• competing for scarce resources;
• contradictory viewpoints and priorities;
• confront with coalitions of vested interests;
• manage ambitious individuals with their personal interests.
Coping, and more importantly surviving in such organisations, sometimes
requires managers to acquire a “political competence”, through different routes,
such as properly observing the grapevine mechanism and learning how to use it,
or observing the power game rules prevalent in the organisation. At times, simple
warnings (not threats) such as “I need all these resources to get the work done. Until I
get them, I am unable to start or move forward” do work miracles.
Achieving political competence requires managers to first observe the power
game rules in the organisation: how power displays itself, how it is established, its
sources and how it is wielded, the approach used to formulate political strategies and
tactics by different actors. Managers must certainly develop an awareness of the
political context within the organisation: the rules of the game, individual actors, or
power clans, relationships and coalitions, and hidden agendas. This is not for neophytes, but two people can play at the same game, if needed.
An interesting question is that if political competence is that important, why is it
not included the curriculum of management development programmes?
There are probably many reasons, each one as valid as the next. However, an
intelligent and bright manager will soon learn “what works” in the organisation. If he
is able to learn that, then he should be able to “manage the boss”.
But, of course, a properly run organisation does not run with office politics,
because while a politically competent manager can increase the effectiveness of the
organisation, a politically incompetent manager can hinder and ‘destroy’ the organisation as well as himself in much less time!
Table 20.6 Barriers or blocks to learning
Barrier
Details
Cognitive
Previous learning experience
Cultural
The way things are here ....
Emotional
Fear or insecurity
Expressive
Poor communication skills
Intellectual
Limited learning styles, poor learning skills
Motivational
Unwillingness to take risks
Perceptual
Not seeing that there is a problem
Physical
Place, time
Situational
Lack of opportunities
Specific environment
Boss/colleagues unsupportive
After Mumford (1988)
590
20 Human Resources Management for Infrastructure
• contradictory viewpoints and priorities;
• confront with coalitions of vested interests;
• manage ambitious individuals with their personal interests.
Coping, and more importantly surviving in such organisations, sometimes
requires managers to acquire a “political competence”, through different routes,
such as properly observing the grapevine mechanism and learning how to use it,
or observing the power game rules prevalent in the organisation. At times, simple
warnings (not threats) such as “I need all these resources to get the work done. Until I
get them, I am unable to start or move forward” do work miracles.
Achieving political competence requires managers to first observe the power
game rules in the organisation: how power displays itself, how it is established, its
sources and how it is wielded, the approach used to formulate political strategies and
tactics by different actors. Managers must certainly develop an awareness of the
political context within the organisation: the rules of the game, individual actors, or
power clans, relationships and coalitions, and hidden agendas. This is not for neophytes, but two people can play at the same game, if needed.
An interesting question is that if political competence is that important, why is it
not included the curriculum of management development programmes?
There are probably many reasons, each one as valid as the next. However, an
intelligent and bright manager will soon learn “what works” in the organisation. If he
is able to learn that, then he should be able to “manage the boss”.
But, of course, a properly run organisation does not run with office politics,
because while a politically competent manager can increase the effectiveness of the
organisation, a politically incompetent manager can hinder and ‘destroy’ the organisation as well as himself in much less time!
Table 20.6 Barriers or blocks to learning
Barrier
Details
Cognitive
Previous learning experience
Cultural
The way things are here ....
Emotional
Fear or insecurity
Expressive
Poor communication skills
Intellectual
Limited learning styles, poor learning skills
Motivational
Unwillingness to take risks
Perceptual
Not seeing that there is a problem
Physical
Place, time
Situational
Lack of opportunities
Specific environment
Boss/colleagues unsupportive
After Mumford (1988)
590
20 Human Resources Management for Infrastructure