Issues of Organizational Politics in the Workplace

Issues of Organizational Politics in the Workplace Introduction Organizations, like other institutions that bring together human interactions, are bound to have persons of diverse positions in the pecking order with divergent opinions and beliefs. Such divergent opinions and beliefs are manifested in the form of political posturing, and can at times bring an organizations activities to a standstill. Yet these politics in the organizations cannot be circumvented, as a direct consequence of the composite nature of organizational behavior and structure. Arguments may subsist as to whether organizational politics are beneficial or detrimental to the effective running of an organization. Such arguments are informed by the upshots of dissenting views within the organization, whether hierarchical or across departments, that have functional interdependencies. Nevertheless, a clear comprehension and appreciation of the complexity of an organization, regarding its behavioral and structural attributes, will be cognizant of the reality that politics is an in trinsic composition of any human-managed institution. Organizational politics are normally so complexly interwoven within the organizational structure that employee interactions, traditions, activities, performances and results are tremendously affected and shaped by them. It is necessary therefore to understand the impact of politics on organizations and try to channel the employee energy into meaningful output that does not undermine the overriding goals of the organization. Roots of Organizational Politics Organizational politics has varied and subjective definitions depending on the nature of the firm. Pfeiffer (1981, p. 7) describes politics as those activities taken within organizations to acquire, develop, and use power and other resources to obtain ones preferred outcomes in a situation in which there is uncertainty or dissensus about choices. This definition by Pfeiffer not only reveals the tight rope that managers have walk when carrying out their managerial duties, but it also unmasks the selfish interests that are always vested in organizations between and among departments. In fact organizational politics could be identified as the selfish and scheming behavior of employees and departments to advance vested interests at other employees and departments expense. These selfish interests are manifested through the scramble for organizational resources, employee and inter-departmental conflicts, struggle for power and headship and strategic control effected by managers, supervisor s and departments. These managers, supervisors and departments in the organization will carry execute these activities with the intentions of getting power, cultivating individual significance or stature, accessing sensitive and valuable information, concealing true intentions and crafting alliances. Browsing through the bulk of management literature one gets the impression that organizational management is a straightforward consensual performance unit, where concurrences on institutional goals readily abide and where managers, supervisors and subordinates freely communicate and merge their individual or departmental interests with those of entire organization. Some of these literatures claim that conflicts in the workplace can be totally eliminated by communication and transparency, or by laying off sections of the workforce that exhibit dissenting opinions. Such perceptions of organizations are diametric to the research findings of activities and processes within institutions, which reveal the existence of conflicts at all levels. Indeed, Henry Mintzberg (1989) posits that organizational politics is not an upshot of structure but power, and therefore communication and transparency cannot deracinate politics. Mintzberg goes ahead to assert that organizations only function on the foundation of influential systems like politics, authority, expertise and ideology. He adds authority, ideology, or expertise-have some basis of legitimacy. But sometimes those means are used to pursue ends that are illegitimate (Mintzberg 1989, p. 249). It is clear therefore that the organization management is not a rational process. It is easy to understand the root of an organizations politics once we understand the diverse values existent in the system. Different values by different departmental managers in an organization can foster divergent notions as to which part the organization should follow to realize development. This is always the primary cause of organizational conflict; divergent values. It is factual that departmental managers sometimes make arbitrary choices in the workplace and they always cover up their choices by politics. Politics will be used by some managers to rationalize some of their choices when a review into their decisions holds that their choices lacked empirical backing. In short, when a managers decision appears to lack empirical and supportive evidence, the manager will attempt frame the problem in a different way and rally colleague who are sympathetic to him or her. Framing a problem differently is always advised by the values of the people who the manager will be hoping to get backing from. Other than values, special interests subsist in every organization from the top to the bottom. The diversity in special interests is exhibited in aspects like funding for projects, allocation of resources to departmental units and career outlooks. Employees, especially managerial ones, are always ambitious in their career outlooks and this creates rivalry within the hierarchical ladder. But the rivalry over career interests is not as clearly manifested as the scramble for funding and resources (Bacharach Lawler 1980). The division of labor in the organization means a firm is partitioned into functional units also called departments. These demarcated departments are a sure source of political alignments as they line up employees against functional