Influence of organizational politics on employees' performance: a case of Apple Inc
https://ilokabenneth.blogspot.com/2013/12/influence-of-organizational-politics-on.html
Author (s): Iloka Benneth Chiemelie
Published: 08/12/2013
0.1 ABSTRACT
Purpose: existing literatures suggest that the perception of organizational
politics negatively influence employees’ performance in the workplace, and
these negative influences can be reduced by numerous mitigating factors. This
is the main purpose of the research “To evaluate the impacts of perceived
organizational politics on job performance, and the roles of emotional
intelligence and workplace spirituality in mitigating these impacts in relation
to a real-time scenario in Apple Inc. ”
Design /
methodology / approach: this
research is primary based; with data for prove of hypotheses gathered via
online survey. The choice of online survey is to offer responders from all over
the world to participate in contributing to the overall quality of the
research. The gathered data were analyzed with SPSS – factor analysis and
multivariate regressions were conducted to prove the hypotheses.
Findings – it was revealed in the finding that perceived organizational politics
can reduce job performance and employees level of commitment. This is because;
victimized employees see the organization as not being appreciative of their
contributions towards the growth of the system. It was also revealed in the
finding that emotional intelligence and workplace spirituality help to reduce the
negative influences exerted on job performance and employees commitment by
organizational politics.
Originality /
value: the findings offer
important implications for the support of theories on organizational politics
and job performance, and how emotional intelligence and workplace spirituality
help to mitigate these issues.
Keywords: organizational politics, emotional intelligence, workplace
spirituality, Apple Inc.
Paper type: Research work for the award of MSc (Management).
1.0 INTRODUCTION
Organizational
politics is becoming a common topic in management studies. This is mainly
because of the high negative influence it has on the workforce. As managers
struggle to find new realms for improving overall productivity, factors such as
perceived organizational politics is a worry to most managers. This is because;
the way an employee perceives organizational politics can directly influence
his level of commitment and job performance (Ferris and Kacmar, 1992;
Vigoda-Gadot, 2003). The main reason behind such influence has been attributed
to the fact that, organizational politics is normally perceived in situations
that are related to power and sharing. That is, employs can easily view abuse
of power or denial of worthy appraisal as neglect for their commitment to the
organization, and this will reduce their overall commitment and performance.
As a support to the
above statements are recent studies which have found organizational politics
and political perceptions as having a negative influence on both workers and
their working environment (e.g., Ferris et al., 1989; Ferris et al., 2002;
Kacmar & Baron, 1999; Mayes and Allen, 1977; Porter et al., 1981). Studies
(e.g. Witt, 1998; Kacmar et al., 1999) have indicated that there is an existing
negative relationship between job performance and perceived organizational
politics.
In this case, this
paper aims to illustrate the influence of organizational politic on employees’
performance by considering a scenario form an existing company. The chosen
company for this case is Apple Inc. in the United States. This paper will
undertake a critical study of recent issues in the company, and try to find a
link between these issues and organizational politics by conducting a survey
with the related issues.
Thus, this paper is
divided into three sections. The first section is a background overview on
Apple Inc. and the recent employee related issues in the company. The second
section presents a literature review on the context of organizational politics
and the role that emotional intelligence as well as organizational spirituality
has to play. This section will also develop hypotheses that will be tested
later on in this paper. The final section is a survey analysis, which include
data collection and analysis of collected data in relation to the hypotheses
developed and issues highlighted in Apple Inc. This section will also provide
findings from the analysis which will be used to prove the hypotheses.
2.0 COMPANY BACKGROUND
Apple Inc. is a
corporation founded in California in 1977. The company designs, manufactures
and markets computers, mobile communication devices and portable digital music
and video players (Nasdaq, 2012). The company is also in the production of
numerous software, services, peripherals, and networking solutions (Nasdaq,
2012).
Apple products are
made available to the global market through the company’s online store, direct
sales forces, wholesalers, retailers, and value-added reseller. The company’s
most common products are Macintosh® (Mac), iPhone® and iPod®. Its primary
markets are the Americas, Europe and Japan; with headquarter in Cupertino,
California and employing over 15,000 staffs.
2.1 HISTORY
The Apple Computer
was incorporated in 1997. It was co-founded by Steven Wozniak and marketed by
Steven Jobs. They introduced the first Apple I computer in 1976. The Apple I
was a failure but Apple II launched in 1980 was successful. The company offered
its IPO in the year 1980.
In the early
eighties, competition from the PC market and internal difficulties led to
critical management changes. By 1983, Apple encountered danger with the entry
of IBM into the PC market, and the failure of its Apple III version computer.
Apple introduced its first mouse driven computer, the Macintosh in 1984.
By 1990 the market
was flooded with cheap PC clones and Microsoft had launched Windows 3.0. In
1994, the company launched the PowerPC chip based PowerMac. This new chip
allowed Macs to compete with the speed of Intel’s PC processors.
Apple still had
problems though and in 1995, the company had a $1 billion order backlog. These
problems were compounded by the launch of Windows 95. The company’s performance
nosedived in 1995-96 when it lost $68 million.
In 1996, Apple
acquired NeXT and NeXT’s operating system, Rhapsody, became Apple’s
next-generation operating system. By 1997, Apple had lost hundreds of millions
of dollars. Steven Jobs, the original co-founder returned as interim Chief
Executive Officer. Under his leadership, Apple reorganized to concentrate on
its more profitable competencies. Apple divested its unsuccessful spin offs,
including Newton. Soon after Steven Jobs returned, an agreement was made with
Microsoft, and was subsequently followed with the appearance of MS Office on
Mac PCs. During 2001, the company acquired PowerSchool, one of the leading
providers of web-based student information systems for K-12 schools and school
districts. Also in 2001, the company acquired Spruce Technologies, a privately
held company involved in developing and marketing DVD authoring products.
