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Session 2: Putting your idea in context – the politics of business, image …
Session 2: Putting your idea in context – the politics of business
Reading 4 "The politics of business and management"
Understanding the political context
2 main perspectives
Societal Perspective
Political context in the world, in Europe, in a country, in a region, in a city etc...
Organisational Perspective
Political context inside one organisation, inside a single department or office and outside its business environment.
Political Games
Crozier and Friedberg (1980) explained that a political game is a concrete mechanism
through which people and/or organisations structure their power relations and regulate them.
Interpersonal and often inter-organisational practice of business and management can also be
understood as a system of political games
Analysing Political Context
Yaffee and Chadwick (2004), political analysis is a process of:
Disaggregating the key players of a specific political context
Identifying how they influence progress toward your goals
Developing strategies to interact with them to advance your goals.
Means understanding the main actors and the main interests, values and power dynamics existing amongst them in a given context.
Stakeholder Analysis
Example of a tool used for political analysis.
Organisations should comply not only with the
shareholders, but all who have a legitimate interest in the business of the organisation.
Can be internal and external environment.
Can have different kinds of concerns in
interacting with and in influencing an organisation’s mission.
Stakeholders can have a profound impact on what an organisation does.
A dynamic activity because the characteristics of a stakeholder can evolve over time and/or change according to the occurrence of certain events.
Johnson et al. Matrix (2008) looks at ways to
map stakeholder power against their level of interest.
Type of strategy that an organisation should adopt in relation to each stakeholder group that falls into that category.
Stakeholders with high power and high interest (Group D) are considered to be the key players: this means that the organisation should give high priority and the utmost attention and care in
managing the relationships with them.
Stakeholders with high power and low interest (Group C) are also very critical because of their power; therefore, these stakeholders should be managed very carefully in order to keep them satisfied.
Stakeholders with low power and high interest (Group B) must be kept informed because, due to their interest, they can be an important resource for the organisation.
Stakeholders with low power and low interest (Group A) must be monitored to see if their attitude changes over time.
Managing the Political Context
Political astuteness has been defined by Hartley et al. (2013, p. 8) as ‘deploying political skills in situations involving diverse and sometimes
competing interests and stakeholders, in order to create sufficient alignment of interests and/or consent in order to achieve outcomes’.
Hartley and Fletcher’s political astuteness framework.
1 Personal skills.
Self-awareness of one’s own motives and behaviours. Ability to exercise selfcontrol, being open to the views of others, ability to listen to others and reflect on and be curious about their views. Having a proactive disposition (initiating rather than passively waiting for things to happen).
2 Interpersonal skills
‘Soft’ skills: able to influence the thinking and behaviour of others. Getting buy-in from those over whom the person has no direct authority. Making people feel valued. ‘Tough’ skills: ability to negotiate, able to stand up to pressures from other people, able to handle conflict in order to achieve constructive outcomes.
3 Reading people and situations
Analysing or intuiting the dynamics among stakeholders. Recognition of different interests and agendas of both people and their organisations. Using knowledge of institutions, processes and social systems to understand what is happening or what might happen. Understanding power dynamics among individuals and stakeholders.
4 Building alignment and alliances
Detailed appreciation of context, players and objectives of stakeholders. Recognising difference and plurality and ability to forge them into collaborative action even where there are substantial differences in outlook. Works with differences and conflicts of interest. Actively seeking out alliances and partnerships. Creating consensus among shared objectives.
5 Strategic direction and scanning
Strategic thinking and action in relation to organisational purpose. Thinking long term and having a road map of the journey. Scanning: thinking about longer-term issues in the environment that may potentially have an impact on the organisation. Attention to what is over the horizon. Analytical capacity to think through scenarios of possible futures. Noticing opportunities and threats coming from the context. Analysing and managing uncertainty
