Work Place Politics

Your fellow workers will play a variety of political games. You must understand these games in order to achieve things, and to make your work life an enjoyable experience.

Table of Contents
1.0 Introduction..............................................................................................2 2.0 Joining a Work Place...............................................................................4
2.1 The Right Way..............................................................................................4 2.2 What Can Go Wrong....................................................................................5

3.0 How to Get Promoted...............................................................................7 4.0 Other Mechanisms and Effects..............................................................10 5.0 Cultural Issues........................................................................................15

Pj Radcliffe 2011

Work Place Politics

1.0 Introduction
Failure to understand the politics of the work place is a recipe for disaster. You may end up being ridiculed, sidelined, or becoming an unwitting pawn in some political game. Work place politics can deliver quite positive benefits to the individual and company. Only those who can understand, and can play the political game, will get to see their visions and creations turned into reality. TRIBAL MODEL : for hundreds of thousands of years people have lived in tribes. The ways of the tribe are ingrained in our mental processes. Most work places can be easily mapped onto a traditional tribe. The tribe has four main groups Elders : these are the respected elders who arbitrate disputes, decide where the tribe will go, what should be hunted, and confer rewards and punishments. Usually the religious elders dictate customs and social norms. Elders are held in great esteem and command great authority. Elders need authority, and there are often significant internal conflicts over the elder's pecking order. Elders reinforce their position by using the symbols and rituals of authority. In the modern work place managers are our elders. We all like a manager we can look up to, who is competent, who can tell us what to do, and will recognise and acknowledge the value of our effort. Hunters : these are usually the young, strong men who take the risks and bring home the dangerous to get food. The hunters are also the front line in protecting the tribe from danger. Hunters need prestige and there is often competition between hunters as to who is "best". In the modern work place the hunters are those who make the sale, who have the skills the customer buys, or who design things that the customer wants. Gatherers : these people obtain food where there is little danger. Gathering often requires long and hard hours of work with little recognition. Pecking order is important in this group also. Gatherers often resent the hunters who appear to have an easier and more glamorous life. Hunters often feel that the gatherer's work is of little value. In the modern work place gatherers tend to be those who work in the factory, producing what ever the elders have decided should be produced. Camp workers : these people organise the camp site. Typical work will be setting tents, cooking, tending the sick, digging latrines, and general organising. In the modern work place there is a whole range of clerking, administrative assistants, low level managers, and others who fulfil this role.
Copyright Pj Radcliffe 2011

Page 2

Work Place Politics

WHERE DO YOU FIT IN : in general engineers start off as junior hunters (designers), become senior hunters, and then may become an elder (manager). POLITICS HAS VALUE When upper management is competent and places limits on internal politics then company politics can be seen as "survival of the fittest". The better ideas, methods, staff, and technologies will be acquired by the more skilled political operators in order to further their own careers. These astute political operators will then push hard to ensure success. The natural selfishness of the individual is harnessed for the good of the enterprise. Under these conditions politics is like natural evolution. Individually there are winners and losers but the species (company or nation) is the better for it. Example : the book "The soul of a new machine" by Tracey Kidder, details the incredible politics inside DEC when they were developing a new computer back in the 1980s. Two teams were put on the job, clearly only one would be there at the end! The competition drove a frenetic pace of development that was good for DEC. There was a cost in financial and personal terms. UNCONSTRAINED POLITICS : enterprises can become racked by politics, forget their mission and purpose, and become horrible places to work. This happens with weak management who fail to set standards for work place. Example : in the mid 1990s many local councils in Victoria were sacked and replaced by government appointed administrators. A major reason given for this change was that the councils were racked with politics and not serving the rate payers. Example : one new Telstra manager had excessive politics in his team and found it severely effected productivity. He instituted a rule that criticism had to be levelled face to face BEFORE anyone else heard the tale. People who broke this rule were publicly chastised at team meetings. The politics subsided to a more useful level quite quickly. SURVIVING AND PROSPERING : in most enterprises you will never get to achieve anything much unless you can play the political game. Unskilled political operators never get the time, resources, or staff that they need. Example : how do you survive when marketing says "we are really a marketing business with a high ROI. Engineering is a tremendous drain and we should out source the whole thing.". If you can't play politics you are lost. TIME! Playing the game of politics takes time as well as determination. Consider not joining the game if you lack either of these.

