Organizational politics has been one of the popular subjects in industrial or organizational psychology due to its impact on organizational outcomes such as job dissatisfaction, turnover intent, disloyalty and lowered perceived innovation, as well as lowered job performance. Organizational politics arise in any organization due to power, influence, and self-interest among the employees. There is no doubt that organizational politics is a common practice at the work place in every organization. Due to the huge impact politics can have on decisions of all kinds and sizes, as well as organizational health and employee engagement, this paper focuses on the impact internal workplace politics has on individuals and organizations. Organizational politics is an elusive type of power relations in the workplace. It represents a unique domain of interpersonal relations, characterized by the active or passive engagement of people who engage in constant influence tactics and power struggles. These activities are frequently aimed at securing or maximizing personal interests or, alternatively, avoiding negative outcomes within the organization. Organizational politics can be beneficial for the employees and can be a threat to the carrier as well. For instance, most employees may want to avoid the rigorous structured chains of command that have been put in place by management for their own self-benefits and rewards, undermining the repercussions in the long run. Organizational politics result in negligent behavior and obstructive organizational performance. The negligent behavior and negative job attitudes of employees are likely to cause damage to positive organizational outcomes. Therefore, it is important to understand and evaluate the perceptions regarding organizational politics by studying its relationship with organizational performance. This paper reinforces that the management needs to understand the employee's perception about the organizational politics prevailing in their organizations and to therefore adopt strategies that would minimize the perception on organizational politics and enhance employee performance. This paper revealed that internal politics had both positive and negative influence on an organization's performance. The paper recommends future studies should consider introducing different variables and parameters to check on the relationship between organizational politics and performance.

Abstract

Organizational politics has been one of the popular subjects in industrial or organizational psychology due to its impact on organizational outcomes such as job dissatisfaction, turnover intent, disloyalty and lowered perceived innovation, as well as lowered job performance. Organizational politics arise in any organization due to power, influence, and self-interest among the employees. There is no doubt that organizational politics is a common practice at the work place in every organization. Due to the huge impact politics can have on decisions of all kinds and sizes, as well as organizational health and employee engagement, this paper focuses on the impact internal workplace politics has on individuals and organizations. Organizational politics is an elusive type of power relations in the workplace. It represents a unique domain of interpersonal relations, characterized by the active or passive engagement of people who engage in constant influence tactics and power struggles. These activities are frequently aimed at securing or maximizing personal interests or, alternatively, avoiding negative outcomes within the organization. Organizational politics can be beneficial for the employees and can be a threat to the carrier as well. For instance, most employees may want to avoid the rigorous structured chains of command that have been put in place by management for their own self-benefits and rewards, undermining the repercussions in the long run. Organizational politics result in negligent behavior and obstructive organizational performance. The negligent behavior and negative job attitudes of employees are likely to cause damage to positive organizational outcomes. Therefore, it is important to understand and evaluate the perceptions regarding organizational politics by studying its relationship with organizational performance. This paper reinforces that the management needs to understand the employee's perception about the organizational politics prevailing in their organizations and to therefore adopt strategies that would minimize the perception on organizational politics and enhance employee performance. This paper revealed that internal politics had both positive and negative influence on an organization's performance. The paper recommends future studies should consider introducing different variables and parameters to check on the relationship between organizational politics and performance.