Politics relates to the ways people gain and use power in organizations. Political activities in an organization are inevitable and managers should manage them carefully.

1. SHIMLA NURSING COLLEGE, SHURALA
PRESENTATION
ON
POLITICS
Presented by:
Priyanka Thakur
M.Sc. Nursing 2nd year
Presented to:
Ms. Savita Kumari
Assistant Professor

2. Index
S. No. Content
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12
13.
14.
Introduction of Politics
Definition
Characterstics
Political action sphere
4 stages of political development
Political analysis: its components
Political strategies
Political tactics: its skills & tactics in workplace
Factors influencing political behaviour
Managing organizational politics
Eliminating factors causing organizational Politics
Conclusion
Summarization
Bibliography

3. Introduction
• Each organization comprises people with varied personal interest and
goals.
• Politics refers to means of recognizing and ultimately, reconciling
competing interests within the organization.
• In any organization, at any given moment, several people are seeking.

4. Definition
• Organizational Politics is an attempt to influence others using discretionary
behavior and linked to dysfunction in organizations to gain personal
objectives.
• Mintzberg (1983) referred to organizational politics as an informal,
illegitimate, and uncertified individual or group behavior that results both in
games and positive change. Decisions are not made rationally or formally but
rather through compromising accommodation and bargaining.

5. Political nursing
• Political nursing is defined as the use of knowledge about power processes
and strategies to influence the nature and direction of health care and
professional nursing.
Anderson, Anderson & Glanze, 1998

6. Characterstics of Organizational Politics
The readiness of people to use power in their efforts to influence
others
To secure personal or collective interests
To avoid adverse outcomes within the organization.

7. POLITICALACTION SPHERES

8. Political Action Spheres
• There are 4 spheres are-
The workplace
Professional organizations
Community
Local, state and federal governments

9. The workplace
• In the work place, there are many issues with which nurses are involved.
Power and politics may be necessary to resolve issues.
• Some issues that may be found in some workplace include the following:
1. Mandatory overtime work requirements
2. A nursing clinical ladder program that rewards excellence with
promotions and pay incentives.

10. Cont…
3. Work scheduling length of shift, evening and night rotation, vacation
priority.
4. A smoking ban in the entire facility; designation of smoking areas.
5. Visiting hours in special care units.
6. Identification and security procedures.
7. Authority to delay discharge form or admission to special care units
based on professional nurse assessment.

11. Professional organizations
• Professional organizations have been essential to the professionalization of
nursing. The modern nursing movement began in 1873 in response to the
changing role of women. Pioneers of this movement worked for a new
profession for women and for better health for the public.

12. Community
• Community is defined as a population, a neighborhood, a state, a nation,
and the world.
• Nurses are members of a community with the responsibility to promote
the wellbeing of the community and its members.
• In exchange, the community provides important resources for nurses
work in health promotion and health care-delivery.

13. Government
• Government affects most aspects of our lives. We must document births,
deaths, marriages; and mandatory childhood immunizations.
• Government is needed to ensure that what we need to get done is
accomplished.
• Government plays an essential role in nursing and in health care.

14. Recent decisions include…..
1) The kinds of foods and snacks available to children at
schools.
2) Prohibition of smoking in some public places
3) Provision of meals for the poorest children
4) The health services available at schools and whether
schools may provide sexual and reproductive
information.

15. Cont…
5) Whether public funds can be used to distribute clean needles to
intravenous drug users to reduce the spread of HIV and AIDS.
6) Whether women can receive full information about reproductive rights
and who can provide that information.
7) Whether violence is treated only as a crime.
8) Allocation of funds for housing development and maintenance.

16. THE FOUR STAGES OF POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT
FOR THE PROFESSION OF NURSING

17. Cont…
1. Buy- in: Recognizing the importance of activism.
2. Self-interest: Developing and using political expertise to further the
profession’s self interests.
3. Political sophistication: Moving beyond self-interests, recognizing the
need for activism on behalf of the public.
4. Leading the way: Providing true leadership on broad healthcare
interests.

