Resisting Organisational Politics - Challenging One's Values & Ethics

In the first article of the series DRAWing with Organisational Politics (www.dhirubhai.net/posts/joydeep-chakrabarty-0b3a881_trust-conflict-organisationalpolitics-ugcPost-6657239645954371584-LHJX), we addressed the first step, i.e. DISCOVERING Organisational Politics (OP). We reflected on the numerous factors at personal and organisational levels, primarily driven by conflict of in?terest, that lead to OP. In this second article, we intend to understand how the business complexities, organisational silos and slabs and of course, conflict of interests, elaborated in the 1st article (click the 1st article link above to read / comment / like / share the same), impact our business, functions and employees as a community and personally.

This is when we come face to face with the eternal conflict between our morals, rights and wrongs VERSUS cause and effect, action and implication.

1. Conflicting with the Seemingly Obvious

Let’s first start with the obviously negative impact of OP within the organization: 

? Creates a Negative & Demotivating Environment: One of the key reasons for gossips, low interpersonal relationships and lack of trust, is OP. Furthermore, aspects like favouritism and lack of open/transparent communication can further demotivate employees and the environment as a whole.

? Impact on Focus and Productivity: It is quite evident by now (refer 1st article linked above), that OP, due to blame game, gossip, unclear roles, lack of transparency and power struggles, can lead to significant loss of productivity and hence profitability. "Nothing will plummet your business’s productivity faster than negative company culture", says Blair Koch, an experienced entrepreneur and executive who now leads facilitated peer group forums of presidents, C-suite executives and business owners, as the CEO of TAB Denver West. "Employees feed off of their leader’s behaviour, so it’s up to you to bring a positive, optimistic, and forward-thinking energy to the office each and every day" (Sarita Harbour, Aug 2017).

? Workplace Stress: OP can increase conflicts on one hand due to employees speaking up about unfairness, versus frustrations due to holding back from pointing out the unfairness; both conflict as well as frustrations can lead to significant increases in stress at workplace and in turn impact productivity and the culture as mentioned above.

2. Clashing with One's Values

The next key challenge is about accepting/ignoring/struggling with behaviours and actions that clash with one’s personal values and ethics:

? Authenticity: Being true to oneself and to the organization we work for, is a core value that can get easily challenged due to OP. "Like all virtues, it can get you into trouble, especially if your authentic expression of your values sets you on a collision path with the culture of your workplace" (Charalambos Vlachoutsicos, Jan 2013).

? Trust and Empathy: One of my favourite quotes Trust at the peer level and Empathy down the line, is an essential cultural element for any successful organization. OP rising out of conflict of interests, essentially contradicts this value, and hence leads to an environment of doubt, deceit and double standards.

? Commitment to Excellence: An organization expects us to deliver our best in terms of quality, timeliness and as per expectations. Many a times, the same is not met due to working with/around OP, leading to loss of productivity and low morale.

3. From Black and White to More Greys

Now, let’s look at those idealistic perceptions of the organization in terms of rightness / absoluteness of information, behaviour and intention that are tarnished by OP:

? Ambiguity/Vagueness versus Clarity/Transparency: The expectation of an employee from an organization, is to have clarity of its purpose, action and intended results. However, due to various silos and slabs, the same gets distorted or misrepresented by the time it reaches the employee; this of course is further impacted due to OP.

? Expectations versus Actuals: Lack of clear, agreed and communicated expectations often mismatch with the actual results/outcomes. This can be due to realistic limitations like dependency on clients or internal stakeholders, or due to OP factors like withholding information, manipulation or even low trust.

? Conflicts of Right versus Wrong: This is a tricky one! What is right or wrong is usually a conflict between what is seemingly factual versus the actual perception formed by the stakeholder. For example, when we are discussing strategy, what is right versus wrong depends a lot on the stakeholders’ access to information, purpose and personal motivations.

? Promised versus Delivered: There are absolute cases wherein any employee is promised/assured an opportunity/promotion/project, however is not met due to certain unavoidable circumstances, like change in strategy, loss of client, etc; however, when such cases arise as an outcome of OP, it can lead to serious loss of trust, low morale and even attrition.

My Reflections... rather Questions

? So, how do we really address this clash between our values/business ethics and OP?

? Do we just stick to our job and ignore OP?

? Do we challenge it?

? Is there a way to coexist with OP and still achieve our goals without compromising with our values?

Moreover, considering that OP is a common challenge in most organisations, is it something that needs to be removed/minimised or is there a purpose/necessity of OP? And if, for some reason, there is a necessity, how do I coexist with it without losing the authenticity with my core values??

Andrew Stark mentions in What’s the Matter with Business Ethics? – The problem is that the discipline of business ethics has yet to provide much concrete help to managers in either of these areas, and even business ethicists sense it. One can’t help but notice how often articles in the field lament a lack of direction or poor fit with the real ethical problems of real managers (Andrew Stark, May-Jun 1993).

Or am I trapped in the proverbial ethical imperialism, i.e. living by a universal and non- negotiable system of rights and wrongs of life? Thomas Donaldson states in Values in Tension: Ethics Away from Home - The theory behind ethical imperialism is absolutism, which is based on three problematic principles. Absolutists believe that there is a single list of truths, that they can be expressed only with one set of concepts, and that they call for exactly the same behaviour around the world (Thomas Donaldson, Sep-Oct’1996). 

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Prelude to Article #3: So far we have analysed and reflected on how OP evolves as well as the divide between one’s personal and professional ethics versus OP. So do we continue to live with this divide or are there practical situations or unavoidable paradoxes that we need to understand and appreciate? Look forward to the facts and reflections in the 3rd article of this series… DRAWing with Organisational Politics!

Author’s Request: I would really appreciate and be thankful if you can please provide your feedback in the COMMENTS section below and LIKE and SHARE this article.