In the following
year, Apple, Ericsson and Sun Microsystems formed an alliance to create a
standard format for delivering multimedia content to wireless devices, such as
smart phones and PDAs. The alliance combined Apple’s QuickTime video creation
software, Sun’s content distribution software and hardware, and Ericsson’s
mobile infrastructure and services expertise.
Apple pursued a
number of acquisitions during 2002. The company acquired Prismo Graphics,
Silicon Grail and certain assets of Zayante, and also acquired the German Apple
Computer, Inc. based specialist music software manufacturer, Emagic, which
became a wholly owned division of Apple. Additionally, in the second quarter of
2002, the company acquired certain assets of Nothing Real, a privately held
company engaged in the development of high performance tools designed for the
digital image creation market. Apple launched its iTunes music store, an online
store for downloading music tracks and albums in 2003. In the following year,
the company signed licensing agreements with three of the largest European
independent music labels, Beggars Group, Sanctuary Records Group and V2, adding
tens of thousands of additional independent tracks from leading artists to the
iTunes music store in the UK, France and Germany. In the same year, Apple
introduced its fourth generation iPod portable digital music player.
In June 2005, the
company made agreement to use Intel microprocessors in its Macintosh computers.
Later in the year, the company collaborated with Acura, Audi, Honda and
Volkswagen to deliver iPod with their car stereos for 2006 model lines and also
introduced mobile phone with iTunes in collaboration with Motorola and Cingular
Wireless.
3.0 PROBLEM STATEMENT
Over the course of
its journey to stardom, Apple have faced numerous employee related issued. The
recent issues faced by the company are contained in its 2012 supplier
responsibility progress report. The company stated in the report that its
committed to driving the highest standard of social responsibility through its
supply base, and conducts regularly audits to ensure that suppliers are always
treating their employees right. However, Apple efforts did not stop the company
from facing the issues highlighted below:
ü 67 facilities used
deduction from wages as a disciplinary measure.
ü 108 facilities did
not pay proper overtime wages as required by law.
ü 68 facilities did not
provide adequate benefits as required by the law and regulation.
ü 49 facilities did not
provide employees with paid leaves or vacations.
Considering that
political behavior can be viewed by the nature of the act or by what people see
as being politics (Vredenburgh and Maurer, 1984); organizational politics is
usually convert and subject to different perception (Drory and Romm, 1988;
Kacmar et al., 1999); and people’s attitudes and behaviors are determined
mostly by view of reality and reality per se (Lewin, 1936).
As such, it becomes evident
that these issues can easily be linked with organizational politics. This is
because, some employees might be tempted to sabotage each other’s image in the
form of not sharing information or negatively criticizing their efforts in
order for the management to adopt wage reduction as a form of disciplinary
action on the victimized workers. The management on its own might be political
by delaying the wages of their employees in order to achieve their selfish aim
of enriching themselves. Thus, the affected employees are likely to experience
reduction in their job performance as they will fell neglected by the
management and not properly rewarded for their contributions. In that case,
they will view imputing of extra efforts as a waste and rather reduce their
level of commitment instead of increasing or maintaining it.
However, there will
be a great difference between emotionally intelligent employee and those who
display high level of organizational spirituality from their respective
colleagues. This will be reflected on their different abilities to view the
organization’s behavior as either negative on them or caused by variables such
as low profit and authorization of payment from the proper management system.
4.0 LITERATURE REVIEW AND HYPOTHESES DEVELOPMENT
4.1 ORGANIZATIONAL POLITICS
Organizational
politics has been viewed as an informal, hidebound, illegitimate and typically
divisive attitude and behavior meant at displacing a legitimate power
(Mintzberg, 1983, p. 172) and an influential behavior that is designed to
strategically increase one’s self-interest (Ferris et al., 1989, p. 145). These
definitions carry negative images, but are always common within the general
perceptions of employees. Normally, when employees are asked to discuss about
organizational politics in their workplace, they usually denote it with
negative terms. Employees normally associated it with self-serving behaviors
that are meant to increase someone’s qualities at the expense of other employees.
These behaviors are often viewed as:
- Discretionary
- Associated with defamation, subversiveness, abuse
of power and manipulation
- Contrary to organizational goals and for the
interest of the person (Vigoda, 200a, b).
A good example is
discrediting a rival’s efforts at work in order to get a head above him, not
sharing useful information with other employees as a means of creating more
power above them, and doing offering help to the management in other to secure
preferential treatments.
Studies on organizational
politics have been done in different ways. This has resulted in accumulation of
quality knowledge in recent years about organizational politics and its
relationship with employee performance. Most of these studies have focused on
employees’ perception of organizational politics, which is defined by Ferris et
all. (1989) as a sort of behavior designed to strategically maximize one’s
self-interest, at the expense of the organizational goal and interest of other
people. Gandz and Murray (1980) and Madison et al. (1980) noticed that when
employees are asked to describe politics, they normally associate it with
self-serving and manipulative activities which are perceived to be negative.
Researchers who developed this concepts discovered that workplace politics was
seen as self-serving behavior by employees to achieve self-interest,
advantages, and benefits at the cost of other employees and sometimes at the
expense of the overall organization’s goals (e.g. Andrews and Kacmar, 2001;
Cavanagh et al. 1981; Cropanzano and Kacmar, 1995; Dipboye and Foster, 2002;
Drory, 1993; Fedor et al., 1998; Ferris and Kacmar, 1992; Vigoda-Gadot, 2003).
