Rhetoric of Game: Utilizing the Game of Tavistock Method on Organizational Politics Training

Abstract

The Tavistock method, commonly known as group relations, was originated from the work of British psychoanalyst Wilfred Ruprecht Bion. The Tavistock method's basic premise is that an aggregate cluster of persons becomes a group when interaction between members occurs. Within a group, there is organizational politics, and there are two features of organizational politic that should be considered when investigating its relationships with employee attitudes and behaviors. First, perceptions are more important than reality. Second, organizational politics may be interpreted as either beneficial or detrimental to an individual's well-being. Thus, organizational politics perceptions may result in differing responses to organizational policies and practices depending on whether politics are viewed as an opportunity or as a threat. How well one survives within an organization is correlated with how well one navigates these organizational politics. The Tavistock method is utilized as a game to assess and train individuals on organizational politics.