Human Resources Management and Services 2024, 6(3), 3403. https://doi.org/10.18282/hrms.v6i3.3403 1 Review A balanced treatment of perceived organizational politics: A review of the positive influences Musa Nyathi National University of Science and Technology, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe; musa.nyathi@nust.ac.zw Abstract: Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to review literature in the area of perceived organizational politics (POPs) and to present a model that explains the positive role of the phenomenon in the workplace. This involves understanding how POPs have evolved from playing a much-publicized destructive role to an emerging constructive one. Design/methodology/approach: An integrative review method was used to review articles on POPs published over the last 13 years (2010–2022). The primary sources of information were several databases, such as ISI Web of Science, Google Scholar, and Scopus. Specific search terms were considered to find relevant articles, leading to 7803 articles (3894 hits on Scopus, 1723 hits on Google Scholar, and 2186 hits on Web of Science). These studies were further examined for their relevance to this study, and 103 articles were identified. The application of exclusion criteria funneled them to 66 studies. The articles, employing quantitative, mixed, and qualitative approaches were coded. The themes were subsequently determined. Findings: The review notes that the POPs literature emphasis is shifting from a negative and dysfunctional approach to one where positive organizational outcomes are possible. The review concludes that POPs have functional consequences too. The phenomenon could illuminate favorable workplace outcomes if viewed as an enhancer rather than a hindrance. POPs should be viewed as a phenomenon that for all purposes is essentially neutral. It is individuals who label the otherwise neutral construct as negative (negative POPs) or positive (positive POPs). Practical implications: The paper reveals how antecedents help organizational members label politics as positive. Perceived organizational politics is largely a neutral construct until the perceiver decides to label it otherwise. A positive perception of politics is significant in predicting important employee outcomes such as motivation, employee satisfaction, and job performance. Management needs to invest in antecedents and moderators to help employees label the construct as positive rather than negative. Originality/value: The study is an original review of the positive POPs literature to identify the significant antecedents, moderators, and work outcomes, vital to organizational success. Keywords: perception of organizational politics; political behavior; organizational power and politics 1. Introduction Organizations are political arenas in which their members need not only political skills and an appetite to work in such an environment but also to engage in political activities (Mintzberg, 1985). Politics is an organizational reality and participation in its activities denotes an acceptable and functional practice (Gotsis and Kortezi, 2011; Byrne et al., 2017). Organizational politics is not a concrete and objective concept. Employee behaviors are a response not to actual organizational politics (Chang et al., 2009) but to their perception of what they think organizational politics is like at the time. This study uses Richardsen, et al.’s (2016) definition of organizational politics CITATION Nyathi M. (2024). A balanced treatment of perceived organizational politics: A review of the positive influences. Human Resources Management and Services. 6(3): 3403. https://doi.org/10.18282/hrms.v6i3.34 03 ARTICLE INFO Received: 3 December 2023 Accepted: 31 January 2024 Available online: 22 February 2024 COPYRIGHT Copyright © 2024 by author(s). Human Resources Management and Services is published by PiscoMed Publishing Pte. Ltd. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/4.0/