!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> Streamline Training & Documentation: Office Politics

Thursday, June 08, 2006

Office Politics

"Just politics."

That's one of the milder ways of responding to the seemingly incongruous way decisions are often reached in a business envronment. Politics is also the explanation often offered for more or less dysfunctional group dynamics employees find themselves coping with day-to-day.

Consider a dispassionate definition of "politics":
the process by which a community's decisions are made, rules for group behavior are established, competition for positions of leadership is regulated, and the disruptive effects of disputes are minimized
It is evident that politics are simply a part of life whenever people and groups with different interests are interacting. The goal of an organization is not to eliminate politics, which is impossible, but to take steps to promote and maintain constructive interaction, as opposed to dysfunction.

Effective participants in office politics are able to mobilize the different interests and perspectives that must be balanced in order to acomplish work. Political activity in the office is detrimental only when it's a source of intrigue and high drama rather than of maturely negotiated agreements on what to do.

Helping employees hone their ability to handle the challenges of office politics should be a consideration in a whole array of training activities at a company. It's true that you can — and many organizations do — offer training specifically in how to be politically savvy, while also being ethical and professional. And certain individuals may be good candidates for such training.

But I would argue that for the population of employees as a whole, the smart approach is to ensure that all training, both formal and on-the-job, includes as-needed guidance on exercising the communication and negotiation skills that lead, through what are in essence political processes, to sound decisions and constructive solutions to problems.

Unfortunately, there are toxic work situations in which well-meaning employees, not to put too fine a point on it, are being abused. In such situations, management intervention, not employee training, is indicated.

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