The Use and Misuse of Power and Politics in the Nigerian Public Service

Öz

Power may be defined as the ability or the right to be able to control people or things; the art of influencing and/or having control over other people in an organization and the flow of the available energy and resources towards certain goals as opposed to other goals. When people get together in groups, power must be applied therefore when employees in organizations convert their power into action, they are described as being engaged in politics. The effect of power in modern organizations depends on whether an employee uses the positive or negative type of power to control other employees. The aim of this paper is to examine the use and misuse of power and politics in the Nigerian public service. The specific objective is to understand how power and politics are being used and misused in organizations, identify the causes for the use and misuse of power and politics and to determine the impact of the use and misuse of power and politics on employees and the organization. The method of data collection was secondary sources using existing literature on the topic of discourse; content analysis techniques were used to analyze and present data. Findings from this study suggest that organizations can easily be turned into avenue for political games or power struggles since individuals who work in the Nigerian public service have ambitions to achieve goals for their personal benefits rather than that of the organization.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• The Nigerian Public Service
• Misuse
• Power
• Use
• Political Games
• Politics

Kaynakça

1. Abraham Z. (1970). Organizational Culture: Power and Politics in Organizational Life. Harvard Business School in Boston.
2. Baldridge, J. V. (1971). Power and Conflict in the University. New York: Wiley.
3. Barnard, C. I. (1938, 1968). The Function of the Executive. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
4. Bauer, T., & Erdogan, B. (2012). An Introduction to Organizational Behavior. Creative Commons. https://2012books.lardbucket.org/pdfs/anintroduction- to-organizational-behavior-v1.1.pdf
5. Can Bicer (2020). The Power and Politics in Organizations Karabuk University; at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/347342951
6. CIA (1995). Power and Politics Based on “Women of the CIA Come Forward,” ABC News Nightline; aired
7. Clarence, J. B. (2013). The Causes of Instability in Nigeria and Implication for the United States; US Army War College Strategic Studies Institute (SSI) http://www.StrategicStudiesInstitute.army.mil/
8. Dubrin, A. J. (2001). Leadership. (3rd Ed) New York: Houghton Mifflin.

