Tag: Office Politcs

Like domestic violence, work place violence is too bad, affecting both mental and physical life. But, it has less attention, awareness, social movements, and talk compared with domestic violence.

When your work place is abusive, how to survive.

You are threntened, ill treated, dumped, humilated, you don’t get the recognition, respect you deserve. Your hardwork is not appreciated. you are driven to have a self doubt on your skills, experience, achievements. You started longing for appreciation, attention. You are uncomfortable in your office.

If you face any one or more than one mentioned above, then you are in abusive work place. Either your colleague or your manager or immediate boss consciously and constantly abusing you to get something from you. Willingly or unwillingly you have do or provide what they expect from you. It should look like you are acting on your own, self instead by the force.

What is expected from you might be varying. Satisfy the ego, submission, play a subservient role, do an extraordinary /dirty work, quit the job, express fear, accept him/her as your boss or anything. Jealous, salary difference, work pressure difference, felt competitive might be also the reasons for abusive treatment in your work place.

Legally, you are not obliged to do, but you are forced to do by abuse. You can not complain, since its your job. As long as you depend on salary, you are not going to complain or seek relief from your work place abuses. If you are such person, this article is for you.

Be aware that you are in abusive environment. This awareness is the first step towards the relief. Don’t fight. Accept the reality that you are being abused.

Believe in what you are. You are not what is expected from you by your abusers. You are not what is described by your abusers.

Don’t let listen to those who have already surrendered. They want you to join the band wagon, which they are already in.

Don’t hesitate to speak/ask to your abuser when you have to. Be intact to abusings. Let the abuser keep abusing, you keep move around.

Think, remember – Did you abuse anybody in the past, and present? Did you help in abusing? If you, seek forgiveness from God and never abuse anybody.

In your spare time, do what is interesting to you. Stop doing it when you loose interest. Don’t compel yourself do something in your leisure time.

Spend time with your friends, family members. Let your mind be occupaid by who you love or who is loving you.

Never never never quit the job because of being constantly abused. What is the guarantee that you will not be abused in the new office.

Accept the reality – Why you are working.
You are working because you don’t have sound bank balance, you don’t have ancestral wealth to sit and eat, you are not from well off background. You are working because you need money to live your life. By working you gain experience, strengthen your career, make you employable, sellable in job market. You work because you dont have capital or entrepreneurship to start a business. You work because you get a job.

So, you have to work for yourself as long as you can irrespective of whether your work place is abusive or not.

God provides to whomever He choose. God takes from whomever He choose.

Go on.

Organization culture and office politics has a relation. Among two types of culture – Strong Culture and Weak Culture, which allows office politics to groom?

Among the offices I worked, the management policy towards administration has key role in allowing or not allowing politics and ‘groupism’ in work place.

If the mid level managers or supervisors are granted extreme powers to control their sub ordinates, there is less scope for politics.

Even if the manager fires his sub ordinate, his higher authority should not question his action. In those type of administration politics has no scope.

For Example:
There is a CEO. Below the CEO there are Managers – Marketing manager, accounts manager, software manager, hr manager.

Marketing manager has a Senior Salesman. Senior Salesman has a team of salesmen. In this case, CEO will not communicate with salesman or Senior Salesman directly regarding business affairs. CEO’s point of contact is always Marketing Manager.

In the same way, marketing manager communicates with his Senior Salesman not with salesmen team directly regarding business affairs.

If the Senior Salesman fires any of his salesman, he should not be questioned by Marketing manager or CEO.

Senior Sales man recruits anybody to his sales team, which will not be questioned by Marketing manager.

The salary he fixes to his sales man should not be questioned as long as it is within the company’s budget range for a salesman.

In the same way, Marketing Manager can fire his Senior sales man without giving reason to CEO. The same is applicable to recruitment. He can recruit or promote anybody from sales team as Senior Salesman.

Every head has formidable power over their sub ordinates without external interventions. The power ranges from work allocation, salary fixation, recruitment, leave sanction, and termination.

In these type of administration, no or less scope for office politics. But there are higher scope for immediate boss harassment.

I am not sure whether this is a Strong Culture or Weak Culture.

I assume it as Strong Culture. If I am wrong correct me.

On the other hand, the immediate bosses or heads at every level vested with limited powers. They can not recruit or terminate anybody as they like. Here the immediate supervisor’s position is weak compare to previous administration described above.

