Perceptions of Organizational Politics: Should Teleworkers Beware?

Abstract

Drawing from telework and organizational politics literature, this case study of a sales team at Midwest Global Manufacturing (MGM) sought to understand whether the work location of office-based employees and teleworkers influenced their perceptions of organizational politics (POP). The commonly held belief was that given the numerous outcome differences teleworkers experience, they would also have dissimilar POP. However, after a thorough examination of the case study data, we concluded that in the context of MGM, there is no difference in POP between office-based employees and teleworkers. This study is an important contribution because neither the teleworking literature nor the organizational politics literature addresses differences in POP between office-based employees or teleworkers. Yet, many companies have teleworking policies and a mix of teleworkers and office-based employees. Managers and employees alike should consider this study to ensure that both teleworkers and office-based workers can universally achieve a positive perception when utilizing the political system.