Copyright Pj Radcliffe 2011

Page 3

Work Place Politics

NEGOTIATING SKILLS : these notes are a companion to those on negotiating skills. The strategies and tactics outlined in those notes can be used to solve many of the dilemmas and problems examined in these notes.

Copyright Pj Radcliffe 2011

Page 4

Work Place Politics

2.0 Joining a Work Place

One of the most difficult political situations in your career is faced when you as a young professional join an existing work place. The situation can get quite bizarre, particularly where management is weak.

2.1 The Right Way

There is no mystery about how new employees should be introduced to the work place. This section examines the sensible things to do. COMPETENT INDUCTION : the induction of a new staff member is the responsibility of management. This must be done carefully to benefit both employer and employee Position : the role, rights, responsibilities, and reporting arrangements for the new person should be publicly spelt out by the manager. This helps avoid interstaff problems and confusion. Nurture : most new employees are keen to learn, work, fit in, and achieve. Managers need to nurture the new employee so this initial enthusiasm (and productivity) is not lost. Activity program : competent managers will have thought out a program by which new staff get the knowledge, experience, and contacts they need to perform their job. IF LEFT ALONE : unfortunately few new employees get the induction outlined above and so they must try to cope themselves. *** You, as a new professional employee, should be able to propose and negotiate the above list on your own initiative. FIND A MENTOR : most organisations have competent people who have some position of power or influence. A new employee should seek out such a person both to help them learn and to protect them from the work place politics. Many organisations have formal mentoring programs, sometimes as simple as always pairing a junior staff member with a senior staff member. Some so called mentors are really just exploiters. They will take your work and claim it to be mostly their inspiration. They will use you as a pawn in political games. Don't be a sucker.

Copyright Pj Radcliffe 2011

Page 5

Work Place Politics

DO YOUR RESEARCH : people often get rejected if they lack the tribal knowledge and customs. Speedy acquisition of this knowledge will speed your acceptance. Typical things to find out quickly include Physical layout : draw a map, walk around till you can find things. Resources : find where they are and the rules for using them. People : find out peoples' names, roles, and interests. Express interest in any personal information volunteered but do not appear gossipy. If you haven't been introduced to people then go and introduce yourself. Meetings : find out where and when people meet for activities from coffee times to management meetings. Work place rules : what are they, which ones are rigid and which are flexible.

2.2 What Can Go Wrong

While there is no mystery about how to induce people into the work force the proper thing seldom happens. Managers or other responsible staff are often too busy, or don't think. Such a laxity can cause great problems. NEW THREAT : the new person joining the team often feels they have a lot to learn and are in a weak position. The existing staff may perceive the new person as a threat, that must be dealt with. Reasons for the perceived threat may include Up to date : a more recent graduate may be more up to date, for example in Object Oriented technology. Criticism : you may ( unwittingly) criticise existing work or suggest a better solution or method. This could erode the respect for the existing staff. Work output : the new person may work harder and longer than existing staff and this may reflect poorly on existing staff. It may throw the work place norms into chaos and everyone will get upset. Pecking order : the new person may push the existing staff one position down the pecking order. NASTY TRICKS : many new staff are subjected to mean tricks, and in extreme cases bastardisation. Existing staff use this as a method to deal with the perceived threat and ensure the new person is put down to the bottom of the pecking order. Apprentices frequently have dangerous "jokes" played on them when they join, for example having their pants set on fire, or a burn from a soldering iron.
Copyright Pj Radcliffe 2011

