplace dynamics and inequality and
unfairness and injustice in giving opportunities to only such employees who are favoured.
Because of such practices, an employer’s reputation, his ethical decision-making quality get
compromised. Favouritism reduces honesty and transparency in the workplace environment
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and reduces the work efficiency and motivation in the employee’s work and performance
level.
This study focussed on explaining the association of the relationship with the political
behaviour in the organization. The unjust practices and favouritism in decision-making
promote political situations in the organization as employees try to please and praise the
employers through unethical and informal and unprofessional means which gives rise to more
employees getting in line with each other and promoting the favouritism. This may lead to
ineffective performance on the part of employees. The employers will give chance to such
undeserving employees and review their performance reports according to these unjust
opinions and perspectives. These employers do not think about the consequences of such
decisions and judge the employees on the basis of their likability towards them.
2. Ndung’u Penninah Wangu and Dr. Muathe S. M. A. (Ph. D. Student, Kenyatta
University, School of Business, Muathe S. M. A. (Ph.D.)School of Business, Kenyatta
University, Nairobi, Kenya) (2014)published their article " A Critical Review of
Literature on Organizational Politics and Work Outcomes"
Communication can also be considered as one of the most important aspects of an
organization’s climate. Communication means collaboration, interaction, knowledge, sharing,
information sharing, creative ideas, perceptions, and opinions sharing between the employees
in the workplace. Just like relationships, communications can also be understood in positive
as well as negative aspects. Communication consisting of positive and beneficial facts and
information proves fruitful in the business and leads to more engagement and collaboration
between employees. Communication which is bringing production, creative and innovative
ideas and thoughts always results in smooth functioning and effectiveness in the organization.
Such a type of communication creates a safe, engaged, and healthy workplace which will
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help in the growth and development of both employees and the organization and increase the
performance level, and work satisfaction level of the employees. A productive and healthy
interaction between employees facilitates higher production in the organization thereby
motivating the employees to work with the best of their efforts.
This type of communication helps in generating more returns and builds effective and good
relations between employees which enables them to perform effectively and efficiently. Such
a kind of communication brings equality, justice, and fairness within the organization.
Although, the negative aspect of communication is completely inverse to positive
communication as it deals with a lot of toxic environments, generating rumours and gossip
around the workplace, using opposing behaviour with the other employees, talking bad and
offensive words to other employees, and trying to degrade and making fun of others and
mocking them, creating an offensive and unethical environment in the workplace, Such a
kind of communication involves aggressive behaviour and being violent and not
compromising and understanding others opinions. This brings a negative influence on the
functioning and performance of the employees in the workplace. This creates a negative
atmosphere in the organization which does not let the employees grow and work at their best
potential. This may result in less satisfaction with work, less engagement, stress, and other
health issues. This leads to less production, a high attrition rate, more disengagement and
ineffectiveness in the level of performance of employees. Such communication does not let
the employees as well as the organization grow and prosper and acts as a demotivating force
in the minds of the employees. Such communication will create an imbalance in the
workplace and will not be of any benefit to either the employees or the organization. It will
lead to a struggle to survive and adjust to the workplace environment. Such a negative
atmosphere will create unfair, unjust and unequal behaviour in the workplace. It will not
serve any advantage and will only bring in more political behaviour where all the employees
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are aggressive, competitive in an unhealthy way, passive, jealous, impartial, irritated and
unjust with each other. Due to such behaviour, employers will feel that their employees are
the unreliable, non-performing and inefficient staff which will make them lay off their
employees soon. This communication could be in a verbal as well as non-verbal aspect where
employees don’t feel comfortable working with each other. This brings more anxiety,
toxicity, depression, and stress among employees. This will reduce their ability and passion to
work together in a group and achieve results as a team.
This study is focused on such a negative and passive kind of communication in the workplace
which only brings misconduct, harm, and demotivation within the employees and in the
whole organization climate. It will lead to an organization ‘s striving to survive in the
marketplace with extreme, inefficient and disengaged employees.
This study entails that this kind of behaviour will promote a political environment in the
workplace and create less energetic, less satisfied, less confident and stressed staff.
This study describes the negative influence of communication on the political behaviour of
the workplace which looks at all the negative outcomes on the employee’s well-being and
achieving the organizational goals and objectives. It brings to notice the situations and
aspects where unhealthy communication may result in a threat to the working life of
employees and the overall organization’s aim.
3. Yongxing Guo (School of Economics and Management, Hebei University of
Technology, Tianjin, China),Haiying Kang (School of Management, RMIT
University, Melbourne, Australia),Bo Shao (Department of Management, Monash
University, Melbourne, Australia),Beni Halvorsen (School of Management, RMIT
University, Melbourne, Australia) (2019)published their article " Organizational
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politics as a blindfold: Employee work engagement is negatively related to
supervisor-rated work outcomes when organizational politics is high"
Decisions regarding promotion plays a very important role in an individual’s career
progression,growth,and development. Ethics in decision making is of main concern in the
workplace.Patriarchal or favoured decision making can impact negatively on an employee
performance and his work behaviour. Ethics is usually defined as the se of moral principles
that direct one’s behavior and define what is consider to be right and wrong. Similarly
political ethics refers to making moral judgements to guide action and methods of decision-
making for the public good.
Decision-making can be defined as one of the most vital and important considerations while
working in an organization. It should be the obligation on the part of the employers to make
some strict and regulated policies and decisions which becomes the duty of the employees to
follow them. There can be policies and decision-making at every level be it the supervisor,
executive, senior executive or managers and they can be in any form like in giving growth
opportunities, career progression and development roles, and promotions, making these
decisions the employer should always keep in mind the moral ethics and values by which he
should take any decision. He should practise his moral obligation as a person by not
discriminating against any employee based on caste, creed or colour and his family
background, his decisions should not be biased with any respect. Decision-making is a very
integral and crucial responsibility for an employer where he needs to look at the pros and
cons of his decision taken and it should be for the betterment of the employee, the
organization and society. Decision-making includes all the policies formulated for the smooth
functioning of the business. It is practised by considering all the policies, programs, rules, and
regulations which is formulated in the organization’s code of conduct. It should not be
against the professional ethics provided by the governing authority of the organization. An
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employer should take into consideration the performance appraisal reports, feedback from the
employees, reviews from the customers, etc while making their decisions. It should be in
respect of the position or the role provided to the employee and his professional or work
experience up to a given period of time. The decision should be taken by analysing the job
which has to be done and the responsibilities which are to be given to an employee and then it
should be decided which employee will be best suitable for that role in terms of efficiency,
production, and quality of performance. It is the moral obligation of the employees to not
burden any employee and should take decisions and look at the employee’s capabilities and
strengths to perform the particular work as this could negatively affect an employee’s mental
and physical well-being. An employee should always be determined and active towards
accepting the decisions given by the employer. An employer should always look at an
employee’s growth and development and should make decisions which promote their
progress.
Decisions should not be biased and partial and they should not be for a person’s selfish
motive and which makes others look undeserving and incompetent.
This study is focused towards the negative aspects of decision-making responsibilities which
some people take advantage of for their personal benefit and which make them look good but
others do not. These decisions are only taken for fulfilling the selfish desires of people and do
not serve any benefit to the hardworking and talented employees as well as the whole
organisation climate. These decisions may lead to political behaviour in the workplace where
employees feel that their performance is not seen and appreciated and is only favouring the
advantage of the employers or managers. In such a situation, there is a violation of the
morals, ethics and values with which an employee should work and make policies and
