Power and politicking

Power and Politicking
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Power and Politicking
Power and politicking are essential skills for managers in today’s business environment. Power involves being able to make people do whatever you want (De Janasz et al., 2015). Power may be used to acquire scarce resources, influence decisions and earn cooperation from people outside one’s direct authority (De Janasz et al., 2015). One may have power from their position in an organization or his/her qualities as viewed by others.
Politicking, on the other hand, involves using information and power to acquire resources to achieve set objectives (De Janasz et al., 2015). With the current business environment where there is employee diversity, numerous business strategies and rapid development of information technology, politicking is a useful asset for a manager. Through politicking, a manager can increase contacts for his/her organization. Organization politics helps organizations achieve their objectives. Effective politicking means understanding yourself, your ability to influence others and ability to manage information. However, too much organization politics can hurt employee morale (De Janasz et al., 2015). It is therefore important for managers to check on the level of politicking and put measures in place to reduce possible negative impact.
Politicking is associated with self-interest. One may be faced with a dilemma in politicking; one may have information that would help him/her gain promotion though at the expense of a colleague.

It would be unethical if he/she got the colleague fired, but he/she has to think of himself/herself and the information they acquired. One has to consider a lot of aspects before getting involved in organizational politics, such as any possible harm to a colleague or the organization.
Various ethical issues are evident in organizations due to power and politicking. Some of the managers exert unnecessary pressure on employees due to the power they have. This is very unethical. When power is abused in an organization, it could lead to tension and low morale among employees. Backstabbing is also common in organizations. This may be due to the self-interest of an individual. This form of politicking could lead to divisions among employees hence affecting the productivity of the organization.
Another potential concept for communication strategies is having one on one conversation; between employees and managers. Nowadays, most of the communication is done through technological platforms such as emails and telephones. Having one on one conversation builds trust and open working relationships in an organization. It also makes employees feel more valued. All these increase productivities of an organization (Groysberg & Slind, 2014).
Power and politicking are communication strategies that should be managed appropriately. If used appropriately, it could help an organization, but if mismanaged, it could be detrimental to an organization. When the two strategies are misappropriated, it leads to ethical issues. What measures can be put in place to ensure these communication strategies are not misappropriated?
References
De Janasz, S., Dowd, K. & Schneider, B. (2015). Interpersonal skills in organizations (5th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Groysberg, B., & Slind, M. (2014). Leadership Is a Conversation. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved 1 February 2018, from https://hbr.org/2012/06/leadership-is-a-conversation