This behavior is normally associated with defamation, manipulation and immoral
ways of overusing power to attain one’s objectives (Kipnis et al., 1980).
It was argued by
Ferris and Kacnar (1992, p. 93) that the higher the employees perceive politics
in organization, the lower the employee sees the level of justice, equity, and
fairness. While these literatures distinguished between organizational politics
and fairness (preferential treatment), it has been agreed that these variables
are related. Thus, Ferris et al (1996) and Folger et al. (1992) in their
different studies adopted the theory of procedural justice to argued that
organizational politics is related to how leaders make decision in relation to
employee management and overall utilization of the organizations’ human resource
tools. Thus, it can be seen that organizational politics have a great impact on
the level of employee’s commitment and job performance.
4.2 JOB PERFORMANCE
It has been revealed
by research that perception of organizational politics can predict psychological
states such as job stress (e.g. Ferris et al., 1996; Kacmar et al., 1999) and
fatigue (e.g. Cropanzano et al., 1997); employees attitudes such as job
satisfaction and organizational commitment (e.g. Kacmar et al., 1999; Witt et
al., 2000; Maslyn and Fedor, 1998; Witt, 1998); turnover intention (e.g. Kacmar
et al., 1999; Maslyn and Fedor, 1998) and neglect (Vigoda, 2000a);
self-reported performance (Kacmar et al., 1999), supervisor-rated performance
(e.g. Witt, 1998), and organizational citizenship behaviors (e.g. Vigoda,
2000b); and organizational performance (e.g. Eisenhardt and Bourgeois, 1988;
Zahra, 1987).
Employees’ level of
job performance arises from the level of satisfaction felt within the
organization. Job satisfaction is viewed as a positive emotional state which is
created when people feel comfortable with their job experiences (Locke, 1976,
p. 1300). It was pointed out by Ferris et al., that an increase in the level of
perceived organizational politics results in a decrease in the employee’s level
of job satisfaction and subsequent decrease in his overall job performance. A
possible explanation would be that decisions that govern critical
organizational areas such as resources allocation can easily be linked with
politics, and when employees fell that they are being unfairly treated in the
organization, they will be sad and less satisfied with the job experience.
4.3 RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PERCEIVED
ORGANIZATIONAL POLITICS AND JOB PERFORMANCE
The relationships
between perception of organizational politics and job performance have received
a vast empirical support. Studies that adopt traditional regression techniques
(e.g. Cropanzano et al., 1997; Ferris and Kacmar, 1992; Witt et al., 2000) and studied
that adopt structural equation modeling techniques (e.g. Kacmar et al., 1999)
have revealed that perception of organizational politics is a negative
influencer of job performance. This is because, it results in numerous
emotional and psychological damages such as inferiority complex, low
self-esteem, and felling of being unfairly treated. Once employees start to
experience such, their level of commitment will be reduced and overall job
performance will be influenced as well. Therefore, it can be seen that job
performance is hugely influenced on a negative approach by perceived
organizational politics.
4.4 THE ROLE OF EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE AND
SPIRITUALITY ON EFFECTS OF ORGANIZATIONAL POLITICS ON JOB PERFORMANCE
Emotional
intelligence is now a commonly used word in the business environment of
nowadays, amongst business leaders and managers. Besides the business
environment, emotional intelligence has been recently discussed in numerous
academic fields (Dasborough & Ashkanasy, 2002; Murphy, 2006; Zeidner et
al., 2004). This is because, individual emotions have been proven to play a
vital role in business management and personal lives of employees (Iloka,
2012). Emotional intelligence basically deals with how we handle our emotions
in relation to how we are being treated by people around us (Iloka, 2012).
Daniel Goleman (1998)
developed the four elements of emotional intelligence as: a) self-awareness – which is the ability
to understand our individual emotions and feel the impact while used gut feeling
as the foundation for our judgment (Goleman, 1998); b) self-management – which is the ability to control our emotions and
impulse while adopting to situation in hand (Goleman, 1998); c) social awareness – it is the ability to
see and understand other people’s emotions in relation to social norms
(Goleman, 1998); and d) relationship
management – the ability to inspire, influence and develop others during
conflict management (Goleman, 1998).
Spirituality on the
other hand, refers to employees’ religious belief and how these beliefs
influence their day to day activities with people in an organization. From the
above theories, it had been supported by other theories that the level of
emotional intelligence and spirituality highly influence perception of
organizational politics.
Emotional
intelligence and spirituality influences variables such as organizational
status (e.g. Drory, 1993), control (e.g. Ferris et al., 1996), goal congruence
(e.g. Witt, 1998), understanding (e.g. Kacmar et al., 1999), organizational
commitment (Hochwarter et al., 1999), participation in decision making (e.g.
Witt et al., 2000), reactive political behaviors (e.g. Valle and Perrewe´,
2000), teamwork (e.g. Valle and Witt, 2001), and job self-efficacy (e.g.
Bozeman et al., 2001) and these variables can mitigate perceived organizational
politics.
As stated by Goleman
(1998), self-management which is the ability to control our emotions while
adapting to situation in hand can help people with high level of such qualities
to view perceived organizational politics as a minor issues and thus, it will
have little effect on their job performance. While people low on this quality
can see organizational politics as a major issue and it influence their job
performance in return. This is also applicable to social awareness and
relationship management which determines our ability to influence people, such
as advising and influencing leaders to stop preferential treatments in
organization and in return reducing the level of organizational politics.
Spirituality on the other hand plays a crucial role in the sense that most
religious teachings preach dedication to work irrespective of changes
experienced.
Therefore, it will be
hypothesized that:
HP1. Organizational
politics is a common phenomenon in most organizations.
HP2. Organizational
politics is associated with negative effects.
