Machiavellianism In Organizational Politics

When people get together in groups, power will be exerted. When employees convert this power into action, they are said to be engaged in politics. Organizational politics involves those activities taken within organizations to acquire, develop, and use power and other resources to obtain one’s preferred outcomes”. Organizational politics is wider construct than political behavior. It consists of three levels individual, group and organizational. In organizational politics, the politics comes from organization where as in political behavior it comes individual. Political behavior is associated with individual behaviors and usually is implemented in communications and interactions among people. In other words, people in workplace follow their

Machiavellians are likely to be effective manipulators of other people. They often are able to influence others, particularly in face-to-face contacts, and tend to initiate and control social interactions. As a result, Machiavellianism can be associated with a tendency to engage in political behavior.

LOCUS OF CONTROL Locus of control refers to the extent to which individuals believe that they can control events that affect them. Individuals with a high internal locus of control believe that events result primarily from their own behavior. Those with a high external locus of control believe that powerful others, fate, or chance primarily determine events that affect their lives. People with a high locus of control try to engage more in political behavior.

RISK-SEEKING PROPENSITY

Risk taking ability varies from individuals to individuals. Some people are risk averters whereas some others are risk seekers. Risk seekers tend to engage more in political behavior than risk avoiders because of the chance of getting negative outcomes.

REVIEW OF JOURNALS

1. LIVING WITH ORGANISATIONAL POLITICS: AN EXPLORATION OF EMPLOYEE’S

It states that political behavior is not something that is cultivated by mangers but it arises due to the presence of some situational factors. So what the managers can do is to counteract these forces. Fair and appropriate management policies regarding rewards, compensation and performance to an extent can combat political behavior. If rewards are tied to group efforts and overall team performance, individual political activities will not be useful in securing