Dimwit’s Guide To Office Politics
From Jim Schumacher
Smashwords Edition Copyright © 2010 by SelfMadeEasy.com, Inc.
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Table Of Contents
Chapter One–What is Office Politics?
Who is concerned by office politics?
What are the objectives of people who resort to office politics?
Chapter Two–Underhanded tactics of office politics exposed
Tactics to make themselves look good
Tactics to help them avoid looking bad:
Tactics to make others look bad
Chapter Three–The Deeper roots–what really makes office politicians tick
Chapter Four–The Ravages of Office Politics
The person who is the target of office politics
Lack of friendship and support
Chapter Five–Your action plan for surviving and thriving in the office
Rub the K-27 acupuncture point
Strike a proper balance about your own competence
Your attitude towards others in general
Chapter Six How to tell when someone is using underhanded methods?
Chapter Seven–Heading them off at the pass: The Job Interview
Chapter Eight–When it's better to walk away
Introduction
So you finally got that new job you had applied for. Congratulations. You've studied and trained in your field, and now you're ready to show the world what you can do.
But wait. You're not alone. You have 5 employees under your responsibility, there are 4 others on your level, and a director who is under another director, who is under The Big Boss. And it doesn't take you long to discover that the idyllic image of cooperation and harmony that the personnel director who hired you so eloquently described is, well, not exactly accurate.
You come into a room where your subordinates are talking, and suddenly the room goes silent; one becomes very busy, another looks uncomfortable and embarrassed, and another quickly masks a fleeting look of outright hostility with an insincere smile.
Your peers in the corporate hierarchy are outwardly friendly, but you sense a certain distrust. The one who was supposed to fill you in on things you need to know about company procedures always has something more urgent to do, another makes sarcastic remarks aimed at making you feel like a bumbling idiot, another is permanently angry at all superiors and expects you to loyally agree with him at all times and considers you a traitor if you don't.
As for your director, he makes snide remarks about his superiors in their absence, but is all fawning smiles whenever any of them shows up in person. And he expects you to behave the same way with him. He gives you more work than you can reasonably handle, and enjoys pointing out your mistakes.
You feel lost and worried. You were given all the right training to be a competent accountant, secretary, or computer programmer, but no one gave you the manual that explained how to deal with all of these kinds of people.
Well, we are about to repair that omission. In the following pages, you will discover what you so desperately need to know about the seemingly mysterious behavior of many of the people you will come into contact with in the course of your career. You will find out what drives them, what their favorite tactics are, and how you can stay above the fray and counter those tactics without resorting to them yourself.
Chapter One–What is Office Politics?
The first definition in the dictionary for the word “politics” is “the art or science of government or governing,” but if we read on a bit further, we find: “intrigue or maneuvering within a political unit or group in order to gain control or power,” and then “the often internally conflicting interrelationships among people in a society.”
So when we say that politics and offices go together, we are recognizing the difficulties that people have getting along together in a group, and the great possibility of at least some of them using underhanded methods to gain ascendancy over the others.
Now this does not mean that all offices will necessarily be hotbeds of political maneuvering and below-the-belt tactics, but at the same time, we must be aware that this tendency exists and be prepared for it if we should find it. Burying our heads in the sand and pretending it doesn't exist will not make it go away.
Who is concerned by office politics?
Short answer: everyone. This is not a cynical insinuation that everyone uses them, but rather a reminder that even those who don't use them may come across them at any time, either as a victim or an observer.
Also keep in mind that, even though this book is mainly concerned with the office environment, no group is entirely immune to them. Associations, those with noble objectives or simple clubs devoted to leisure activities, scientific institutions, cultural organizations, schools, churches: they all have one thing in common–they bring people together in groups, and no matter how noble or innocent their objectives are, they can all become the scene where the drama of power struggles are likely to play out.
Within the office, there is usually a hierarchy: first, a director, superior, team leader, CEO, etc. This person has people under his direction and responsibility. And then there are the members of the team, who are in the position of equals in regard to one another, but in a subordinate position in relation to the director. We must keep this in mind, because the political strategies used will be different depending on the hierarchical relationships of the people involved.
What are the objectives of people who resort to office politics?
People who resort to office politics can have quite valid goals; very often they do it in order to get a promotion or a raise. Or a person who is in a position of responsibility doesn't want to see someone else come along and take over their position. Or they might want others to have a favorable opinion of them. Well, who doesn't? That's perfectly normal and natural.
Or they might want to influence others. That too is just a part of living, from parents who want their children to eat their vegetables (a spoonful for Mommy, now a spoonful for Aunt Bertha…) to a high school girl who wants to get the football captain to ask her out, to a director who wants her employee to finish a project by a certain date.
While there's no harm in any of the above desires, there is harm caused when people choose to use means that hurt others. When a promotion is obtained by destroying the reputation of one's rival, or a director uses unwarranted pressure to get the project done, or when parents use humiliation to influence their children, there's something wrong. While the person who is perpetrating the harm may believe that the end justifies the means, the person on the other end of the stick has a different view of the situation.