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In Search of a Unified Definition of Organisational Political Behaviour: Evidence for a Multi-Level Approach*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 September 2015

Charmine E. J. Härtel  and
Melissa E. Berry
Charmine E. J. Härtel*
Affiliation:
The University of Queensland
Melissa E. Berry
Affiliation:
University of Tulsa
*
Graduate School of Management, The University of Queensland, Brisbane Queensland 4072 Australia, Email: C.HARTEL@GSM.UQ.EDU.AU
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Abstract

Despite thousands of years of interest, there is no standardised definition of organisational politics. This paper attempts to integrate different accounts of organisational politics through the development of a multi-level definition. A two-stage field study showed that political activities observed in the workplace can be fully captured by defining organisational politics relative to organisational efficiency at the level of the organisation, the group and the individual.

Keywords

• Organisational political behaviour (OPB)• Multilevel analysis
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Management & Organization , Volume 5 , Issue 1 , January 1999 , pp. 26 - 34
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press and Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management 1999

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Footnotes

*

The authors gratefully acknowledge Victor Callan for his thoughtful comments on an earlier version of this manuscript. Special appreciation is also expressed to David Berry for organising access to the field site used in this research.

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