goals, which may not necessary go parallel with each other. To illustrate the causal political influence of departments on organizational set up, let us consider a scenario where the marketing department seeks to boost sales by improving delivery time and diversifying company products, while the production department endeavors to reduce the variety of products and having the least possible inventory. Such a scenario can only result in the alignment of employees in the two departments to the interests of their departments. Pfeiffer observes that the subunit differences that emerge from the division of labor are reinforced by differences in the training, backgrounds, and prior socialization of individuals recruited into different subunits (Pfeiffer 1981, p 73). Intrinsically, employees will subliminally have their allegiance to their departments and will side with it in case conflicts arise in the overall set up. The differences that exist between line and staff can also cause conflicts. R.D Aragwal notes that the relationship between line and staff are often characterized more by conflict than cooperation. Staff specialists complain that line managers are resistant to their ideas and line managers complain that staff managers are sky-gazing specialists with no comprehension of practical solutions (Agarwal 1983, p. 151). These posturings in the workplace are prevalent because of a number of reasons. Agarwal lists these reasons as: the evident ambition and idiosyncratic behaviors of the staff managers; the apprehension of the staff in justifying its organizational survival and get the appreciation for its efforts; the dependency of senior staff employees on line staff for their incumbent positions; indistinct designation of staff roles; and ignorance by higher management. Another source of conflict could be the reality that top managers seek to place themselves in positions that seem very approving in the eyes of the chief executive officers, directors or heads of departments. It is clear, like mentioned previously, that managers are very ambitious and seek promotions. But it is also crystal clear that as the hierarchical organization ladder goes up, the number of plum positions gets fewer and fewer. This fuels competition and rivalry among employees seeking a similar position. Because of the simple fact that promotions require credibility of a candidate, prospective promotion employees will attempt to outdo each other and triumph in small competitive conflicts. It is the attempts to prevail in smaller conflicts that reveal hidden agendas, which later set the stage for larger political battles. The small conflicts always result in underlying alliances and unspoken networks that are the basis of attaining power. Positively Exploiting Organizational Politics The comprehension of an organizations political set up is extremely important for management to steer the firm towards its objectives. Internally trained managers, supervisors and departmental heads will have a plus of acquaintance with general political circumstances existing in the company (various alliances and networks of influence, which can unlock an impasse or create one). Poached managers-those brought trained by other firms-ought to apply significant efforts to study and appreciate the prevailing organizational politics, by careful observation and conscientious interaction with various factions of employees. Buchannan and Badham (2008) hold that some of the pointers accessible for managers, supervisors and department heads for assessing the political environment are: overall employee satisfaction in organizational role, positive reaction to inventive ideas, decision-making efficiency and swift and speedy discharging of decisions. Insight is fundamental for management to take advantage of open channels and repress retrogressive organizational politics, and equally  boost their personal credibility.   Buchannan and Badham also hold that outstanding managers make use of political influence accessible to them in various situations so as to uphold the overriding interests of the organization. The moment a manager comprehensively appreciates the unique settings that cause the employees in an organization to shift loyalties towards particular special interests; the leaders can use the information about the nature of these politics to the benefit of the organization. A manager with an understanding of the politics of the organization surely has leverage that can enable him use the politics and graduate to higher headship position, with excellent orientation of institutional politics. With proper political orientation; a manager can proficiently time an opening to bring to light his or her contribution to the organization; guarantee that higher management will back delicate initiative or choices; utilize apposite personnel to communicate their message across; and respect the pecking orde r regardless of the hurdles it produce. Political insight is always tested when handling aspects like changes in the management or management crises. It is imperative a leader identifies the factions that are going to back him against those that will try to undermine his or her credibility. Unquestionably, managers are source of organizational influence, power and obviously politics. Because people inherently have needs and wishes and leaders possess the capability to offer these needs and wishes, leaders who accomplish or deliver these wants have power. Dennis Wong writes, The most general use of the word power in English is as a synonym for capacity, skill, or talent. This use encompasses the capacity to engage in certain kinds of performance (1979, p. 1). Managers can greatly repress political environment that has a negative effect on the attitude of employees and organizational outputs by linking employee wants and organizational objectives, in such a manner that realization of shared objectives also causes routine realization of personal needs. Managers, supervisors, and heads of departments