Module 2 – Case
ORGANIZATIONAL POLITICS
Assignment Overview
Politics is typically thought of as being connected to a government activity. However, it is suggested by Aransyah and Hetami (2021), that politics “is also an organizational activity to be associated with power and personal status” (p. 109). This second meaning of the word is what we are learning about in this Module.
According to the study of Aransyah and Hetami (2021), there are five indicators for when internal politics may occur: “unclear objectives, budget allocation, decision making, salary and promotion, power, and job dissatisfaction” (p. 109).
All organizations have internal politics. However, most organizations keep their political battles private and it is rare that the public will know the details about political intrigue within the major corporations.
In the 1960s, when the editor of “The New York Times Magazine asked if corporations “have a social duty” to speak up, the head of U.S. Steel declared that’s “quite beyond what a corporation should do” (Dokoupil & Finn, 2023, para. 3).
Things have changed quite a bit in the last 60 years. Companies no longer keep quiet about their political leanings or sides about social issues and wear the popular issues like value flags. The ones that do this most recently include Disney, Target, Budweiser (Bud Light), Nike, Levi Strauss, Amazon, Microsoft, Starbucks, McDonald’s, and Chick-fil-A. Some of these companies have met backlash due to their stand on issues while others have been lauded for taking a stand. Some of these companies have lost half the country as their customers because of the division of members in the country’s two main political parties. Only time will tell if the loss was a beneficial step in the right direction. Then the questions becomes, beneficial to whom?
Do some research online and you will quickly find stories about these and other companies embroiled in or leading an American revolution of social issues.
Case Assignment
For this assignment, make sure to first carefully review the background materials regarding the causes of political behavior, types of political behavior, and the ethics of political behavior. Examples of the causes of political behavior include competition for resources, ambiguous organizational goals, lack of trust, and performance factors, although Aransyah and Hetami (2021), brought in five more indicators. Examples of types of political behavior include blaming others, selectively distributing information, managing impressions, and forming coalitions. Regarding ethics, consider the three main factors:
- Does the political action violate individual rights?
- Does it improve the welfare of those involved?
- Does it increase distributive justice?
Once you have finished reviewing the background materials and have completed your research, select one of the mentioned companies and read up on their political intrigue, political behaviors, and organizational ethics. Write a 4- to 5-page paper addressing the following issues:
- What individual and organizational factors might cause senior leaders to exhibit intense political behavior? Refer to some of the specific factors discussed in the assigned readings.
- What types of political behaviors did your selected company’s board members and CEOs exhibit? Be specific and use the types of political behaviors discussed in Chapter10 of Luthans et al. (2021) and Aransyah, and Hetami, (2021).
- What do you foresee for the future of organizational behaviors surrounding social issues for your selected organization (or others)?
Assignment Expectations
- Case Assignments are to be prepared in Microsoft Word and should be 4 to 5 pages in length, in addition to a cover page (course name and number, module number, session name, student name, and date prepared) and a reference list. The paper should be double-spaced, using 12 pt. type in the Times New Roman font. It should consist of a 3- to 4-sentence introduction, a body, and a 3- to 4-sentence conclusion and use Trident’s cover page. The reference list page must be in APA format, current edition, and contain 3 scholarly references (high quality journal articles or textbooks).
- Assignment content should include a brief introduction to the assignment, background information about the organization being studied, and discussion in terms of the concepts or theories being applied in the assignment.
- Use headings and subheadings to improve presentation values.
- Include both a References page and in-text citations. Attention is to be given to citing sources of information in-text as well as in the References page at the end of the paper. Citation and reference style instructions are available at https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/10/ , Trident University’s Introduction to APA Style, 7th edition , or at APAstyle.org.
- Submit your report in the Case dropbox for this module on or before the date due, as indicated in the TLC Homepage.
- Since you are engaging in research, be sure to cite and reference the sources in APA format. The paper should be written in the third person; this means words like “I,” “we,” and “you” are not appropriate. For more information, see Pronouns: 4.16 First- Versus Third-Person Pronouns in the APA Publication Manual (current edition).
Submit the paper through the appropriate Dropbox by the due date. Your submission will be graded with the assignment’s grading rubric
Module 2 – Background
ORGANIZATIONAL POLITICS
Required Reading
Aransyah, M. F., & Hetami, A. A. (2021, March). Study of workplace politics. Russian Journal of Agricultural and Socio-Economic Sciences, 111(3) 109-120. Available in the Trident Online Library.
Chen, L., Liu, Y., Hu, S., & Zhang, S. (2022, June). Perception of organizational politics and innovative behavior in the workplace: The roles of knowledge-sharing hostility and mindfulness. Journal of Business Research, 145, 268-276. Available in the Trident Online Library.
Chapter 13. Power and politics. (n.d.). 13.3: The power to influence. In Organizational behavior. University of Minnesota. https://open.lib.umn.edu/organizationalbehavior/chapter/13-3-the-power-to-influence/ This book is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted. Available in the Trident Online Library.
Dokoupil, T., & Finn, M. (2023, June 1). More big companies are weighing in on political and social issues. Here’s why. CBS News. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/companies-weigh-in-political-social-issues-heres-why-disney-bud-light-target/ Available in the Trident Online Library.
Luthans, F., Luthans, B. C., & Luthans, K. W. (2021). Chapter 10: Power and politics. In Organizational behavior: an evidence-based approach (14th ed.). Information Age Publishing. Available in the Trident Online Library.
Optional Reading
De Clercq, D., Fatima, T., & Jahanzeb, S. (2022). Bullying and turnover intentions: how creative employees overcome perceptions of dysfunctional organizational politics. Personnel Review, 51(9), 2239-2260. https://doi.org/10.1108/PR-05-2020-0326 Available in the Trident Online Library.