Strategic Management Thought

Discovery and Representation of Local Political Behavior Pattern of Managers

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

Abstract

Political behaviour in organization is a problematic issue. In spite of different perspectives-negative and positive- toward this phenomenon, it is an inseparable part of organizational life. It is also a common phenomenon in Iran with respect to the domination of informal over formal organization and a willingness to break the law in Iranian business environments. This study sought to identify common political behaviors and logical basics for using them by the private sector managers. To do this, qualitative method and grounded theory strategy were selected and depth interviews were performed with 21provincial top managers of the private sector. We then identified and conceptualized 20 common political behaviors.Classification and identification of behavior within the organization shows that 'power' isn’t a mere keyword in behavior typology, but due to the private nature of the units,it is the quality of using power to influence in two forms of hard-soft and active-reactive which describes managers' political behavior and distinction between their behaviours in the forms of confrontation and effectiveness.

Keywords

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Strategic Management Thought
Volume 8, Issue 1 - Serial Number 1
May 2014
Pages 99-133
  • Receive Date: 24 October 2012
  • Revise Date: 15 April 2013
  • Accept Date: 15 April 2013