must recognize that organizational politics is a result of the traditions of trust in the institution, which is created through rationalized values and promoted by communicatio n and transparency. Communication and transparency in processes and duties is crucial in generating a climate where cut-throat organizational politics does not completely replace progressive traditions that place importance on achievement of organizational goals. Politics in the organizational setting has rules and the sooner a manager or leader deciphers the basics, the sooner he or she will build alliances and networks that serve his or her interests. Organizational politics has pros and cons and can sometimes result in loss of job or can alternatively result in promotion, depending on who is calling the shots. Organizational politics is not confined to the higher management as every member of the firm from senior chief executive, department heads, supervisors and normal employees participates in power games at one point. Gilbert Fairholm nevertheless observes that Older group members use it more than those newly inducted into the organization. It is beyond doubt an instrument for securing organizational rewards (2009, p.38). The basics are simple: respect the chain of command, seek favoritism by appearing credible, improve on speed of decision making and avoid stepping on too many peoples shoes. To be the best; be driven by factual data, c reate alliances, admit mistakes, unravel motives of allies and rivals, align your interests with the organizations goals, seek common ground in stand-offs, and always agree to disagree (Forster Browne 1996). Conclusion Organizational politics is a contentious issue in many firms and has been the subject of studies by academic writers who have sought to understand the impact of organizational politics in the running of modern organizations. Once considered a hidden power dynamic, many organizations are now embracing the reality that human are inherently political animals and possess diverse values and notions regarding what aspects of organizational life are rational and what are not. Empirical data from renowned sociologists like Dennis Wong to management academician like Jeffery Pfeiffer all agree that suppressing organization culture is futile because human intrinsically compete for supremacy and survival. The workplace, being an area where most humans spend averagely 8 hours of their lifetimes has been transformed into a political arena. In an arena where dependencies prominently subsist, where there exist divergent targets and beliefs regarding innovation and technology use and where scarcity o f resources may exist, it is hard not to find competition for resources and stature. While a host of literatures on the subject of organizational politics might spend a considerable volume of their analysis on the merits or demerits of the contentious subject, most of them conclusively appreciate the reality that it is difficult to circumvent politics. Politics is about power and influence, and so is the organization.

3 Entrepreneurship Similarities and Differences Essay

The Entrepreneurs that I am comparing and contrasting are Elon Musk, Sir Richard Branson, and Jim Garlend. The difference in character traits between these men is rather easy to point out. Elon’s main goal was to change the world and had the ability to convince people he was going to do so. Richard was intrigued by adventure, and beating the system which led to his first experience behind bars for tax evasion. While Jims motivation was leaning towards helping people lives. He wanted to personally make a positive impact on society. I personally can relate to Jim’s need to impact society. I find that helping people motivates me more than anything else in this world. It’s imperative for me to seek out a profession that will directly involve helping the society to help me to be passionate about what I do for the rest of my life. See more: Satirical essay about drugs Ask yourself, are you following your passion? If the answer is no, I suggest think deeper to find out what you are going to do with this life you have? A few more differences between these men are their education levels and skill sets. Elon was a student for a few years of his life and was be considered genus growing up. On the other hand Richard was dyslexic, and he struggled to get by in school. Differences in skill sets between these men were phenomenally different. Jim had an excellent way of communicating to his employees. Elon could teach himself almost everything by reading, and literally knowing more about a certain subject than his professors did. Richard was great at delegating work to employees; therefore, can be a strong asset in the business world. A few comparisons between Elon, Richard, and Jim are that they take risks. Elon and Richard became nearly bankrupt a few times from the risks they took. These visionaries made their dreams a reality, so they went be on the storming stage to the acting stage. They were motivated by self-worth. Have you ever been proud of something you created, which accomplished the goal you wanted it to? That’s exactly what these men strived to reach. I think a common thought process they all shared was the ability to see into a system and see that they could do it better or provide more value to the customer. This systematic thinking gave them courage to see the bright side of things. They knew some way that things would work out which lead them to share optimism as a characteristic. One of the same things that makes them different also units them, it’s their eagerness to make an impact on the world around them. Elon’s goal was literally to change the way the world operated, and progressively move forward with innovating new products. Richard wanted to make an impact on each industry that they entered with Virgin’s way of doing things by providing entertainment. Jim’s main goal was to changes lives by providing opportunity for his workers to excel in.