HP3. Organizational
politics can directly influence employees’ job performance negatively.
HP4. Employees with
high level of emotional intelligence and/or spirituality can easily mitigate
the influence of perceived organizational politics on them.
HP5. There is an
extent to which employees that are capable of mitigating the negative
influences of organizational politics can go.
5.0 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
5.1 PROCEDURE
Since this paper
focuses on illustrating that organizational politics negatively influences
employee’s performance, and that emotional intelligence and organizational
spirituality are mitigating factors to the negative influence of organizational
politics, this research will be conducted by following the research framework
illustrated below.
Figure (1) research
methodology framework
From the figure one
above, it has been resulted that this research will follow a pattern designed
to understand the influence of organizational politics (independent variable)
on the performance of employees (dependent variable) by considering the factors
that mitigates such influence (emotional intelligence and organizational
spirituality). As such, the questionnaire will be designed to include all these
elements.
5.2 DATA COLLECTION
Data for this study was
gathered via online survey. The choice of online survey is to ensure that employees
from all industries have an equal right of contributing their answers. Being
available online, the question will also enhance data analysis as the response
can be easily imputed by copying response and pasting it into the SPSS file –
ensuring reduction in typical error associated with manually imputed data.
Prior to finalizing the decision of adopting online survey, a pilot test was
conducted via the same medium and it yielded a 1% response rate from visitors.
The result of the pilot test served as a boost to the decision to adopt online
survey. Survey was chosen as the medium of data collection because its easily
generalizable and readable (Churchill and Iacobucci, 2005), offers an
opportunity to access high volume of variables (Ma, 2007), convenient, fast and
cost effective.
5.3 MEASUREMENT
The gathered data are
measured by adopting the likert scaling method. The likert scale used is
7-point scaling method as illustrated in the table (1) below. The reason for
using likert scaling method is because it will aid easier and appropriate
identification of response rather than the congested nature of real answer
experienced with a “yes” or “no” format.
Table (1): Adopted
7-point likert scaling method.
Totally disagree
|
Strongly disagree
|
Somehow disagree
|
Not sure
|
Somehw agree
|
Strongly agree
|
Totally agree
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
4
|
5
|
6
|
7
|
5.4 RESPONDERS’ PROFILE
The responders for
this research will comprise of both working male and females from all
industries across Malaysia. The choice of Malaysia as the only country is to
ensure a country specific result that can be applicable within the market
studied. Since the data for this research is not expected to be above 200
responses, generalizing it on the global market will not allow easily
applicability of the finding. On the age front, responders are expected to be
between 18years and above. This is because; such age offers the level of
maturity needed to understand organizational politics and its influence on
performance for this research.
5.5 CODING
The data is coded and
analyzed with IBM SPSS data analyzer. SPSS has become a commonly data analyzing
tool in business research due to its vast applicability and high level of
reliability. During the coding process, it was discovered that 9 out of the
total responders has at least one unanswered question. Other response by these
responders were still considered as they maintain a great value of reliability,
while the one unanswered questions were coded with the number 9 to indicate it
as unattended.
6.0 DATA ANALYSIS
6.1 RELIABILITY TEST – CRONBACH’S ALPHA
Cronbach’s alpha was
developed by Lee Cronbach in 1951 as a tool for measuring the internal
consistency of a scale or test (Mohsen and Reg, 2011). The test of reliability
makes an analysis of gathered data against certain variables, and determines
factors and response pattern to test is the data are significantly reliable.
The test is considered important because, it illustrates the internal
consistency and coefficient of gathered data.
Table (2): Test of
reliability
Case Processing Summary
|
|||
|
N
|
%
|
|
Cases
|
Valid
|
100
|
100
|
Excludeda
|
0
|
0
|
|
Total
|
100
|
100.0
|
|
a.
Listwise deletion based on all variables in the
procedure.
|
From the above
analysis, the Cronbach alpha is 0.629 or 62.9% score. This implies that the
data gathered is highly significant as it scores well above the normal 0.50 or
50% mark. The reliability of data gathered further strengths the research, as
it shows that findings will be reliable as well.
6.2 FACTOR ANALYSIS
Bartlett’s Test of
Sphericity and Kaiser-Mayer-Olkin Measure of sampling adequacy were adopted for
testing the validity of this research, by analyzing each variable according to
its strength of association with other variables. The Kaiser-Mayer-Olkin
measure of sampling adequacy (KMO) was computed to illustrate if factor
analysis is suitable for this research. KMO value ranges between 0 to 1 and the
gathered variables must meet an overall KMO value of 0.60 in order to be
considered suitable for factor analysis (Sabbir, et al., 2011).
Table (3): KMO
and Bartlett's Test
|
||
Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin
Measure of Sampling Adequacy.
|
.654
|
|
Bartlett's
Test of Sphericity
|
Approx.
Chi-Square
|
659.801
|
df
|
190
|
|
Sig.
|
.000
|
It can be seen that
the KMO value is significant at 0.00 from the test of sphericity, and this
shows that overall data gathered are viable and the high chi-square value
implies that the hypotheses are highly provable from the gathered data.
In order to determine
the number of factors to be considered, the two variables of perceived
organizational politics and job performance will be employed in a contrasting
way. Hair et al., (1992) stated that in order to determine the minimum loading
acceptable for including any item into
the variable, loadings with values above 30.0 will be considered significant
and the higher the value, the greater the significance. The two variables
loaded for analysis are organizational politics and employees’ performance. The
result shows significance between the variable and loading values with relation
to emotional intelligence and organizational spirituality.
