www.ccsenet.org/jpl Journal of Politics and Law Vol. 4, No. 1; March 2011 Published by Canadian Center of Science and Education 199 Individual Political Behavior in Organizational Relationship Abdul Latif Department of Management Sciences, Abbasia Campus The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Punjab, Pakistan E-mail: drabdullatif@hotmail.com Zain Ul Abideen (Corresponding author) Department of Management Sciences, Abbasia Campus The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Punjab, Pakistan E-mail: zuabideen@gmail.com Muhammad Suhail Nazar Department of Management Sciences, Abbasia Campus The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, Punjab, Pakistan E-mail: suhail_nazar@yahoo.com Abstract This paper attempts to explain individual’s political behaviour in organizations. It also suggests that as organization theory neglects individual’s political behavior within organizations, so, individual political behavior in organizational context is explored using three key dimensions of political behaviors: internal-external, vertical-lateral and legitimate-illegitimate. A pattern based on these dimensions is proposed thus concluding that individual’s practice politicking for a variety of reasons e.g. power, resources, knowledge, authority and securing their positions. Keywords: Individual political behavior, Organizational theory, Dimensions of political behaviour Introduction It is generally believed that politics affect many decisions in life, although their intensity differs, but this fact cannot be denied that politics exists in workplace also. Different people describe workplace politics in diverse ways. Some people enjoy considering themselves as a part of those in power, while a lot of dread it, given that politics in workplace are not easy to deal with (Joan Marques, 2009). The May 2007 edition of HR Focus reports (HR Focus, 2007): “At heart, office politics involve jockeying for position in a workplace setting. While gossip in the workplace can be harmless, it becomes political when the goal is to gain advantage” (HR Focus, 2007, p. 8). The article further states: ‘‘Another sign that office politics are a problem is when important decisions are made without company-wide input’’ (HR Focus, 2007, p. 8). Organizational politics are “those actions not officially approved by an organization taken to influence others to meet one’s personal goals” (Greenberg and Baron, 1997) and would appear to be inevitable in organisational life (Susan Curtis, 2003). “Organizational politics have emerged in the last decade as a field of growing value and relevance for understanding managerial processes” (Vigoda, 2002, p. 571). Politicking is one of the options available for people who desire to influence decisions in organizations (Prasad, 1993). In any organization, it is not very difficult to find a person or group(s) indulging to influence decisions e.g. impression management and power coalitions etc. to either keep or supplement their personal interests, especially, if their organization is typified by uncertainty, lack of resources and lack of mutual conviction. Even though, organizational politics can work either for or against an organization, but sometimes it is called dysfunctional due to its potential power to disturb firm’s efficiency and effectiveness (Kacmar et al., 1999). Politics at whatever level is practiced in firms consumes time, confines information sharing and develops communication obstacles (Eisenhardt and Bourgeois, 1988). Any organizational life, which is prevalent with politics, is very stressful to work in, contribute less for promoting favourable job characteristics, and have high employee turnover (June M.L.Poon, 2003). Froman (1962) defined Political behavior in organizations “as those activities that are not required as part of one's organizational role but that influence, or attempt to influence, the distribution of advantages and disadvantages within the organization”. This definition also highlights that individual political