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Is Organizational Politics a Necessary Evil?

Office politics is a reality. Employees must be aware of it and protect themselves from it, while leaders must work to bridge the gap between employees and ensure effective interaction and understanding among them.

Professor M.S. Rao, Ph.D.

September 1, 2015

“Everybody is a political person, whether you say something or you are silent. A political attitude is not whether you go to parliament; it’s how you deal with your life, with your surroundings.”—Paulo Coelho

Is organizational politics a necessary evil? If it is a necessary evil, is it tough to rein in this menace in the workplace? Research shows that employees leave organizations either because of bad bosses or due to organizational politics, not solely for money.

It is a well-admitted fact that office politics is a reality as people have different mindsets with unique egos and emotions. A study shows that productivity often tanks due to organizational politics. There is an immense talent within some organizations, but often they are not allowed to contribute their best due to politics in the workplace.

Causes

What are some of the causes of office politics?

At times, employees with a rotten attitude create problems for performers with a positive attitude.
When employees are disengaged from their tasks, they may engage in petty office politics.
When some employees find that their survival or success is at stake, they initiate politics.
Professional jealousy is another reason. Healthy competition is good; underhanded competition is not.
When resources are scarce, and ego clashes among employees are excessively high, office politics surface.
When people mix professional lives with their personal lives, it leads to office politics.
When people excessively interfere in others’ personal lives, it leads to gossip and petty office politics.
Politics also may occur due to wrong perceptions about people in the workplace.

Adverse Effects

Office politics produce myriad effects, including tension among employees as they engage in mutual fights rather than perform. Organizational productivity and performance tanks. Employee complaints—particularly personal complaints—will rise. Clashes between genders can end up with sexual harassment charges filed. There is a possibility that precious talent will leave the organization as they don’t appreciate working in unhealthy organizational environment. Ultimately, attrition goes up.

Tools and Techniques to Prevent Office Politics

There are some useful tips that can prevent office politics:

Mind your own business.
Stay clearly focused on the assigned tasks for timely execution.
Gel well with both friends and foes in the workplace, and especially be careful with frenemies in the workplace.
Keep an eye on your competitors. Be strong in your domain to strengthen your position and command respect in the workplace. Organizations ultimately focus on outcomes, not petty politics. The people who participate in politics will be exposed sooner or later.
Keep things in a written format when in doubt.
Don’t sound like you know it all. Be smart and don’t underestimate the might of unhealthy competitors.

Tips for Leaders

Leaders must build a healthy organizational culture and climate. They must organize events and meetings regularly to bridge the gap between employees and ensure effective interaction and understanding among them. It may pave the way for forming new equations in the workplace with empathy. They must build trust to make the system transparent.

Whenever controversies arise, it is essential to keep them simple and straight without any bias. Leaders must be dispassionate and treat all employees as equal. If they give special treatment to top performers, it might result in ill-will among the rest of the employees.

It is essential to look at what is right rather than who is right. Leaders must listen to all sources before making the final decision whenever grievances come up. They must adopt 360-degree feedback to eliminate prejudice. If they feel an employee is the victim of office politics, they must relocate the employee to work under the supervision of other leaders for further feedback. If they find the employee is a liability even under the supervision of other leaders, he or she must be removed from the organization in a professional and honorable way.

Ultimately, employees must understand the fact that organizational politics is a necessary evil. As such, they must take appropriate precautions to stay away from it and protect themselves from it. If it is thrust upon them, they must handle situations with tact and diplomacy to ensure their survival within the organization. Follow Plato’s sage advice, “One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.”

And remember, as Winston Churchill once said: “In war, you can only be killed once, but in politics, many times.”

Professor M.S.Rao, Ph.D., is an international leadership guru and leadership educator, executive coach, speaker, and consultant. He has 34 years of experience and is the author of 30 books including 21 Success Sutras for Leaders (http://www.amazon.com/21-Success-Sutras-Leaders-ebook/dp/B00AK98ELI) that was ranked as one of the Top 10 Leadership Books of the Year – 2013 by San Diego University. His award-winning book “Success Tools for CEO Coaches: Be a Learner, Leader, and Ladder,” is the Community Award Winner for 2014 by Small Business Trends (http://bookawards.smallbiztrends.com/management-2014/success-tools-for-ceo-coaches-8/). His award-winning book, “Smart Leadership: Lessons for Leaders” (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00D9S8SCW) has been published as a Spanish language e-book. His vision is to build 1 million students as global leaders by 2030 (http://professormsraovision2030.blogspot.in). He has been honored as an upcoming International Leadership Guru by Leadership Gurus International (http://www.globalgurus.org/leadership/upcoming.php) and listed as one of the leading achievers around the world in Marquis Who’s Who in the World in 2013. He serves as an advisor and judge for several international organizations, including Global Leadership Awards, Malaysia. He received the International Coach of the Year 2013 Award from Comprehensive Coaching U, Inc. http://www.terrilevine.com/coachoftheyear/winners.html Professor Rao coined an innovative teaching tool called Meka’s Method; a leadership teaching tool, 11E Leadership Grid; and a new leadership tool called Soft Leadership Grid, based on his new leadership style, “Soft Leadership” copyrighted with Jossey Bass. He led a Webinar on Soft leadership organized by International Leadership Association (http://www.ila-net.org/Webinars/Archive/Rao082012.html). Contact him via e-mail at msrlctrg@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter at @professormsrao.