Page 6

Work Place Politics

Idiot tricks : new people are often given a task which in retrospect is clearly impossible. If they attempt to do the task then they get publicly told off for being a fool. The new person is thus safely put down the bottom of the pecking order. Sexual harassment : is usually about power not sexuality. TECHNICIAN PROBLEMS : technicians often fulfil the gatherer role previous identified, and may well dislike the hunters (engineers). In engineering areas they are usually much better at constructing equipment and testing than the professionals who design things. They often know a lot about practical problems that a professional course does not cover. Respect for differing skills can be acknowledged without loss of professional pride or dignity. Other people can be "different", rather than "better or worse", to you. Technician ( gatherers) can have a love-hate relationship with Engineers (hunters). Technicians can be very loyal to top engineers but can be very derogatory and mean to inexperienced or incompetent engineers. EASY TARGET : it is human nature to pick on a weak target, but to be more careful with a hard target. The type of things that make you an easy target include Lack of assertion skills : you are quiet, don't argue with slights and insults, and give in at every opportunity. It is usually a mistake to be too argumentative or domineering. It can help to occasionally "show your teeth" and react firmly to a clearly inappropriate insult. Failure to listen and join in : you don't listen to what people are saying, and avoid socialising where you can hear what people say. A lot of nasty and untrue things can get said behind you back. Socialising and listening are an important part of being in a work place. JUMPING THE QUEUE : one of greatest problems you can face is being promoted into a position when other workers feel someone else should be there, or that you have "jumped the queue". In most cases it becomes a hard slog of showing achievement, building allies, and of opening peoples' minds to the future so they can forget the past. PREVIOUS INCUMBENT PAY BACK : occasionally the last person who filled your position will have played nasty politics or built up ill will with other workers. In tribal terms you have just walked into a tribal warfare zone, have got categorised into one tribe without realising it, and promptly get attacked for no apparent reason. The solution usually involves lots of talking to individuals and the group, and getting management to negotiate a truce. Shifting the group's focus to the future and leaving the past behind will also help.
Copyright Pj Radcliffe 2011

Page 7

Work Place Politics

3.0 How to Get Promoted

Promotion is important to most people for a variety of reasons Status and respect : both in their own opinion and in other people's opinion. Salary increases normally come with promotion. Work tends to be more interesting, challenging, and responsible. The new work often includes responsibilities for staff supervision and forward planning.

Promotions seldom have 2nd or 3rd prizes.

THE DANGERS of being promoted must be considered Locked in : in the new job you may lose those skills that makes it easy for you to move between employers. A "locked in" employee tends not to get pay rises, promotion, and is in a disastrous situation at retrenchment time. Huge work load : many management jobs are a huge work load and very stressful, much more than the relatively minor salary increase could justify. All responsibility but no power : junior management positions tend to have a lot of responsibility but not the power to carry them out. Typically the power to control budgets and staff stay with upper management. STRATEGIC PLANNING : assuming that there is a promotion possibility, strategic planning is a good way to start Who? Who are the decision makers and key influencers that decide who will get promoted. What do they value in terms of work skills, work style, and any other attribute in people (eg. football team and political affiliations)? The competition : who is your competition, and how do they compare to you, and what the decision makers value? How far to go? Determine exactly how far you are willing to go to get that promotion. This ranges from nil to criminal behaviour. Optimize your position : what can you do to optimise your own position? Sink opponents : keep track of what your opponents are doing and think carefully about how to disadvantage these opponents. Pressure decision makers? In some circumstances it may be good to put pressure on the decision makers to decide quickly, in your favour.
Copyright Pj Radcliffe 2011

