The Politicization of Organizations

The Politicization of Organizations

In the evolving landscape of contemporary business, the boundaries between organizations and the socio-political sphere have become increasingly blurred. Organizations, once mostly driven by profit, now more frequently actively assume participatory roles in socio-political matters. This transformation encompasses a spectrum of engagement, ranging from corporate social responsibility practices to organizations venturing into socio-political advocacy – including addressing issues entirely unrelated to their core business objectives.

While the effects of these shifts are often scrutinized from an external standpoint, such as examining their impact on potential consumers and their consumer behavior, the impact within the organization is equally worthy to explore. It is imperative for organizations to grasp the internal implications of these trends and to develop the capacity to manage them.

Further, it has become evident that many business-external socio-political events (for example, political elections) have significant impacts on organizations and their members – especially within the workplace. This underscores the need for organizations to recognize and address the influence of socio-political events within their own four walls.

Our illustrative research interests encompass:

• Corporate Socio-Political Advocacy and Its Implications: Investigating how socio-political advocacy by organizations influences employees and teams within the organizational structure.
• Leadership in the Era of Politicization: Examining leadership in times of heightened socio-political engagement.
• The Influence of Socio-Political Events on Employees: Delving into how highly salient socio-political events affect the work environment and employee well-being.
• Social Polarization and Minority Employees: Analyzing the impact of social polarization on minority employees and their experiences within organizations.
• Political Alignment and Organizational Identification: Exploring the alignment (or misalignment) of employees' political beliefs with their identification with the organization.

We are open to collaboration with industry partners, offering our expertise to help organizations navigate and manage the complexities of politicization trends. Our evaluations are conducted using state-of-the-art quantitative and qualitative research methods.

If you are interested in our research area ‘The Politicization of Organizations’, please get in touch with us and contact Tiziana Schopper (t.schopper@lmu.de; 089-2180-9547).