Table
(4): Communalities
|
||
|
Initial
|
Extraction
|
Organizational
Politics is a common practice in my workplace
|
1.000
|
.617
|
I have witnessed
employees gossiping about other employees’ performance politically
|
1.000
|
.773
|
I am usually punctual
and committed to work
|
1.000
|
.718
|
I have been mistreated
by my fellow colleagues in the company
|
1.000
|
.571
|
I have been denied my
rights by a senior executive due to preferential treatment for another worker
|
1.000
|
.629
|
Some workers who are
late are not punished the same way I am punished when I am late
|
1.000
|
.668
|
I have politicized
against a fellow employee that I don’t like
|
1.000
|
.694
|
I tend to perform less
when I experience political behaviors in the organization
|
1.000
|
.808
|
Being mistreated in
the organization can have a huge negative impact on my commitment level
|
1.000
|
.694
|
I can leave a company
as a result of organizational politics
|
1.000
|
.769
|
If I was the manager,
I would sack employees that politicize against others
|
1.000
|
.588
|
I correct senior
staffs when I experience preferential treatment
|
1.000
|
.735
|
My comments in
relation to preferential treatment are always handled by the senior staffs
|
1.000
|
.656
|
Organizational
politics is common in power and appraisal related issue
|
1.000
|
.728
|
I think managers
should take organizational politics as a serious issue
|
1.000
|
.740
|
Poor job performance
doesn’t necessary mean the person is experiences political behaviors against
him in the organization
|
1.000
|
.609
|
Gossiping about the
performance of people is a common practice in the organizations
|
1.000
|
.727
|
A good emotional
balance helps to reduce the level of damages caused by organizational
politics.
|
1.000
|
.787
|
Extraction Method:
Principal Component Analysis.
|
The table (4) above
illustrates the differences between the variables by demonstrating the
percentage of variable responders attended, in relation to how perceived
organizational politics influences their performance either in their present
workplace or in their previous workplace. From the above analysis, it can
easily be seen that perceived organizational politics negatively influences job
performance in the workplace, with 0.808 extractions agreeing to such. From all
the analyzed data, this particular variable recorded the highest extraction
score. Other extractions with a score above 0.70 are in support that gossiping
is a common practice in the organization, gossiping or what employees heard
about other employees can influence their rating of the employee being gossiped
about; employees easily detect preferential treatments that are leveled for
other employees against them. All these stand in support to the idea that
politics is a part of everyday activity in the organization, and corporations
must find ways to solve the issues created by organizational politics as they
can negatively influence job performance. The reason for such negative
influence of organizational politics on employees’ performance can be seen in
the extractions above 0.60, where responders agree that mistreated by senior
executives who accord preferential treatment to other employees at their own
disadvantage, responders who say that some employees are not being punished
when they are late to work like themselves, and political behaviors leveled
against them can reduce their level of commitment to the organization.
6.3 REGRESSION ANALYSIS
6.3.1 DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS
The first thing in regression analysis will be to describe the man of
demographic data gathered in relation to their response part. As illustrated in
the table (5) below, the average age of responders is between the rage of 20 to
39 (1.87). This is because, from the statistical analyses, 1 was denoted to
represent age of 19 and below, 2 represents 20 to 39, 3 represents 40 to 59
while 4 represents 60 and above.
Table
(5): Descriptive Statistics
|
|||
|
Mean
|
Std. Deviation
|
N
|
Ages of Responders
|
1.87
|
.384
|
100
|
Average Monthly
Wages/Salary
|
1.69
|
.851
|
100
|
Gender of Responders
|
1.46
|
.501
|
100
|
Type of Employment
|
1.70
|
.770
|
100
|
Employees’ age, type of employment, gender and average monthly salary
also influenced perception of politics in the organization. The age of
responders influences their response pattern because, it is believed that the
older a responder is, the more likely he or she must have worked with different
organizations and clearly understand the issue of politics and its influence on
employees’ performance. Wage salary also influences the response patter as the
higher an employee is being paid; the more likely he or she is to be
politicized against by his colleagues. Another interesting discovering is that
organizational politics is most common amongst women than men in the workforce,
thus, more women are likely to have experienced political behaviors directed
towards them, and collided with other employees to politicize their colleagues
than men. Type of employment also influences response, as full-time employees
reported more events of organizational politics can part-time employees. This
can be because; power struggle is more common in full-time employment, whereby
employees depend on that particular job for survival and sustainability of
their dependent families. Therefore, they are willing to do anything to keep
their job, even if its colliding against fellow colleagues as they would not
like to be put through the stress of looking for a new job.
7.0 PROVE OF HYPOTHESES AND APPLICATION OF
FINDING TO APPLE INC
Table
(6): Frequency distribution Statistics
|
||||||||
|
Organizational Politics is a common practice in my workplace.
|
I have witnessed employees gossiping about other
employees’ performance politically.
|
I put my best efforts at all time for the growth of the
company.
|
Being mistreated in the organization can have a huge
negative impact on my commitment level.
|
I can leave a company as a result of organizational
politics.
|
I put my best efforts at all time for the growth of the
company.
|
I tend to perform less when I experience political
behaviors in the organization.
|
|
N
|
Valid
|
111
|
111
|
111
|
111
|
111
|
111
|
111
|
Missing
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
|
Mode
|
6
|
5a
|
3
|
3
|
5
|
6
|
5
|
|
Percentiles
|
25
|
5.00
|
4.00
|
3.00
|
3.00
|
4.00
|
4.00
|
4.00
|
50
|
6.00
|
5.00
|
5.00
|
5.00
|
5.00
|
5.00
|
5.00
|
|
75
|
7.00
|
6.00
|
6.00
|
6.00
|
6.00
|
6.00
|
6.00
|
|
a. Multiple modes
exist. The smallest value is shown
|
The overall primary
research is centered on proving the hypotheses that perceived organizational
politics results in lower job performance, and this could be the reason for
some of the issues in Apple Inc. The frequency distribution statistics above
will be used to analyze these claims in order to better understand the factors
behind perceived organizational politics and its effects on employees’ job
performance.