decisions in the organization.
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This study describes the situations in which decision-making responsibilities can be a cause
of politics in the workplace environment. Employees don’t feel motivated and regarded in
such an environment. They do not produce any good and satisfactory results. The employer
gives no rewards or recognition to the other deserving employees and only works for his
personal growth and incentives.
Decision-making should focus on ethical and equal treatment of employees. The decisions
should not be unfair and unbiased towards anyone. Managers should not be partial and
unethical while making important decisions like giving promotions, opportunities, and
chances to the employees.
This study focussed on decision-making being a crucial aspect in the creation of a political
situation in an organization. It focuses on working in the organization and making decisions
which is in justice, equality, fairness and in compliance with personal and professional ethics.
It should take care that employees are fairly treated and given equal opportunities without any
partiality or disregard towards an employee. The decision made should consider the
competencies, abilities, and strengths of every individual. It should not be biased on any
personal grudges or issues with employees. It should be for the benefit of the organization in
achieving its long-term goals and objectives. These unethical decision-making practices not
only degrade and reduces the capacity and production level of an organization but also
diminish the well-being of employees which may lead to disengagement, dissatisfaction and
stress-busting factors.
4. Wayne A. Hochwarter,Gerald R. Ferris,Robert Zinko,Breda Arnell (Florida State
University) (2007) published their article “Reputation as a Moderator of Political
Behavior–Work OutcomesRelationships: A Two-Study Investigation With
Convergent Results”
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Reputation means the strong influence of an individual in the workplace environment
amongst the team of employees who are working with their best of competencies and
strengths. Reputation is a quality which builds over time with the continuous interactions
between different individuals over a period. Reputation creates a strong influence and a
position and identity amongst the peer groups in the social environment of the organization.
Reputation comes with different thoughts, and perspectives, influencing talks, controlling
behaviour, decision-making attitude and creating a respectable status amongst the employees.
Reputation is a quality which is established and observed with direct interaction between
employees as well as indirectly in situations where decisions need to be made and
responsibilities are to be assigned. It is created and formed in the minds of the individuals by
the conversations which could be rumours or gossip between the employees in a workplace
environment. These types of communication tend to build an influential group which gives
power to an individual to control and direct the group according to chis conditions and
decisions. He portrays himself as the most powerful, respectable, favoured, delighted, and
mindful person. Individuals sometimes do not get to know that somebody has created a
reputation and status amongst them as this is an event which happens naturally and with a
flow of events like in between meetings, discussions, interactions, chats, friendly talks, and
conversations over a period of time. The reputed person creates an image where they get the
power to influence and persuade others to convince others and get what they want.
Reputation comes with a long term of effort and dedication and to sustain this position, the
reputed people need to develop themselves and manage their actions which keeps them in
power amongst others. Sometimes, in situations like conflicts of interest or diverse opinions
or different views, the reputed people take a few strict decisions which are required at that
time and look deliberate and unconventional and unethical but over the course of time, it
serves fruitful to the business. Reputation is a phenomenon which happens to the
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consolidated and limited opinions of all employees in the organization and the decision of
making the reputed person lies in the hands of those who are in majority and support such
who share the same thoughts and mindset about matters in the organization. These reputed
people are provided with the utmost trust and dependence from the individuals who see them
as influential role models and because of such a mindset being developed, the reputed people
tend to have the benefit of the doubt. It is given because the employees think of reputed
people as the lightning bearers of knowledge and informative personalities. They feel
sympathetic and inclined and compassionate towards such a person. Such people are
considered credible and are looked upon in the workplace environment. They guide and show
everyone the path to work and can control them by using them to their advantage.
This study is focused towards showing the negative light of reputation in the organization and
establishing a hypocritical, diplomatic and political environment, This leads to controversies,
conflicts, lower productivity, inappropriate or misleading conduct, and authoritative and
pompous actions and behaviour which declines the growth of the workplace. This leads to
misleading in the minds of the employees by thinking of reputed people as their role models
and mentors instead they are undeserving of being given that appreciation, recognition, status
and credit. The reputed people try to exploit and use their power and status in a negative way
and use that to get their selfish motives fulfilled, get favours from their bosses, be granted
more opportunities and chances even when their performance is low and build no pressure or
expectation to work and achieve targets or results to a particular standard. Even when their
behaviour and actions and code of conduct I completely unethical, inappropriate, intolerable
and unacceptable.
This study describes how the association of the negative influence of reputation causes a
political atmosphere in the workplace. This leads to disengaging employees, a higher attrition
rate, and a higher number of demotivated and dissatisfied employees as reputed people will
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take up their opportunities and chances to grow, they will feel unnoticed, unrewarded, and
discriminated against over a period of time. Such a type of behaviour will promote unequal
and biased perspectives of a few reputed and influential people and will suppress and
disregard the opinions and voice of others to perform and achieve the best results and give
100% effort in the organization.
5. Can Bicer (Karabuk University) (2020) published their article “The Power And
Politics In Organization”
Resources can be defined as opportunities, options, and positions in the organizational
hierarchy. They can be termed as those opportunities an employee requires in order to grow
and develop themselves and achieve the desired personal objectives and goals of the
organization. These resources are seen and experienced to be very scares or limited in the
amount with which a person can move towards his/her career progression and development
initiatives. As we move up in the hierarchical level of the organization, we notice that the
positions become very less for the executive role and the higher management roles. In such a
competitive and hurdle race, all the employees feel obligated and passionate to achieve that
target although when it is unable to achieve them through professional actions and ethical
conduct, the employees try to engage in misconduct and unethical and unacceptable practices
where they try to undermine the other employee’s credibility and show their weaknesses and
incapabilities in front of their bosses. Employers tend to take those employees who can be
suited to the best performing and competent out of others and choose such employees who
showcase more effort, strengths and capabilities to strive the achieve the desired results.
Employees try to create a negative atmosphere in the workplace by building misleading
comments about their competition and get opportunities by lowering the chances of others by
showing or projecting their weaknesses and incapabilities in front of the decision-makers or
employers.
25
Resources become scarce and limited as we walk up the ladder of career scale and it becomes
evident for the employees to show some kind of tactics and ways to gain more leverage and
power over others. Employees don’t feel shy or reluctant to stand in the way of others to get
their things done. They have the spirit and the motivation to achieve the desired opportunity
in any way be it ethical or unethical. Employees get in the race to achieve their goals before
others and try to degrade others’ performances and results in front of their seniors. In this
process, they lose the trust, and the relations they built in the period they worked in the
organization. In these cases, the employees might try to discriminate against and oppose the
views of others towards any topic discussed in conversations or meetings and backstab other
colleagues in this process for meeting their personal targets to move ahead and grow as their
career leaders.
As resources are very limited so they should look at while utilized, managed, and optimized
in order that the outcomes are higher and expectations to achieve them become strong and
desirable. Employees tend to look for shortcuts and easy ways in order to reach those higher
positions and get their job done although the ways by which they try to get success oppose
the code of conduct and the professional mindset with which they should achieve those
outcomes.
These resources get unfairly allocated by the level of favouritism in the workplace and not by
measuring the performance and results of an employee which leads to benefit only the
personal motive of the employee and not the organization’s goal to increase efficiency and
success rate in such the marketplace.
Employees do not think about getting such resources for the betterment of the workplace but
only set their standards to gain or achieve personal power over others and gain influence and
control to dictate to others.
26
Employees think of utilizing their resources for their personal gain and not about utilizing
these resources by those talented and dedicated employees who work with their utmost
