finance work

Running Head: Organizational Politics 1

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Organizational Politics 2

Politics is the art of governance. It can also be looked at as a game whose winners have had the capacity to balance wit, experience and enough manipulation to make their way to the top. The game itself is as old as the hills and it determines the kind of organization and success an entity (government, firm, organization) will have. The dirtier the politics the worse of the entity. Politics has become a necessary evil in an ever changing world.

Chief executive officers and other top technocrats the world over have had to learn how to play board rooms wars and other forms of politicking to survive. It is no longer enough to just have the technical knowhow. Even in the best managed and performing companies there will always be those individuals who will seek to stir the boat mainly because human beings are mischievous by nature and because hierarchy will always be tested to see how much it can wield. Political behaviours within organizations can be attributed to a rationing of resources (competition for resources) examples in any organization is the number of limited promotions. Secondly CEOs and finance officers have to meet targets with limited resources coupled with other performance factors. They have to cut budgets from time to time and not everyone is always happy. Another powerful factor that can form an explosive combination includes ambiguous organizational goals (lack of clarity), unfair reward policies and continues change all coming together to create an environment of mistrust. Case in point; Fiorina was given a sign on bonus of $ 3m and shares worth about $ 65 m worth in stock. The above mentioned factors are manifested by the following political behaviours; blame games, formation of coalitions, creation of various impressions and finally the decimation of selective information all in a bid to get ahead of the game. Depending on the players and their ambition the kind of politics being played may turn unethical as it was witnessed in the hp case where information was leaked selectively to the press in a bid to kick out the CEO. Other types of unethical methods include picketing by workers, slander and manipulation.

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Hewlett-Packard (HP) is one of the most recognizable brand in the world. The giant firm founded around 80 years ago (January 1, 1939) has enjoyed a lot of success being the top manufacturer and seller of Personal computers between 2007 and 2013. But with success also came a number of challenges most of them related to the boardrooms turf wars that have seen the revolving doors at the corporation throw out 5 CEOs between 2005 and the present. One the most conspicuous causality was Carly Fiorina who has since then followed through with her ambitions for the greatest office on the land. In 1998 she was crowned by Forbes as the 44th most powerful woman in business. She unsuccessfully vied for the nomination of the republican presidential ticket in 2016 where Donald Trump emerged as the final candidate. She was kicked out from the giant organization in 2004 after she had disagreed with the families of the founding partners and the board who accused her of being too lofty and high handed. This leads credence to the first rule of Robert Green’s 48 laws of power; don’t surpass the master. Other members of the board and members of the founding families felt that perhaps she was growing too powerful and that her wings needed to be clipped. Her departure was made easier due to the fact that she had alienated members of her stuff due to her overbearing attitude where there was no space for differing with her (despotic) reign and style of leadership. The company lost a lot of talent as the most ambitious of her juniors felt they could not put up with her command-and-control form of management choosing instead to look for greener pastures elsewhere mostly in their competitors, those who remained were bitter with her. Her demand of excellence stifled the creative energy that is associated with many Silicon Valley companies. Under her reign, the contribution of ideas felt like a direct challenge to her command and grip of the company. She was fond of making important decisions on her own in a company that was not known to make crucial decisions without bringing everyone on board.

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Fiorina was considered too aloft and spent little or no time with the “small stuff” in the office which was in contrast to former leaders in the company who seemed to always be on the ground. The final straw for them might have been her photo hanging in the hall way alongside those of the founders William Hewlett and David Packard. Most employees considered this a sign of her pride and self-entitlement. It dint take much for the board to find fault in her after the burst in the dot com boom where Hp made a huge loss. The players in any political fight will always fight back, by firing about 30,000 workers in less than half a decade she made the other member of staff left feel vulnerable and in turn they sided with the rest of the board members making the battle half lost for her. When the board and family of the founders wanted her to have a powerful number two she felt that she would be replaced and hence she ended up shouldering most of the burden as the company profits and profile nosedived. Friona pushed through with the merger with Compaq despite the displeasure of a huge portion of the stake holders including family members of the founding fathers of the company who have a huge influence in the operations of the company.

Could her loss of the top job be as a result of sexism in the boardroom? According to Friona she was wrongly vilified for cutting back on the work force because she is a woman. She claimed that her policy of outsourcing also made her unpopular. The publicity hog that she was might also have played a role in her getting fired. The company’s board was allegedly uncomfortable with the kind of publicity she was getting.

More often than not, political actions all over the world lead to the violation of an individual rights. Case in point, sexism might have played a part in the pushing out of the CEO. Other examples include the leaking of information about the board war and the CEO which may

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lead the public to view her in bad light. Political action in most cases leads to improvement on the part of the individuals involved and in some cases there is the distribution of justice.

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References

Paquette, D. H. (2015, September 26). Fiorina’s record at HP defines her candidacy — which could be a problem. The washington's post. Retrieved September 26, 2017, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/fiorinas-record-at-hp-defines-her-candidacy--which-could-be-a-problem/2015/09/26/5a5b5e16-6174-11e5-8e9e-dce8a2a2a679_story.html?utm_term=.d81c6a468126

pearlstein, S. (2011, September 25). How Hp,silicon valley's darling,became a soap opera,. The washington post. Retrieved September 26, 2017, from http://www.pressreader.com/usa/the-washington-post-sunday/20110925/298667732270153

Whitman, M. (2015, November 2). HP head favors 2016 candidate 'with experience in politics' over Fiorina. The Gurdian. Retrieved September 26, 2017, from https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/nov/01/carly-fiorina-hewlett-packard-meg-whitman