From the table (6)
above, 75 percentile fall within the category of responders that agree that
organizational politics is a common practice in their workplace. This implies
that most employees are aware of what organizational politics is, certain
behaviors that can be linked to organizational politics and how to inhibit such
behaviors. This is in line with literatures that suggests that organizational
politics is common in most organizations, and its effects can be felts amongst
all areas of the workforce (e.g. Andrews and Kacmar, 2001; Cavanagh et al.
1981).
Additionally, 75
percentile also represent the number of responders who agree that they have
witnesses some employees gossiping about the performance of other employees.
This is highly significant considering that the communalities analysis revealed
that gossips about employees influence how they are rated and viewed by other
employees. Thus, this political behavior can change to a corporate believe,
whereby all employees view a particular corporate member as being negative
(which he or she might not actually be), and this can influence their behavior
towards that member. As such, the member will be unwanted in the organization
and possible withdraw due to the pressure from his colleagues.
This second finding
is supported by the 75 percentile of responders who also represent the responders,
who agree that they will leave a company as a result of organizational
politics. The study found that most responders are punctual to work and put all
their efforts towards producing a favorable output for the organization. Thus,
when they are politicized in the company in form of denying them some due
benefits, they will start to view the organization as not being appreciative of
their contribution towards the growth of the corporation. On the long-run, they
will be left with no option than to leave the corporation as a result of the
frustration they get from working in such an unfavorable and un-wanting
environment.
While the third
finding states that most responders agree to put their best efforts to work,
and always punctual, the fourth finding has found some factors that might
inhibit this behavior. It was found from the study that being mistreated in an
organization can have a negative huge impact on the commitment of the employee,
and perceived organizational politics can reduce job performance as agreed by
the 75 percentile of the responders who either, agreed, strongly agreed or
totally agreed to the question. It can be then be stated that the objective of
this paper has been achieved through this finding, as there is a direct
relationship between perceived organizational politics and reduction in
employees’ job performance, as well as level of commitment to an organization.
This finding is supported by numerous researches (such as Cropanzano and
Kacmar, 1995; Dipboye and Foster, 2002; Drory, 1993; Fedor et al., 1998; Ferris
and Kacmar, 1992; Vigoda-Gadot, 2003) that also stated that perceived
organizational politics reduces the level of employees commitment and job
performance.
While they perceived
organizational politics has been linked to reduction in job performance and employees’
commitment, the communalities analysis reveals that employees’ level of
emotional balance can reduce these effects, and employees are still commitment
to their work despite perception of politics in the system as a result of
citizenship behaviors.
8.0 RECOMMENDATION AND REFLECTION
The study has been
able to demonstrate that perceived organizational politics results in reduction
on employees’ job performance and organizational commitment. This is true as 75
percentile of the responders agree to this statement. Thus, it is expected that
when workers are politicized or mistreated in their workplace, their overall
job performance will reduces as a results of reduced interest and commitment.
This case was
demonstrated by applying a real life scenario as is experienced in Apple Inc.
it was found from the study that many of the company’s facilities denied
employees their due rights, by paying their below standards set by law or not
paying them at all. In the general workplace, employees expect to receive the
value for their contribution towards the company’s growth. Thus, when they are
denied these benefits, they tend to associated it with politics in the
organization because some people are being paid while they are not being fully
paid.
The finding reveals
that employees view organizational politics as any of preferential treatment,
meant to favor some employees at their own loss. Thus, when some employees are
paid in one facility and others are not paid in another facility, whereas all
these employees work for the same company (Apple Inc. in this case), the unpaid
employees will start to feel that the company is not fully appreciating their
contribution towards its growth. As such, the finding revealed that the
commitment level of these employees will start to meltdown and it will
eventually reduce their job performance and possibly result to high employee
turnover. Therefore, it is recommended that Apple Inc. should treat these
issues serious and find ways to eliminate such occurrence in the future, in
order for the company to maintain its current growth and create room for improved
performance in the future. Based on the finding, it is recommended that Apple
Inc. should incorporate a training program deisgned to increased employees
emotional intelligence and workplace spirituality as they were found to
mitigate the negative effects of perceived organizational politics on job
performance.
A general reflection
about this study is that, while numerous efforts in terms of both human and
capital resources have been imputed into the development of this paper, all
these efforts can be said to be worthwhile because this paper has been able to
prove that organizational politics reduces job performance and level of
commitment in the workplace. This paper also creates new areas of interest for
study such as how these reduction in performance can be corrected, what
measures should be used to reduce organizational politics in the workplace.
9.0 CONCLUSION
One unique element of
this study has been its support to the fact that organizational politics is a
serious issue which managers and academicians cannot afford to ignore. This is
because, the concept of organizational politics has been linked to different forms
of negative effects on employees job performance and a neglect of this issue by
managers will mean that they won’t be able to understand why employees job
performance are on the low.
From the literature
review, it became evident that they are numerous studies that support the
finding of perceived organizational politics negatively influencing job
performance. Other literatures also stated that employees’ level of emotional
intelligence and workplace spirituality can serve as mitigating factors to the
effects of perceived organizational politics. Thus, it became evident that the
objective of this research is one which already exists in literatures.
