Transcript Document

Career Management Center
Politics Occur Naturally in
Organizations
 Competition for scarce resources
• Salary
• Staff
• Dept. budget • Office
• Position
• Space
• Recognition
• Benefits
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What is Office Politics?
 Communicating indirectly
 Using covert tactics to advance
 Controlling other people through
psychological manipulation
 Being cautions about telling the truth
 Hiding vulnerability
 Currying favor
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Organizational Politics
“Involves intentional acts
of influence to enhance or
protect the self-interest of
individuals or groups.”
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Organizational Politics
Political Tactics:
 Attacking or blaming others.
 Using information as a political tool
 Creating a favorable image.
 Developing a base of support.
 Praising others (ingratiation).
 Forming power coalitions with strong allies.
 Associating with influential people.
 Creating obligations (reciprocity).
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Are there politics
in your
organization?
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Politics Reflect the Competing
Interests of Stakeholders
 Stakeholders: Groups with an interest in the
organization, its inputs and outputs
 Managers
 Staff
 Shareholders
 Customers
 Suppliers
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Examples
of Office Politics
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Example: Looking Good
Pete is a supervisor who is ambitious to a fault. Everything
he does is for effect. One of his ground rules is that only
positive information makes its way from him to his boss.
Negative news is totally ignored. He makes it clear that
anyone in his group who says bad things about him or
the organization risks getting fired. If an employee
openly disagrees, he or she is labeled a non-supporter.
Everyone who reports to Pete agrees the best practice is
to fall into line and be a “yes person”.
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Example: Power by Association
Mike is a young marketing manager. He sees work as a
game and compulsively seeks to be a winner. He gets
turned on by challenging, competitive activities where
he can prove himself. He hates being pushed around.
His goal is to become more powerful because power
means freedom. To expand his influence and to
increase his chances of advancement, he is
developing very strong relationships with major
customers who can make demands on his company.
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Example: Favoritism
Larry was hired as the heir-apparent to the CFO. Cora, a
financial analyst who had been with the company for
two years, made herself indispensable to him. When
Larry was placed in charge of the annual budget review,
he made Cora his assistant. At a point where his views
clashed with those of a Senior Auditor, Larry fired the
auditor and promoted Cora to that position even though
she wasn’t the most qualified person for the job.
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Example: The Copywriters’ Clique
When Kate became a copywriter for a newspaper in a large
city, she was invited to join her group for lunch her first day
on the job. She discovered the group met informally once a
week to gossip, to exchange inside tips, and to get to know
one another better. Kate quickly learned the value of trading
information at these events. The message was clear: lunch
was political. A final note: It’s important to remember that to
be human is to be political. Whenever people’s priorities,
values, and interests diverge, some type of politicking
usually takes place.
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Office Politics
Problem: A non-management employee runs the department
grapevine for gossip and her information is usually correct,
including the news that you are about to take over as
manager.
Solution: It might be tempting to sit her down immediately and
explain that the grapevine is dead and that any information
will come from you in the future. An effective manager must
have access to the grapevine to learn employee concerns.
Even when the message is untrue, gossip usually reflects
employee concerns and fears.
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Office Politics
Tips for dealing with the office grapevine:
 Listen to whatever is being said without getting too
emotional or losing your temper. You don’t know what
message will get sent back through the grapevine.
 If the information is accurate, don’t go on a witch hunt
to find the leak. You can’t close the grapevine down, but
you can put a crimp in access to it.
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Office Politics
 If the information is totally false, don’t make a public
denouncement. Nothing cuts a grapevine deeper than a
completely false story.
 Pump as much accurate information into the system as you
possibly can. Prevent rumors by consistently leveling with
employees. Correct false rumors immediately. Communicate
in person whenever you can. Memos, e-mail messages, and
comments that get passed through numerous people are
usually wide open to interpretation.
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Office Politics
 Don’t try to kill the grapevine. It’s
human nature for people to want to
exchange “inside information” about
what’s happening in the office. Too
many attempts to manage the flow of
information will make employees
suspect you’re covering something up.
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Managing Office Politics
Reduce System Uncertainty
Reduce Competition
Break Existing Political
Fiefdoms or clichés
Create interdependent
reward structure
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Positive Political Strategies
 Know your own interests and goals
 Focus on common interests rather
than differences
 Build relationships
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Social groups
Inside the organization
Outside the organization
Vertically as well as horizontally
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“Politics is a necessary evil
and often it’s just plain evil.
Unfortunately, it’s also how
things get done.”
Mr. Blaine Pardoe, Director
Technology-Education Services
Ernst & Young LLP
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“Office politics fills a
leadership vacuum… If you
build a unified company-wide
team, politics won’t have a
place.”
Mr. Lawrence B. Seruen
Author “The End of Office Politics”,
published by the AMA
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Principles:
1. You can’t win unless someone else loses.
2. Just because you don’t get what you want
doesn’t mean you’re getting the shaft.
3. Politics is about power — and power is
measured in weird ways.
