What Are The Different Type of Office Colleagues That You Have Encountered in Your Life?
What Are The Different Type of Office Colleagues That You Have Encountered in Your Life?
What Are The Different Type of Office Colleagues That You Have Encountered in Your Life?
Perhaps due to the negative connotation, many people see office politics as
something very much to be avoided. But the truth is, to ensure your own success and
that of your projects, you must navigate the minefield of Office Politics. If you deny
the 'bad politics' that may be going on around you, and avoid dealing with them, you
may needlessly suffer whilst others take unfair advantage. And if you avoid practising
'good politics', you miss the opportunities to properly further your own interests, and
those of your team and your cause.
To deal effectively with office politics and use it yourself in a positive way, you must
firstaccept the reality of it. Once you've done this, you then need to develop strategies
to deal with the political behavior that is going on around you. The best way to do
this is to be a good observer and then use the information you gather to build
yourself a strong network to operate in. Here are some tips:
Office Politics often circumvent the formal organization chart. Sit back and watch for
a while and then re-map the organization chart in terms of political power.
Once you know who's who in the organization, you have a good idea of where the
power and influence lay. Now you have to understand the social networks.
Now that you know how the existing relationships work, you need to build your own
social network accordingly.
Your mapping of the informal spheres of influence in the organization will have
helped you to identify those people who use others for their own purposes, and not
necessarily for the common good. It's natural to want to distance yourself from these
people as much as possible. But what can often be needed is the opposite reaction.
The expression, "Keep your friends close and your enemies closer" applies perfectly
to office politics.
Get to know these people better and be courteous to them, but always be
very careful what you say to them.
Understand what motivates these people and what their goals are, and so
learn how to avoid or counter the impact of their negative politicking.
Be aware that these people typically don't think much of their talents (that's
why they rely on aggressive politicking to get ahead).
Govern Your Own Behavior
Through observation you'll learn what works in your organization's culture and what
doesn't. Watch other people at work and identify successful behaviors that you can
model. There are also some general standards to observe that will stop negative
politics from spreading.
Your relationship with your boss is far more important than your actual
performance.
The lesson from cases of people both keeping and losing their jobs is that as
long as you keep your boss or bosses happy, performance really does not matter
that much and, by contrast, if you upset them, performance won’t save you…
How do you keep the boss happy? Ask what they want and do it.
It is much more effective for you to ask those in power, on a regular
basis, what aspects of the job they think are the most crucial and how
they see what you ought to be doing.
3) Make alliances
You can’t just do your job. You need allies.
The best predictor of team success is not smarts or effort — it’s how team
members feel about one another.
Be strategic.
Really get to know people so you can help them — and then they can help you. It
even works for future Presidents of the United States…
One of the sources of Lyndon Johnson’s success as Senate majority leader was
his assiduous attention to the details of his 99 colleagues, knowing which ones
wanted a private office, who were the drunks, who were the womanizers, who
wanted to go on a particular trip—all the mundane details that permitted him
to accurately predict how people would vote and figure out what to give each
senator to gain his or her support… far from diverting you from accomplishing
your objectives, putting yourself in the other’s place is one of the best ways to
advance your own agenda.
But it’s also a weapon and can blow up in your face. How do you play with fire?
If you make it a rule to speak only for yourself and listen only to people
speaking for themselves, most of the worst abuses can never happen.
Sometimes, people will do things because they are right or because the
rules say they should, but all in all, self-interest is a much more reliable
motivator. When you want cooperation, think carefully about what you
have to offer in return. Always let people know up front what’s in it for
them.
Learn from Winners. Pay close attention to what successful people do,
rather than judging their actions. What did the political suck-up who got your
promotion do that you aren’t doing? How about that coworker who makes more
than you?
Play Your Cards Close to Your Vest. Information is valuable. Get as much
as you can, but be choosy about what you give out…
Power in Organizations
Here is a list sources of power that may be found in organizations (Morgan, 1986), with
further commentary
Formal authority
The simplest form of power is that vested in the position of 'manager'. A manager has
subordinates who must do his or her bidding, only within legal and organizational rules.
The basic employment transaction is 'we give you money, you do as your are told'.
Of course there are many more ways that power can be exerted, and in particular in
motivating people more effectively such as is found in transformational leadership.
Control of scarce resources
Other than directing employees, managers control budgets and the assets and other
resources that the firm holds, from technology to people. A part of this control is the ability
to allocate these resources to projects and other work.
