Mastering Organizational Politics and Power

The purpose of this course is to explore, enhance, and expand the participants' competence in organizational politics. Students will observe political dynamics as they occur in their own organizations and will interview senior managers in other organizations to learn how political realities vary from one organization to another. Theoretical ideas about a dimension of organizational politics of particular interest to each individual participant will be analyzed in a term paper. In addition, each participant will keep a personal diary of political dynamics in his or her own workplace. The course will also explore ways to master the political skills of networking, negotiating, influencing, leading, and following, as well as developing a political strategy.