In this type of administration has great scope of office politics.

Here CEO can override his marketing manager and communicate with senior-salesman or salesman.

For Example:
The Senior salesman has a rapport with CEO. Now if the Marketing Manager does not like the Senior Salesman in any aspects, he can not terminate him. He has to explain to CEO, because of the rapport between CEO and Senior Salesman. Senior salesman has an advantage to play a ‘parallel manager role’ because of his rapport with CEO.

This type of environment has less scope for immediate boss harassment but greater scope for office politics.

I am not sure whether this is a Strong Culture or Weak Culture.

I assume it as Weak Culture. If I am wrong correct me.

The Sales team example can be applied to any type of team like software, accounts, housekeeping etc.

If the hierarchy is strictly maintained, less scope for office politics but more scope for immediate boss harassment.

If the hierarchy is loosely maintained, less cope for immediate boss harassment but more scope for office politics.

Immediate boss harassment and office politics – both are different, not same.

An organization can allow any type of culture or change the culture at anytime for the advantage of its growth. It can allow pseudo culture – both mixture of strong and weak culture.

Job Hopping is happening due to both Immediate Boss Harassment and Office Politics. Both are equally keeping the HR busy.

This is a different way of doing politics to put down the competitor. Never giving any opportunity to competitors. Ability is nothing without opportunity. Ability needs opportunity.

Opportunity blocking can be implemented by supervisors, managers, and those who are in lead position. They assign work to their sub-ordinates.

To implement ‘opportunity blocking’ one has to be close to the management, and able to influence it.

If ‘somebody’ is capable of challenging the manager/lead in the office, manager can prevent the opportunities and keep him idle. ‘Somebody’ can not prove or impress the management without opportunity.

Manager’s ‘target’ wants to grow, achieve. But no opportunity offered to him for proving his/her excellence. He may have to move to another company for better scope. This way manager can root out his competition.

But ‘opportunity blocking’ is very dangerous to work life balance. Manager has to divert the opportunity to somebody else. He can not do all the work. So he may prefer somebody from his ‘Piggy List’ to look after the opportunity.

These piggy people are without any individuality and skills for achievement. They are ‘piggy pathing’ the manager, because they are inferiors. Manager hands over responsibility to them, but it is his responsibility indirectly. His work load is increased. His head has a very high traffic of office issues both work and politics.

This leads to stress and low productivity. Remember the ‘piggys’ never reduce manager’s work load. They may satisfy his ego. They may not get things completed.

At this point of time, company has to hand over the task to somebody, who can get things completed. The default choice is ‘somebody’, who is put down by manager/lead without any opportunity. His head is cool, with high energy because he is without any work. He will ‘gallop’ into the task with the freshness and spirit. He makes it completed. Anyway company is benefited.

The scapegoat is ‘piggy’. Being piggy is pity but comfort. Read ‘Lord of the flies’ by William Goldings to know about piggy and politics.

Your boss is not giving good opportunities to prove your skills. He diverts it to somebody in his favors. Do not change/quit the company because you do not have any scope to progress. Please be patient, and have good spirit. It is just a delay, not a permanent state. Soon you will get your opportunities.

The situation is temporary. Soon you will be the center of action. Opportunities will come to you naturally. It will reach you when your competitor breaks down under pressure of more work in long run.

Those who blocked your opportunity can not withstand the pressure of more work. Since they have taken your opportunity along with their regular work, they have more to deliver. People break under pressure in long run.

Never develop any negative feelings when your opportunities are blocked. So never fight, compliant, and argue with your management as your opportunity is blocked.

If immediate supervisor or somebody else is blocking your opportunity to show your skills, do not get irritated or feel for it. Simply spend your time to learn new things. Have leisure time with your friends, be relaxed and cool. Increase your energy level to receive the opportunity when it ultimately reaches you.

Are you a Satan in the Office? Are you a Submitter in the Office.

Few years back wherever I work, I behaved like Satan.

I did not mingle with the management or my immediate boss or the person who established the company. I was at loggerhead with them and had friction.

I had very high ego, and I have good professional skills. With the confidence in my skill and ego, I felt superior.

I tried to create my own group of colleagues who were my admirers. I wanted to establish as a person, who can be equally par with boss. I kept distance from boss to avoid being subdued.