It is not unsurprising that many of the political battles in organizations is over control of
resources and 'empire-building' is a classic game, with a significant risk that organizational
goals get forgotten in the cut and thrust of winning and losing control of resources.
Use of organizational structure, rules and regulations
Organizations have hierarchies, departments, teams and other structures, often each with its
own rules as well as the rules that govern the action within the organization as a whole.
Many people do not know all of these rules, which makes them a source of power for those
who care to take time to learn their detail.
Power can also be gained from quoting rules that do not exist or misquoting rules by
overstating or understating their meaning.
Control of decision processes
Work is selected and resources are allocated by decisions, many of which are decided in
some form by groups of people. By managing how decisions are made, for example by
requiring consensus or senior-manager signoff, the power of some people may be curtailed
whilst others gain the ability to shape decisions.
When decisions are made in committee or other meetings, the person who chairs the
meeting or keeps the minutes may have notable power to control decisions.
Control of knowledge and information
Knowledge is power, as they say, and how you gather and distribute it is a source of power,
whether it is technical or social information.
Experts often work in this way, protecting their elevated status by hiding the sources of
their knowledge and exacting high prices (whether financial or social) for their learned
opinions.
Control of boundaries
The structures and groups of the organization are only so because they have boundaries
which people cross in order to access resources and meet people. Thus, for example, an
executive's Personal Assistant may have disproportionate power in the ability to allow
access or not to the executive. Likewise security guards, though not paid very much can
allow, bar or hassle people crossing their boundaries.
Ability to cope with uncertainty
A quite different source of power is personal resilience, the ability to handle uncertainty
and stress that might debilitate others. Such people can gain position by taking on work
that others fear and is a common route for upwardly-mobile go-getters who seek early
promotion.
Control of technology
Technology is (or should be) an enabler, providing data, analysis, information, access and
other benefits. Those who control what technology is used by the organization or who gets
the latest computers and software has significant power, and the person who used to be the
'IT Manager' may now be the 'Chief Information Officer'.
Having the latest technology can also be a status symbol, thereby giving the holder social
power in the way they can show themselves to be influential and clever.
Interpersonal alliances, networks and control of ‘informal organization’
Who you know makes a lot of difference. We naturally help our friends and those who
have helped us in some way in the past. Social networks are the glue of organizations and
those who build and work their informal associates can thereby gain significantly more
power.
In the time when smoking was allowed but only in special 'smoking rooms', it was often
said that this became a 'club' where the low and the high in the organization rubbed
shoulders, which no doubt gave power to the lower people in the name-dropping they could
use and and help they might get.
Control of counter-organizations
Not to every organization is there an equal and opposite counter-organization, but in the
battlefield of businesses, whole ecologies spring up, include local opposition to factory
expansion, trade unions seeking ever-increasing pay and benefits and so on. If you can
infiltrate or otherwise hold some sway over the groups who might oppose you, you may at
least be able to damp the danger they power and possibly neutralize them completely.
Symbolism and the management of meaning
We live a lot, more than perhaps we realize, in the sway of the symbols and semiotics of
the workplace. If you can recognize the subtlety and understand the workings of how
meaning is created, then you have a surprisingly powerful tool for change and influence.
Symbols and meaning-making is a particular pattern of culture, and those who would
change the underlying culture of an organization can make use of these.
Gender and the management of gender relations
In a balanced workplace, around half the people are men and half are women. In practice,
some women gravitate towards particular roles whilst men seek other work positions. The
'glass ceiling' still exists in many companies and, perhaps due to life breaks such as having
children, fewer women make it to the higher echelons.
This can lead to frustrations and energy that can be put to good and destructive use. If you
can harness this, you have power. There is also the power of sexual attraction, and tall and
shapely people continue to make good use of their physical assets.
Structural factors that define the stage of action
The 'stage of action' in organizations is set up by the organizational purpose, vision,
mission, strategy and other high-level shaping activities that lead to scenarios of activity,
from driving into new markets to struggling with organizational change.
If you can shape the direction of the organization, you have tremendous power to affect
much of what it does and consequently the futures (and power) of others in the firm.
The power one already has
Last, but certainly not least, is the power of the individual. We can be charming, willing,
obstinate and more. And we have feet we can use to leave the company at any time we
choose.
So what?
So take note! If you are feeling powerless in an organization, think again and review the above list.
Everyone has the ability to acquire and use more power than they might reasonably expect to have.