The organizations political landscape starts from the top. Who ever leads the organization will not only form the landscape but also have an impact on the rules (more on that later). The political landscape is the formal hierarchy, informal hierarchy and alternative hierarchies that connect the political players together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Formal Hierarchy<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n In most organizations, this is the organizational chart that defines the reporting structure and who works for whom. It\u2019s the first indicator of how the organization is setup politically and can bring to light a lot about how the landscape is first formed. Consider some of these ideas when looking at your organizations reporting structure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As you can see, there are several different organizational hierarchies and each has it\u2019s own distinct political challenges. Most organizations tend to be a hybrid and that adds an even more interesting dynamic to the political landscape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Informal Hierarchy<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n All organizations have an informal hierarchy that runs parallel to the formal one. This informal hierarchy is built at all levels and comes about by people working together. By working together, people within the organization know the go to people for vital items. These people are the organizational gatekeepers that have some political power by the nature of their position or reputation. It\u2019s pretty obvious who these people are because they may control an executives schedule, are critical to a legacy system or know all the office gossip.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Alternate Hierarchy<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n This is similar to the informal hierarchy but more formal in the sense that it\u2019s usually associated with the matrix type organizations where there is a lot \u201cdotted line\u201d reporting. Dotted line reporting is when you have more than one boss. The dotted line means that you are responsible for some aspects of someone else\u2019s project but they don\u2019t write your review. This alternative hierarchy can be a powerful political lever. It usually taps into a different part of the organization and your dotted line boss can sometimes be a valuable tool when your interests are aligned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Information links the Landscape<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Within this political landscape, the main linkage between everything is the availability to and the flow of information. Information is a precious commodity. The worth of this commodity naturally rises and falls as the political landscape shifts up and down all of these hierarchies. It is important to realise that you are a player in this landscape. Where you fit in and what power or influence your position and linkages have will be just as important as your ability to use that influence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The organizations political landscape starts from the top. Who ever leads the organization will not only form the landscape but also have an impact on the rules (more on that later). The political landscape is the formal hierarchy, informal hierarchy and alternative hierarchies that connect the political players together. Formal Hierarchy In most organizations, this…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-104260","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n