Rizvi Institute of Management Studies and Research, Mumbai

2022-24

Organisational Behaviour

Semester 2

MMS A – April 3

Politics and Impressions

Attendance
 Context and key features

• Organisational politics = self-serving behaviour

• Increases unfair chances of gaining positive
outcomes for a person or group in organisations
• Politics serves personal interests with no regard
for organisational consequences
• Skilful players gain; others lose
• Tool to gain power, popularity or tarnish other’s
reputation; to gain personal advantage
 Types of politics – page 1

• Self-promotion
– Further own career; step over others; kill other’s
ideas; take credit
• Office politics
– Influence other person or group using persuasion,
manipulation, pressure; win at others’ expense
• Factionalism
– Split based on common tasks or common interests,
which are more advantageous to one person or
group
 Types of politics – page 2

• Gate-keeping
– Intentionally restricting or preventing other ideas,
concepts or people from entering into a given area
or situation
• Territorialism
– Extreme attachment to a role or position; not
allowing others to fill in
• Bossism
– Favouring those you work under, over those who
report directly to you
 Basics of organisational politics
• Organisational politics refers to the irrational behaviour of
individuals at the workplace, in order to obtain advantages which
are normally beyond their control
• Organisational politics are informal, unofficial, and sometimes
behind-the-scenes efforts to sell ideas, influence an organisation,
increase power, or achieve other targeted objectives
• Organisational politics stems from diverse, competing interests
which must be resolved in some way
• “Rational” decision-making alone may not work when interests
are fundamentally incongruent. Therefore, political behaviours
and influence tactics take shape in the mind
• Employees who do not believe in working hard often depend on
organisational politics to make their own position secure at work
• Employees might also play politics simply to come into the
limelight, to gain undue attention and appreciation from their
seniors
 Problems in organisational politics
• No one has ever benefitted from playing politics; instead,
it deliberately creates a negative environment at the
workplace
• Negative use of power
• So, organisational politics is
– Any activity associated with using influence to
improve personal or organisational interests
– Really self-serving behaviour
– Potentially destructive force, an influencing process to
obtain positive outcomes
• Power, networking and applying political skills are used
to gain personal advantages
 Role of power in politics
1. Personal influence using informal networks
2. Individual interactions, with people who have
formal authority over organisational systems,
methods or processes
3. Attempts to deviate from implicit norms, hidden
assumptions and unspoken routines
• Power in action – people in groups; power will
be exerted; converting power into action
• Political behaviour consists of efforts to influence
distribution of advantages or disadvantages
within the organisation
 Using a power base for advantage

1. Withholding key information

2. Joining a coalition
3. Whistle-blowing
4. Spreading rumours
5. Leaking confidential information to someone
outside the organisation
6. Exchanging favours for mutual benefit
7. Lobbying on behalf of person, situation or
decision
 Realities of organisational politics
• Necessary evil
• Organisation = individuals and groups, with diverse
values, goals and interests
• Conflict and tussle over limited resources – budgets,
funds, space, responsibilities, salary differentials
• “Facts” used for resources allocation are open to
interpretation, e.g.
1.Performance
2.Improvement
3.Unsatisfactory
• Ambiguous ground of organisational life
• Created by “facts” which do not support themselves
• Consequence – “politicking”
 Consequences of political behaviour

Individual factors Organisational factors

• High self-monitors
• •
Internal loss of control
• High Macho personality
• Organisational
investment
• Perceived job
alternatives
• Expectations of success
• Reallocation of resources
Promotion opportunities
• Low trust
• Role ambiguity
• Unclear performance
evaluation system
• Zero-sum reward practices
• Democratic decision
making
• High performance
pressures
• Self-serving senior
managers
 Negative aspects of organisational politics – page 1

