Negotiating the Political Minefields

Abstract

A leader of an integrated health care information effort once told us, “I knew our project was necessary and important when suddenly everyone wanted to take it away from me.” We have all probably found ourselves in a political quagmire and wondered how we got there. This is especially true when we are “just certain” that we have covered all the bases or we consider ourselves to be a “good politician.” One often-expressed concept is that the more widespread use of information technology will stimulate the flow of information and eliminate traditional organizational hierarchies. A possible inference—or desperate hope—is that this will then reduce the amount of politics in the organization. However, more people are now realizing that information and the control of it are still key organizational “currencies.”