Bolman and Deal, Chapter 11

1. Chapter 11
Organizations as Political Arenas and
Political Agents

2. Organizations as Political Arenas
and Political Agents
 Organizations as Arenas
 Wal-Mart as agent and arena
 Ross Johnson Barbarians at the Gate
 Organizations as Political Agents
 Ecosystems I
 Ecosystems II
 Pfeffer and Salancik The External Control of
Organizations

3. Organizations as Arenas
 Arenas shape:
 Rules of the game
 Players
 Stakes
 Bottom-up Political Action
 Labor unions and civil rights movements
 Political Barriers to Control from the Top
 U.S. Department of Education scenario: initiatives
often lost to political opposition despite new resources
and top-down support

4. Organizations as Political Agents
 Organizations exist in ecosystems
 Organizations depend on environment for
resources support
 Organizations needs the skills of a politician:
develop agenda, map environment, manage
relationships with allies and competitors,
negotiate
 Ecosystem
 “Organizational field” in which competitors and
allies co-evolve

5. Ecosystems
 Business Ecosystems
 Apple  IBM  “Wintel”
 General Motors and General Electric
 Public Policy Ecosystems
 Federal Aviation Administration
 Schools
 Business-government ecosystems
 Pharmaceutical companies, physicians and
government
 Fedex lobbying clout

6. Ecosystems II
 Society as Ecosystem
 Business, public and government
 What is and should be the power relationship
between organizations and society?
 Are organizations “instruments of market tyranny”
or largely shaped by larger social and economic
forces?
 Jihad vs. McWorld

7. Pfeffer and Salancik, The External
Control of Organizations
 Organizations are controlled more than they control
their external environment
 Organizations are “other-directed”
 Struggle for autonomy and discretion in the face of
constraint and external control
 Confront conflicting demands from multiple
constituents
 Organizations’ understanding of environment is often
distorted, imperfect
 Dilemma: alliances essential to gain influence, but
reduce autonomy by increasing dependency and
obligations

8. Conclusion
 Organizations are both arenas for internal
politics and political agents with their own
agendas, resources, and strategies
 Arenas house contests, shape ongoing
interplay of interests and agendas
 Agents exist, compete and co-evolve in larger
ecosystems (“organizational fields”)