Describe the role of political behavior in the leadership process and how leaders can foster or minimize political behaviors of subordinates in relation to the performance appraisal process.

All leaders engage in political behavior to influence others - sometimes ineffectively.Political behavior and organizational politics focus on efforts to protect to enhance self-interest,goals,and preferred outcomes.The drivers of political behavior include disagreements over goals,different ideas about the organization and its problems,different information about the situation,and the need to allocate scarce resources.Leaders and employees are more likely to act politically when decision-making procedures and performance measures are uncertain and complex,and competition for scarce resources is strong.Even though individual differences may contribute to political behavior,such behavior is typically more strongly influenced by aspects of the situation.Political behavior is higher when leaders reward it.Because performance of employees is not easily measured,the allocation of scarce resources (such as pay)is based on complex criteria.To minimize problems with politics in performance appraisals,leaders should develop goals and standards that are a clear and specific as possible,link specific actions and performance results to rewards,conduct structured,professional reviews,including specific examples of observed performance and explanations for ratings given,offer performance feedback on an ongoing basis,rather than once a year,acknowledge that appraisal politics exists and make this topic a focus of ongoing discussions throughout the organization.