Position Paper on Dealing with Politics in the Workplace

POSITION PAPER

ON

DEALING WITH POLITICS IN THE WORKPLACE

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

"One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors." - Plato

Everybody tries to deviate from discussing office politics. Most of us try to skip it at all costs. We usually take it in a negative sense every time. But, what actually is workplace politics. It is the use of influential power by employees to influence people or organizations, in most cases, your senior colleagues, in order to achieve gains that benefits the company or that individual. People think it as disgusting and immoral. After all, nobody wants to backstab, lie, cheat, blame and play people against each other.

Even though people avoid participating in this, they are also aware of the fact that developing political competence is a necessity. The one who figure out how to reach the internal circle are at an incredible advantage. They are known for their capability and ability to manage interpersonal relationships.

DIFFERENT SCENARIOS

There are various scenarios where people become a victim of office politics.

1. When you are a fresher and trying to make a mark in your team, you spend extra hours working and your team member, who is also a fresher, is a free-rider, tries to take credit of your hard work, just to prove himself. Since, it is a team work, it does not matter who does it as long as it is done, the free-rider fresher tries to influence his senior into believing that he has done it. Suddenly, all that hard work you have done disintegrates into a cloud of smoke.

1. A promotion is up in your department. Several of you are in contention for the promotion. This is when the office politics comes into play. In a positive way, you can show to your boss that you are suited for the position and the work and you deserve the promotion. Negatively, it could mean helping those powers to see just how inadequate your competitors are. In a negative way, you can show your boss how incompetent your competitors are. In fact, it could also mean you are sabotaging your colleague’s efforts, to make them look undeserving.

1. The issue may stem from different views on how to best proceed on some project. Or, it could be a question of whose department gets priority funding. In some cases, politics are entered into by project teams, as opposed to people, when those teams are endeavouring to accomplish some particular business related goal. Numerous teams think carefully about choices at work and this supports politics as they try to get their way. The issue might come from various perspectives on the best way to continue on some project. Alternately, it could be an issue of whose department gets priority funds.

WHY INDULGE IN POLITICS?

What comes out as a result of office politics is nothing productive. Instead, it gives way to negativity and criticism at the workplace. There are various reasons for this:

1. Without putting much effort in, people tend to depend on politics to command attention. They do not work hard and come to office just for time pass. They are basically free-riders. They resort to dirty politics. They try to portray a bad image of their fellow colleagues just to show themselves as nice people.

1. Politics can also arise out of personal relationships. This happens when employees support their friends and family at the workplace, who also happen to be the employees of the same organization. They start giving them special favours and treat them like special people.

1. When people indulge in blame games, politics is bound to happen. People always find fault in others and then they speak about it to their senior to get advantage by showing other’s faults.

1. Lack of trust of employees in each other also leads to office politics. When a fellow employee confides something with you and you go up to your boss and reveal all his secrets, then you are definitely indulging in office politics.

1. Unnecessary gossips also give way to office politics. Pulling someone’s leg, criticising, backstabbing, hatred towards others lead to politics.

1. Manipulation of information to mislead seniors also give rise to politics at workplace. Sometimes people pass on information in undesired form. This happens when there is a scarcity of resources and every employee wants to get his/her own share.

1. Lack of supervision and control by the superiors at the workplace. Sometimes seniors also try to use their position of authority to manipulate others.

People participate in office politics to get some personal benefits without effecting the organizational interests. People usually get advantages at the expense of others like discrediting a competitor. Some benefits include access to company’s tangible resources or intangible resources like status or some kind of authority that influences other’s behaviour. It can be as simple as an increased pay also.

On the flip side, engaging in organizational politics can also lead to increase in efficiency, formation of interpersonal relationships, expediting changes and profiting the organization and its members simultaneously. They do not always stem from purely selfish motives.