Abstract:
This study is an assessment of the impact of organizational politics on university academic staff performance in Edo State, it sought to: ascertain the extent to which organizational politics influence organizational activities in Nigerian Universities, determine the effect of organizational politics on staff performance in the Universities, identify the extent to which organizational politics affect the commitment of staff in the Universities, assess the impact of organizational politics on employee recruitment and selection in the sampled universities and investigate the impact of organizational politics on staff reward management in Universities. Three universities, one federal, one state and a private university were selected, and a sample size of 346 was drawn from a total population of 2,464 using the Taro Yamane sample size determination formula. Five hypotheses were tested at 5% level of significance using Friedmans chi-square test and the results indicated the presence of organizational politics in the sampled universities. Specific findings are: Organizational politics to a large extent influences organizational activities in Nigerian Universities, organizational politics result in poor staff performance in Universities, organizational politics to a large extent affects the commitment of staff in Universities, organizational politics significantly reduces the quality of employee recruitment and selection carried out in the sampled Universities, organizational politics has significant impact on staff reward management in Universities. This study recommends amongst other things that management should acknowledge the presence of organizational politics and work towards reducing its negative impact, closer monitoring of political machinations in universities especially in the areas of staff recruitment and selection and staff reward management should be done to avoid reduction in staff commitment and finally that the positive potential gains of politics be harnessed and employed to champion causes and policies that will facilitate achieving university goals and objectives.
