Organization politics can be seen as a game in which players compete for different kinds of territory such as status, power, and influence.

In Power, Politics and Organizational Change, David Buchanan and Richard Badham ask: What's the relevance of politics to change and innovation? What kind of game is this? What, if any, are the rules? How is the game played? What ethical issues arise? Should one play this game to win, and if so, how? How can you develop political expertise?

The third edition has been thoroughly updated and revised. This includes discussion of current trends heightening the importance of developing political will and skill in a post-truth era, the rise of 'new power', the role of 'BS busting', the power of storytelling, and the politics of speaking up.

About the Author
David is Emeritus Professor of Organizational Behaviour at Cranfield University School of Management, and Visiting Professor at Nottingham Business School. He works freelance as a consultant, speaker, and author, specializing in change management and organization politics. He has a Doctorate in Organizational Behaviour from Edinburgh University, was Director of Loughborough University Business School from 1992 to 1995, has held visiting posts in Australian and Canadian management schools, and has worked often in Australia and Sweden. Dr Richard J Badham is Professor of Management in the Macquarie Business School Graduate School of Management. He writes, consults and teaches on leadership and change. He is the author of the forthcoming book Ironies of Organizational Change (Edward Elgar, 2020), and is co-author of 'Fire, Snowball, Mask and Movie: How Leaders Ignite and Sustain Change author (HBR 2011). He specializes in the use of storytelling, drama and arts-based interventions. He has been a Visiting Professor at the Yale Centre for Cultural Sociology, a Von Humboldt Senior Fellow at the Technical University, Berlin, and consultant to numerous companies including BHP, Ford and Chris O'Brien Lifehouse, and the European Commission, West German, Australian and Brunei governments.

Reviews

"It is foolish to ignore or marginalise the role of power and politics in organisational change, yet many practitioners and academics do just that. Fortunately, this must-read book addresses these issues in a clear, concise and practical manner. The first two editions of this book were excellent and very welcome. This edition provides a timely update, building on the quality of the previous editions, especially in terms of its reinterpretation of Machiavelli's work. I would strongly recommend it to anyone involved in change, whether student, academic or practitioner."

-- Professor Bernard Burnes
"It is an original, well written, frank and insightful book that combines academic knowledge with a good and valuable sense of the realities of organisational life and change projects."
-- Professor Mats Alvesson

"Long regarded as a realist's guide to management (as opposed to much of the management literature that often appears to have a reality deficit ion its recipes for success), Power, Politics and Organizational Change is now in its third edition. It really is a new improved version and bang up to date. A new generation of students, introduced to the necessity of political skills, entrepreneurship and power steering, will be better able to navigate the potholes and pratfalls of the corporate landscape and its rhetoric as a result of reading this book and thus be better agents of change or resistance to its more outlandish claims."

-- Professor Stewart Clegg



Book Information
ISBN 9781526458919
Author David Buchanan
Format Paperback
Page Count 344
Imprint Sage Publications Ltd
Publisher Sage Publications Ltd
Weight(grams) 580g