efforts and who are deserving, qualified, experienced, competent, capable and knowledgeable
in order to get those opportunities and help in making it a fruitful venture. This study
encompasses various threats to the organization’s efficiency by giving or utilizing resources
in unethical terms which are unfair and unjust for the deserving employees. The employee
starts to take it as their loss for not getting their resources and feel incompetent that they are
not able to achieve the position. They start to compare their position with other employees
against a personal mindset and benchmark and feel that they are unnoticed and unappreciated
in the organisation.
Such a type of action leads to the creation of a political atmosphere in the workplace
environment. This mindset might originate from the way of living and the family background
of the employee where he is only given credit and appreciation when he reaches to a higher
level or position in his life and strives to get that result as soon as possible for the praise and
appreciation from their family. This unethical exercise might lead to dissatisfaction with
work in the minds of the employee and reduce their mental well-being to efficiently work in
the organization.
6. Poonam Mishra (Department of Management, CMR, Bangalore, India) and Amitabh
Deo Kodwani (Department of Organisational Behaviour and Human Resource, Indian
Institute of Management Indore, Indore, India)(2019)published their article
“Moderating role of employee engagement on conflict–politics relationship"
Employee engagement can be defined as a motivational and progressive approach in an
organization. It is a psychological and behavioral factor that is looked at when measuring the
performances and the growth of the employees and the organization. It is a state of positive
27
environment that promotes interactive, motivated, fulfilled, and dedicated employees. It is a
link between achieving the personal goals of work satisfaction and performing with
dedication towards the objective of the organization thereby increasing competitiveness,
productivity, and the strength to work. It is said to be a yardstick to measure the growth and
the level of performance of the employees. It will help in improving the quality of work of
employees, making them initiative driven and energized to work, thereby increasing their
productivity and the overall upliftment of their career path in the organization. Engagement
among employees is inevitable and considered a fruitful and positive aspect of the physical,
emotional, and mental well-being and health of the employees. It will encourage the
motivational level, willingness to work, new ideas and creative generation, and competitive
and fruitful conversations between employees which will keep their work-life balance in
control and the complete atmosphere of the organization positive.
Many researchers have been focussed on this aspect to ensure the smooth functioning of the
organization. Satisfaction can be related to engagement practices in the organization.
Engagement as a construct involves the personal as well as from the workplace point of view.
It reduces the employer turnover rate and promotes more talent and competent employees in
the organization. Engagement makes sure that no employee is unnoticed and treated unfairly
and partially in the workplace environment. It keeps pace with the competitive and
motivational drive in the minds of the employees. It showcases the ethical decision-making
practices in the organization.
Although, apart from these positive traits and characteristics comprised in engagement
practices there is a presence of many political and conflicting interests situations, and issues
during the process of working in the organization. Engagement may take a negative turn or
decrease drastically due to the presence of favouritism, and authoritative and partial
behaviour of the employer toward his employees which results in decreased engagement and
28
less motivation and willingness level to perform at their best capacity in the organization. In
situations where employees backstab their colleagues, create rumours, and gossip about their
personal and selfish gains when they create a difference of opinions, interests, conflicts in
relations between each other, miscommunications, manipulation, disagreements, lack of fair
practice, lack of unity and trust between each, it results in the lack of employee engagement.
It lowers itself in the creation of value because of the abusive environment, power struggle,
misuse and misconduct of authorities, and decision-making practices. Engagement in this
process loses its significance and its quality.
In this study, it has been discussed that the consequences of political behavior in the
organization might lead to reduced and eliminated employee engagement.
Political influence gets in the positivity of the engaging quality and process between
employees. Abusive authoritative behaviour and unethical practices adversely affect the
engagement level and the employee’s motivational level. It negatively affects the whole
environment of the workplace. Due to the controversial and conflicting nature of employees,
they tend to get easily irritated and disengaged with their work and thereby lose their
willingness and dedication to work for their betterment and career progress as well as for
achieving the organizational targets and objectives.
This study is focused to show the impact and influence of powerful and dominating and
authorizing and controlling individuals on the level of employee interaction, communication,
agreements, satisfaction, engagement, commitment, and performance level.
Employee engagement when seen as a personal trait serves many benefits in any environment
and situation be it in a personal life situation or a professional situation. It can be seen at
every walk of life, at every position in the organization, at every level, and at every
department in the organization. The level of engagement strongly influences the level of
29
achievement and fulfillment of objectives at the organization and at the personal level of
employees. Due to the presence of a discriminating and miscommunicated environment, it
becomes very difficult and unattainable for achieving a level of engagement at a higher level.
It deeply diminishes the positivity and the benefits which could help in gaining the best
results and competitive performances in the appraisal charts of the employees. The
employees try to only maintain and achieve their selfish motives through unethical practices
and unreasonable activities in the organization.
7. Syed Ahmed (Saint Monica University) (2018) published their article The Effect of
Organizational Politics on Job Stress; Mediating Role of Job Satisfaction"
Stress-related to work or employment is a big concern and an important aspect in the
consideration of an employee’s health and psychological well-being. Stress can be termed as
that problem which is experienced in situations of extremely work pressured environment and
conflicts of interests dilemmas faced while working in the organization. The major causes of
stress can be an overload of work, continuous demand, tasks given frequently, lack of proper
communication, pressurizing work environment, overtime work, poor workplace code of
conduct and culture, etc. These issues lead to dissatisfaction and unwillingness towards work
performance with the best of efforts and do not bring any fruitful and profitable results in the
business and in the employee’s personal growth and development.
Stress can be looked at as both positive and negative. It is important to acknowledge that
without stress, there would be no seriousness to work, commitment, energy, and
competitiveness to perform work. But when these stress busters take up an extreme level,
they begin to adversely affect the emotional and psychological well-being of the employees
which leads to reduces concentration and confidence, anxiety issues, procrastination, reduced
30
self-belief, nervousness, high blood pressure, lethargic behavior, heart issues, etc. These
issues might become detrimental and harmful for an employee which could turn into long-
term or short-term mental illness or disorders.
This study is focused on the negative impact of highly stressful situations created due to
unethical and misuse of relations and conduct in the organization. It becomes an integral part
to manage stress in the organization. It becomes crucial on the part of the employer to create
such a working condition for the employees where there are acceptable and moderate levels
of pressure of work and stress in performing the work and given tasks and responsibilities in
such a way that is bearable and manageable by the particular employee capacity and strength
and ability.
Employees might also consider stress in a healthy way and form and try to improve
themselves according to the pressure provided to them. This could result in pushing
employees to make them work with a high level of competency and making them achieve the
earlier unattainable results. Although, such an extreme stress environment could also addict
the employee towards unhealthy practices like drinking, smoking, gambling, drug addiction,
violent behavior, etc. This could also affect the work-life balance of the employees and could
create conflicts at home, misunderstandings in relationships, harassment or aggressive
personality development, etc. It could also demotivate the employee to achieve good results
and increase the attrition rate, number of sick leaves, early resign practices, high employee
turnover rate, etc.
Stress can also be occurred due to the capacity, or the amount of workers being employed in
the workplace as business managers or employee deliberately try to reduce their labour cost
in order to achieve profits and induce high amounts of pressurizing and stressful tasks and
activity on employees.
31
Stress could also be formed because of organization’s diminishing market value in the minds
of the stakeholders which could create a lot of nervousness, un-confidence and pressure in the
minds of the workers and hereby receiving inconsistent responsibilities and duties from the
employer. This leads to performance degradation, dissatisfaction, disengagement, and
unfocussed work.
The abusive authority, influencing power struggle, unequal , unethical, unfair and biased
work environment creates a huge amount of stressful situations
This study describes the various causes and consequences of stress building conditions. It
aims to bring forth the various issues of concern while working in the business environment.
