International Journal of Management and Innovation Volume 1 Issue 1 (2009)

Living with Organizational Politics: An Exploration of
Employee’s Behavior
Rajib Lochan Dhar, Symbiosis International University, India
Abstract
Though organizational politics has been perceived as a threat; negatively influencing levels of staff retention and work productivity, hardly any studies have focused on the employee’s attitude towards the perceived players and the survival strategies in such an environment in the Indian setting. This study aims to explore the employee’s perception of organizational politics, the phase that they go through while working and the ways they adopt to cope up with it, in a sample of 26 employees working in three different automobile manufacturing companies. Qualitative methods have been used in order to understand the feelings and experiences of employees while working in a politically influenced environment. Analysis of the data was done through phenomenological principles. Findings of this study led to the emergence of four major themes namely perceived threat, attitude towards the players, Coping
Strategies and intentions to leave.
This study has tried to bring out the emotional circumstances that employees go through while working in a politically influenced environment.
Key words: Organization, politics, employees, perception and intention
Introduction
There is a bit of Machiavelli in every one of us. An environment where everyone agrees with each other is a rare phenomenon. People are generally favorably biased towards people they know, like and trust, even when they are trying to be impartial.
Being a self-centered animal, some aspects of office politics has become a part of human existence. It simply reflects the reality of human nature and interaction.
Politics is often regarded as a fact of life in organizations. The premise that every