Organizational Politics: Impact on Culture - Essay Sample

Introduction

Politics and power-play influence organizational culture either negatively or positively depending on how they are executed in the organization. Politics and power are a portion of human nature that is the least comprehended behavioral penchant. The way individuals obtain and practice power, operate while in power and authoritative positions, and conduct themselves politically are far from being understood because of the degree of development of empiric and non-empirical knowledge in that field (Omisore & Nweke, 2014). Politics and power-plays influence on the organization depends on how they are regulated and the qualities of the leader at the helm.

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People always think of politics and power with mixed emotions, and most of the time power is viewed negatively since it is linked with dictatorship and selfishness. Power and politics are always conflictive in nature and people will always be worried about who controls power and how the power will be used. In the past power has been seen to change people, hence Lord Action's saying 'Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely'. Equally, Charles Calet also observed that "power intoxicates the best hearts, as wine the strongest heads". Politics can be said as people competing to get their way while dealing with other people or solving typical challenges. A power that is applied in a much guaranty and crafty way influences subjects in the organization. Power influences employees in an organization in that they have to outline their manners to the values and standards of the organization or act in a way that they believe conforms to the desires of the people in power. Being influential means that a person has uncompelling and indirect power. The influence enjoyed by a person in an association is based on their status and prestige, control of valuables, special skills, and persuasive capability (Mann, 1995). Power and politics affect organizations at all levels of processes and activities.

There are different bases and sources of power that people confuse according to Omisore and Nweke (2014). Bases of power refer to the things parties' control which allows them to influence the behavior of other people. Sources of power refer to how parties get the opportunity to manipulate the bases of power. In 1959, French and Raven distinguished the six main bases of power which include: coercion which insinuates the threat to decrease one's results by punishing or sanctioning them; expertise which is proper and special knowledge about certain things in the association; rewards that insinuates a promise to upsurge results; legitimateness, where the person is viewed as the right choice; referent power that is based on an employee emulating another. The person being emulated is viewed as a leader by the one emulating them; and information. There are four major sources of power. Firstly is the office or structural position which may offer party access to various bases of power. A number of positions might provide limited information but significant compelling resources, whereas others may offer the occupants the capability of controlling symbols or mobilizing internalized consignments to particular norms. Secondly is the individual characteristics, where charisma is the much significantly identified source of power. According to Weber, the charming leader has power by douth of exceptional and often mystical characteristics. characteristics (Omisore & Nweke, 2014). Other individual attributes may include communication skills, the capability to efficiently negotiate for positions and other physical characteristics. Thirdly is specialized skills to perform specific duties referred to as expertise. Expertise involves tasks beyond the organization such as education. The fourth and last source of power is an opportunity, which is deep-rooted in the casual configuration of the bottom levels in an organization. The casual aspects of official or unofficial positions that are barely known formally by the organization can offer a significant source of power.

Organizational politics refers to behaviors that are beyond those which the organization has a stand for, which are intended for selfish gain in the organization. Organizational politics might concentrate on the objectives of an individual or a group and may negatively affect the whole organization. The politics seem to be unavoidable yet they vary across organizations. In most cases, ethical issues come beforehand, but engagement is a significant consideration in organizational politics (Omisore & Nweke, 2014). The politics form very uncertain reactions since persons view the entire process either negatively or positively based on their personal perspectives. The most frequently discussed issues of organizational politics include departmental coordination, a delegation of power and transfers or promotions. A typical example would be the promotion of an incompetent person because of favoritism. Such occasions affect performance positively for the beneficiary and negatively for the competitor. Workers who are coerced lack job satisfaction and often do not show commitment to their work. Power and politics affect the performance or productivity of the company either positively or negatively depending on how they are played. Power and politics affect the organization's culture in several ways and may affect the behavior of the employees. Different organizations may adapt to different work cultures to foster their objectives, which as well affect their productivity.

