Political Behavior at Hewlett Packard (HP)

Order Description

All оrganіzations havе internal politics. However, most organizations keep their political battles private and it is rare that the public will know the details about
political intrigue within the major corporations. However, Hewlett-Packard (HP) is rare in that its political battles were waged publicly. HP will make for an ideal
case study both because of the intense political behavior occurring at the top and because many articles have been written about these political battles.
HP has been through five CEOs since 2005, and each change of CEO has been controversial. The drama started in 2005 when then CEO Carly Fiorina was under attack from
several members of HP’s Board of Directors. Some board members even took the dispute public by leaking information to the press. Fiorina fought back by investigating
the leaks, but ultimately lost the battle and was ousted as CEO. Her replacement, Patricia Dunn, continued to investigate leaks by the board through the use of private
investigators. Even more controversy emerged when it was discovered that the investigators used the method of “pretexting” in order to obtain phone records of board
members.
Case Assignment
For this assignment, make sure to first carefully review the background materials regarding the causes of political behavior, types of political behavior, and the
ethics of political behavior. Examples of the causes of political behavior include competition for resources, ambiguous organizational goals, lack of trust, and
performance factors. Examples of types of political behavior include blaming others, selectively distributing information, managing impressions, and forming
coalitions. Regarding ethics, consider the three main factors:
Does the political action violate individual rights?
Does it improve the welfare of those involved?
Does it increase distributive justice?

Once you have finished reviewing the background materials and have completed your research on HP’s internal politics, write a 4- to 5-page paper addressing the
following issues:
What individual and organizational factors of HP and its senior leaders led to the intense political behavior? Refer to some of the specific factors discussed on pages
877-883 of Robbins (1997) that you think apply the most to HP in this situation.
What types of political behaviors did HP’s board members and CEOs exhibit? Be specific and use the types of political behaviors discussed in pages 297-301 of Luthans
et al. (2015).
Were the leaks to the press by members of the board ethical? Was the investigation by Patricia Dunn into the links ethical? Use the ethical framework discussed on
pages 896-898 of Robbins (1997) to guide your answer.