ORGANIZATIONAL POLITICS AND PERFORMANCE OUTCOMES IN MULTICHOICE NIGERIA LIMITED, LAGOS

Abstract

Organizational politics has become a real concern in modern work places, especially in places that are competitive, where employee performance ends up sort of deciding how successful the organization becomes. In this study, the relationship between organizational politics and performance outcomes was examined in MultiChoice Group, Lagos, Nigeria. Organizational politics was treated in terms of favoritism, biased decision- making, and those ongoing workplace power struggles, while performance outcomes were looked at through employee productivity, organizational efficiency, and job commitment. The whole study was pushed by worries that political behavior, within organizations may slowly weaken fairness, motivation, and the general effectiveness of work systems.  A descriptive survey research design was used. Data were gathered from 160 employees, and out of that, 140 valid responses were analyzed with descriptive plus inferential statistics, including correlation, as well as multiple regression analysis, at a 0.05 level of significance. The results showed that favoritism significantly lowers employee productivity. It also indicated that biased decision-making hits organizational efficiency negatively, and that workplace power struggles significantly reduce job commitment.  Overall, the study concludes that organizational politics has a significant negative effect on performance outcomes in MultiChoice Group, Lagos, Nigeria. Based on equity theory and social exchange theory, it is recommended that the organization adopt transparent, merit-based human resource practices, along with stronger organizational controls, so political behavior can be reduced and employee performance can improve.