I wanted to have more influence, impact, power, heroic image than my Boss.

I may not express my behavior clearly. In simple words I friction with the ego of my Boss and create a ‘buzz’ for me in the office, which may ‘thrill my admirers’.

All I was doing while working in someone’s office and paid by someone but, I tried ‘Show my ego’ to someone who is the creator of the office.

If you read about the conflict between God and Satan and why God created earth, you can understand what I am trying to say.

Bible and Quran advocates such concepts.

Satan was an angel serving to God with extraordinary powers granted by God. Soon, Satan developed his ego that He can be a God. He was not ready to accept that God is his God. He challenged God. God created this world/earth for Satan to rule to make him realize that he is not capable of becoming another God.

What is the stand of Satan towards God before he fought with god that was my ‘stand’ towards my bosses few years back.

You can see an anti-incumbency spirit or aversion towards current company among employees. This is a sort of Satanic Spirit.

Hope you can guess the result.

Submitter

After studying my attitude, I corrected my mistakes. I changed myself as a Submitter.

Boss is giving you an opportunity to work, money to make a living. Through work you get status in the society. In turn he expects the following from you – work for him and be dedicated to him.

Sometime, you feel that Boss gives more work to you. Sometime, you feel that Boss gives less work to you.

Sometime, you feel that he terminates your friends/colleagues who are provided to you by your Boss.

Sometime, you feel that he is giving more salary to you or less salary to you. Sometime, you feel that he gives more salary and less work to a person who is less competent than you.

Sometime, you feel that he brings you close to him. Sometime, you feel that he pushes you away from him.

He may fire you in a fine morning or apply pressure to drive you to quit.

But, you should not question any activity of your Boss. He may or may not tell you the reason for his activity. If you try to assume the reason, you will end up in indefinite assumptions. Even if he terminates you, you should accept it willingly.

Apart from salary, you will be in peace if you accept and submit.

Submitting to God

God makes you born in this world. He make somebody rich by birth and somebody poor by birth. He makes somebody rich and poor in the due course of life.

Sometimes He gives abundance of wealth to somebody who is identified by you as BAD person. Sometimes, He gives abundance of wealth to somebody who is identified by you as GOOD person.

Sometimes, God gives pain and grievances to somebody who is identified by you as GOOD or BAD person.

GOD gives you parents, brothers, sisters, wife, children, relatives, friends and neighbors. You may hate some of them and love some of them.

Sometimes, God terminates their life. If you love the person being terminated, you will lament. If you hate the person being terminated you will be happy. But, God behaves irrespective of your sentiments.

Sometime, God let a sick man to live long, and terminates a health man in his youth. Sometime God let a healthy man to live long and terminates a sick man immediately.

Sometime, you feel that God is favoring you and in other time, you feel that He is not favoring you.

You should not question anything. You should not analyze why. You have to submit and accept whatever God is doing.

Don’t equal your office boss with our Divine Boss. Otherwise you will be committing the sin of Idol Worshiping. Office boss is just a mere creation of God like other living beings. He is just a human. He is not Good always and he is not Bad always like everybody.

Both Bosses do not expect us to be their submitters. If you are a submitter or Satan, it is not going to affect both the bosses. They are intact. Do not think your Boss will favor you, if you are a submitter and harass you if you are a Satan. Boss does what he has to do or like to do irrespective of, whether you are a Satan or submitter.

But, being a Satan or Submitter has a impact in you. If you are a Submitter, you are positive, balanced and in peace. If you are a Satan you will be restless.

It is our responsibility to be a Submitter by killing our ego for our own Goodness and Peace.

If you listen to the discourses of Rashad Khalifa, you can understand what is to be a submitter.

In the recent companies I work, I behaved as submitter. I am peaceful and balanced.

The role you play has a impact in you, not to others.

I dedicate this article to the bosses to whom I was a Satan and to the bosses to whom I am a Submitter.

Your boss is waiting turn towards him.

You boss is waiting to train you, guide you, help you to improve in all the aspects. Just turn towards him. He will absorb and lift you.

Many sub-ordinates logger heads with their immediate bosses for various “developed reasons”. They develop anti-incumbency spirit with their management. Develop hate and averse. Identify and organize other people with the same spirit.

Many employees complaint is salary issue.

