Power & Politics

Essay by ryanray3College, Undergraduate July 2006

download word file, 2 pages 1.0

Downloaded 125 times

Power is the capacity of a person, team, or organization to influence others. Some examples are: the power to influence others, people have power they do not use and may not know they possess, and power requires one person's perception of dependence on another person.

Workplace politics is not new and tragedy is that most of the time "HR Department" is a center of such activities. Anyone who has ever had any job, anywhere, knows that the dynamics among those who are part of the work environment play an important part in how a business is run.

Besides causing problems for the individuals who work together, the end result can be far more devastating. Employees and managers who must concentrate on the political aspects of work may have less time to pay attention their jobs. This translates into financial loss, which may in turn translate into job loss.

Office politics is something most people recognize when they see it in action, but find difficult to define.

"Office Politics: Do You Play or Pass" defines it as "...the use and misuse of power in the workplace"

Politics may be good or bad for the organization or company. Some types of organizational politics include: managing impressions, attacking and blaming, controlling information, forming coalitions, cultivating networks, and creating obligations. Some conditions for organizational politics might include: personal characteristics, scarce resources, complex and ambiguous decisions, and tolerance of politics.

There are various ways to control political behavior in the workplace. Some of those ways to control it could include: to provide sufficient resources, introduce clear rules, have free-flowing information, manage change effectively, to remove political norms, hire low-politics employees, increase opportunities for dialogue, and peer pressure against politics.

There are some ways to avoid office politics altogether. If you...