These negative effects of stress can be tried to be reduced by providing of various benefits to
the employee along with their pay , monetary and non-monetary motivation, career
advancement opportunities, etc. with the inculcation and practise of these measures of
gaining motivational level, the employees could feel less stressed and more boosted to do and
perform work with high standards and increase their productivity. These types of inclusion
and boosting initiatives and development programmes could help the employees to manage
and tackle the stressful and challenging situations of the daily tasks and duties in the
workplace environment.
Employees should b encouraged to take the personality and self-development training
sessions and test to analyse the ways in which they can channel their stress and improve their
productivity and efficiency level. They need to be working in an energized and motivated
surroundings where they are treated with equal dignity, fairness, and equality and can
communicate and engage well with their fellow colleagues in order to gain their personal s
well as organizational goads and objectives.
32
This would help them to face the challenging roles ahead in their career and become future
corporate leaders.
8. Jennica R. Webster, Gary A. Adams, Cheryl L. Maranto ,and Terry A. Beehr
(Marquette University) (2018) published their article ““Dirty” Workplace Politics and
Well-Being: The Role of Gender”
Gender is a very crucial and important element to be discussed in terms of political behavior
in the workplace environment. It is a very sensitive issue that needs to be addressed for the
safety and betterment of all the individuals working in the organization. The behavioral and
psychological conduct is very different in both male and female genders.
This study looks towards the negative aspects of the treatment given to females over males
where females are not considered competent enough to handle stressful situations, political
and radical decision-making, working for late hours, and handling pressure in a competitive
environment.
Males are considered more dynamic, adaptable, and prone to encounter and face political
situations in the workplace environment where immediate and crucial decisions must be
taken and the work expects a more authoritative and controlling behavior. They are believed
to have the strengths to plan effectively, make politics, give orders, and authorize various
permissions, give responsibilities, handle projects with more agility and power to lead the
team.
Males are considered d as having a more logical and reasoning ability mindset. Men tend to
do their work involving more bureaucratic and difficult and stringent actions as compared to
females. This study discussed the drawbacks of female genders not being given equal
opportunities and promotional opportunities like men. Females are debarred and considered
incompetent while given challenging tasks, progressive activities, and developmental
33
assignments knowing that it would be pressurizing for them as these things will require a lot
of radical thinking and crucial decision-making, taking quick and conflicting decisions.
Although, women can be seen working more efficiently and capturing their position on merit
and performing with utmost sincerity and perseverance as compared to men. Even though
they might not be more influential, controlling, and powerful and not be politically exposed
as men, they perform with utmost hard work and passion and do not depend on the political
scenarios and agendas taking place in the workplace.
Sometimes, this less influential behavior and noncontrolling attitude may serve to their
disadvantage as men might try to unhear them and not listen to their opinions and this might
be in the path of them getting the best outcomes and that could be a hurdle in achieving their
personal goals. Women are told and recommended to work and outperform men if they want
good and equal and fair incentives and developmental, promotional, and fruitful opportunities
and chances.
In networking, and promotional conferences with sponsors, guides, and powerful people, men
are given a go-ahead and the opportunity to work for them and get associated with showing
their tactics and abilities whereas women are not given such benefits of creating recognition
in society and building their status. Women are asked to work desk jobs which bring less
energy and are less exhausting as compared to fieldwork. They are given jobs that require
fewer responsibilities, challenges, and control and authority.
This study discusses about the negative influence of gender on the political scenario in the
organization and how men steal their opportunities, benefits, promotions, recognition, and
reputation, amongst their peers.
This mindset is completely driven by the patriarchal and male-dominated society where
females are not given equal rights, and opportunities like men, Men are obliged with much
34
more challenging roles and responsibilities which tend to dominate the other part of the
society.
Due to less regard, lower confidence, and lower trust and faith towards the woman
employees, the organization and its employers create a stressful environment, and a less
satisfied and motivated level on the part of female employees.
This builds a sense of demotivation and satisfaction to work efficiently and effectively for the
organization.
This study also talks about stressful scenarios like harassment and discrimination towards
women is more as compared to men. Also, the way in which they cope with these issues and
sexual encounters is very different from men. This might affect their mental and emotional
health and well-being which directly influences their performance at work and affects their
willingness, motivation, and satisfaction level to perform and achieve their personal goals as
well as their organizational objectives.
CHAPTER 3: OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
1. To study the association of relationships, communication, decisions, reputation, and
resources with politics.
2. To analyse the relationship between the organizational politics and employee engagement
and stress
3. To analyze the relationship between employee engagement and stress
4. To study the relationship between gender and politics.
35
CHAPTER 4: THEORY APPLIED
SOCIAL EXCHANGE THEORY- The comparison level and the comparison level
for alternatives are the two levels of the social exchange theory. The comparison level means
the comparison of benefits which an employee gets to work in the organization which works
on cost-benefit analysis which looks out the efforts and the dedication and strengths and the
capacities with which the employee has performed the task and the benefits he is getting in
return of performing with those efforts. The comparison level is different in different
individuals as the needs and the benefits considered can be different depending on the
interests of the employee. Accordingly they compare their work and benefits with such
employees and get to a conclusion which is profitable for them. Secondly, these comparison
levels are extensively analysed with the comparison level for alternatives which means that
the individual analyses his work performed for one employer with another employer and sees
which relationship will be more beneficial for him which would give him cost him less
efforts and more outcomes and achievement of his personal goals. This theory assumes that
people will always prioritize what will bring them the most profit as opposed to what would
be most expensive, they often let their own expectations of rewards and costs dictate how
they act because it is impossible to predict what benefits and costs an interaction will actually
provide before engaging in it, they are reasonable beings who can analyze the benefits and
drawbacks of a relationship. Exchange and fairness requirements govern social interactions.
A person's trust grows as a result of the advantages they obtain from relationships, further
strengthening them.
EQUITY THEORY- According to John S. Adams, employees work to maintain a
balance between the amount of inputs they provide and the outputs they receive from the
company.This theory shows the reasons and the arguments as to why the motivation level
36
changes while working in the organization. Employees work with motivation when they
expect to be favoured and liked and noticed and appreciated by their employers. In such a
situation, they get a lot of energy and the willingness to perform the given task. On the other
hand, if an employee thinks they are being treated unfairly, they are more likely to get
demotivated since they don't feel pleased. This theory proves to be beneficial to understand
the satisfaction level of employees based on the equitable treatment they are getting from
their respective employers. The individuals begin to compare their performance according to
the input-output ratio which could change with the respective individual from time to time
with the other employees who are working at the same position as them and for the same
level of pay and the responsibilities which is called the referent group. Outputs are referred to
what the employees receive in exchange for all of their contributions like their stability at
job ,pay or salary, praise ,ease in filling for pensions, appraisal, responsibility, benefits, and a
feeling of accomplishment.
THEORY OF PROCEDURAL JUSTICE- Theory of procedural justice is relevant
to numerous areas . This study relates to the organisational psychology theory, which states
that more equitable and respectful decisions, policies, and procedures to be made, taking into
account all perspectives and concerns. Decisions should be neutral, based on facts, and
appropriate for action, so that employees will feel more confident.It explains the
understanding of the implementation of fair and consistent results, equality, and fairness and
un-biased environment in the organization.
JD-R THEORY- This theory has proved extremely relevant and pivotal in understanding
the various aspects and issues focussed on political environment in the workplace and the
consequences which they lead. It explains the complete study into two major categories i,e
the (i) job demand that can be defined as the stress boosters, energy utilized and efforts taken
to work and give the results in an effective and efficient manner and (ii) job resources that are
37
the necessities, strengths, capabilities, competencies, funds, information and knowledge and
individual has in order to perform the given work and adhere to their obligations and
responsibilities.
38
CHAPTER 5: METHODOLOGY
SAMPLE AND DATA COLLECTION