Page 8

Work Place Politics

BOOT LICKING : in many enterprises the main way to get promotion is to do anything the bosses want. This may involve being very nice and compliant to the bosses, being mean to employees, ignoring the real goals/purpose of an organization, and spending all your time satisfying the boss. To some people this behaviour is untenable. It may be better to opt out of the promotion race rather than degrade your personal values or morals. For most people there is a balance somewhere in the middle. ALWAYS BE TRANSPORTABLE : just to emphasise the point - workers who cannot walk into another job tend not to get pay rises or promotion, cannot leave their position when things are bad, cannot change to more interesting or satisfying jobs, and are in serious trouble if retrenched. Always ensure you are transportable !!! It is worth making some sacrifices, and spending some time, to ensure you stay transportable. VALUE? Decision makers can value a wide variety of things. Examples include Work skills such as technical skills, staff management skills, team work skills, communication skills, organizational skills, and strategic vision. Work culture : acceptance and compliance to the work culture and the hierarchy. Such a candidate will fit in and not "rock the boat". Other culture : issues to do with race, politics, morality, religion, and sport. Gifts including things which enhance their position or status, material or labour support for their activities from enterprise sources, and straight material gifts. Patronage system : the boss will look after the worker, and the worker will give their undivided loyalty and effort to the boss. INVALUABLE A PROBLEM : if you are invaluable in your existing position then you will not get promoted. It is wise to ensure that (it appears) that someone else can take over your existing job. NEGOTIATION SKILLS : see the notes on negotiation skills for ways to sink opponents and pressure decision makers.

Copyright Pj Radcliffe 2011

Page 9

Work Place Politics

COMMUNICATE YOUR STRENGTHS. Achievements (real or manufactured) are useless to the promotion game unless the decision makers and influences can see these achievements. Think carefully about how they will get to know about your successes. Ensure they see your successes, and other people praising your successes. Ensure they see your political and moral support. Ensure you are seen working very hard ( or at least appear to be). Create an image they like by the way and things you talk about, and the way other people think and talk about you. Make social contact with key people so they like you, feel happy to work with you, respect you, and feel they can rely on you. HISTORY IS VITAL : work by psychologists has shown that the best indicator of a person's future behaviour is what they have done in the past. Competent job interviewers will concentrate on uncovering past behaviour that is relevant to the criteria for the position. An interviewee must have evidence and be able to talk about past achievements. TIME, EFFORT, AND THOUGHT are required to get promotions, especially in a competitive situation. Dont enter the contest if you are willing to spend the time, effort, and resources required to win. Consider also the ongoing politics from having entered the contest. LOSING : if you lose then it is important to consider your new relationship with existing workers and the new bosses. At this point any negative politics you have practised may be a problem. Typical tactics include Acceptance of new boss : shake hands, well done, no hard feelings, pledge cooperation. Tough fight : that was a tough fight, now we better get on with making the enterprise work. Worth a try : "I never expected to win but the experience was very worthwhile." Leave : quietly make plans to leave the enterprise or move somewhere else in the enterprise. Don't be public about it so you can move when it suits you and not get pushed. YOU ARE A THREAT : the best person for the job may be too bright with too much drive - and be perceived as a threat by existing managers and decision makers. It may be necessary to underplay some strengths to get the promotion or job!

Copyright Pj Radcliffe 2011

Page 10

Work Place Politics

4.0 Other Mechanisms and Effects

There are many forms work place politics that can occur at any time, not just when you enter a work place. Politics aimed at a win-win outcome can help the work place. Politics aim at win-who cares or win-lose will sour the work place. IDEA HIT MAN : some people prove how clever they are by proving how silly other people are. These people can be very friendly, until they bite.

Idea hit men are often For example if you say nine sensible things at a meeting, and nice, until they fire the one suspect thing, then the "idea hit man" will seize upon the dart. suspect point and try to make you look a fool. He will then claim it as a litmus test on your other ideas. If you suspect an "idea hit man" is lurking then ensure your arguments are all sound and leave out anything suspect. Consider keeping some information back so that when something is challenged you can show new information and proof that you are correct, and that they are wrong. The idea hit man is often weak in their technological understanding. They may know technical jargon but will often not understand what that jargon means. These weaknesses can become evident to all by challenging the idea hit man to answer such questions as explain to us all exactly how this technology works and how exactly will this save the project. THE NEW BROOM EFFECT : a new leader has a surprising level of power and authority. People are uncertain, formal and informal positions are all up for grabs. Staff may be trying to gain favour with the new "elder". The net result is that staff will often agree to things they would never accept at other times. This is both an opportunity and a threat depending on your situation. UNCONDITIONAL POSITIVE REGARD : the ideal work relationship is where people have a basic respect for the skills and competence of their fellow workers. When disagreements arise the argument is restricted to technology or work place issues and is never allowed to get near personal pride or other personal attributes. The unsaid understanding should be that"My respect for you is constant as ever but on this issue I disagree with you. Let's try to work it out and find a compromise." Given this attitude people are much happier and tend to be much more productive.

