Organizational Politics
Organizational politics refers to the rivalry between various competing individuals or interest groups for leadership, authority, or power. The mechanisms employed in organizational politics include power tactics, influence attempts, concealing one's motives, and informal behavior. Organizational politics is undesirable as it results in self-seeking activities among the employees with a key interest in attaining power while acting against the interests of the company. However, managing organizational politics requires a keen understanding of the internal landscape, the players, and the rules that govern employee association. Managers should particularly focus on activities that foster a healthy internal environment. For instance, this could mean getting employees to express their opinions and vent their frustrations, expose troublesome issues, and associate with others in a transparent and open manner. Besides, the management should regularly renegotiate the norms and work habits on an ongoing basis to ensure they do not cause self-seeking behaviors among employees. However, considering that employees often take attitudinal clues from their managers, the leadership should always act as the role models for the desired behavior within the organization.
My Organization's Structure
My organization follows the line organizational structure. Authority typically flows vertically and directly from the top managerial hierarchy down to the different levels of management and finally to subordinates. My organization structure clearly identifies accountability and responsibility at each level of operation, but places a lot of emphasis on authority. While the junior workers are directly involved in realizing the objectives of the company, they rarely get in touch with the senior executives. From a personal standpoint, line organization is not the most effective structure for my company. It is a too rigid and an inflexible form of leadership. In fact, it fosters dictatorial tendencies among the senior managers. Besides, line organizational structure hinders innovation on the part of employees, and this could account for continued organizational stagnation. In this regard, my organizational structure should be changed to the matrix organizational structure so as to effectively utilize the skills of the workers to promote success.
Overcoming Employee's Resistance to Change
Change is important in the current highly competitive world of business. However, considering that organizational changes cause major disruptions in the work schedules of employees, it is not uncommon for change proposals to receive resistance from the employees. A successful leader overcomes employee's resistance to change through identifying and addressing the possible causes of resistance. Such reasons for resistance to change could include fears of job loss, lack of trust, and the fear of the unknown. In this light, a successful leader allows employees the leeway to give their input regarding proposed changes and assures them that all changes will be done in the best interest of the employees. For example, when introducing a new production system in the company, employees can be called upon to voice their concerns anonymously through suggestion boxes, and the management responds effectively. Similarly, it is important to communicate both early and more often about the need for change within the organization. Finally, successful leaders overcome resistance to change by motivating those who adopt the proposed changes.