18. Cont…
• With the addition of an initial stage identified by Kalisch and Kalisch
(1982), this model can also be applied to the political development and
activism of individual nurses related to both professional and legislative
political areas:

19. Cont…
1. Apathy: No membership in professional organizations; little or no
interest in legislative politics as they relate to nursing and healthcare.
2. Buy-in: Recognition of the importance of activism within professional
organizations and legislative politics related to critical nursing issues.
3. Self-interest: Involvement in professional organizations to further one’s
own career; the development and use of political expertise to further the
profession‘s self-interest.

20. Cont…
4. Political sophistication: High level of professional organization activism
(e.g., holding office at the local and state level) moving beyond self-interests;
recognition of the need for activism on behalf of the public.
5. Leading the way: serving in elected or appointed positions in professional
organizations at the state and national levels; providing true leadership on broad
healthcare interests within legislative politics, including seeking appointment to
policy-making bodies and election to political positions.

21. POLITICALANALYSES
• Effective use of power and politics to facilitate strategy development for
the policy process requires systematic analysis of the issues.

22. COMPONENTS OF POLITICALANALYSIS:
1. Identify and analyze the problem:
Identification and analysis of the problem or issue is the first step. The
problem must be understood in order to frame it in ways that will move
elected officials to action. It must be carefully crafted in terms that make
sense.

23. Cont…
2. Outline and analyze proposed solution:
Present possible solutions to public officials along with the identified
problem. It is best to develop more than one solution because costs,
effectiveness, and durability differ from approach to approach

24. Cont…
3. Understand the background, including its history and attempts to
solve the problem:
 It is important to understand what attempts have been made to
address an issue.
 The history, including why and how previous attempts failed, will
provide an estimation of the potential success of the current proposal.
 Even in a workplace context, understanding the background of an
issue is important.

25. Cont…
4. Locate the political situation and its structure:
After the problem and solutions have been delineated, assess and choose
the appropriate political venues.
The choice is between the private sector and government. If the decision
made is to approach government, decide on the level and branch.

26. Cont…
5. Evaluate the stakeholders:
The next step is to identify the stakeholders. Stakeholders are those
who are affected by or have influence over an issue or who could be
recruited to care about it.
Stakeholders include policy makers who have proposals related to the
issue, special interest groups, and those with a position on the issue.

27. Cont…
6. Conduct a values assessment:
All political issues have or moral aspects. Human rights, international
health law, the right to health, genetic engineering, embryonic stem cell
research, genetic technologies, terrorism, abortion, and the death penalty are
among the most visible moral issues today.
Issues necessitate that stakeholders assess their own values and those of
their opponents.

28. Cont…
7. Ascertain financial and personnel needs to attain goals:
Any effective political strategy must include assessment of resources
needed to reach goals. In addition to money, other needed resources include
time, connections or network, volunteers, contributors, and intangibles, such
as people who are strategists and those with creative ideas.

29. Cont…
8. Analyze power bases: In any setting, assessment of power bases of both
proponents and opponents is essential.

30. POLITICAL STRATEGIES
• After the political analysis is completed, a plan of action with strategies
is developed. Strategies are the plans to achieve political and policy
goals. To achieve goals it is useful to follow these tactics:

31. Cont…
Persistence- Change takes time;
conflict is almost always part of
policy change. Policy change or
new policy development and
implementation is a long-term
commitment and requires
commitment and endurance.
Look at big picture: Always
prepare for the political process of
policy development by clarifying
aspects of the issue. This includes
knowing your position and
possible solutions supported by
data, assessing your power base.

32. Cont…
Frame issue adequately:
Understand the stakeholders and
target audience to present the issue
in ways that are congruent with
their values.
Develop and use networks: Use
power that accrues through
persona; connections, which
requires keeping track of what you
have done for others and asking
them to reciprocate.