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Principle 4: The past is prologue
“Always learn the unofficial history of your company:
who got into power, how they did it, where the bodies
are buried. The unofficial history isn’t always accurate;
history gets distorted by the victors. But it will teach
you how politics gets played at your company — how
far people will go, what happens when you lose. You’ll
never see that stuff in the annual report.”
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Principle 5:
Don’t believe everything you hear
“Information is power, and lots of information comes in the
form of rumors. But too many people believe too much of
what they hear — and make bad decisions as a result.
Whenever I hear a rumor, I think about it for a day. Does it
make any sense? Who stands to gain from spreading it? Is
there an acid test that I can use to evaluate whether it’s
true? Nine times out of ten, I conclude that it just doesn’t
hold water.”
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Influence Tactics
Rational persuasion. Trying to convince someone
with reason, logic or facts.
Inspirational appeals. Trying to build enthusiasm
by appealing to others’ emotions, ideals or values.
Consultation. Getting others to participate in
planning, making decisions and changes.
Ingratiation. Getting someone in a good mood prior
to making a request; being friendly, helpful and using
praise or flattery.
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Influence Tactics
Personal appeals. Referring to friendship and
loyalty when making a request.
Exchange. Making explicit or implied promises and
trading favors.
Coalition tactics. Getting others to support your
effort to persuade someone.
Pressure. Using intimidation or threats.
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How To Extend Your Influence
by Forming Strategic Alliances
Mutual respect.
Openness.
Trust.
Mutual benefit
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Conflict between Self-Interest and Mutual
Interests Requires Managerial Action
Influence tactics
SelfInterest
Political
tactics
Organizational
Mutual
Empowerment
Interests
Stakeholders
(organizational
• Individual
Motivation
effectiveness)
• Groups
team building
communication
leadership
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Impression Management
“The process by which people
attempt to control or
manipulate the reactions of
others to images of themselves
or their ideas.”
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Delegation, Initiative
and Empowerment
The Evolution of Power:
From Domination to Delegation
Degree of Empowerment
High
None
Authoritarian
Power Manager:
leader imposes
decisions.
Domination
Influence Sharing
Manager: leader
consults followers
when making
decisions.
Consultation
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Power Sharing
Manager: leader &
followers jointly
make decisions.
Participation
Power Distribution
Followers: granted
authority to make
decisions.
Delegation
Delegation
“The process of
granting decisionmaking authority to
subordinates.”
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Barriers to Delegation
 Belief in the fallacy, ‘If you want it done right, do it yourself.’
 Lack of confidence and trust in lower-level employees.
 Low self-confidence.
 Fear of being called lazy.
 Vague job definition.
 Fear of competition from those below.
 Reluctance to take the risks of depending on others.
 Lack of controls that provide early warning of problems with
delegated duties.
 Poor example set by bosses who
do not delegate.
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Personal Initiative:
The Other Side of Delegation
Levels of Action
Taking
action
Asking for
approval to act
Asking someone else to act
Telling someone about a problem
Decreasing time to
action to solve a
problem
Noncompliance
Apathy
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Tips for Personal Initiative
and Taking Action
Go beyond the job.
Follow through on new
ideas.
Don’t be defeated by
criticism; learn from it.
Look ahead and around.
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Avoiding Action
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Over-conforming
Buck passing
Playing dumb
Depersonalizing
Stretching
Smoothing
Stalling
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Avoiding Blame
 Bluffing (making something
look better than it is)
 Playing safe
 Justifying
 Scapegoating
 Misrepresenting
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How to Keep Office Politics
from Derailing Your Career
– adapted from “Get your foot off my
neck! How to move up when office
politics has you down,” by Dawn M.
Baskerville and Joy Duckett Cain, in
Essence
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Make superiors accountable
Meet with your direct supervisors and ask for
a written list of what you need to accomplish in
order to advance to the next level. If you
can demonstrate that you have already
met these goals, ask when your status
will change. If not, work with your
supervisor to create a timetable for
meeting the goals and being promoted.
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Be the squeaky wheel
After your initial meeting, continue
asking for your supervisor’s feedback
and direction – and make sure your
supervisor is aware each time you
check off something on the list. Do
not assume your boss knows all your
accomplishments.
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Find a mentor
Find someone high up in the ranks who can
become your champion, guiding you
through the maze of corporate politics
and helping you develop professionally.
Look for someone with whom you
share a common background, interests,
and chemistry – someone who will take a
personal interest in helping you get a head.
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Raise your profile
Join professional organizations and
become active in community programs.
Many times, those in power positions
are more likely to take notice if you are
hosting a charity event than if you are
back at the office with your nose to
the grindstone.
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Cut your losses
Remember that timetable you created
for getting ahead? If you keep your end
of the bargain, but the promotion is not
forthcoming, start looking for new
opportunities elsewhere. Why waste
your energy continuing to play a game
you can not win?
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Summary of Survival Strategies
 Know your goals / interests
 Focus on common ground. Not
differences with your stake holders
 Build, nurture personal relationships
- internally
- externally
- laterally, vertical
 Be true to yourself
 Think before you speak
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