Constructive insights dealing with intraorganisation politics will be found in the following: Allison,G. T., Essence of Decision: Explaining the Cuban Missile Crisis, Boston, Little, Brown and Company, 1971, Chapters 5 and 6. DuBrin,A. J., Fundamentals of Organizational Behaviour, New York, Pergamon Press, 1974, Chapter 5. Kelley,G., “Seducing the Elites: The politics of Decision-Making and Innovation in Organizational Networks”, Academy of Management Review, July 1976. MacMillan,I. C., “The Political System in Business”, Journal of General Management, Autumn 1973. Newman,W. H. and Warren,E. K., The Process of Management, 4th ed., Englewood Cliffs, N.J., Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1977. The present article is a variation of the central theme presented in Chapter 20. Pettigrew,A. M., The Politics of Organizational Decision-Making, London, Tavistock Publications, 1973. Rehfuss,J., Public Administration as a Political Process, New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1973. Robbins,S. P., The Administrative Process, Englewood Cliffs, N.J., Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1976, Part II, Chapter 5. Saunders,C. B., “Strategy Formation as a Political Process, ”Journal of General Management, Spring 1975. Tushman,M., “A Political Approach to Organizations: A Review, Rationale, and Some Implications”, unpublished working paper, Graduate School of Business, Coumbia University, 1976. Zald,M., ed., Power in Organizations, Nashville, Vanderbilt Press, 1970.
2.
DuBrin, op. cit., suggests that a similar power is control over “the agenda” of a key committee — some proposals are argued to death, others slide through in a last minute rush, some are shunted aside.
3.
For an early discussion of this phenomenon in public affairs, see Lasswell,H. D., Politics: Who Gets What, When, How, New York, McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1936.
4.
This definition of coalition differs from that of Cyert,R. M. and March,J. G. in their Behavioral Theory of the Firm, Englewood Cliffs, N.J., Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1963, in its more limited scope and uncertain duration. Thus, in our terminology, senior executives make a much stronger commitment to their company than merely joining a coalition.
5.
See Newman and Warren, op. cit.In those situations where conflict has been deliberately built into the organisation — to ensure adequate attention or to provide competition — decisions on resource allocations and rewards must be approved at least by a common superior who is aware of the inherent potential for “politicking”.
