8/7/2019 REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD AVOID OFFICE POLITICS
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REASONS WHY YOU
SHOULD AVOIDOFFICE POLITICS
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10 REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD AVOID
OFFICE POLITICS
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1. It promotes managerial incompetence.
Playing the politics game enables incompetent managers to advance theirown careers on the backs of subordinates who take on added burdens and
responsibilities as a means of gaining favor with those managers. Getting
close to a person in authority, regardless of that persons ability, is seen as
more politically advantageous than a candid assessment of his
performance.
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2. It fosters divisiveness in the workplace.
pick your friends wisely encourages an environmentthat pits camps of workers against each other. Far betteradvice is to be a true friend to everyone, regardless of hisposition on the political landscape. Cooperation and
collaboration will be far easier to achieve.
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3. It thwarts career advancement based
on merit.
If a less-qualified colleague gets a promotion that you knowyou should have gotten simply because he has betterconnections, does that mean you should have spent moretime sucking up to managers and less time enhancing yourqualifications? Not unless youre willing to perpetuate acorrupt working environment at the expense of expanding
your professional skills. Merit will always win in the long run.
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4. It tramples the ideal of doing for others
without expectation of payback.
With reciprocity in mind, remember, the giver has power overthe recipient. That is a good position to be in. If you work ata place in which people do things for each other in order towield you owe me power, you might want to think about
moving on.
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5. It sees selfishness as a necessary evil.
The nature of office politics is to take things liketrust and pervert [them] for a self-serving agenda.To make a statement like that on one hand, andproclaim on the other that office politics issomething you have no choice but to engage in,sends a message of hopeless acquiescence to the
destruction of what we see as noble in our lives.
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6. It creates an environment in which
backbiting is acceptable.
Speaking ill of others behind their backs is a destructiveforce that undermines the spirit of unity thats a prerequisitefor a healthy working environment. The pervasiveness ofoffice politics is a reflection of our acceptance of nationalpolitics, which has devolved into an orchestrated program of
belittling ones opponent.
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7. It prevents the achievement of the full
potential of teamwork.
Its difficult to imagine a career field or an industry that reliesmore on teamwork than IT. The success of any IT projectdepends completely on the integration of a multitude ofindividual working parts, which in turn completely depend onteamwork. Office politics is a force of disintegration that hasto be overcome if integration is to take place, and that can
only be accomplished through teamwork.
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8. It subverts the aim of consensus-
building.
Another advantage of building consensus is thatyou become a broker, not only of solutions and
relationships, but also of power. Office politics
has the deleterious effect of transforming a
consensus builder into a power broker.
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10. It stymies a service orientation.
Its taken IT decades to recognize the value of service-
oriented systems and organizations that are built aroundneeds that exist outside ITs own sphere of influence andinterest. Office politics restricts our vision, causing us tofocus on internal machinations rather than externalrequirements. It has no place whatsoever in a healthyworkplace especially a healthy IT workplace.