9. Deutsch, M., & Gerard, H. B. (1955). A Study of Normative and Informational Social influences Upon Individual Judgment. Journal of Abnormal & Social Psychology, 51, 629–636. Eke, E. O. (2012). The Use, Abuse and Misuse of Power. Nigeriaweb | Odili.Net | Naijanet.Com [e-mail] Fairholm, G. W. (2009). Organizational Power Politics: Tactics in Organizational Leadership. Greenwood Publishing Group, ABC-CLIO, California, U.S.A.
10. Ferris, G. R., Ellen III, B. P., McAllister, C. P., & Maher, L. P. (2019). Reorganizing Organizational Politics Research: A Review of the Literature and Identification of Future Research Directions. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behaviour, 6, pp. 299-323.
11. Fleming, P., & Spicer, A. (2014). Power in Management and Organization Science. Academy of Management Annals, 8(1), pp. 237-298.
12. French, J. R. P., Jr., & B. Raven (1959). The Bases of Social Power. In D. P. Cartwright, ed., Studies in Social Power (pp. 150-167). Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan, Institute for Social Research.
13. Gencer, M., Tok, T. N., & Ordu, A. (2018). The Effect of Power Base Games on Organizational Silence and Organizational Socialization.
14. Geppert, M., Becker-Ritterspach, F., & Mudambi, R. (2016). Politics and Power in Multinational Companies: Integrating the International Business and Organization Studies Perspectives. Organization Studies, 37(9), pp. 1209
15. Guo, Y., Kang, H., Shao, B., & Halvorsen, B. (2019). Organizational Politics as a Blindfold. Personnel Review. Hinck, R., & Conrad, C. (2018). Organizational Politics. The International Encyclopedia of Strategic Communication, pp. 1-12.
16. John C. Turner (2005) Explaining the nature of power: A three-process theory; Agenda 2005 European Journal of Social Psychology Eur. J. Soc. Psychol. 35, 1–22. Published online in Wiley InterScience www.interscience.wiley.com DOI: 10.1002/ejsp.244
17. Kacmar, K. M., & Baron, R. A. (1999). Organizational Politics. Research in Human Resources Management, 1, 1-39. Kanter, R. M. (1979). Power Failure in Management Circuits. Harvard Business Review. 57, 65-75.
18. Kapoutsis, I., & Thanos, I. (2016). Politics in Organizations: Positive and Negative Aspects of Political Behaviour. European Management Journal, 34(3), pp. 310-312.
19. Kairen Harris (2002). The Use, Abuse and Under-use of Power in the Workplace. Workplace Culture Organizational Values Workplace Reviews; Suite 401/110 Pacific Highway, North Sydney NSW 2060;@worklogic.com.au
20. Kelman, H. C. (1958). Compliance, identification, and internalization: Three processes of attitude change. Journal of Conflict Resolution, 2, 51–60.
21. Keltner, D., Gruenfeld, D. H., & Anderson, C. (2003). Power, Approach, and Inhibition. Psychological Review, 110, 265–284.
22. Labrague, L. J., McEnroe‐Petitte, D. M., Gloe, D., Tsaras, K., Arteche, D. L. Maldia, F. (2017). Organizational Politics, Nurses' Stress, Burnout Levels, Turnover Intention and Job Satisfaction. International Nursing Review, 64(1), pp. 109-116.
23. Landells, E. M., & Albrecht, S. L. (2019). Perceived Organizational Politics, Engagement and Stress: The Mediating Influence of Meaningful Work. Frontiers in Psychology, pp. 10, 1612.
24. Lee Chai, Annete Y.; & Barge, J., Eds (2001). The Use and Abuse of Power. Philadelphia; Psychology Press.
25. Mintzberg, H. (1983). Power in and Around Organizations. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
26. Mintzberg, H. (1985). The Organization as Political Arena. Journal of Management Studies, 22(2), pp. 133-154.
27. Moscovici, S. (1976). Social influence and social change. London: Academic Press.
28. Morgan, G. (1996). Images of Organization. (2nd ed.). Newbury Park: Sage
29. Nawaz, M., Syed, A., & Dharejo, N. (2019). Two Facets pf Organizational Politics, The Constructive and
30. Destructive Role of Organizational Politics on Employee Work Related Attitudes: A Theoretical Study. Annals of Contemporary Developments on Management & HR (ACDMHR), Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 15-22.
31. Omisore, B. O., & Nweke, A. N. (2014). The Influence of Power and Politics in Organizations (Part 1). International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, 4(7), pp. 2222-6990.
32. Pfeffer, J. (1992). Managing With Power: Politics and Influence in Organizations. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
33. Pfeffer, J. (1994). Managing With Power: Politics and Influence in Organizations. Harvard Business Press.
34. Prachi, J. (2001). Power: Its Uses and Abuses in the Practice of Political Science. Management Science Guide Content Team.
35. Saleem, H. (2015). The Impact of Leadership Styles on Job Satisfaction and Mediating Role of Perceived Organizational Politics. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 172(27), pp 563-569.
36. Samuel, Y. (2018). The Political Agenda of Organizations. Routledge, New York, U.S.A.
37. Shafritz, J. M., Ott, J. S., & Jang, Y. S. (2014). Classics of Organization Theory. Cengage Learning, Eighth Edition, Printed in The U.S.A.
38. Somoye, K. G. (2016). The Effects of Power and Politics in Modern Organizations and its Impact on Workers’ Productivity. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences. Vol. 6, No. 11 ISSN: 2222-6990
39. Turner, J. C. (1991). Social influence. Milton Keynes, UK: Open University Press.
40. Vigoda, E. (2000). Organizational Politics, Job Attitudes, and Work Outcomes: Exploration and Implications for the Public Sector. Journal of Vocational Behaviour, 57(3), 326-347.
41. Walyben (2021). Abuse of Power: Effects & Remedies of Abuse of Power. Political Science Copyright © Walyben Media. All Right Reserved
42. Weber, M. (1947). The Theory of Social and Economic Organization. New York: Free Press
43. Wilson, P. A. (1995). The Effects of Politics and Power on The Organizational Commitment of Federal Executives. Journal of Management, 21(1), 101-118.