33. Cont…
Collaborate: Work with others to
achieve policy goals.
Collaboration usually achieves
goals more effectively than does
individual action.
Assess time: Consider carefully
when is the most opportune time
to act. Knowing when the time is
right requires accurate assessment
of the values, concerns, goals, and
resources of those you have to
convince that your way is best.

34. Cont…
Prepare to take risks:
Do a risk – and –benefit analysis of an action. This analysis entails
considerations of the benefits gained or goals achieved in relation to
the expenditure of all resources, including personnel, money, time
spent that could have been used on another endeavor, and coherence
with values.

35. Cont…
Understand the opposition: Put aside emotional
positions, focus on the issues, and try to understand
the fears and concerns of the opposition. Educate the
opposition to appreciate the nursing position.

36. POLITICAL TACTICS
• The effective functioning of an organization depends on the relationship
between individuals and groups. Effective use of politics in the
workplace can facilitate achievement of goals.

37. SKILLS AND TACTICS IN THE
WORKPLACE
• Build your own team: Executives, administrators, and managers are often
defeated in their roles because persons from the previous team are
unhappy, jealous, and disgruntled and do not support, or actively sabotage,
the work of the new boss.
• Choose your second-in command carefully: An aggressive, ambitious,
upwardly mobile number two man (or woman) is dangerous and often
difficult to control (McMurray, 1973).

38. Cont…
Use all possible channels of communication. Develop and maintain open,
effective channels of communication to avoid isolation, pre-emption, and loss
in power struggles. Be fair, but learn to recognize aggressive, manipulative
people.
Establish alliances with superiors and peers: Determine expectations and
motivations of others before you form true friendships. Alliances with
superiors and peers are needed to achieve goals.

39. Cont…
• Know priority. Know what the goals are and how the organization
generally works to achieve those goals. Treat others with respect. Respect
can prevent feelings that can lead to sabotage and retaliation.
• Do not be naive about how decisions are made. Learn and understand the
preferences and the way powerful people act in the organization in order to
predict how they will make a decision; then plan accordingly.

40. Cont…
• Maintain a flexible position and maneuverability. Identify what is
ethically important and nonnegotiable. Then you can maneuver
confidently to change power.
• Be courteous: Treat others with respect. Respect can prevent feelings that
can lead to sabotage and retaliation.

41. Cont…
• Use passive resistance when appropriate to gain time. Delay can be
useful when time is needed for gathering information.
• Disclose information judiciously. In order to work effectively, it may be
necessary not to disclose how power strategies are used.

42. Cont…
• Learn to negotiate and collaborate. Do not be ingratiating or conciliatory.
• Project an image of confidence, status, power, and material success.
The image of weakness conveys a lack of power and decreases ability to
act and achieve goals.

43. Cont…
• Meier (1999) recommended some basic strategies for political action-
Join political organizations
Build a working relationship with a single legislator
Invite a legislator to a professional organization meeting
Invite a legislator or staff person from the legislator‘s office to spend
a day with you at work.

44. Brendtro and Schwerin offered additional strategies for political
action to shape policy:
• Use power effectively
• Always appear self-confident
• Empower others to work on policy issues
• Build your visibility

45. Cont…
• Build relationships through coalitions and networks
• Identify resources, human and physical, that can support your efforts.
• Enhance the image of nursing in all policy efforts
• Communicate message effectively and clearly
• Develop expertise in shaping policy Seek appointive positions or elective
office to shape policy more effectively.

46. FACTOR INFLUENCING POLITICAL
BEHAVIOR

47. Factor influencing political behavior
1. Vague Objectives: Due Objectives there is more room available for
playing politics by the employees. Some people may use ambiguity to
manipulate the situation for their benefit.
2. Scarce Resources: when resources are limited, people tend to use
politics to make sure that they get the maximum benefit.