Data were obtained by a convenience sampling method of the preparation of a questionnaire
on google forms. The form created was filled by the employees in roughly 5-10 minutes time
intervals. It consists of employees of all age groups with different educational qualifications
for both males and females.
Total
Post graduation 48
Graduation 48
Total
Doctorate1
Diploma 1
12th 4
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
13
19
Male
1
Post graduation
1
Graduation
Doctorate
35
Diploma
29 12th
Female 1
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
39
SAMPLE SIZE
The size of the sample is 103 respondents which were employees working in both public and
private organizations.
TOOLS USED
The data was analysed on IBM SPSS statistical software.
MEASURES
There were 5 independent variables used namely abusive relations, decision-making
responsibility, the interaction between employees, reputation building, and resource
utilization which together formed the causes of politics within the workplace and its
relationship with the dependent variables namely employee engagement and organizational
stress which were the consequences of politics in the workplace.
INSTRUMENT FOR ANALYSIS
This pertains to a quantitative research study that contains primary data collected through the
google survey forms of various employees working in public and private organizations. The
statistical methods used to conduct the data analysis are (i) Descriptive statistics like mean
and standard deviation between all the variables which creates political environment and its
effect on engagement practices and stress levels within employees . (ii) Non-parametric tests
like Chi-square and multiple regression on IBM SPSS Statistical tool to find the results of the
cross-tabs and relationship between the variables of organizational politics with the employee
engagement and stress level amongst the employees in the workplace. (iii) Bi- variate
Correlation between the various factors has been studied in order to see the link and the
degree of dependence between them. (iii) Pivot tables have also been used to study what
percentage of gender and educational qualification affects politics within a working space.
40
STATISTICAL FRAMEWORK
Employee
Abusive Relations Engagement
H2
Decision making
responsibility
H4
H1 Politics
Interaction between
employees
H3
Reputation building
Stress
Resource utilization
CHAPTER 6: DATA ANALYSIS
HYPOTHESIS TESTING
H1: There is a significant association between abusive relations, communication, decision-
making, reputation-building, and resources on politics
H2: There is a significant association between politics on employee engagement.
H3: There is a significant association between politics on employee stress.
H4: There is a significant association between stress on engagement.
41
FINDINGS
TABLE 1
Reliability Statistics
Cronbach's
Alpha Based
on
Cronbach's Standardized
Alpha Items N of Items
.945 .942 23
The reliability statistics table shows us that Cronbach’s alpha is .945 which is above .70 that
means the data is reliable and statistical tools can be run on this data to infer the results.
TABLE 2
Descriptive Statistics
Std.
N Mean Deviation
Relationships 103 2.0906 .81412
Communication 103 2.2585 .94542
Reputation 103 2.2458 .85434
Decisions 103 2.1260 .83313
Resources 103 2.3333 .86226
Politics 103 2.2113 .74581
Engagement 103 2.3039 .89086
Stress 103 2.5147 .89872
Valid N 103
(listwise)
42
The above table of descriptive statistics showing the mean and standard deviation shows that
resources have the highest mean (2.33) is strongly related to politics in the workplace and politics
strongly influences stress level(2.51) among employees as the average of the variable which cause
political behaviour is 2.21 and between engagement activities (2.30) and stress of employment
(2.51), stress is most impactful than engagement activities. Also, the standard deviation of all the
variables are less than half of the mean which means that the data is clustered around the mean. As
the standard deviation is close to zero, it indicates that data points are close to mean.
TABLE 3
Correlations
Edu.Qualific Engageme
Gender ation Politics nt Stress
Gender Pearson 1 .129 .115 .169 .146
Correlation
Sig. (2-tailed) .193 .247 .088 .142
N 103 103 103 103 103
Edu.Qualificat Pearson .129 1 .144 .168 .270**
ion Correlation
Sig. (2-tailed) .193 .146 .089 .006
N 103 103 103 103 103
Politics Pearson .115 .144 1 .596** .621**
Correlation
Sig. (2-tailed) .247 .146 <.001 <.001
N 103 103 103 103 103
Engagement Pearson .169 .168 .596** 1 .422**
Correlation
Sig. (2-tailed) .088 .089 <.001 <.001
N 103 103 103 103 103
Stress Pearson .146 .270** .621** .422** 1
Correlation
Sig. (2-tailed) .142 .006 <.001 <.001
N 103 103 103 103 103
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).
43
ENG * Gender Crosstabulation
Count
Gender
Female Male Total
ENG Strongly Agree 14 13 27
Agree 19 12 31
Neutral 31 7 38
Disagree 4 2 6
Strongly 0 1 1
Disagree
Total 68 35 103
STR * Gender Crosstabulation

