Although many people associate organizational politics in a negative light, it c

Question

Although many people associate organizational politics in a negative light, it can be an effective strategy or one that causes dysfunction. Think of an organization you are familiar with (personally or through the media) and provide either an example of a successful (positive/ethical) application or organizational politics or an example of dysfunctional (negative/unethical) organizational politics. Include in your response how you will use this information to help you become a more effective leader.

Explanation / Answer

Power, politics and conflicts are integral part of everyday life at workplace. Politics is a necessary evil to some extent, however dysfunctional organizational politics causes more harm, which impacts productivity, creates conflicts counterproductive behavior, and leads to demotivation. The example of dysfunctional politics is a leading printing equipment manufacturer company, in which the sales director and service director are in severe conflict with each other. Sales puts the blame on high service cost and poor service levels, because of which customers are reluctant to buy their equipments, because of concerns related to after sales and service support. Service director, on the other hand, blames sales for not being able to increase the foot print of the equipments in the market place, which could provide the service function the necessary economies of scale to put the necessary infrastructure in place. As a result of this constant struggle between sales and service, the overall business is adversely impacted, as customers face the consequences of uncoordinated sales and service. This has a cascading effect on customers’ decision making on new equipment purchases.

The basic motivation behind this conflict is the desire to acquire more power in corporate headquarter by reducing the influence of each other and if possible. Both the directors are eyeing the opportunity to become the managing director and this conflict is a result of the severe competitive rivalry between the two for acquiring power.

What the directors are not able to see is that as a consequence of this conflict and dysfunctional politics, they are creating performance challenges for the entire organization and weakening its competitive position in the external market, so they will end up losing the battle in the long run because of having lost considerable market share over the years,.

This case helps understand the dynamics of politics at the top level, and how it can damage the prospects for everyone involved in the business. This information can be used by managers to avoid getting into such politics. They should engage in constructive politics and competitive rivalry for their personal benefit, however, the bigger picture of overall impact of their politics on the whole organization or function should be considered. And managers should draw the line at where to stop from turning the constructive politics into dysfunctional politics.

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