Based on an internal focus of individual OB foundations, we move to a more external focus of OB topics, including power, organizational politics, negotiation, conflict, and stress. Whether you have a positive or negative attitude toward power and organizational politics, they are a reality of organizational life that is important to performance. For our purposes, power is the ability to influence others’ behavior.

Politics is the process of gaining and using power. Power and politics are often viewed negatively because some people abuse them using unethical behavior. But power and politics in and of themselves are neither good nor bad; it’s how they are used. Managers need ethical power and politics to meet organizational objectives. The fundamental concept in social science is power, in the same way energy is the fundamental concept in physics.

Let’s admit it—we all have a desire for influence, as we try to influence people at work and off the job to get what we want every day. A positive way to view politics is to realize that it is simply a medium of exchange. Like money, it is simply a means of getting what we want—meeting objectives. In an organization, politics is the medium of exchange—if you do this for me, I’ll do that for you.