Power and Organizational Politics

Power and Organizational Politics
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Power and Organizational Politics
Every organization assumes a political structure in that an element of authoritative power and politics play a significant role in the decision-making, making organizations prone to the consequences of power and politics. Power in an organizational perspective can be understood as the influence a person in authority exercises on those beneath them to pursue their personal or organizational goals (Arora & Rao, 2018). On the other hand, politics is one of the numerous strategies that individuals utilize in the pursuit of power (Arora & Rao, 2018). The social aspects of a work environment signify that some individuals or groups might not always agree with the way people in authority exercise power bestowed on them, making a work environment a perfect political arena. Politics is not often a pleasant encounter, and power is prone to abuse; thus, the impact that power and politics have in a work environment is immense and may spark conflicts, lower productivity, cause resistance, and may escalate to punitive measures. In a case of legitimate power, the impact is not always negative and may lead to an increased commitment in an organization.
It is a fact that organizations are structured to have some individuals in positions of power while others are rendered to be subordinates. Those in powerful positions might be tempted to misuse their authority, manifesting in bullying, public humiliation, threats, discrimination, and in the worst-case scenario, physical assault. The subordinates who are well aware of their rights and are intolerant of such abuses might confront their superiors, leading to conflicts between the subordinates and those in leadership positions, a typical example of relationship conflict in an organization (Marineau & Hood, 2018). Also, political differences in workplace settings imply differences in opinions, which may further escalate to political factions that perceive issues and ideas in a contrasting manner. According to Marineau and Hood (2018), such conflicts where individuals or factions differ on work-related issues can be termed task conflicts and are not always a subject of negative outcomes. Nonetheless, power abuses and unpleasant political differences in an organization often lead to unpleasant conflicts.
Interpersonal conflicts resulting from abuse of power and the differences arising due to the political differences can further escalate to cases of low productivity in an organization (Marineau & Hood, 2018). Interpersonal conflict greatly impacts an individual level of job satisfaction, and their productivity greatly reduces due to negative attitudes towards the job and the person in the position of power. The individual might also develop some deviant attitudes towards the job as a result of the disagreement with others in a workplace, thus lowering productivity. In addition, the organization spends lots of resources in conflict management arising from abuse of power and political differences. Political factions formed as a result of political differences in an organization might escalat...