My subordinate offered 6k per month. We offered what he demanded. Within two months after joining he sniffed everybody’s salary. Started salary comparison. He started murmuring as he is underpaid, his salary is lower than X,Y,Z. He forget that the company has given what he asked.

If the Boss express his favor to somebody by his own likes and dislikes, the “disgruntled employee” raise it as a partiality issue. If the somebody is a female, character abuse will be executed.

The Disgruntled Subordinate forgets why he has joined the company – for career progress, salary, status, making a living, exploring the opportunity to realize himself and his skills, and support his family, and etc.

Immediate boss is the gateway for all the needs and wants of a subordinate. If an employee turn towards his boss, boss will give him the key for success.

Instead, if employee shows his back to his boss, he will not progress. He will burn by the jealous over the progress of others who have inclined to your boss.

By all this negative measurement, disgruntled employee turns towards “exit”.

God/Boss does not fire/terminate this type of employees. He waits for his sub ordinate to turn towards him. Ready to forgive everything. Guru always expects a perfect disciple to transfer his knowledge. Like Guru, Boss expects a receptive subordinate to transfer his knowledge.

Mostly disgruntled employees quit the job. Their negative attitude and negative emotions over the management, push them out of the company.

Like the boss of the company, the Boss of the universe, Boss of our soul is waiting for us to turn towards Him. He is ready to forgive all our sins when we turn towards him.

We do not know, why we born, what is the purpose of life, what is after death. We do not even try to know these things. Indulging in worldly matters and forget to fulfill the soul’s quest to return to God.

If you are not interested in what is after death, salvation, realization, never mind. Peace of mind is guaranteed till your last breath if you turn towards God.

God is very patient. He is waiting for you always. It is your choice.

I have turned towards my boss, the God.

Office politics is Good to the growth of the company. It is true. It is also good to the growth of individuals involved in. Office politics is good to both employer and employee as long as ‘Win Win’ approach is maintained by management.

Why do people create politics and groupism in work place? What is the need? Are bad people only create politics?
Is good people not involved in politics? Why do politics exist in office?

The core behind office politics is Biological instincts to Survive and succeed. It is not the human mind which makes politics in office. It is not either good or bad character.

Like hungry, sleep it is a biological instinct. It is not a character or behavior or mind set. It is a biological need of every living beings.

When you join in a company, there may be different groups already existing. You find it difficult to mingle initially. They too hesitate to accept you. You do not think as they are bad or you are good if you are not accepted.

There are few dogs living in a street. You may know how the dogs will react, When new dog comes to the street. Existing dogs fight with new dog. The fight will be equal or unequal or one sided depending upon the strength level. This is just an animal instinct, part and parcel of genetic in all living organism, which can move.

If you watch any animal TV channel, see lion’s life. Lion live in community. From 10 to 30 lions living together. One or two male will be sharing the leadership.

Young male lions in the groups are growing. Leader lions will ‘push’ young lions out of the group, because these young male will be a threat to their fathers. These leader lions want to be an top and un-challenged. It will be thrown out if somebody has the ability to challenge.

‘Pushed out young lions’, follow the survival the fittest rule. They want to have their own group to lead, when they become adult. There are some lion herd with older/weaker leader lions. These young male will kill the old lion and captured the group. All cubs of the old lion will be killed by new leader. Then new leader will start producing its own clan. Later these new leaders will be killed by next generation lion cups. It is a cycle. Ruthless cycle for leadership and dominance.

This is lion politics. This is animal politics which can move. Neither bad nor good. It is biological instinct. Human politics is happening in offices and social life in the same way.

Every human being has the right to live, succeed and reproduce. This is not character. This is registered in gene. Competition begins at sperm level. One sperm out of millions reach its destination. Every sperm like to win the race. None is ready to sacrifice its chance. Politics begin at sperm level.

Office politics can be two types: Positive politics and Negative politics.

Your contestant is better and stronger than you. You will improve yourself due to biological instinct to supercede. You will make yourself further stronger than your contestant. This is positive politics. Here, you are improved and company also benefited by your new skills. All due to politics.

Negative politics is straight opposite. You do not improve yourself, rather you improve jealous. You try to stop your contestant’s growth. Trying to make him weaker than you. Here nobody benefited. Soon you will be doing politics in another company if your contestant aware of your tricks and manages your disturbance.

