My personal experiences of politics in an organisational context are quite negative. In fact, the phrase ‘organisational politics’ to me, conjures up images of inter departmental game-playing, ‘buck passing’, and people hiding behind systems and processes. A good example is the way some members of influential business departments try to refocus blame on the IT department when the actual problem is the fact they are not adequately resourced to meet their own deadlines. Typically, these departments play a political card and claim they were not engaged early enough in the project for their aims and objectives to be considered. They are seen as legitimately powerful due to their central function, and can therefore have a significant influence on the outcome of project decisions.

This does seem to tie in with the B325 website’s outline of the political view of organisations: that the interactions taking place within them involve individuals and groups with differing interests and priorities, and that power is inherent in the decision making activity.

(Source: The Open University, 2012).