8.

Causes and sequences of political behaviors

8.1 Factor contributing to political behavior

Recent research and observation have identified a number of factors that appear to encourage
political behavior. Some are individual characteristics, derived from the unique qualities of the
people to the organization employs; others are a result of the organization’s culture or internal
environment.

Factors that influence political behavior

Individual factors Organizational Factors

-High self-monitors -Reallocation of sources
-Internal locus of control -Promotion opportunities
-High Mach personality -Low trust
-Organizational investment -Role ambiguity
-Expectations of success -Unclear performance evaluation system
-Zero-sum reward practices
-Democratic decision making
-High performance pressures
-Self-serving senior managers

8.2 How do people respond to organizational politics?

 Decreased job satisfaction

 Increased anxiety and stress
 Increased turnover
 Reduced performance

Defensive behaviors:

o Avoiding action:
- Over conforming: Strictly interpreting your responsibility.
- Buck passing: Transferring responsibility to someone else.
- Playing dumb: Showing ignorance or inability.
- Stretching: Prolonging a task so that one person appears to be occupied.
- Stalling: Appearing to be more or less supportive publicly while doing little or
nothing privately.
o Avoiding change:
- Prevention: Trying to prevent a threatening change from occurring.
- Self-protection: Acting in ways to protect one’s self-interest during change by
guarding information or other resources.
8.3 Impression management

Impression management (IM): The process by which individuals attempt to control the
impression others form of them.

Impression management techniques:

 Conformity: Agreeing with someone else’s opinion in order to gain his or her
approval.
 Excuses: Explanations of a predicament-creating event aimed at minimizing the
apparent severity of the predicament
 Apologies: Admitting responsibility for an undesirable event and simultaneous
seeking to get a pardon for the action.
 Self-promotion: Highlighting one’s best qualities, downplaying one’s deficits, and
calling attention to one’s achievements.
 Flattery: Complimenting others about their virtues in an effort to make one appear
perceptive and likeable.
 Flavors: Doing something nice for someone to gain that person’s approval.
 Association: Enhancing or protecting one’s image by managing information about
people and things with which one is associated.

Most of the studies undertaken to test the effectiveness of IM techniques have related it to two
criteria: Interview success and performance evaluations.