Positive politics leads to ‘Win Win’ situation. Everybody wins here. You improve your skills and productivity and your contestant too. The company get benefited by both you and your contestant’s improved productivity. As long as company encourage positive politics, it grows.

The chances of loosing the battle is more if you follow the negative politics. Negative politics is heavy damage to both company and the individual.

It will be stagnated or loose its productivity and business after loosing human resource in ‘Win Lost’ situation. ‘Win Lost’ is a negative politics. Here nobody improves anything.

Less alcohol intake is good for your health. Too much of Alcohol intake is bad for your health. Little bit attention to office politics is good to your improvement. Don’t allow office politics to occupy your head completely. It will lead to ‘Win Lost’ situation.

Best way to deal office politics is they are Salt to Food.

Have an attitude as ‘Everything is God Willing’. Do not compare yourself with anybody. Everything is God willing. This will make you ignore office politics. At the same time listen and response to your biological instincts to keep you survive and succeed.

Biological instinct is also God willing.

Ego plays important role in all types of relationship. Main disturbance to peace of mind is Ego. We have to establish and maintain relationship with our colleagues. Unfortunately we mix our ego while working.

We get ego frictioned with others, even sometimes with boss or management too. Later we begin groupism. We gossip about our ego target. Hot words are exchanged often. Hypocrytic criticism. We do not concentrate on the work. We prefer to keep thinking about our ego opponents. Even after working hours, we think and speak about our work place enemies.

Why do we work?
We ultimately forget why do we work? We are working for salary and carrier improvement. We are not working to fight or jealous with others. We will be obsessed with the thoughts of our ego target. Find faults on them. Keep criticising them. Finally we lose sleep, our main purpose of going to work place will be fight with the colleagues, but not to work. Work becomes secondary.

Ninety percent of the Job hobbing is because of Ego friction between superior and sub-ordinate relationship.

Superior harass the sub-ordinate. Sub-ordinate fights back. He does all sorts of irritation to superior. Both are wasting their time and energy in their ego friction. They waste office resource too.

One fine morning sub-ordinate joins in a new company with or without intimating his current company as a sort of revenge. Afterwards, he repeats the same ego fight in the new company. When it has become current company, he will jump to other company. This is a cycle. There will be no end for ego friction.

We can avoid such ego friction by simple adjustment, forgiving other’s mistakes, avoid intruding to other’s nose, accept people as they are, little bit obedience and a smiling face.

Apply your creativity, innovativeness in work place, not your ego. Ego is not worthy of single penny in work place.

At the same time do not be too good. Keep distance in your relationship in office, otherwise you will be disturbed a lot. Intimacy loose respect. Once you loose respect, which is a minimum due, your ego will be wounded. You should have a cordial relationship with a privilege to say ‘NO’ when you like to say NO. Maintain a minimum privacy and space for you.

Maintain a privacy and biological space for yourself and respect other’s privacy and space. You never breach other’s boundary and never allow anybody to breach your boundary.

It is almost like driving. Even though you are a good driver, but you should aware of bad drivers. They will come with you on the road. At the same time respect others.

Respect your immediate boss. They may be younger than you, they may less skilled than you, but respect them. You may be smarter than your boss, but accept them as they are.

Salary and roles are not only decided by skill and experience alone, but many other things are involved. Timings, relationship and many other non-skill based factors are there.

A boss may depute his son as head of the department to some branch. There may be some experienced and skilled persons (may be you) in the office. They are most suitable for the post. But it is Boss’ decision. You are wrong if you feel get wounded or your ego get hurt. Boss takes care of the company more than you. He loves his company more than you love.

Do not compare the salary and powers of others, especially with your immediate supervisor. As long as you are working for salary, you will have an immediate or reporting boss. Learn to adjust with them. Wherever you go this is the case. People are same everywhere.

Survival of a company is depending on reliable people, success of the company is depending an skilled people. To be succeed first thing needed is being alive.

Success is meaningless if you are not alive. So it is natural that company needs ‘reliable’ people very badly than skilled people. Skill can be hired. Reliability has to be groomed. Management grants more freedom, power and comfort to reliable people.

Either you transform yourself to reliable people of the company or at least obey to reliable people. Otherwise you cannot continue in a company even for one year. You may have worked in more than four companies within three years if you are not aware of these concepts.

Kill your ego at working place. Working place will be a paradise.