Management Information |
The Fairness of Office Politics... Integrity and Political Motivation!
I hear many complaints daily about the "unfairness" of politics in corporate America. Employees say that their managers "lie" or issue "personal attacks" against them. Indeed, based on the pure ideals that we are taught as a child, this might appear to be the case. However, the corporate culture is not the "real world" in which we live out our personal lives. Each corporate culture is its own world with its own rules and reality. To understand this, one must understand the directions and desires of this world and learn how to best adapt to achieve the vision and mission of the corporation. --- Integrity and Politics --- I have to say that the words "integrity" and "politics" do not belong in the same sentence. This is in no way an insult to corporate politicians, but politics is not a reflection of the integrity of the individual. The primary purpose of politics is to obtain a result. In some cases, management may not tell the whole truth and might apply "plausible deniability" to escape judgment. However, when an untruth is used, it is primarily to accomplish a task. In this way, managers may not "tell" you directly what needs to be accomplished, but instead they create a gap or an imbalance, which forces the necessity for change and action. The end-result is a desired outcome. Realize that, of the many reasons for this approach, one of the primary aims is to delegate responsibility to subordinates. If a manager has to constantly tell you what to do and how to perform, then they could very well perform the task themselves. This contradicts the entire purpose of your position as well as the manager's and interferes with the desired result. However, if they create an imbalance in front of you, then you must creatively solve the situation, define a path, and obtain a viable result to attain a rebalance. --- The Thin Line --- While I say that the present-day ideals of integrity do not apply to corporate politics, indeed, there are some cases where individuals do abuse their political power. As such, ethics and morals do begin to apply. Not only must you, as an employee, understand the reasons and applications of politics, but those who wield the political sword must understand how to apply their power properly without stepping over the line. The one problem that appears in this situation is in the ability to tell the difference between "a lie" and a "political detour". Indeed, it is a difficult task if you look at it in simplistic terms. However, until a person has gained some experience with corporate cultures, my standard response is, "when you're in the corporate setting, it becomes a political detour". One must not take things personally in the corporate environment, as it is not about the individual; it is about results --- plain and simple. However, the political world can step over the line by the power-hungry or untrained corporate politician. The one way to judge such an action is based on your own personal lines. If indeed a situation seems to purposefully step over into your personal life, then you must make a judgment call. Such situations can occur when your associates are able to create conflict in your personal life. The one most important lesson to learn is that one should never provide access to one's personal world within the corporate world. Indeed, for congenial interaction, it is accepted that you provide some basic information about your personal life. However, keep it simple and do not provide any information that could create issues with others. It is important to maintain a distance between the realities in your "personal world" and the realities of your "corporate world". --- How many of me are there? --- Indeed, this entire scenario can complicate one's life with the idea of maintaining two different "selves". However, to balance your world with your corporate world successfully, it is best to view your corporate world as a "sub-world" of your entire life. In all cases, all of human interaction is lumped under one world, with a multitude of sub-worlds and environments. You have your corporate world, your "buddy" world, your hobby world, and you family world, as just examples. Indeed, you experience different rules and expectations (i.e., politics) in each. Therefore, by learning the rules of the corporate sub-world, just as you have your other worlds, you can easily integrate and manage the politics to achieve greater success in your career as well as your life. --- What's next? --- In the corporate world, it is not a question of ethics or integrity; it is a question of results. Properly trained managers are able to use politics as an effective tool to obtain the results that fall in line with the corporation's vision and mission. You, as the employee, must learn how to separate your personal world from the corporate world so that you can effectively understand the purpose and direction of the corporation without falling prey to your own personal ideals. Each corporation is as much a living, breathing, and consuming being as is a human. Just as your cells fight for the survival of the human, corporate politics is not about the individual, it is about the survival of the corporation. By understanding where the line exists that separates your two worlds and adapting to the idea that political motivation is about results, then indeed, your interaction within this strange, new world will be more effective and successful. About The Author Edward B. Toupin is an author, life-strategy coach, counselor, and technical writer living in Las Vegas, NV. Among other things, he authors books and articles on topics ranging from career success through life organization and fulfillment. For more information, e-mail Edward at etoupin@toupin.com or visit his sites at http://www.toupin.com or http://www.make-life-great.com.