The study highlighted
certain issues in Apple Inc. that might be linked to organizational politics
such as unreliable pay system, as it was deduced that these issues can reduce
employees’ level of commitment and job performance. This statement was further
proven in the finding which revealed that employees who fall victim to
organizational politics usually experience changes (negative) on their job
performance and level of commitment. It was also revealed in the finding that
emotional intelligence and workplace spirituality help to mitigate the negative
effects perceived organizational politics. Thus, it was later recommended that
Apple Inc. should design training and development programs that incorporate
skills on how to improve employees’ emotional intelligence and workplace
spirituality in order to reduce the negative impacts of perceived
organizational politics.
In conclusion, it can
be stated that politics in organizational system is a serious issue that
managers should look into, as it directly influences the level of commitment
and job performance of employees in the system. This is because, as reduction
in job performance will result in reduction in overall organizational output,
while a reduction on the level of commitment will increase turnover intention
and result in numerous loses (both human and capital resources) to the company.
10.0 BIBLIOGRAPHY
Andrews, M.C. and
Kacmar, K.M. (2001), “Discriminating among organizational politics, justice,
and support”, Journal of Organizational Behavior, Vol. 22, pp. 347-66.
Apple Inc (2012),
“Apple Suppliers Responsibility: Progress Report of 2012.” Available at:
http://images.apple.com/supplierresponsibility/pdf/Apple_SR_2012_Progress_Report.pdf
[Accessed on: 26-09-2012].
Bozeman, D.P.,
Perrewe´, P.L., Hochwarter, W.A. and Brymer, R.A. (2001), “Organizational
politics, perceived control, and work outcomes: boundary conditions on the
effects of politics”, Journal of Applied Social Psychology, Vol. 31, pp.
486-503.
Cavanagh, G.F.,
Moberg, D.J. and Velasquez, M. (1981), “The ethics of organizational politics”,
Academy of Management Review, Vol. 6, pp. 363-74.
Cropanzano, R.,
Howes, J.C., Grandey, A.A. and Toth, P. (1997), “The relationship of
organizational politics and support to work behaviors, attitudes, and stress”,
Journal of Organizational Behavior, Vol. 18, pp. 159-80.
Cropanzano, R.S. and
Kacmar, K.M. (1995), Organizational Politics, Justice, and Support: Managing
The Social Climate of the Workplace, Quorum Books, Westport, CT.
Dasborough, M. T.,
& Ashkanasy, N. M. (2002). Emotion and attribution of intentionality in
leader-member relationships. The Leadership Quarterly, 13, 615-634.
Dipboye, R.L. and
Foster, J.B. (2002), “Multi-level theorizing about perceptions of
organizational politics”, Research in Multi-Level Issues, Vol. 1, pp. 255-70.
Drory, A. and Romm,
T. (1988), “Politics in organization and its perception within the
organization”, Organization Studies, Vol. 9, pp. 165-79.
Drory, A. (1993),
“Perceived political climate and job attitudes”, Organization Studies, Vol. 14,
pp. 59-71.
Eisenhardt, K.M. and
Bourgeois, L.J. III (1988), “Politics of strategic decision making in
high-velocity environments: toward a midrange theory”, Academy of Management
Journal, Vol. 31, pp. 737-70.
Fedor, D.B., Ferris,
G.R., Harrell-Cook, G. and Russ, G.S. (1998), “The dimensions of politics,
perceptions and their organizational and individual predictors”, Journal of
Applied Social Psychology, Vol. 28, pp. 1760-97.
Ferris, G.R. and
Kacmar, K.M. (1992), “Perceptions of organizational politics”, Journal of
Management, Vol. 18, pp. 93-116.
Ferris, G. R., Adams,
G., Kolodinsky, R. W., Hochwarter, W. A., & Ammeter, A. P. (2002).
Perceptions of organizational politics: Theory and research directions.
Research in Multi-Level Issues, The Many Faces of Multi-Level Issues,
1,179–254.
Ferris, G.R., Frink,
D.D., Galang, M.C., Zhou, J., Kacmar, K.M. and Howard, J.L. (1996),
“Perceptions of organizational politics: prediction, stress-related
implications, and outcomes”, Human Relations, Vol. 49, pp. 233-66.
Ferris, G.R., Russ,
G.S. and Fandt, P.M. (1989), “Politics in organizations”, in Giacalone, R.A.
and Rosenfeld, P. (Eds), Impression Management in the Organization, Erlbaum,
Hillsdale, NJ, pp. 143-70.
Folger, R., Konovsky,
M.A. and Cropanzano, R. (1992), “A due process metaphor for performance
appraisal”, in Cummings, L. and Staw, B. (Eds), Research in Organizational
Behavior, Vol. 14, JAI Press, Greenwich, CT, pp. 129-77.
Gandz, J. and Murray,
V.V. (1980), “The experience of workplace politics”, Academy of Management
Journal, Vol. 23, pp. 237-51.
Goleman, D. (1998).
Working with emotional intelligence. New York: Bantam Books.
Hochwarter, W.A.,
Perrewe, P.L., Ferris, G.R. and Guercio, R. (1999), “Commitment as an antidote
to the tension and turnover consequences of organizational politics”, Journal
of Vocational Behavior, Vol. 55, pp. 277-97.
Iloka Benneth (2012),
“Reading and Carrying Framework: Emotional Intelligence.” Available at: www.iservices.ilokabenneth.com/images/reading_carrying_framework.pdf [Accessed on: 17-10-2012].
Kacmar, K. M., &
Baron, R. A. (1999). Organizational politics: The state of the field, links to
related processes, and an agenda for future research. In K. M. Rowland & G.
R. Ferris (Eds.). Research in Personnel and Human Resources Management, CT: JAI
Press, Stanford, 10, 1-39.
Kacmar, K.M.,
Bozeman, D.P., Carlson, D.S. and Anthony, W.P. (1999), “An examination of the
perceptions of organizational politics model: replication and extension”, Human
Relations, Vol. 52, pp. 383-416.
