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ORGANIZATIONS & OFFICE POLITICS

Office politics is often associated with dirty, manipulative game-playing used by those in power, those who want to get more power, and those who want to control power in organizations. Unfortunately, this image can inhibit a lot of extremely competent people, especially women, from rising to the top in organizations because they don’t want to get their own hands dirty or to grovel.

But office politics also involves recognizing that in any group of people there is a constant (and normal) jostling process going on while people continue to work together with a common aim. Where there is good management, there is genuine empathy, respect and courtesy shown towards other people, which makes this a constructive process. Destructive office politics occurs in organizations that are obsessed with pitting one employee against another and where those at the top use secrecy, manipulation, bullying, intimidation and power to cover up for their own inadequacies both in management and in interpersonal relationship skills.

Unless you are fully prepared for the stress and are well supported by others with some kind of effective power, don’t waste your energy trying to change such organizations, because the structure that is supporting such destructive practices will turn on you. Put your head down and do your job, but seek employment elsewhere as fast as you can. In any organization however, you need to be aware of ‘how the system works’ in order to survive and thrive!

Consider the organization’s expectations for example:

· How long do people work?

· What is the code regarding lunchbreaks, tea-breaks (if any), and dress?

· What is the policy on taking holidays (do people take them all at once, at certain times or in part to suit the boss?)?

· How do people address each other?

Then think about the formal organizational structure:

· Who answers to whom?

· What are the different roles and job specifications of different people?

· Who has the power to do what?

Understanding the informal organizational structure can be more important than knowing the formal network

	Who talks to whom?
	Who lunches with whom?
	Who really has power in the organization?
	Who socializes outside the office?
	Who has influential contacts (media, business, personal) outside the organization?
	Who likes whom?
	Who is isolated or actively rejected?

Gatekeepers to power: These are the personal assistants and secretaries who are often inadequately paid and poorly recognized despite what they do, and are resentful because of it. This can make them difficult and manipulative, with a compulsion to exercise what little power they have by controlling who sees their boss. The long hours they spend with their boss can give them a professional and personal intimacy, with enormous influence over the boss’s perceptions of different employees.

You have to get these people actively on your side or at least make sure they are not actively against you. As long as they don’t see you as a threat to their boss and hence their own power - this is pretty simple to do by being polite and courteous. Recognize their power by asking for their opinion or help. A little bit of recognition can pay handsomely.

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In short:

	A sense of personal control is essential to your happiness, but don’t make the mistake of thinking that you are in total control of (and to blame for) everything that happens to you.
	The other side of the coin is to not see yourself as a helpless victim, with zero influence over your life.
	Be aware, and develop a sound understanding. of the links between events, thoughts and feelings.
	It helps to say in your self-talk: ‘I don’t have to do this — I choose to’.
	Simplify your life by separating the essential from the unnecessary.
	Don’t allow yourself to become the ‘fixer' for other people’s problems. And don’t be anybody’s scapegoat.
	Establish clear and reasonable personal boundaries and stick to them.
	Claim the ten articles of the Assertive Bill of Rights — they are yours.
	Learn how to use the assertive option that respects you as well as others.

Extract from "The 12 Secrets of Health and Happiness" by Louise Samways
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