How do power relations and organizational politics affect Essay

How do power relations and organizational politics affect organizational change and development What is the role of political b - Essay Example It is due to these disparities in attitude that some forms of conflict begin to surface between managers and employees or even between colleagues at the same levels of authority in the organisation. It is not, however, solely due to attitude, the intangibles of psychological programming, that leads to conflict in the organisation. Especially relevant in highly bureaucratic organisations with thick layers of management, political gaming surfaces when individuals who believe they hold power resources or seek to fulfil a self-serving agenda create a unique type of conflict that is much more difficult to thrive within. This is referred to as organisational politics, â€Å"the management of influence to obtain ends not sanctioned by the organisation† (Mayes and Allen 1977, p.673). Because recognised political behaviour is not condoned by the systems and policies established by the organisation, it becomes more difficult for those being persuaded by political positioning to recognis e what drives power struggles and therefore serve to counteract it when it occurs. This paper describes the role of organisational politics and power relationships in the organisation and how these factors influence or impede organisational change. 2. ... When this type of power manifests itself, employees must conform, however it can lead to long-term resentment or intention to exist the organisation for being forced to operate under oppressive management systems. The second type of power is utilitarian power, a system reliant on rewards and punishments to gain compliance. Pay raises, promotions or even direct threats of potential job loss are tactics utilised under utilitarian power conceptions. This is a common power dynamic in the organisation that incentivises more effective job performance. The third type of power is normative power, in which the organisation, itself, believes that it has the fundamental right to control and govern employee behaviour. Under this power conception, leaders in the organisation establish a unified corporate culture and then demand that employees conform to these socially-driven values even if the individual does not necessarily share the same conceptions. It is highly dependent on the individual emo tional and personality-based behaviours within the organisational context as to how power and political behaviour will manifest themselves. This is why organisational politics is considered by many to be a game, consisting of moves and counter-moves between different organisational actors in order to gain persuasive or coercive influence to ensure that the party in conflict complies with the needs and demands of the organisational politician. This game must â€Å"be played with due diligence and a full comprehension of the players, rules and organisational landscape† (Bolander 2011, p.2). It would seem that in order to understand how to counteract unethical or unproductive