48. Cont…
3. Changes in Technology and Environment: Organizational
effectiveness is a function of the organization’s ability to appropriately
respond to an unpredictable environment and adapting to complex
technological developments. Thus, political behavior is liable to improve
when the internal technology is sophisticated and the external
environment is highly volatile.
4. Nonprogrammed Decision: Sometimes the organizations make a lot of
nonprogrammed decisions on specific issues without any set standards due
to complexity. Managers make decisions on intuition guesses and affected
by their politics.

49. Cont….
5. Change Management: During change management and changes in the
organizational structure and policies, the people in powerful positions can
play politics. They may restructure, develop a new division, and introduce
new strategies per their political behavior.
6. Personal Characterstics: Some people, due to their personalities, have a
strong need to seek power for themselves and use political tactics to acquire
more power.

50. Managing Organizational Politics

51. Managing Organizational Politics
• The extreme politics in any organization is dangerous; it can demoralize
other people, destroy loyalty and make them uncooperative.
• Most of the time, people may use their time and energy in attacking and
counterattacking.

52. Cont…
1. Controlling the information: Try not to disseminate critical information
to others. The people who will note disclose the information, get the political
power.
2. Controlling the lines of communication: Follow the hierarchical line of
communication. Give only the required minimum information to have
considerable political power.
3. Controlling the Agenda: Conduct meeting on time and discuss all agenda
points in the session before it is adjourned. This will help to minimize the
political behaviour of the members.

53. Cont…
4. Seek Expert’s Opinion: Get outside experts’ views on critical issues and
consult them if required. It can be a good political move.
5. Image building: It is creating a positive impression based on personality,
appearance, style, competence and self- confidence of a person. The
managers need to have an excellent image to minimize politics in the
organization.
6. Building Alliance: To build an agreement is another technique of gaining
political power. It is necessary to have a coalition with the right people.

54. Eliminating the factors causing organizational Politics
1. Providing enough resources
2. Setting clear goals
3. Developing performance standard
4. Introducing rules and regulation
5. Letting the employees verbalize their grievances
6. Letting the employees verbalize their grievances

55. Cont…
7. Taking quick actions if somebody indulges in too much politics
8. Managing change effectively, having meetings with them periodically,
and seeking suggestion
9. removing political norms if any
10. Recruiting employees who are least involved in politics
11. Give employees more control over their work.

56. Conclusion
• Organizational politics is necessary for a leader to acquire and retain power and to
accomplish major goals. Although political behavior can be unethical and
destructive, it also can and should be ethical and contribute to a balanced set of
interests. Democratic institutions must foster, defend, and enlarge institutions by
which knowledge can be made greater and choices wider and more certain. The real
function of power and the order it creates. It is the liberation of men and women to
think and be and make the most of themselves.

57. SUMMARIZATION
• Introduction of Politics
• Definition
• Characterstics
• Political action sphere
• 4 stages of political development
• Political analysis its components
• Political strategies
• Political tactics: its skills & tactics in workplace
• Factors influencing political behaviour
• Managing organizational politics
• Eliminating factors causing organizational Politics
• Conclusion

59. Recaptualization
• Define politics.
• What are the characteristics of politics?
• Enlist the factors that influencing political
behavior?

60. Assignment
• Write down the role of nursing officers in the politics.

61. BIBLIOGRAPY
BOOK REFERENCES:
• Vati Jogindra, “Principles and practice of Nursing Management Administration”, Second
South Asia Edition, Published by Jaypee Brothers Medical Publishers Ltd., Page no. 448-
450.
• K Deepak, C. Chandran Sarath, “A comprehensive Textbook on Nursing Management” First
Edition, EMESS publication Page No. 421 – 426.
• K. Deepak, Anoop N (et., al), “A Textbook on Nursing Management”, Padamshree Institute
of Nursing from M. Sc. Nursing (2009 – 2011), Page No. 624-630.
Net references:
• https://www.slideshare.net/jassidutt/power-and-politics-28411797 viewed on 10/07/2021