A good way to make sure you understand organizational politics is to practice enacting different political tactics, and to attempt to recognize these tactics portrayed by others. This exercise is designed with these objectives in mind. The more practiced you are at recognizing political activity when you see it, the better equipped you may be to defend yourself against political adversaries.

Questions for Discussion 

1. How successful was the class in identifying the various political tactics portrayed? Were some tactics more difficult to portray than others?
2. Based on these portrayals, which tactics do you believe are most likely to be used in organizations, and under what circumstances?
3. Which political tactics do you believe are most negative? Why

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Directions 1. Divide the class into groups of approximately four students each. 2. Each group should select at random one of the six major political tactics described on pages 466-467. 3. Meeting together for about 30 minutes, each group should prepare a brief role-play in which the four members enact the particular political tactic selected. These should be as realistic as possible, and not written simply to broadcast the answer. That is, the tactic should be presented much as you would expect to see it used in a real organization. 4. Each group should take a turn presenting its role-play to the class. Feel free to announce the setting or context in which your portrayal is supposed to occur. Don't worry about giving an award-winning performance; it's okay to keep a script or set of notes in your hand. The important thing is that you attempt to depict the political tactic in a realistic manner. 5. After each group presents its skit, members of the class should attempt to identify the specific political tactic depicted. This should lead to a discussion of the clues that suggested that answer and additional things that could have been done to depict the particular tactic portrayed.