Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
Reading 4: The politics of business and management - Coggle Diagram
Reading 4: The politics of business and management
politics is an intended game of power, interests, values and consensus building that is everywhere
three elements to bear in mind
values/interests
power
institutions
UNDERSTANDING THE POLITICAL CONTEXT
societal perspective
political context of the whole world
political context of a country
political context in a particular region
political context in a particular city
organisational perspective
political context existing in one organisation
political context inside a department or office
political context existing outside in the business environment
a political game is a concrete mechanism through which people and/or organisations structure their power relations and regulate them (Crozier and Friedberg, 1980)
business and management can also be understood as a system of political games
ANALYSING THE POLITICAL CONTEXT
political analysis is a process of (Yaffee and Chadwick, 2004):
identifying how they influence progress towards your goals
developing strategies to interact with them to advance your goals
disaggregating the key players of a specific political context
understanding the main actors, the main interests, values and power dynamics existing amongst them in a given context
STAKEHOLDER ANALYSIS
a stakeholder is any group of individual who can affect or is affected by the achievements of the organisations objectives (Freeman, 1984, p.46)
stakeholders exist in both internal and external business environments
they can have different concerns and can influence in different ways
they can have a profound impact on what the organisation does
main purpose of stakeholder analysis...
to clarify the stakeholders views of the organisation
to identify the key strategic issues
identify the relevant stakeholders and their interests
to begin the process of identifying coalitions of support and interest amongst them
power vs interest matrix
high power and high interest: key stakeholders, high priority, lots of attention and care
high power and low interest: must be managed very carefully
low power and high interest: must be kept informed
low power and low interest: must be monitored to see if their attitude changes over time
MANAGING THE POLITICAL CONTEXT
political astuteness (Hartley et al., 2013, p.8) 'deploying political skills in situations involving diverse and sometimes competing interests and stakeholders, in order to create sufficient alignment of interest and/or consent in order to achieve outcomes'
Hartley and Fletcher's political astuteness framework
2) Interpersonal skills
'Tough' skills
'Soft' skills
3) Reading people and situations
4) Building alignment and alliances
5) Strategic direction and scanning
1) Personal skills
