Political Campaign Management

Essay by wyknewbe05University, Bachelor'sB+, April 2007

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There are many people involved in a campaign other than the candidate. We tend to overlook the hard work that goes on behind the scenes. Much of this work is conducted by the political campaign manager. A political campaign manager engages people, gathers supporters, writes letters to the editor, handles all bad press, and coordinates all appearances and operations for the candidate. He/She must create effective teams of campaign staff and volunteers to accomplish a common goal.

A campaign manager creates ideal teams by considering these steps; having a clear concise goal, relevant skills, mutual trust, unified commitment, good communication between all outlets, and having the appropriate leadership for the team. For the employees/volunteers to have a clear understanding of the goals for the campaign a campaign manager must communicate with them what they are expected to accomplish and how they will work together to fulfill the task. The team should be comprised of team members with relevant skills.

For example, if the task involves technology and computers, members with computer competence should be seated in that particular category. A campaign manager needs to utilize the task force he/she is provided with. To accomplish this goal you can not afford to have social loafing. Competence of the task at hand is key. Having mutual trust with your team members makes accomplishing tasks run more smoothly. You are able to rely on other people other than yourself to get things done. This is the true meaning of a team effort. Going along with mutual trust is unified commitment. Unified commitment deals with expending an extra amount of energy to accomplish the goal in order to be stay loyal and hard working for the team. Good communication between the members themselves and between team members and team leaders will keep everyone on...