Count
Gender
Female Male Total
STR Strongly Agree 11 10 21
Agree 14 10 24
Neutral 33 12 45
Disagree 9 2 11
Strongly 1 1 2
Disagree
Total 68 35 103
44
ENG * Edu. Qualification Crosstabulation
Count
Edu. Qualification
Post
12th Diploma Doctorate Graduate grad Total
ENG Strongly 3 0 0 12 12 27
Agree
Agree 1 2 1 15 12 31
Neutral 0 0 0 18 20 38
Disagree 0 0 0 2 4 6
Strongly 0 0 0 1 0 1
Disagree
Total 4 2 1 48 48 103
STR * Edu. Qualification Crosstabulation

Count
Edu. Qualification
Post
12th Diploma Doctorate Graduate grad Total
STR Strongly Agree 3 0 0 11 7 21
Agree 1 1 0 13 9 24
Neutral 0 1 1 18 25 45
Disagree 0 0 0 5 6 11
Strongly 0 0 0 1 1 2
Disagree
Total 4 2 1 48 48 103
Gender * POL Crosstabulation

Count
POL
Strongly
Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Total
Gender Female 15 32 18 2 67
Male 13 13 6 3 35
Total 28 45 24 5 102 The
above correlation table shows that the results of correlation between politics, engagement and
stress on gender was not statistically significant as the response were comparable between the
45
gender which is depicted through bar charts as well as the tables. There was a significant
correlation between educational qualification on stress with 0.06 significance but it was a
weak correlation with .27 Pearson correlation . There was a significant correlation between
politics on stress and engagement with <0.01 significance but it was a moderate correlation
with .5 and .6 Pearson correlation. There was a significant correlation between engagement
on stress with <0.01 significance showing moderate correlation with .42 Pearson correlation.
Stress shows significant moderate correlation as well with politics and engagement with
<0.01 significance and Pearson correlation with .62 and .42 respectively. This proves our
hypothesis H2: There is a significant association between politics on employee engagement,
H3: There is a significant association between politics on employee stress and H4: There is a
significant association between stress on engagement.
TABLE 4
Variables Entered/Removeda
Variables Variables
Model Entered Removed Method
1 Resources, . Enter
Communicatio
n,
Relationships,
Reputation,
Decisionsb
a. Dependent Variable: Politics
b. All requested variables entered.
46
ANOVAa
Sum of Mean
Model Squares df Square F Sig.
1 Regression 56.736 5 11.347 1933916.030 <.001b
Residual .001 97 .000
Total 56.736 102
b. Predictors: (Constant), Resources, Communication, Relationships, Reputation,
Decisions
Coefficientsa
Unstandardized Standardized
Coefficients Coefficients
Model B Std. Error Beta t Sig.
1 (Constant) .001 .001 1.365 .176
Relationships .201 .001 .219 393.585 <.001
Communicatio .199 .000 .253 552.038 <.001
n
Reputation .201 .000 .230 416.051 <.001
Decisions .199 .001 .222 393.300 <.001
Resources .200 .000 .231 421.975 <.001
The above table shows the regression analysis which shows there is a relationship between
abusive relations, communication, decision-making, reputation and resources with politics.
According to the beta value of 0.20,0.19,0.20,0.19,0.20, which has been given, a 1% change
in the independent variable i.e., abusive relations, communication, decision-making,
reputation and resources , will result in a 20%,19%,20%,19% and 20% change respectively in
the dependent variable i.e., politics. Moreover, the beta value is positive, meaning that when
abusive relations, communication, decision-making, reputation and resources rises by 1%,
politics will rise by 20%,19%,20%,19%and 20% respectively.
47
According to the coefficient table given , all the independent variables are of significant value
<0.01 which shows that we can accept H1 that is there is a strong influence of abusive
relations, communication, decision-making, reputation and resources on politics.
TABLE 5
Variables Variables
b
1 Politics . Enter
a. Dependent Variable: Engagement
Model Summary
Adjusted R Std. Error of
Model R R Square Square the Estimate
a
1 .596 .356 .349 .71863
a. Predictors: (Constant), Politics
ANOVAa
Sum of Mean
1 Regression 28.792 1 28.792 55.751 <.001b
Residual 52.159 101 .516
Total 80.951 102
b. Predictors: (Constant), Politics
Coefficientsa
1 (Constant) .729 .223 3.274 .001
48
Politics .712 .095 .596 7.467 <.001
The above table shows, that there is a strong association between politics on engagement. The
model summary shows the two variables are significant by 35.6% with each other. Therefore,
we accept H2 as the significance p-value is <0.0.5 and conclude that politics in the workplace
affects the amount of employees engagement during work practices. According to the beta
value of 0.712, which has been given, a 1% change in the independent variable i.e., politics,
will result in a 71.2% change in the dependent variable i.e., engagement. Moreover, the beta
value is positive, meaning that when politics rises by 1%, engagement will rise by 71.2%.
TABLE 6
Variables Variables
1 Politics b
. Enter
a. Dependent Variable: Stress
Model Summary
Adjusted R Std. Error of
Model R R Square Square the Estimate
1 .621 a
.386 .380 .70769
a. Predictors: (Constant), Politics
ANOVAa
Sum of Mean
1 Regression 31.802 1 31.802 63.501 <.001b
Residual 50.583 101 .501
Total 82.385 102
b. Predictors: (Constant), Politics
49
Coefficientsa
1 (Constant) .859 .219 3.920 <.001
Politics .749 .094 .621 7.969 <.001
The above table shows that there is a strong association between politics on employees’
stress levels in the workplace. There is 38.6% significance between the two variables.
Therefore, we accept H3 with significance p-value of <0.05. We conclude that politics in the
workplace affects the level of stress issues and anxiety and depression among employees.
According to the beta value of 0.749, which has been given, a 1% change in the independent
variable i.e., politics, will result in a 74.9% change in the dependent variable i.e.,stress.
Moreover, the beta value is positive, meaning that when politics rises by 1%, stress will rise
by 74.9%.
TABLE 7
Variables Variables
1 Stress b
. Enter
Model Summary
Adjusted R Std. Error of the
Model R R Square Square Estimate
50
1 .422a .178 .170 .81161
a. Predictors: (Constant), Stress
ANOVAa
Sum of Mean
1 Regression 14.421 1 14.421 21.893 <.001b
Residual 66.530 101 .659
Total 80.951 102
b. Predictors: (Constant), Stress
Coefficientsa
1 (Constant) 1.252 .239 5.245 <.001
Stress .418 .089 .422 4.679 <.001
The above table states that there is a significant association between stress on engagement.
There is 17.8% significance between the two variables. Therefore we accept H4 as the
significance p-value is <0.05. We conclude that the amount of stress an employee has will
affect directly on his engagement level. According to the beta value of 0.418, which has been
given, a 1% change in the independent variable i.e., stress, will result in a 41.8% change in
the dependent variable i.e., engagement. Moreover, the beta value is positive, meaning that
when stress rises by 1%, engagement will rise by 41.8%.
TABLE 8
Correlations
Relation Communi Reput Decisi Resour Engage
ships cation ation ons ces ment Stress
51
Relationships Pearso 1 .644** .715** .764** .690** .528** .580**
n
Correla
tion
Sig. (2- <.001 <.001 <.001 <.001 <.001 <.001
tailed)
N 103 103 103 103 103 103 103
Communication Pearso .644** 1 .630** .616** .640** .421** .562**
n
Correla
tion
Sig. (2- <.001 <.001 <.001 <.001 <.001 <.001
tailed)
N 103 103 103 103 103 103 103
Reputation Pearso .715** .630** 1 .721** .749** .506** .478**
n
Correla
tion
Sig. (2- <.001 <.001 <.001 <.001 <.001 <.001
tailed)
N 103 103 103 103 103 103 103
Decisions Pearso .764** .616** .721** 1 .722** .564** .501**
n
Correla
tion
Sig. (2- <.001 <.001 <.001 <.001 <.001 <.001
tailed)
N 103 103 103 103 103 103 103
Resources Pearso .690** .640** .749** .722** 1 .574** .568**
n
Correla
tion
Sig. (2- <.001 <.001 <.001 <.001 <.001 <.001
tailed)
N 103 103 103 103 103 103 103
Engagement Pearso .528** .421** .506** .564** .574** 1 .422**
n
Correla
tion
Sig. (2- <.001 <.001 <.001 <.001 <.001 <.001
tailed)
N 103 103 103 103 103 103 103
52
Stress Pearso .580** .562** .478** .501** .568** .422** 1
n
Correla
tion
Sig. (2- <.001 <.001 <.001 <.001 <.001 <.001
tailed)
N 103 103 103 103 103 103 103
The following table shows the correlation between all the variables with each other and we
can see that all the other variables have a strong association with each other as all their
significance level is <0.05.So we can conclude that abusive relations have a considerably
significant with communications, decision making responsibility, reputations, resources and
engagement and stress. Subsequently, all the other variables have also show a strong link
with the other variables respectively.
1. Relationships are highly correlated (.764) with decision making variable.- This
shows that the relations between the employees affect the decisions made by the
employers in order to provide them with opportunities and benefits while making
promotional decisions.
2. Communications are highly correlated (.644) with relationships variable.- This
shows that communications and proper channels of interaction between employees
affect their relationships with each other to get motivation and energy to perform the
work.
3. Reputation are highly correlated (.749) with resources variable.- This shows that
reputation building of the people are affected by the resources provided to them in
order to perform and achieve the desired result effectively and efficiently.
4. Decisions are highly correlated (.764) with relationships variable.- This shows that
the decisions or the tasks appointed to the individuals affect their relationships
between each other.
53
5. Resources are highly correlated (.749) with reputation.- This shows that the
resources which are obtained and possessed by the employees affect their reputation
in the workplace environment.
6. Engagement is moderately correlated (.574) with resources. – This shows that the
engagement practices and inclusion activities affect the resources provided to the
individuals to work with the best of their efforts according the various positions , roles
and responsibilities.
7. Stress is moderately correlated (.580) with relationships variable.- This shows that
the level of strain experienced in employees affect the relations they build and
maintain in the workplace environment
TABLE 9
PIVOT TABLES
Count of Educational Column
Qualification Labels
Diplom Doctorat Post Grand
Row Labels 12th a e Graduation graduation Total
Female 3 1 29 35 68
Male 1 1 19 13 34
Grand Total 4 1 1 48 48 102
The above table depicts the educational qualification of both the genders through a pivot table
which have given their responses for this study. The highest no. of females are qualified with
a post graduate degree and the highest no. of males are qualified with a graduation degree.
54
TABLE 10
Sum of Sum of Sum of Sum of Sum of Sum of Sum of