• Decrease in overall productivity

– Politics lowers the output of an individual and eventually affects the productivity
of the organization.
– Common observation says that individuals who play politics at the workplace pay
less attention to their work.
– They are more interested in leg pulling and back biting. They spend most of their
times criticizing their fellow workers.
– As a result of politics at the workplace, employees fail to achieve targets within
the stipulated time frame. Work gets delayed in such an organization.
• Affects Concentration
– Individuals find it difficult to concentrate on their work. They are more interested
in spoiling the other person’s image in front of the superiors.
– An individual involved in politics is bound to make more mistakes as his focus is
somewhere else.
• Spoils the Ambience
– Politics leads to a negative environment at the workplace.
– It spoils the relationships amongst individuals. An individual playing politics at the
organization is disliked by all.
 Negative aspects of organisational politics – page 2

• Changes the Attitude of employees

– Politics changes the attitude of the employees.
– Even the serious employees lose interest in work and attend office just for the
sake of it.
– Internal politics do not allow employees to give their hundred percent at work.
– No matter how much hard work an employee puts in, it goes unnoticed in a
politically driven organization.
• Demotivated employees
– A non performer can be the apple of his boss’s eye simply due to politics, thus
demotivating the performers.
– Discussions are essential at the workplace to extract the best out of employees.
Evaluating the pros and cons of an idea always helps in the long run. Employees
playing politics always look for an opportunity to tarnish the image of the fellow
workers.
– Employees feel demotivated when they are not rewarded suitably or someone
who has not worked hard gets the benefits due to mere politics.
 Negative aspects of organisational politics – page 3

• Increases Stress
– It is rightly said that problems evaporate if discussed. Individuals find it
difficult to confide in any of their fellow workers due to the fear of secrets
getting leaked.
– Politics increases the stress level of the employees. Individuals are not
machines who can work continuously for 8-9 hours without talking to
others. It is important to have friends at the workplace who help you
when needed.
– Individuals fail to trust each other.
• Wrong Information
– Employees indulged in politics manipulate information and it is never
passed on in its desired form.
– Superiors get a wrong picture of what is actually happening in the
organization.
– A wrong person walks away with the credit in an organization where
employees are indulged in politics
 Impressions management – page 1
• Actions that people take to persuade others to think about a concept
in a certain way. People use impression management to reinforce
current opinions or attempt to change them depending on their
goals
• Impression management controls information to emphasise certain
aspects of a situation while diverting attention from other details that
could contradict the desired impression
• When using impression management, people focus on spreading
information that aligns with how they want others to perceive them,
causing their audience to make decisions and form opinions based
on an informational bias
• Impression management can operate as a subconscious process
that people don't realize is happening, which often occurs in social
situations where people naturally try to make themselves likable and
try to embody positive traits. It can also be a purposeful, strategic
decision people enact when they need to control public opinion
 Impressions management – page 2
• Attempt to control the impressions that people
form about them
• Conformity
• Favours
• Excuses
• Apologies
• Self-promotion
• Enhancement
• Flattery
• Exemplification
 Overcoming organisational politics
1. Create a thematic goal. The goal should be something that everyone
in the organisation believes in, e.g. in a hospital, giving the best medical
care to all patients. This goal should be a single goal, qualitative, time-
bound, and shared
2. Create a set of defining objectives. This step must include objectives
which everyone agrees on, and which will help to achieve the thematic
goal
3. Create a set of ongoing standard operating objectives. This process
should be done within each business area so that the best operating
standards are developed. These objectives should also be shared
throughout the organization, so that everyone is clearly aware of them
4. Create metrics to measure them. Measuring whether the standard
operating objectives are met or not, is a vital step in the process. Rather
than someone else pointing out what isn’t working, all the people within
the department will have the information necessary to come to this
conclusion and correct the problem because, ultimately, everyone in the
organisation cares about achieving the thematic goal. This way, we can
focus everyone’s attention away from politics
 Ethics – political behaviour
• Distorting information to create favourable
impressions
• Taking credit for someone else’s work
• Does political behaviour balance out any harm to
anyone else?
1. Is it just?
2. Is it equitable?
3. Unfair means?
4. Is playing politics worth that risk?
5. Will it harm others?
• Recognise the ability of power to corrupt
Q&A
Next lecture

Conflict