Taking a Fresh Look at the Organizational Backstage

It is widely accepted today that politics is an unavoidable dimension of organizational dynamics, exerting a substantial impact on a diversity of factors and targets. This chapter, which covers some of the main theoretical and empirical frameworks that cut across the study of politics in organizations, aims to review the literature on the subject. The authors analyze the main theoretical perspectives and lines of research that politics has concurred around, as well as make a broad discussion about the different colorings that the effects of politics can have in an organizational context. With this literature review, they hope to give a more balanced view of a dimension that has been considered the perverse backstage of organizations and the dark side of organizational behavior for years.