THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY:POLITICS AND POLITICIANS AT WORK

摘要

Ask most people to describe politicians and they will probably use terms likemanipulative, untrustworthy, self-interested, power hungry, and devious. Infact, a US poll found that out of 26 occupations members of the public rankedSenators, Congressmen and state office holders 21st, 22nd and 23rd respec-tively in terms of their perceived trustworthiness (Gallop, 1999). Only insur-ance sales agents, advertisers and used car salespeople ranked lower. Accord-ing to Gardner and Seeley (2001), this suggests a disappointingly low level oftrust in American government. Politics at work garners similar reactions. In alllikelihood few employees would disagree with Mintzberg (1983) that organi-zations are political arenas, but if asked to recall a political episode most wouldprobably cite examples of managers or colleagues acting covertly, decisionsmade to serve Machiavellian self-interest, or individuals left feeling manipu-lated, betrayed and misled (Gandz & Murray, 1980). Much less likely wouldbe descriptions of political actions being used for the good of others or toachieve some work-related goal. Politics is associated with the "dark side"of workplace behaviour and researchers have described political behaviouras inherently divisive, stressful, and a cause of dissent and reduced perfor-mance (e.g. Bolino, 1999; Fandt & Ferris, 1990; Ferris et al., 2002; Kacmar &Baron, 1999; Witt, 1998). For the most part political activity is seen as some-thing that needs to be minimized or removed to maximize organizationalfunctioning.