Copyright Pj Radcliffe 2011

Page 11

Work Place Politics

BIG (CONTINUOUS) LIE : a very nasty trick is to keep on insisting that something bad about an opponent is true even though it is not. The constant repetition, even if challenged, can eventually lodge the idea in other people's minds. Politicians use this trick quite frequently. Eventually the audience begins to think "there can't be smoke without fire" and end up half believing it. One of the best defences is to openly accuse them of using the "big lie" technique. Ridicule can also work. TAKING IT PERSONALLY : some people will consistently put their personal pride on the line with every argument. Arguments become personal and political and the important work place issues get lost. The effected staff are less happy, get distracted from productive issues, and waste a lot of time. The "take it personally" type of people can be a disaster for a team and should be weeded out at the job interview. They tend to be over sensitive and very willing to carry on a feud. These types are more frequently sacked, or gain slower promotion within an enterprise. They seldom work well in teams and are often paired with strong staff who can cope with them or put in a position where they have little to do with others. If possible, stay well away from this type of person. Even attempts at positive support often backfire as any misunderstandings are liable to be interpreted as malicious betrayals. THE BAD MAN GAME ( DEMONIZATION) . Back when you were a child can you remember someone you disliked or with whom you had a dispute? Most children's imagination will bring up imaginary scenarios where that person is doing clearly unacceptable things and is motivated by clearly unacceptable drives. This makes it easier for the child to hate and retaliate and so gain the upper hand. In a primitive evolutionary situation this may enhance survival and help the individual gain dominance. In the modern adult world the "bad man game" will lock people into unwarranted conflict and aggression that can only harm an enterprise. For the sake of the team it is very important that managers resolve these type of conflicts. TRIBAL WARFARE AND HATE SESSIONS : the "bad man game" can be taken beyond the individual to have group hate sessions about a class or group of people. This fabricated "common threat" can be used to bind a tribe together and make them feel powerful. Elders often use this trick to control their own people and enhance their own power. In tribal terms, the elders manufacture tribal conflict for their own ends. In civilised society this effect becomes destructive. In the work place it is destructive and managers must root it out. Many persistent "hate session drivers" have been sacked. Most of the great horrors of modern times have been fuelled by "hate merchants" who con the population to hate specific subgroups. Examples include World War 2, the Rwanda massacres, and the Cambodian genocide.
Copyright Pj Radcliffe 2011

Page 12

Work Place Politics

Hate merchants are very dangerous and should not be tolerated in a civilised society. UNIFYING FACTORS : workplace politics seems to much less of a problem when there is a generally accepted goal to the work place. Most private enterprise firms have an underlying theme of "staying in business", poor performance leads to job loss. A competent and respected boss can also be a strong unifying force. BEING MANAGEABLE : one of the key personal attributes that job selection panels and managers look for is that an employee is manageable. What constitutes manageable depends on the nature of the job and cultural norms but will involve accepting directions on what to do, acting within enterprise guidelines both official and unofficial, reporting to the manager things the manager would want to know such as perceived problems and customer complaints, completing tasks and reporting the result, taking an appropriate work load, being civil to management. An unmanageable employee will consume a managers time and effort, a finite and valuable resource that managers resent being wasted. When it comes to down sizing time the unmanageable employee is normally the first to go. COMMANDS AND CONFLICT: the way in which commands are relayed to staff can have a big effect on the level of conflict between staff and their immediate superior. Contrast these two approaches to giving a staff member an unpalatable task "I am telling you to do this" "The company needs you to do this." In general depersonalising the command will raise less conflict. STRESS AND PRODUCTIVITY: the human brain does a great deal of processing at an subconscious level, and we don't have a lot of control over what the subconscious does. If a staff member is under stress or having conflict with other staff members (or anywhere else) then the subconscious tends to be preoccupied with the conflict and will not be available for creative thinking and problem solving. The distraction also tends to reduce work output and productivity. The productivity of professionals is usually much higher in a harmonious and happy work environment and so management must strive to deliver this situation.