Percentage of Water In Popcorn Essay

The purpose of this lab was to find the percentage of water in each sample of popcorn in order to determine which brand of kernels: beta, gamma, or delta, all with different amounts of water, produced the best-popping popcorn. The amount of water in the popcorn affects the quality of the popcorn. When the water inside the kernel is heated above 100à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½C, the water turns into gas which causes the pressure inside the kernel to increase. The pressure of the gas expands the kernel, which causes it to pop. Quality was judged on the basis of the rate of the pops, the size of the popcorn, and how easily the popcorn burned. Each technique of popcorn was divided up into three piles in order to conduct three trials on each technique. A group of kernels was massed and then placed into a beaker, which was also massed. Then just enough oil was poured into the beaker to cover the bottom of the beaker with a thin film of oil. A piece of foil with tiny holes was placed over the beaker, and the beaker with the foil, oil, and kernels was massed. The kernels in the beaker were heated using a Bunsen burner. (See Figure 1 – Setup Diagram) While the kernels popped, the beaker was shaken in order to prevent the popped popcorn from burning and to shake the unpopped kernels to the bottom. Once all the kernels had popped, the beaker was removed from the Bunsen burner and set to cool. After it had cooled, the beaker with foil, oil, and kernels were massed again. The same steps were repeated for the rest of the samples and qualitative observations were made throughout the experiment. Multiple trials were used in this experiment to increase the chances of accuracy and to determine which data is reliable. If there were not multiple trials, then there is no way of knowing whether the data collected by one trial is accurate or completely inaccurate. To find the amount of water in each kernel, this formula was used: mass of unpopped popcorn – mass of popped popcorn à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½100 = % of water in unpopped popcorn mass of unpopped popcorn The mass of the unpopped popcorn in the numerator was the mass of the kernels before they were popped added to the beaker, foil, and oil. The mass of the popped popcorn was the mass of the popped kernels added to the beaker, foil, and oil. The mass of unpopped popcorn in the denominator was the actual mass of the unpopped kernels massed alone. The beta kernels hold 11.1%, 11.3%, and 10.9% water for trials 1, 2, and 3 respectively. The gamma kernels are composed of 16.7%, 15.7%, and 14.8% water, while the delta kernels contain 19.4%, 17.0%, 19.0% water for trials 1, 2, and 3 respectively. (Refer to appendix for original data and calculations). See Table 1 – Percentage of Water in Popcorn Beta, Gamma, and Delta The data for beta was the most precise among the three different techniques. The data for delta fluctuated the most and was the least precise. According to my data, the delta kernels had the highest percentage of water and the beta kernels had the lowest percentage of water. The gamma brand was in between the two. In my qualitative observations, I observed that the gamma kernels popped the fastest, smoothly, and produced the largest popcorn. I observed that the delta kernels produced the medium-sized popcorn, and the beta kernels tended to burn very easily and produced the smallest popcorn. Basically, the beta brand of kernels was the worst popping popcorn, while the gamma brand of kernels produced the best popping popcorn. These results convey that too little water within kernels make bad popcorn, and too much water produces just medium-sized popcorn. From the overall calculations and averages, it can be concluded that 15-16% water in a kernel produces the best popcorn. To find the theoretical amount of water in the popcorn, the most accurate data of the class were added together and averaged. When compared to the class average, the average of my data was rather accurate. To find the percent error, this