Political issues Social Issues
The lack of homogeneity in the Indian population causes division between different sections of the people based on religion, region, language, caste and race. This has led to the rise of political parties with agendas catering to one or a mix of these groups.
Some parties openly profess their focus on a particular group, for example, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam's focus on the gravid population and the Shiv Sena's pro-Marathi agenda. Some other parties claim to be universal in nature, but tend to draw support from particular sections of the population, for example, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (translated as National People's Party) has a vote bank among the Yadav and Muslim population of Bihar and the All India Trinamool Congress does not have any significant support outside West Bengal. The Bharatiya Janata Party, the party with the second largest number of MPs in the 15th Lok Sabha, has an image of being pro-Hindu and anti-Muslim and antiChristian. Such support from particular sections of the population affects the agenda and policies of such parties and refute their claims of being universal representatives. The Congress may be viewed as the most secular party with a national agenda, however it also practices vote bank politics to gain the support of minorities, especially Muslims.
The narrow focus and votebank politics of most parties, even in the central government and central legislature, sidelines national issues such as economic welfare and national security. Moreover, internal security is also threatened as incidences of political parties instigating and leading violence between two opposing groups of people is a frequent occurrence.
Economic Issues
Economic issues like poverty, unemployment, development are main issues that influence politics. Garibi hatao (eradicate poverty) has been a slogan of the Indian National Congress for long. The Bharatiya Janata Party is seen as a party favourable to businesses and economic development. The Communist Party of India has a left-wing view of economics and is opposed to privatization, globalization and foreign investments. The economic policies of most other parties do not go much further than providing populist subsidies and reservations. As a noteworthy case, the manifesto of the Samajwadi Party, the third largest party in the 15th Lok Sabha, for the 2009 general elections promised to reduce the use of computers upon being elected.
Law and Order
Religious violence, terrorism, Naxalism and caste-related violence are major issues that affect the political scene of India. Stringent anti-terror legislations like TADA, POTA and MCOCA have received much political attention, both in favour as well as criticism.
Law and order issues such as action against organized crime are not issues that affect the outcomes of elections. On the other hand, there is a criminal-politician nexus. Many elected legislators have criminal cases against them. In July 2008 Washington Times reported that nearly a fourth of the 540 Indian Parliament members faced criminal charges, "including human trafficking, immigration rackets, embezzlement, rape and even murder
Organizational/Workplace Politics Definition
Organizational politics is the management of influence to obtain ends not sanctioned by the organization or to obtain sanctioned ends through non-sanctioned means. The important point to emphasize about organizational politics is the legitimacy of both the outcomes and the methods used to achieve them.
Political Activities may be classified by political outcomes and political methods. Political methods may be divided into organizational approval and organizational disapproval. Political outcomes may be positive or negative. These classifications can result in the following:
Table 15.2: Political outcome
|
Classification |
Definition |
Example |
|
Approved methods and approved outcomes |
Used to achieve sanctioned outcomes |
Product development agrees to speed up production of a prototype because marketing has learned that a competitor is ahead in its product development activity. |
|
Approved methods and unapproved outcomes |
Organization's rules are followed to achieve organizationally undesirable out-comes. |
Manager covers up the drug addiction of a subordinate by giving him an overseas assignment. |
|
Unapproved methods and approved outcomes |
Pursuit of valued outcomes by using questionable methods. |
Production Unit might hoard supplies, or order excessive amounts of raw materials, to ensure steady production operations. |
|
Unapproved methods and unapproved outcomes. |
Most fragrant form of political activity in organizations |
Inside trader's shifts funds in his personal portfolio to purchase stock in a company which is the target of a secret take-over bid. |
How Managers Play Politics
l. Whistle-Blowing
2 Line versus staff ' Conflict
3 Sponsorship and
' coalition-building
Goes to authority bypasses the organizational hierarchy of authority. Withhold information, gaining access to executives, building better images and increasing centrality.
Attaching to someone with power.
4 Insurgency or resisting ' authority
'Following the letter of the law' or interpreting and enforcing policies in a manner unintended by management.
Politics
India is the largest democratic country. It gives its citizens the highest degree of freedom of expression when compared to any other country. Its prominent features "Unity in Diversity" and "Diversity in Unity" reveal the strength of the nation. Beyond this, India is a secular and multilingual nation.
The present scenario of Indian politics is changing in these days. Up to 1990's national parties play a major role in the national wide politics and regional politics. But now a days regional parties have taken the effort of the development of their region. This indirectly affects the national's integrity. This in turn increases the hereditary politics in a particular region.
There are many political parties in India. Some are of National status like the BJP and Congress, LEFT....and many are of Regional status like AIADMK, DMK, RJD, Akali Dal, etc.
India currently faces three major problems that are stalling the bandwagon of its normal routine: inflation, the Gujjar agitation and the Gorkha (Gurkha) agitation.
The ruling United Progressive Alliance Government (as known as the Center or Union Government) is grappling with the problem of inflation, which is heading toward double digits—an alarming figure for any developing economy. The much-hyped "dream team" that consists of the deputy chairman of the Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh—better known as an eminent economist—is expected to perform with élan in containing the dreaded problem of inflation.
Inflation can primarily be blamed on rising crude oil and food prices. Gasoline is sold at $4 per gallon in the United States and at 55 rupees per liter in India and is becoming elusive to a common person's reach. The rise in food prices is attributed to the fall in the production of food commodities, which otherwise rests on the factor of agricultural lands being converted to the production of bio-fuels. If comment by President Obama is to be taken seriously, the Indians are to blame for rising food costs, as the food shortages are due to high Indian consumption, but any novice would shrug off the comment as very naïve. The UPA Govt. encouraged women's participation in politics. This historic bill giving 33% reserve to women face heavy opposition in the initial stage.
The Bt brinjal debate has featured technological worries relating to genetically modified crops, which appear relatively minor in comparison to the critical issue of who controls Indian agriculture and therefore who controls food security in India.
A Workgroup may refer to (i) a peer-to-peer Windows computer network.
(ii)a group of people working together toward a common goal, also known as a working group. (iii)the web2.0 workgroup, a group of blogs covering Web 2.0.
c )a Courtroom Workgroup, an informal arrangement between a criminal prosecutor, criminal defense attorney and the judicial officer.
Creating Culture
• Characteristics of Organizations that Develop High Ethical Standards
- High tolerance for risk
- Low to moderate in aggressiveness
- Focus on means as well as outcomes
• Managerial Practices Promoting an Ethical Culture
- Being a visible role model.
- Communicating ethical expectations.
- Providing ethical training.
- Rewarding ethical acts and punishing unethical ones.
- Providing protective mechanisms.
Creating a Customer-Responsive Culture
• Key Variables Shaping Customer-Responsive Cultures
- The types of employees hired by the organization.
- Low formalization: the freedom to meet customer service requirements.
- Empowering employees with decision-making discretion to please the customer.
Fig. 15.1: Limiting the Effects of Political Behaviour
- Good listening skills to understand customer messages.
- Role clarity that allows service employees to act as "boundary spanners."