Kipnis, D., Schmidt,
S.M. and Wilkinson, I. (1980), “Intra-organizational influence tactics:
exploration in getting one’s way”, Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 65, pp.
440-52.
Lewin, K. (1936),
Principles of Topological Psychology, McGraw-Hill, New York, NY.
Locke, E.A. (1976),
“The nature and causes of job satisfaction”, in Dunnette, M.D. (Ed.), Handbook
of Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Rand McNally, Chicago, IL, pp.
1297-349.
Madison, D.L., Allen,
R.W., Porter, L.W., Renwick, P.A. and Mayes, B.T. (1980), “Organizational
politics: an exploration of managers’ perceptions’”, Human Relations, Vol. 33,
pp. 79-100.
Maslyn, J.M. and
Fedor, D.B. (1998), “Perceptions of politics: does measuring different foci
matter?”, Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 84, pp. 645-53.
Mayes, B. T., &
Allen, R. W. (1977). Toward a definition of organizational politics. Academy of
Management Review, 2, 672–678.
Mintzberg, H. (1983),
Power In and Around Organizations, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ.
Murphy, K. R. (2006).
Preface. In K. R. Murphy (Ed.), A critique of emotional intelligence: What are
the problems and how can they be fixed? (pp. xi-xiii). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence
Erlbaum.
Nasdaq (2012), “Apple
Inc.: Corporate profile.” Available at:
http://www.nasdaq.com/MorningstarprofileReports/AAPL_USA.pdf [Accessed on
26-09-2012].
Porter, L. W., Allen,
R. W., & Angle, H. L. (1981). The Politics of Upward Influence in Organizations.
In L. L. Cummings & B. M. Staw (Eds.). Research in Organizational Behavior,
CT: JAI Press, Greenwich, 3, 109–149.
Salovey, P. and
Mayer, J. (1990), “Emotional intelligence”, Imagination, Cognition and
Personality, Vol. 9, pp. 185-211.
Valle, M. and Perrewe´,
P.L. (2000), “Do politics perceptions relate to political behaviors?, Tests of
an implicit assumption and expanded model”, Human Relations, Vol. 53, pp.
359-86.
Valle, M. and Witt,
L.A. (2001), “The moderating effect of teamwork perceptions on the
organizational politics-job satisfaction relationship”, Journal of Social
Psychology, Vol. 141, pp. 379-88.
Vigoda, E. (2000a),
“Organizational politics, job attitudes, and work outcomes: exploration and
implications for the public sector”, Journal of Vocational Behavior, Vol. 57,
pp. 326-47.
Vigoda, E. (2000b),
“Internal politics in public administration systems”, Public Personnel
Management, Vol. 29, pp. 185-210.
Vigoda-Gadot, E.
(2003), Developments in Organizational Politics, Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham.
Vredenburgh, D.J. and
Maurer, J.G. (1984), “A process framework of organizational politics”, Human
Relations, Vol. 37, pp. 47-66.
Witt, L.A. (1998),
“Enhancing organizational goal congruence: a solution to organizational
politics”, Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 83, pp. 666-74.
Witt, L.A., Andrews,
M.C. and Kacmar, K.M. (2000), “The role of participation in decision-making in
the organizational politics-job satisfaction relationship”, Human Relations,
Vol. 53, pp. 341-58.
Zahra, S.A. (1987),
“Organizational politics and the strategic process”, Journal of Business
Ethics, Vol. 6, pp. 579-87.
Zeidner, M.,
Matthews, G., & Roberts, R. D. (2004). Emotional intelligence in the
workplace: A critical review. Applied Psychology: An International Review, 53,
371-399.
11.0 APPENDICES
11.1 PERCEIVED ORGANIZATIONAL POLITICS AND
EMPLOYEES’ PERFORMANCE: ROLE OF EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE AND ORGANIZATIONAL
POLITICS.
Name (s)
|
||||
Gender
|
Male or
Female
|
|||
Age
|
18 to 39
|
40 to 59
|
50 and
above
|
|
PART 2
PLEASE ANSWER
THESE 20 QUESTIONS
#
|
|
1 – totally
disagree to totally agree – 7
|
||||||
1
|
2
|
3
|
4
|
5
|
6
|
7
|
||
1
|
Organizational
Politics is a common practice in my workplace.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2
|
I have witnessed
employees gossiping about other employees’ performance politically.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
3
|
I am usually
punctual and committed to work.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
4
|
I put my
best efforts at all time for the growth of the company.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
5
|
I have been
mistreated by my fellow colleagues in the company.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
6
|
I have been
denied my rights by a senior executive due to preferential treatment for
another worker.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
7
|
Some
workers who are late are not punished the same way I am punished when I am
late.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
8
|
I have
politicized against a fellow employee that I don’t like.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
9
|
I tend to
perform less when I experience political behaviors in the organization.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
10
|
Being
mistreated in the organization can have a huge negative impact on my
commitment level.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
12
|
I can leave
a company as a result of organizational politics.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
13
|
If I was
the manager, I would sack employees that politicize against others.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
14
|
I correct
senior staffs when I experience preferential treatment
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
15
|
My comments
in relation to preferential treatment are always handled by the senior staffs
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
16
|
Organizational
politics is common in power and appraisal related issue
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
17
|
I think
managers should take organizational politics as a serious issue.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
18
|
Poor job
performance doesn’t necessary mean the person is experiences political
behaviors against him in the organization.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
19
|
Gossiping
about the performance of people is a common practice in the organizations.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
20
|
A good
emotional balance helps to reduce the level of damages caused by
organizational politics.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|