Definition of Organizational politics

The Pursuit of Organizational Politics

The pursuit of those concerned in addressing the agenda and interests of the company with an eye toward achieving the goals established is known as organizational politics. In actuality, internal politics are involved in every institution. Because political organizations are made up of people from various backgrounds who have diverse needs or interests, politics is understood to be a natural aspect of life. Ambiguous goals, resource competitiveness, and other performance factors are some of the factors that have an impact on organizational politics. Similarly, there are various types of behaviors that are associated with the politics of the organization, which includes distribution of information to particular individuals, the managing impressions, and coalition formations among others. About ethics, the politics have an impact on the rights, distribution of justice to the individuals involved. Thus, most of the organizations prevent their internal politics from the leak to the outside business world by putting stringent measures to deal with them accordingly. The case of Hewlett-Packard (HP) is one of the few situations where the political battle was fought publicly.

The Political Wrangle at Hewlett-Packard (HP)

The political wrangle began by the year 2005 when the C.E.O by then Carly Fiorina was attacked by most of the board members. That intensified the situation when these individuals developed a political behavior in the organization. Several factors led to this shift in the organization. The performance factor was the main reason for the battle. Carly Fiorina was appointed to Hewlett-Packard in the year 1999 after she had managed to achieve a high-performance track at AT& T Company. On his arrival, she changed the management system by introducing various management strategies including as pay cuts on a voluntary basis, then later layoff of more than 30,000 employees so as to improve the company’s performance. Nevertheless, the company merged with Compaq, a computer maker. However, the prices of the stock dropped despite the promise she made about the profits to be realized (Caulfield, & Hyman, 2013). Correspondently, by February 2005, the company was forced to fire the C.E.O after poor performance over the period she was bestowed with the mandate to manage the business. Another one is the mistrust that took alternative direction among the board members. That happen when the confidential information was being leaked to the media occasionally (Kessler, 2006). It was not a fundamental factor in the business operation. However, it could be dangerous to the top management and the stakeholders of the company. When Carl Fiorina was still as the C.E.O a particular leak of information to the media was the beginning of the political problem that affected the company, which made the involved to be fired. Moreover, after another C.E.O was selected that is Mark Hurd, was also almost disrupted by the norm of the leakage to business week.

Types of Political Behavior in Hewlett-Packard (HP)

The members of the board and the Hewlett-Packard C.E.O had various types of behavior in politics. Firstly, the board members in the company wanted to be the individual to impress the organization. That was evident in the case involving Mark Hurd on the sex harassment claims. It scared the board of management on the fact that how they would be able to manage the public reputation of the firm before Mark Hurd was exiled. Alternatively, the company paid $40,000 to prevent the C.E.O from suing the organization due to wrongful termination after the incidences of an alleged report on sexual harassment. Secondly, the board members of the company and the C.E.O were blaming each other on the interference of the management of the company. The board members had a belief that the C.E.O was unable to turn around the company regarding the performance and to share the authority with the senior management team (Veverka, 2011). For example, at the beginning of 2005, there was a discussion by the members of the board that it was disappointing on the financial reports that were displayed by the earning of the company. Further, the Board made a proposal on the reduction of the authority she was given to the divisional heads. It causes an internal conflict with the C.E.O that there was no coordination with the senior leaders (Llorens, Luzon, & Grau, 2013). On the other hand, the C.E.O also blamed the board members and even fired some of the directors who had little to contribute to the management of the company that could have resulted to the leaking of the confidential information of the company to the media.

Unethical Leaks and Their Consequences

The leaks that were taken to the press illegally were unethical practices in the operation and the management of the business. That is because they cause conflicts and effects to the leadership of the company in various ways. One of the effects was the plummeting the stock of the company when it was struggling to restructure the performance avenues to the market (Granelli, 2006,). Additionally, the leaks were unethical since they did not assist in the understanding of the vital issues if the public rather were used to taint the reputation of the C.E.Os. A leak which is ethical disclose relevant information that is expected by the public interest without causing conflict to the involved parties.

Unethical Investigations and Violations of Privacy

The investigation that Patricia Dunn did into the leak of HP Company were unethical in its nature. The company was given a subcontract to carry out an inquiry into obtaining the records of the phone call by pretexting without the consent of the individuals. It is considered to be in the interest of privacy to people who are being investigated (Pearlstein, 2011). It infringed the personal rights of the people being investigated since the phone call records information claims more privacy about the individual’s action, particularly since a corporate executive. For example, the majority of the board members were forced to resign after their names were tarnished. The C.E.O did not think about ethical nature of pretexting when the investigation was being done about the company leaks. As a result of the behavior of unethical conduct cause conflict as it affected the company and the careers of members of the board by reducing the justice of distribution.

Conclusion

Conclusively, the politics of the organization are approaches that are informal and are used to gain power from others by counting on their failures. Thus, these politics are mainly utilized by the organization to achieve power on either indirectly or directly. As a result, the C.E.Os and the board of directors had to use different types of politics so as to gain their ambitions of their objectives. However, there is a question to be answered regarding the unethical leaks which took place during the year 2005. The actions of some board members and the C.E.Os were deemed unethical comparing their actions on the duties of managing the company. That is because they violated the rights of individuals, the welfare of the society was reduced, and distributive justice among others. Unethical behaviors were also practiced by the company hired to undertake the investigation and the individuals who cartel the leak of the confidential information.

Reference

Granelli, J. S. (2006, Sep 20). Lockyer probe of HP spying reaches to ’05; sources say the inquiry

Goes back to the ouster of CEO Carly Fiorina, a possible victim. Los Angeles Times.

Kessler, M. (2006, Sep 08). Controversial HP probe started under Fiorina; stock falls as board

Continues public feud. USA Today.

Pearlstein, S. (2011, Sep 25). How HP, Silicon Valley’s darling, became a soap opera. The

Washington Post.

Veverka, M. (2011). The soap opera at HP continues. Barron’s, 91(39), 25.

Caulfield, H., & Hyman, N. H. (2013). Anastomotic leak after low anterior resection: a spectrum of clinical entities. JAMA Surgery, 148(2), 177-182.

Llorens Maluquer, C., Luzón Fernández, V., & Grau, H. P. (2013). Mapping Digital Media and Journalism in Spain. Anàlisi: quadrants de comunicació I culture, (49), 0043-64.