Row Labels ORS ENG RES DEC REP COMM REL
Male 32% 31% 33% 31% 31% 34% 31%
Female 68% 69% 67% 69% 69% 66% 69%
Grand Total 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%
68% 69% 67% 69% 69% 69%

66%
Sum of ORS
Sum of ENG
Sum of RES
Sum of DEC
34% Sum of REP
32% 31% 33% 31% 31% 31% Sum of COMM
Sum of REL
Male Female
Correlations
Relatio Communi Reputa Decisi
Gender nships cation tion ons Resources
Gender Pearson 1 .140 -.006 .143 .183 .055
Correlation
Sig. (2-tailed) .159 .953 .149 .064 .579
N 103 103 103 103 103 103
Relationsh Pearson .140 1 .644** .715** .764** .690**
ips Correlation
Sig. (2-tailed) .159 <.001 <.001 <.001 <.001
N 103 103 103 103 103 103
Communic Pearson -.006 .644** 1 .630** .616** .640**
ation Correlation
Sig. (2-tailed) .953 <.001 <.001 <.001 <.001
N 103 103 103 103 103 103
55
Reputation Pearson .143 .715** .630** 1 .721** .749**
Correlation
Sig. (2-tailed) .149 <.001 <.001 <.001 <.001
N 103 103 103 103 103 103
**
Decisions Pearson .183 .764 .616** .721** 1 .722**
Correlation
Sig. (2-tailed) .064 <.001 <.001 <.001 <.001
N 103 103 103 103 103 103
**
Resources Pearson .055 .690 .640** .749** .722** 1
Correlation
Sig. (2-tailed) .579 <.001 <.001 <.001 <.001
N 103 103 103 103 103 103
The above pivot table shows us that even though the results of correlation between causes of
politics on gender was not statistically significant as the response were comparable between
the genders. The pivot table depicts the percentage the gender influences the various variables
of political behaviour in the organization. Females are more involved in being affected by the
abusive relationships, misleading communication, undeserving reputation building, unethical
decision making, limited resources which shape the politics in the workplace. It concludes
that females are also more affected by politics which shape negative impact on the
engagement, and they also experience more stress due to political scenario in the office
environment.
CHAPTER 7: DISCUSSION
It can be discussed from this study that there might be a possible number of respondents who
have not filled the questionnaire form with alertness, knowledge and understanding of the
meaning of the question which could result is a less accurate study and affect the data not
accepting few assumptions like political behaviour being correlated with gender. Although, it
is common that men are given much more field jobs and bureaucratic work then women as
women are considered to be more concerned about safety and health.
56
CHAPTER 8: CONCLUSION
In conclusion, we can now understand the various variables which generate politics in the
workplace and the influence they have on the engagement and collaboration between
employees and the strain or stress experienced in the working environment. It can be
concluded that there is a strong association between abusive relations, misleading
communication, undeserving reputation building, unethical decision making, and limited
resources on politics. These variables shape the observable and unconstructive political
dynamics in the organization which brings out a negative impact on the functioning of the
organization and lead to ineffective and nonperforming employees which hampers in
achieving the objectives and the long term goals of the organization. There can be many ways
by which these variables can be controlled and minimized to an extent like the organization
should be provided with good incentives, equal compensation packages and regular training
and feedback to the employees and offer the talented and deserving employees with career
enhancement opportunities, and responsibilities by analysing their performance and growth
charts. We also concur that there is a relationship between the political scenarios in the
workplace on employee engagement practices and the level of stress the employees feel while
working. The practices which could take place to increase engagement and lower the strain of
employees are to plan and control the work and projects according to the capacity and the
abilities of the employees and by analysing their competencies. It should be seen that
employees are not facing any personal grudge or feeling neglected or unnoticed by promoting
a lot of inclusion initiatives, feedback from each employee on the organizational practices
and the working conditions, planning trips and activities like ice breaking sessions to induce
positivity and friendly relations between employees. These political conditions will remain to
57
have an existence to a considerable extent but with effective and proper management skills
and dedicated personnel, it can be controlled and minimized over the course of time. It is a
concern that should be looked out on a wider scale than just a small issue that is not tried to
be removed from the working environment as by analysing the data and the various research
conducted and discussed on this event, it should become a major concern to let the
organization grow and achieve its long term and competitive organizational aims and
objectives.
CHAPTER 9: RESEARCH LIMITATION
The limitation of this research was that it had a small sample size of 103 employees working
in different sectors of corporate and public organizations. The bigger size of the sample might
result in different perspectives of the study.
CHAPTER 10: FUTURE SUGGESTIONS
There are a list of few suggestions which can be made and topics which can be further
discussed on this topic and issue. Firstly, it is suggested that there should be a research
considering these variables with a greater sample size of employees working in different parts
of India so that there can be an extensive study on this phenomenon. Secondly, there can be a
primary data which could be collected through interview conduction or focus group
discussions with people who are of specific positional heads in the organization like junior
and senior level executives, deputy managers, senior managers, project heads, etc with whose
58
responses and results we can get a more elaborative and enhanced finding of this issue in the
workplace environment in India.
CHAPTER 11: REFERENCES
Landells, E. M., & Albrecht, S. L. (2019). Perceived organizational politics, engagement, and
stress: The mediating influence of meaningful work. Frontiers in psychology, 10, 1612.
Muathe, S. M. A. (2014). A critical review of literature on organizational politics and work
outcomes. The International Journal of Business & Management, 2(12), 158.
Guo, Y., Kang, H., Shao, B., & Halvorsen, B. (2019). Organizational politics as a blindfold:
Employee work engagement is negatively related to supervisor-rated work outcomes when
organizational politics is high. Personnel Review.
Bicer, C. (2020). The power and politics in organizations. Discussions between economic
agents‐socio economic studies, 221-245.
Hochwarter, W. A., Ferris, G. R., Zinko, R., Arnell, B., & James, M. (2007). Reputation as a
moderator of political behavior-work outcomes relationships: A two-study investigation with
convergent results. Journal of Applied Psychology, 92(2), 567.
Mishra, P., & Kodwani, A. D. (2019). Moderating role of employee engagement on conflict–
politics relationship. Benchmarking: An International Journal.
Ullah, R., & Ahmad, S. Z. (2018). The effect of organizational politics on job stress;
mediating role of job satisfaction. Electronic Journal of Business Ethics and Organization
Studies, 23(2).
Sharma, S., & Gautam, O. (2014). An empirical analysis on office politics in Indian
organizations. Human Resource Reflection, 1(3), 86-92.
59
https://www.toolshero.com/human-resources/job-demands-resources-model/
https://blog.vantagecircle.com/equity-theory/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Procedural_justice
https://www.brighthr.com/articles/culture-and-performance/equity-theory/
https://www.studysmarter.co.uk/explanations/psychology/relationships/social-exchange-
theory/#:~:text=The%20social%20exchange%20theory%20suggests%20that%20a
%20relationship,compromise%20are%20all%20different%20types%20of%20social
%20exchange.
https://blog.vantagecircle.com/equity-theory/
https://www.mindtools.com/a5igk4e/the-jd-r-model
CHAPTER 12: ABBREVIATIONS
ABBREVIATION DEFINITION
REL Relationships
COMM Communication
DEC Decisions
REP Reputation
60
RES Resources
POL Politics
ENG Engagement
ORS Organizational Stress
STR Stress
ANOVA Analysis of Variance
APPENDIX A
A SPECIMEN OF FILLED QUESTIONNAIRE FORM
61
62
63
64
APPENDIX B
A SPECIMEN OF FILLED RESPONSES WITH TIMESTAMP
65

