ABSTRACT
Politics in caregiving organizations is much like what occurs elsewhere. Individuals strive for power, position and prestige. They align with influential others to move ahead their projects and interests. They join with others in formal groups or informal coalitions. They seek to acquire, enhance and use power and other resources to obtain their preferred outcomes. Such activities may be quite rational. They can define a process by which scarce resources are allocated to people and ideas that gain enough influence and constituents to emerge as acceptable paths through ambiguity and uncertainty. Political behavior is then a process by which organization members vet possible directions; those ultimately selected are those that serve the interests of the most (or the most important) constituencies.
