engaged in politics. Those with good political skills have the ability to use their bases
of power effectively.^51 Below we cover the types of political activity people use to try to
influence others as well as impression management. Political skills are not confined to
adults, of course. When your Vancouver author’s six-year-old nephew wanted the latest
Game Boy knowing full well his parents did not approve, he waged a careful, deliberate
campaign to wear them down, explaining how he would use the toy only at assigned
times, etc. His politicking paid off: Within six weeks he succeeded in getting the toy.
Definition of Political Behaviour
There has been no shortage of definitions for organizational politics. One clever definition
of politicscomes from Tom Jakobek, Toronto’s former budget chief, who said, “In pol-
itics, you may have to go from A to C to D to E to F to G and then to B.”^52
For our purposes, we will define political behaviourin organizations as those activ-
ities that are outside one’s formal role (i.e., not part of one’s specific job duties), and that
influence, or try to influence, the distribution of advantages and disadvantages within
the organization.^53
This definition encompasses key elements from what most people mean when they
talk about organizational politics. Political behaviour is outsideone’s specified job require-
ments. The behaviour attempts to use one’s bases of power.Our definition also encompasses
efforts to influence the goals, criteria, or processes used for decision making when we state
that politics is concerned with “the distribution of advantages and disadvantages within
the organization.” Our definition is broad enough to include such varied political behav-
iours as whistle-blowing, spreading rumours, withholding key information from decision
makers, leaking confidential information about organizational activities to the media,
exchanging favours with others in the organization for mutual benefit, and lobbying on
behalf of or against a particular individual or decision alternative. Exhibit 7-5 on page 236
provides a quick measure to help you assess how political your workplace is.
Now that you have learned a bit about political behaviour, you may want to assess
your own political behaviour in our Learning About Yourself Exercise on page 000.
Political behaviour is not confined to just individual hopes and goals. Politics might
also be used to achieve organizational goals.^54 For instance, if a CEO wants to change
the way employees are paid, say from salaries to commissions, this might not be a
popular choice to the employees. While it might make good organizational sense to
make this change (perhaps the CEO believes this will increase productivity), simply
imposing the change through the use of power (go along with this or you’re fired)
might not be very popular. Instead, the CEO may try to pitch the reasons for the change
to sympathetic managers and employees, trying to get them to understand the neces-
sity for the change. Burnaby, BC-based TELUS used a direct approach with its employ-
ees after four and a half years of unsuccessful bargaining with union leaders.
Management became frustrated with the impasse and explained their wage and bene-
fit offer directly to employees in the hopes of getting the employees to side with man-
agement rather than their union leaders. The union was outraged by this behaviour, and
it took several more months for union members and management to finally complete
a new collective agreement in fall 2005.
The Reality of Politics
Why, you may wonder, must politics exist? Isn’t it possible for an organization to be
politics-free? It’s possible,but most unlikely. Organizations are made up of individuals
and groups with different values, goals, and interests.^55 This sets up the potential for con-
flict over resources. The allocation of departmental budgets, space, project responsibil-
ities, and bonuses are the kind of resource issues about which organizational members
will disagree.
Chapter 7Power and Politics 235political behaviour Those activi-
ties that influence, or attempt to
influence, the distribution of advan-
tages and disadvantages within the
organization.