Politics in an enterprise

Résumé du document

linked with scheming plots and conspiracies. Like in all organizations, irrespective of the size of the business or the kind of business conducted, one would always have to deal with organizational politics. Organizational politics are a primary component in contemporary business practices.

The purpose of this study is to determine whether employees working in the selected MTN franchise shops are experienced in political tactics and upward impression management in their current jobs, and whether it is appropriately managed by the organization.

The quantitative research methodology followed existed of a questionnaire, consisting of subsection 1 on organizational politics, and subsection 2 on upward impression management.

The results showed that political tactics and upward impression management have been witnessed in the MTN shops by all the employees. The extent, to which it is managed by the organization, however, it could not be determined, due to lack of information asked by the questionnaires given.

The lack of information asked in the questionnaires is discussed, and could be looked at for future studies.

The handling of political matters in the organization might be a difficult task for the management to handle, but is unavoidable, due to the ever-presence of political tactics.

General recommendations on how to manage organizational politics, and upward impression management are made to management.

Extraits

[...] - Notice your body language, but do not over-control it. - Show your experiences in a positive light, but do not over-exaggerate. An individual who impression manages his or her colleagues or subordinates and is politically skilled will be able to effectively disguise the negative side of supplication and intimidation tactics from his or her supervisor as well as to take advantage of on the positive outcomes associated with ingratiation, self-promotion, and exemplification. Possessing a high degree of political skill in this situation implies that impression managers will be aware of both their colleagues' and their supervisors' perceptions (the two primary targets for impression management behaviors) and understand how to manipulate those perceptions to produce positive performance evaluations. [...]

[...] Intimidation and supplication were not addressed by the questions. Every single question addressed showed that the majority of the people in the organization has witnessed impression management tactics, whether it was self-focused, job focused or supervisor- focused. The only question that had a response of to rarely witnessed” was question on doing favors for the supervisor Conclusion The questionnaires were not detailed enough to determine whether the organization Cell & Satellite is effectively managing organizational politics and impression management or not. [...]

[...] In this view, politics can be either functional or dysfunctional. According of Kreitner and Kinicki (2007: 494), there are eight types of political tactics: Attacking or blaming others can be reactive or proactive, and is used to minimize or avoid failure. Using information as a political tool has to do with distortion, withholding or overwhelming superiors with information. Creating a favorable image involves taking credit for achievement of others, dressing for success, and drawing attention to one's influence and successes. [...]

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[...] Tesser, R. Felson, & J. Suls (Eds.), Perspectives on self and identity (pp. 199–232). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. Vrendenburgh, Donald J. and John G. Maurer A Process Framework of Organizational Politics. Human Relations 47-66. Zanzi, Alberto^O'Neill, Regina M Journal of Managerial Issues political behavior within organizations. Available from: http://www.rickross.com/reference/brainwashing/brainwashing20.html Zanzi,A., O'Neill Sanctioned versus non sanctioned Political Tactics, Journal of Managerial Issues, 13(2) Zivnuska et al Interactive effects of impression management on organizational politics and job performance. [...]