MORE RESOURCES: Unable to open RSS Feed $XMLfilename with error HTTP ERROR: 404, exiting |
RELATED ARTICLES
1000 Managers Turned Their Plans Into Energy! I bet you can't tell me how leadership training andstrategic planning work together to boost business resultsand energize performance improvements.A recent survey of 1000 managers conducted by the UK-basedChartered Management Institute, revealed that organizationsexperienced, "improved business performance when [theirleadership] development [programs were] linked to [their]business [strategic planning process]. Is A Bad Attitude Permanent Today there is great weight put on a person's attitude.It is as if this is something for which they are individually responsible and should be held to account for. Why We Judge Judgment is the process of forming an opinion of something by making a comparison. While judgment can play an important role in decisions we must make to live productively, sometimes the thoughts we hold are what prevent us from having what we most desire. Involving People Gave Us the Improvements We Needed We had a problem with handling materials in a production department. Our process required raw materials to enter the department, be processed, and leave the department. Plans & Goal Setting - Kicking winning Goals Kicking Winning Business Goals The competition for business is hotting up. The advances in new technology, ease of communication, and increasing expectations from customers have combined to make the marketplace more competitive than ever. The Gift of Gratitude Gratitude might seem like a soft or even an obvious subject to you. Perhaps you would rather read about a leadership lesson or a marketing approach or even a motivational technique. Knowledge Management - Leadership Behaviours Which Encourage Knowledge-Sharing The concept of knowledge management or knowledge sharing makes intellectual sense to the leadership teams in most organisations. Why wouldn't we want to learn from our successes and failures, and translate that learning into value?However, there is often a gap between the conceptual understanding, and their own behaviours as leaders - and that can be a problem?How do you engage leaders both intellectually and emotionally, in a way which will make a difference to their day-to-day behaviours? It requires more than a set of competency frameworks!The examples below are taken from the bestselling fieldbook "Learning to Fly ? Practical knowledge management from leading and learning organisations", written by Chris Collison and Geoff Parcell. Firing Someone Without Resentment Firing, sacking, letting go or terminating people is unpleasant. There are ways to minimise resentment, but why bother? Because most legal action and unpleasantness stems from dissatisfaction/resentment about the way things were handled - about how rather than what happened. Communication: Managements Responsibility I've just watched, again, an episode in the Back to the Floor television series, which aired on the BBC (United Kingdom) and PBS (United States). Once more, communication turned out to be a key issue, as it often does in business stories. 3 Innovation Keys - Do Your Innovative Efforts Need More Power? Recently, I attended a webinar with nearly 400 other Chief Learning Officers - during one polling period, we were asked what primary driving force pushes organization-wide or individual innovation - the majority agreed that leadership is that force.Indeed, those CLOs agreed innovation was the most important quality their organizations desire in teams, individuals and leaders. Narcissism in the Boardroom The perpetrators of the recent spate of financial frauds in the USA acted with callous disregard for both their employees and shareholders - not to mention other stakeholders. Psychologists have often remote-diagnosed them as "malignant, pathological narcissists". The Permissive Environment is the Suspect The permissive and participatory conduct which most employees take for granted, eventually escalates into the more serious assaultive behavior commonly referred to as employee on employee workplace violence starts with innuendos, a bad word, or simple jokes taken out of context or used to inflame another. Initiation of a proper and thorough investigation is possible under the auspices of a Threat Assessment Team. Your Company Without Training - Any Questions? Okay, be honest!Are you guilty of sticking in a few boring videos and calling it training?Do you send in your department heads to deliver a few, rushed, canned presentations and call it orientation?Are you then surprised when your new employees don't live up to your expectations, and your employee turnover numbers keep rising?What if you took the time and money that you spend on employee recruitment and put it into employee training? Would it make a difference? Would it be worth the effort?You Bet it Would!!Take, for instance, The Container Store, who has made the top of Fortune magazine's "100 Best Companies to Work For" list for the 6th year in a row! In an employee's first year they offer over 241 hours of training, far exceeding the training hours offered by other retail stores. In the next 18 months they are slated to open 5 more stores, creating over 6000 more jobs!More impressively, the retail industry averages 150% employee turnover, but The Container Store averages only 25%!!Learn also, from ACTS Retirement Life Communities, a Continuing Care Retirement Corporation, based in Pennsylvania with additional locations in Florida, Georgia and North Carolina. ISO 9001 the Process Approach to Quality Assurance What is the Process Approach to Quality?The ISO 9001 2000 standard is designed to manage and improve organizations processes. There is a great deal of misunderstanding and misinterpretation of the meaning of the process approach to Quality. Communication Mix-Up My friend Delia is the owner of a small private school. This spring her school is experiencing the crunch of reduced enrollment for next September and all staff have been asked to take a six percent salary decrease. Creativity and Innovation Management in Conservative, Staid Organisations Conservative and staid organisations generally have a harder time implementing creativity and innovation into their day-to-day work processes and people. Leaders may want to capture the benefits of creativity and innovation, yet there may be relevant and almost contradictory issues that they have to deal with, including:a) It may be that a conservative culture is desirable (may result in a greater fit with the client base, for example). Keys to Feeling Powerfull In An Uncertain World Life has always been full of uncertainties. Over the last several years with downsizing, bankruptcies, scandals, crime, the economic environment, and the threat of war, people are feeling power-less, fearful, and stressed about their present and future lives. Popular Business Misconceptions Cost You Money! Faulty information costs you money! Which of these popular business misconceptions do you believe?Popular Misconception #1:"We Only Need Our Books Done Once A Year For Tax Purposes."Are Your Accounting Records Adequate To Run Your Business?Although it is important to keep records for tax purposes, it is not the only reason (or even the primary reason) good accounting records should be kept. What To Do When Your IT Project Is Late, Over Budget, and Looks Like It's Never Going To Work Here's a scary statistic. According to four prominent research firms, only around 20% of all IT projects are finished in a timely manner. Poor Employee Performance: How to Deal KEEP WRITTEN RECORDS: "Document !Document! Document!" Keep a record of periodic performance reviews, incidents of unsatisfactory performance, conferences where warnings are administered or terminations are announced. Issue warnings and terminations in writing as well as verbally. |
home | site map | contact us |