A Study On The Impact of Organizational Politics On Employee Engagement and Stress

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Employee Engagement and Stress

NTCC DISSERTATION REPORT

SUBMITTED IN THE PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE

REQUIREMENT FOR THE AWARD OF THE DEGREE OF

(Enrolment No- A3157621001)

UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF

DR. RUPALI MISRA

AMITY UNIVERSITY, CAMPUS

AMITY COLLEGE OF COMMERCE AND FINANCE

AMITY UNIVERSITY UTTAR PRADESH

MSDS600 On “A study on the impact of organizational politics on employee

engagement and stress”.

Name of the Student: Steffy Lawrence

Enrolment Number: A3157621001

Class Roll Number: 01

Faculty Supervisor: Dr. Rupali Misra

and gave ideas and motivation at each step.

The report has been checked and it is acceptable.

DR. RUPALI MISRA

Amity College of Commerce and Finance, Noida

impact of organizational politics on employee engagement and stress” which is submitted by

acknowledgement in scholarly writing and all such use is acknowledged.

CHAPTERS PARTICULARS PAGE NO.

TABLE NO. PARTICULARS PAGE NO.

organizational politics like misuse of relationships, allocation of resources, building

analyze the political behavior in organization influencing or affecting employee's effective

aims to understand employee's reaction towards negative political behaviour in organization.

organizational politics can be improved for the fulfilment of organizational objectives.

behaviour in the organizational climate.

KEY WORDS: Politics, relations, decision-making, resources, reputation, communication,

engagement, stress, well-being

development of policies, practices and procedures in organization, it has become necessary

performance if we lack political awareness and skill.

Workplace politics involves showing favouritism to a select group of influential employees,

is unduly influenced by politics. Organizational politics refers to individual or group

encourages achieving objectives through acceptable methods of communication.

authoritative behaviour, inadequate communication channels, etc. Organizational politics are

power through a variety of methods as compared to through ability or fortune. It is only

utilized to attain power improperly. It is the assessment of how power is used. It is a

reducing the perception of office politics.

status and place in society.

undesirable group outcomes. Employee engagement is one of the significant repercussions of

office politics, which hinders an employee's participation in the workplace. Organizational

politics is defined as an undesirable event within an organization. That if anyone tells

improved productivity, minimising absenteeism, increases worker turnover, and enhance

dynamics, rumours, conflicts, lack of effective decision making, conflicting relationships,

failure to fulfil responsibilities, demotivation towards work, lack of confidence,

misunderstanding, lack of agreement towards a goal, lack of unity, and so on.

Job Demands-Resources theory offers a potentially beneficial explanatory perspective for

studying the connection between office politics and engagement. In essence, JD-R

theory suggests that work engagement, as a reliable predictor, regulates the connection

between organisational politics and lowered involvement.

depressed, or being anxious.

improvements, personnel training and development, and establishing an effective, dynamic

organisational structure with increased work-related medical issues.

private sectors because organisational politics exist in every sector of business.

connected with employee engagement.

1. Erin M. Landells and Simon L. Albrecht (School of Psychology, Deakin University,

Politics, Engagement, and Stress: The Mediating Influence of Meaningful Work"

Relationships can be defined as the behaviour between employer and employee in an

may lead to conflicts and disagreements. Favouritism, disengagement, demotivation,

This study describes the inappropriateness, unacceptability, abuse, and misconduct of