There are four different types of organizational culture. The power culture relates to giving a few people the authority to control others and make decisions on behalf of the organization. The ones in power have the authority to delegate designations and duties to other employees in the organization. Task culture solely relies on teamwork for the organization's success. In this type of organizational culture, teams are created and assigned targets or critical challenges to solve. This culture allows everyone in the team equal chances of participation in the accomplishment of the targets given. Personal culture focuses most on individual contributions to the organization. Here persons concentrate more on individual benefit rather than the benefits of the organization. Role culture stresses on delegated duties to the workers. The delegation of duties depends on educational qualifications and skills. In this culture, the worker enjoys the liberty of selecting what they can do best. The type of culture adopted by a company determines how motivated their employees would be. When power and politics are abused in a company, they ruin performance. Power and politics may result in hiring incompetent people due to favoritism and this has a big impact on productivity.

Power and politics affect the leadership of an organization which may affect the organizational culture. Leaders are the people who have the power to control the workforce and performance of an organization. A good leader should know how to use politics and power-play to the advantage of the company. Misuse of power in the organization has proven to be detrimental to overall productivity. A leader should know his employees and be aware of how to get the best from them. Good leadership brings employees together allowing them to work towards a common goal. Effective leadership should communicate the organization's vision and strategy to workers while motivating them to gain a common objective. Good leaders should align their employees' development objectives to SMART strategic goals. A good leader should use problem-solving skills to solve organizational conflicts and restore a calm working environment. Favoritism during punishment may affect others negatively. Political and power-play in organizations may involve not communicating strategies correctly to the workers and maligning other workers to make the other look better. Intensified organizational politics may form doubt and imprecision since the people in the organization are unable to differentiate between punishable and rewardable activities in the organization (Alsalamah, 2015). Such occurrences in an organization may affect organizational culture in the sense that people are reluctant to give their best in a task since they are uncertain about the responses they will receive from the management.

The study of power and politics may come to the rescue and foster positive organizational culture and behavior. Power should be understood as responsibleness, integrity, the capability to control, create rules and punish rightfully. Understanding power makes leaders acknowledge that it is an asset that equips them with the ability to take responsibility, building trust and relationships with employees, and commanding respect. Power can be used to enable set clear goals and achieve them via making good decisions and listening actively. When power is used rightly, it enables subordinates to understand the vision and long-term objectives of the organization, solve problems, be assertive as well as have a deep understanding of the organization and in return generate positive outcomes (Alapo, 2018). The kind of leadership that values subordinates and is focused on the overall growth of the organization changes the culture of the organization.

Leaders can influence the culture of an organization in different ways since they set the tone of how their subordinates perceive their work. The success of a leader solely depends on the ability to outline and uphold organizational culture. To achieve the above, a leader should have a strategy and intention of their style of leading. As a leader, you automatically become the role model of your subordinates and they keenly watch you and how you handle different situations. A leader should understand the vision and mission of the organization and transmit the company's values to the employees. Enthusiastic employee engagement is also a good way of impacting performance. Leaders should engage with the employees about the course of the company vision and make the employees understand that their contributions matter a lot. Leaders should also incorporate culture into their operating and decision processes. The operation process of a leader should reflect the vision and values of the organization (Canaday, 2020). A leader should be thoughtful about the decisions made and how they affect other employees. Above all, a good leader should focus on nurturing trust from employees. Building trust is expensive and it will need a person to remain committed to subordinates, be open to feedback, foster good relationships and be clear by sharing their rationale.

Politics and power-plays effects on the organization depend on the reaction of leaders. Generally, politics and power are perceived as negative factors in any organization since the topics of dictatorship and selfishness revolve around them. A good leader should take advantage of politics and power-plays to the increased productivity of the organization. To solve the problem of politics and power-play in organizations, there should be studies on power and politics. The studies outline power as an asset for a person and not a platform to harass subordinates.

References

Alapo, R. (2018). Organizational Power Politics and Leadership Experiences on the View and Use of Power in Organizations. Management, 6(1), 30-36.

Alsalamah, F. (2015). How power and politics impact an organizational unit in terms of achieving the firm's goals?. International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research.

Canaday, S. (2020). How Leaders Can Influence Company Culture. https://saracanaday.com/leaders-can-influence-company-culture/

Mann, S. (1995). Politics and power in organizations. Leadership & Or...