formula was used: Percent Error = ? theoretical value – actual value ? à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½ 100 Theoretical value My percent error for beta, gamma, and delta kernels was 0.90%, 4.46%, and 13.5% respectively. (See calculations in appendix) See Table 2 – Percent Error This percent error could have occurred while massing. Since there were several balanced used instead of just one, the masses could have differed. One balance was used for the kernels, while the beaker mass was found using a separate balance. The different balances could have lowered the accuracy of the masses. Another place where mass could have been inaccurate was when the popcorn was popped. Sometimes the popcorn was burned, while other times the popcorn was popped perfectly. If the popcorn was burnt, the mass was lowered by the release of CO2. Also, the duration of the heating of the popcorn was inconsistent. Since the popcorn of the same technique would still pop at different rates, it is impossible to control the time of the heating. But the longer the beaker is heated, the longer the oil inside is also heated and evaporating. So the longer the beaker is heated, the more gas escapes and the lower the mass will be, which will increase the percentage of water in the popcorn. Also, while the beakers were cooling off, some of the moisture could have been collected back in the beaker since the foil was not always taken off immediately. This would have added to the mass and lowered the percentage of water. To improve this lab, only one lab balance should be used during the entire experiment. Also, more care should be exercised when popping popcorn so that the popcorn does not burn. This could be done by lowering the heat and shaking the popcorn inside the beaker. Also, the foil on the beaker should be removed immediately after heating. In this lab, I discovered that more water in a kernel does not necessarily mean that it will produce larger popcorn, as I had initially had predicted. Ultimately, based on my data and the class average (theoretical value) 15-16% water in a kernel produces the best popcorn. I learned that the amount of water in the kernel affects the rate at which the kernel pops, more than it affects the size of the popped corn.

The Upper Room Discourse ( John 13-17 ) - 1005 Words

The Upper Room Discourse (John 13-17) marked the end of Jesus’ three-year ministry and served to be Jesus’ farewell address to the beloved apostles. During Jesus’ final moments with the apostles, Jesus would proceed to institute a new blood covenant (Luke 22:20; Mark 14:24) and provide final instructions and encouragement to the apostles before facing the sorrow, rejection, betrayal, and death for which Jesus had come into this world (Houdmann, n.d.). Thus, the final moments between Jesus and the apostles revealed countless theological truths that were demonstrated through word, deed, admonishment, and prophecy (Douglas Tenney, 2010). Before revealing those truths, Jesus would have to settle a dispute (Luke 22:24) amongst the apostles†¦show more content†¦Jesus’ departure also created anxiety and questions amongst the apostles (Pentecost, 1981). Thus, in the narrative of John 13:36-14:31, Jesus lovingly admonishes the apostles with the command of â€Å"Let not your heart be troubled† (Wiersbe, 2007). As a consequence of this command, Jesus promised the apostles a place in heaven along with Christ’s return (John 14:3), assurance that Christ was the way to the Father (John 14:6), and a permanent, indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit (John 14:16; Acts 13:52) who would be the apostle’s teacher (Luke 12:12) in Jesus’ absence (Gromacki, 1978). Most profound is the fact that with Jesus’ ascension into heaven, the apostles would benefit in Jesus’ absence (John 14:9) with greater spiritual power (Pentecost, 1981). Additionally, Jesus also revealed the divine e ssence of the Godhead (John 14:9) while further defining the true essence of Christianity, â€Å"Ye in me, I in you† (Gromacki, 1978). 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