Position Paper on Dealing with Politics in the Workplace

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BAD EFFECTS OF POLITICS

Almost every time, politics at workplace has resulted in negative effects on the organization and its employees. Some of them are:

- Reduction in Overall Productivity: It decreases an employee’s output and ultimately there is a drop in the overall productivity of the organization. Employees, who indulge in office politics, tend to do less work and are interested in more of back-stabbing, criticising their fellow colleagues. As a result, they fail to do their work within the deadlines assigned to them.

- Impairment in Concentration: Since, employees are most of the time, more interested in showing a bad image of others in front of their seniors, they are not able to fully concentrate on their work. Such individuals, taking part in politics, make more mistakes as they lose their focus.

- Spoils the Ambience: Politics at workplace spoils the environment with negativity. Relationships between individuals is spoilt. A person indulging in office politics is not liked by anyone in the organization.

- Change in the Attitude of Employees: There is a change in the attitude of the employees. Internal office politics do not let even the most serious employees to give their hundred percent at work. So, the hard work that such employees do, goes unnoticed in an organization driven by politics.

- Demotivation of Employees: Employees who perform their best, can simply be overshadowed by the non-performers due to politics. So, when the performance of hard working performers is evaluated, their image gets tarnished. Due to this, they get demotivated when they do not get what they deserve to get and other who indulge in politics get the benefits.

- Increase in stress: Since many people engage in politics at workplace, they fail to trust each other. Employees can’t work continuously without talking to others, but they can’t talk to others since they don’t trust others. This eventually increases their stress level.

- Wrong Information: The Senior management get a wrong image of what is happening in the company when employees try to manipulate information and pass it in some other form.

- It increases conflicts and tensions at the workplace. Such places become unenjoyable to work and this becomes a burden on them to work here.

When you don't comprehend the political scene of your organization, it appears. Questions emerge. Could you take care of business, handle the rough spots, rouse the troops, take care of business, and collect regard? Youthful specialists, particularly, regularly commit the error of accepting that understanding office legislative issues isn't fundamental. That assumption prompts the loss of significant learning time. When you're no more so green, and begin to wind up a danger to others, things change. Political expertise gets to be critical — and the individuals who neglect to grow such aptitudes are regularly the ones who get left behind.

LEVELS OF POLITICS IN ORGANIZATIONS

It is not necessary that every day employees tend to engage in politics. It depends on the place where they work. There are four levels of politics in organizations:

- Minimally Political: In minimally political organizations what you see is to a great extent what you get. Norms for promotions and desires for overseeing and leading are clarified. There is a feeling of fellowship. Guidelines are occasionally changed and some kind of favour is granted, however insidious types of politics maintain a strategic distance. This is the kind of organization in which those with small understanding of or enthusiasm for politics, the idealists among us, can flourish.

- Moderately Political: Moderately political organizations also work to a great extent on generally understood, formally endorsed rules. Political conduct, where it exists, is low-key or deniable. Clashes are irregular, as there is a team player attitude. This environment works for individuals who'd rather not take part in office politics, but rather are equipped for overseeing or living with pockets of political action.

- Highly Political: The highly political organization is the place where not understanding politics and being unwilling to take part in some of its more bad forms can invite a cost. Formally authorized standards are just summoned when suitable to those with authority. In-gatherings and out-gatherings are typically very much characterized. Who you know is liable to be more imperative than what you know. Working in companies such as this can be exceptionally distressing. Political road contenders who "read the tea leaves" and "know the ropes," do far better over the individuals who don't stay up to date with the games being played.

- Pathologically Political: The most harmful types of office politics happen in pathologically political organizations. Day by day cooperation is bad tempered. Almost every objective is accomplished by circumventing individuals or formal methodology. Individuals doubt one another. Out of need, individuals invest a decent amount of energy watching their backs and far less is completed than might somehow be accomplished.

POSITIVE POLITICS

People often associate office politics with negativity. But, is it really that all bad? There are employees who participate in positive office politics. Jane Horan defined positive politics as the “building coalitions for the good of the organization” without sacrificing values.

Positive politics focusses on how a senior puts the interest of his team if he can influence the management to back his good ideas and recognize the team contributions.

A study conducted by Roffey Park has found that, while one third of people felt office politics could never be used constructively, more than half – 58 per cent – had been a witness of it being used in a positive way. In fact, 61 per cent of the 856 people polled admitted to having engaged in political behaviour, but that it had led to a positive result for their organisation.

It is argued that political behaviour is positive when it follows the organization’s vision and mission and goals, fosters teamwork and confidence among team members. In fact, positive political behaviour can be advantageous for greater organisational equality. This is because positive political behaviour is seen as a need to bring together the stakeholders, depending on the ability to set in equilibrium the competing motivations and views of organisational members.

Organisational

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