The advice given by Dr. Kennedy is practical to some extent. Many workers prefer to be led rather than be managed. This means that most employees would rather have someone to guide them and then allow them to complete their jobs on their own. While this advice may work for the motivated employees, the same cannot be said of the unmotivated employees who need to be supervised regularly to ensure that the organizational goals are achieved. Dr. Kennedy also advises organizations to include all their employees in the decision-making process of the organization. Participation is a powerful tool that enhances organizational performance because it makes the employees feel appreciated and part and parcel of the organization (Kennedy, 1998). However, it should be noted that some employees perform better when working alone than when working with others. For such employees, the organization should minimize the team working opportunities availed to them. For employees who function better when working with others, the organization should increase their team working opportunities.
Part of the advice given by Dr. Kennedy may however not be applicable to other organizations. The labor shortage that is characteristic of most healthcare organizations makes it easier for the younger employees to demand their way. The leaders/superiors may thus be forced to adapt to the younger workers’ demands for fear of losing them (Kennedy, 1998). The same scenario does not apply to many other non-health related organizations where labor supply and high unemployment levels are rife. In such organizations, younger employees may be forced to persevere with poor leadership for fear of getting fired and becoming unemployed.
The significance of organizational politics is based on its likelihood of assisting people to comprehend the unstructured procedures of conflict and collaboration within the organization, as well as the effect of conflict and collaboration on organizational performance (Vigoda-Gadot and Drory, 2006). The notion of organizational politics is a crucial phase in a worker’s perception of reality. It is normal to describe organizational politics as manipulative strategies that are utilized by members of an organization to enhance their own personal or professional wellbeing. The strength of the perception of organizational politics is related to the actions taken by the managers that are more in conformity with the wellbeing of the stakeholders than with the broader organizational goals. Organizational politics also determine the success with which managers influence their employees’ behaviors and ultimately their general performance. As a result, managers spend a great deal of time on activities that enhance social relations between them and their employees and among the employees themselves and less time on business-related activities such as decision-making and negotiation.
Many terms have been used to make comparisons to an organization and they include: the brain, a machine, an organism and culture. Like the brain, machine and organism, an organization is composed of many different parts each performing its roles for the general functioning of the entire entity. The breakdown or malfunctioning of one of the parts regardless of how small it is leads to the total breakdown of the entire organization. Whereas each of the parts performs its own function, it does not do so independently but rather in harmony with the other parts. In addition, there has to be mechanisms that do the work of correcting anything that goes wrong. For instance, the brain has a mechanism that detects a harmful organism in the body and another mechanism that fights against the organism to maintain the person’s optimal health. In the same manner, for an organizational system to survive, there has to be channels through which conflicts between members are addressed. A culture is a group of people who share common traditions, views and way of life. Cultures are normally governed by rules and regulations and well-defined roles and responsibilities for each of the members. Like a culture, organizations are also governed by rules and regulations which ensure that the proper channels are followed in executing the work-related mandates and which ensure that the organizational goals are achieved (Ratzburg).
The perception held by employees towards organizational politics is affected by the climate within the organization which in turn affects the overall organizational performance (Vigoda-Gadot and Drory, 2006). Workers who believe that their place of work is rampant with politics are most likely to construe every action taking place in the organization in the context of that perception. For example, younger employees may steer clear of conveying information that contrasts their senior manager’s opinions so as to protect their professional interests. Fresh workers are inclined to learn faster by watching and imitating the habitual behaviors of their superiors and therefore discern when to hold back certain information or when to disregard some situations to avoid challenging their managers’ resolutions or diverging from the acceptable political norms. Great levels of organizational politics may have a negative impact on the performance of an organization in several ways. First and foremost, high levels of organizational politics may be an indication to the employees that there is a leadership/management problem within the organization and this may create tension between the employees and the management. Second, the social relations that exist between the members of an organization may be hampered by high levels of organizational politics. For instance, workers may abstain from deliberate actions such as assisting their colleagues in the fear that such assistance may be viewed by the rest as a political strategy. Third, workers who view the political climate in their work place in a negative manner may adopt different strategies in an effort to avoid participating in the political game. Workers who back away from the actions of organizational politics are inclined to concentrate on doing their work and minimize social interactions with fellow colleagues and managers as much as possible. Lastly, organizations that stress on organizational politics may replace a skilled worker with an unskilled worker in the hope of maintaining the organizational politics. This may lead to poor organizational performance (Vigoda-Gadot and Drory, 2006).
Organizational politics is strongly related to leadership in the organization. Different leaders/managers adopt different leadership styles based on their personalities, the type of employees they are dealing with, and different situations. Majority of leadership and organizational studies shows that organizational performance is enhanced when participative (democratic) leadership style is used in an organization. In participative leadership style, the leader engages his employees in making decisions concerning the organization. This style helps to acknowledge the important contributions that employees can make to an organization. It is used when the leader lacks part of information about a solution to an existing problem while the employees have some of the missing information. The leader therefore solicits help from the employees but the final decision concerning the possible solution lies with him. Democratic leaders encourage and support their employees in their endeavors but also challenge them to realize their full potential. Such leaders provide good examples to their employees which they can emulate in order to achieve their personal and organizational goals. Therefore, democratic leaders may minimize the perceptions held by employees towards organizational politics because they are focused on the organizational goals and the plans put in place to achieve those goals. They can also minimize levels of ambiguity and professional insecurity and authenticate the sentiment that it is feasible to tackle organizational problems in a civilized and sensible manner. Additionally, the managerial approach that is characteristic of the democratic style emphasizes moral standards, thus leading to positive feelings of equality and justice and minimizing feelings of inadequacy that are brought about by a lack of alternatives to the political option. Democratic leaders generate a positive organizational environment that sustains professionalism and merit leading to a diminished perception of organizational politics. Lastly, the transparent decision-making process that is characteristic of the democratic leader may create diminished perception of organizational politics by intensifying the conviction that the managers/leaders as well as the organization are just and honest (Alagse). Thus, a democratic leader generates an enhanced understanding among the workers concerning what the organization expects from them. At the same time, he/she recognizes that workers have their own personal needs. Thus, as leaders encourage their workers to work towards the achievement of the organizational goals, they should ensure that the employees’ personal needs are addressed as well.
References
Alagse. (n.d.). Leadership and organizational politics. Web.
Kennedy, M.M. (1998). The new rules of leadership and organizational politics – in the trenches. Web.
Ratzburg, W.H. (n.d.). Defining organizational politics.
Vigoda-Gadot, E. and Drory, A. (2006). Handbook of organizational politics. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing Limited.