
Wildfires in southeastern Australia in 2009. Photo credit: U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Politics is indispensible at work. It is the means by which we resolve problems jointly, and allocate resources to achieve joint objectives. And politics has a dark side. Some political operators use political means to advance personal agendas at the expense of the organization, their colleagues, or both. What are the indicators of such behavior? How can we tell whether there is political risk to our organizations, or to our own personal well-being? Here are some indicators of political risk, emphasizing attributes of organizational culture.
- Intentionally inflicting political harm
- Political harm to others can be an unintended result of legitimate actions. Sometimes, it's unavoidable. But if someone you work with has harmed another politically, and has done so intentionally, as the primary objective of the political act, beware. That person apparently believes that such actions are within cultural norms. Maybe they are.
- Boasting about having inflicted political harm
- Someone boasting of having inflicted political harm on another could be a signal that, at least in the view of the boaster, the culture actually admires those who succeed in harming others. Such a cultural norm encourages politically motivated attacks. Watch your back.
- Bearing grudges, seeking revenge, or avoiding someone
- Harboring grudges Environments in which people
perceive an absence of procedural
justice are fertile grounds for
the tactics of toxic politicsagainst others, seeking revenge, or avoiding others, are all tactics people use when they feel wronged. People are more likely to use these tactics when they feel that "procedural justice" is unavailable. [Aquino 2006] Environments in which people perceive an absence of procedural justice are fertile grounds for the tactics of toxic politics. - Rampant bigotry
- When people act out of bigotry against a race, a sex, a sexual orientation, an age group, an ethnic group, a profession, an educational level, an alma mater, a birthplace, or whatever, and when the organizational culture tolerates those bigoted actions, the bigots will, very likely, eventually get around to discriminating against some group that you belong to.
- Rampant idolatry
- Another form of bigotry, with polarity opposite to the most common forms of bigotry, is idolatry, in which we hold members of one social group to be inherently superior to all others. Members of the favored group rarely complain. But if you don't belong to the favored group, you could be at risk.
- Feuds
- Feuds are long-running toxic conflicts between social groups. Feuds between alliances centered around members of the management team at a given level, might be an indication of the inability (or unwillingness) of more senior managers to repair the cultural defects that allow feuds to persist. Even if you aren't currently a member of a feuding faction, the culture may be such that a feud can develop that will involve your part of the organization. Be alert.
Personal attributes are another set of indicators of political risk. We'll explore these next time. Next in this series Top
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Footnotes
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Related articles
More articles on Workplace Politics:
When Others Curry Favor
- When peers curry favor with the boss, many of us feel contempt, an urge for revenge, anger, or worse.
Trying to stop those who curry favor probably isn't an effective strategy. What is?
Devious Political Tactics: Divide and Conquer, Part I
- While most leaders try to achieve organizational unity, some do use divisive tactics to maintain control,
or to elevate performance by fostering competition. Understanding the risks of these tactics can motivate
you to find another way.
Telephonic Deceptions: I
- People have been deceiving each other at work since the invention of work. Nowadays, with telephones
ever-present, telephonic deceptions are becoming more creative. Here's Part I of a handy guide for telephonic
self-defense.
Yet More Obstacles to Finding the Reasons Why
- Part III of our catalog of obstacles encountered in retrospectives, when we try to uncover why we succeeded
— or failed.
Narcissistic Behavior at Work: II
- Narcissistic behavior at work threatens the enterprise. People who behave narcissistically systematically
place their own interests and welfare ahead of anyone or anything else. In this Part II of the series
we consider the narcissistic preoccupation with superiority fantasies.
See also Workplace Politics and Devious Political Tactics for more related articles.
Forthcoming issues of Point Lookout
Coming March 29: Time Slot Recycling: The Risks
- When we can't begin a meeting because some people haven't arrived, we sometimes cancel the meeting and hold a different one, with the people who are in attendance. It might seem like a good way to avoid wasting time, but there are risks. Available here and by RSS on March 29.
And on April 5: The Fallacy of Division
- Errors of reasoning are pervasive in everyday thought in most organizations. One of the more common errors is called the Fallacy of Division, in which we assume that attributes of a class apply to all members of that class. It leads to ridiculous results. Available here and by RSS on April 5.
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Beware any resource that speaks of "winning" at workplace politics or "defeating" it. You can benefit or not, but there is no score-keeping, and it isn't a game.
- Wikipedia has a nice article with a list of additional resources
- Some public libraries offer collections. Here's an example from Saskatoon.
- Check my own links collection
- LinkedIn's Office Politics discussion group