Organisational Politics

We are writers and practitioners in the field of management and organisation development. Over the last twenty years or so we have had the opportunity to work, or at least talk, in depth with literally thousands of managers. These managers have come from all the continents of the world, from a very broad array of backgrounds and cultures, industries and jobs. Our relationship with them arises because, by and large, they are all looking for answers to what they consider to be difficult, and sometimes intractable, management problems. The day-to-day, routine problems they solve with relative ease, drawing on their practical knowledge of what works and what does not work in the managerial world. Yet despite this depth of experience, they can appear to be confused, disillusioned and disempowered, or alternatively, sometimes unrealistically confident and buoyant. They almost always seem to be looking for models, tools and techniques to make their managerial and leadership roles easier and more fulfilling. It is not that they expect us to provide definitive answers. After all, they are usually worldly-wise people who know that organisations are too complex to be reduced to simple recipes for solving all managerial problems.