What matters for our purposes, in our simple-model organization, is the ratio between project–skill fit and return-on-politics. We will write that ratio, which is a measure of overall organizational “fitness,” as F. In high-fitness organizations, reward systems discourage politics and employees are well matched to their roles. As a result, they are eager to spend time on their projects—building the best coffee machine. In low-fitness organizations, politics strongly influence promotion decisions and employees are poorly matched to their assignments. As a result, they are inclined to spend time
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