ABSTRACT
The concept of organizational politics was analyzed in the previous chap ters from an objective viewpoint, that is, as a phenomenon that may be revealed to an observer who is neither a member nor a stakeholder of the organizations under consideration. This is the way in which a social researcher, for example, “measures” politics and assesses its strength, its prevalence, and its observable expressions in organizations. This perspective is typical for a school of thought that prefers to deal with the phenomenon of politics in the realm of organiza tions in terms of actions and interactions, rather than in terms of perceptions and interpretations of others’ intentions and behaviors.