Copyright Pj Radcliffe 2011

Page 13

Work Place Politics

SURPRISED BOSS = ANNOYED BOSS. Managers hate nasty surprises, and strongly dislike any surprises at all. It is prudent to keep a manager informed of interesting developments as soon as the information becomes available. SEXUAL POLITICS : hetero-sexual and homosexual politics can exist in a huge variety of ways Negative : a person has negative feelings because of sexuality issues and they will cause problems for someone else. Attraction only : two people are attracted to each other but keep the relationship platonic. They will often do favours for each other. Serious : the relationship goes beyond platonic. Serious and possibly inappropriate favours may be granted in the work place. Power mostly : a person feels attracted to another, but for various reasons this results in an attempt to gain power and dominance over the "victim". This can be very distressing for the victim and lead to worse things. Relationships apart from attraction only can cause serious problems in the work place and a good manager will detect and try to resolve the problem.

PAY RISES : sadly very few enterprises will grant a pay rise just because a person has done a good job. Labor is very costly and a manager's labour budget is always under pressure. Often the manager gets a bonus for keeping labour costs low and reducing the size of the work force. If you get a pay rise your manager's pay suffers!!! There are several key ways to obtain a pay rise Be valuable : ensure the enterprise needs you for your knowledge or skills. Be transportable : always ensure you can walk out of your current job into another job. In a non-threatening way ensure management realises this fact. Be liked & easy to work with : those who make the decision about pay rises are often swayed by who they like and who other powerful people like.

Copyright Pj Radcliffe 2011

Page 14

Work Place Politics

BEWILDERING MANAGEMENT DECISIONS : some management behaviour appears to makes no sense. There are two common reasons for this Incompetence. You have misunderstood, or do not know, the driving motivation behind decisions. It is usually very important to discover hidden motivations as it can effect you as an employee and your career. Typical secret motivations include Control freak : all decisions are centralized to this one manager. Nothing can happen without their approval. This type of manager, looking after 100 people, will insist on checking all petty cash receipts. Personal gain : resource allocation, especially money and staff, are not allocated in sensible ways. The rules, opportunities, and records of resource use and kept secret. Paranoid : everything is kept secret, attempts to discover information are met with hostility. Image builder : this type of person will appear for any publicity and claim directly or by implication to be the driver of success. Any success that does not have them at the front is attacked. If you forget to invite them to a press opportunity they will attack you. SHORT TERM THINKING: many enterprises emphasise only the short term, typically quarterly profit and loss. Sometimes this is unintentional, many other goals are praised but the only real rewards are for satisfying those short term goals. Very few enterprises last without satisfying two key types of goals Long term goals such as staff retention. Intangible goals such as keeping the customer satisfied. The challenge is to ensure that these goals make it into the real reward structure of the enterprise so that staff really will attempt to attain these goals.

Case study: many years ago an entrepreneur made a company very profitable by selling off the hotel properties they owned and renting them back. This proved very successful, for a few years and earned him massive bonuses. Three years later the company was worthless.

Copyright Pj Radcliffe 2011

Page 15

Work Place Politics

5.0 Cultural Issues

Different cultural groups have different traditions. What appears "right, normal, and respectable" in one culture may appear "wrong and disreputable" to other cultures. While it is acceptable to have one's own preferences it can be foolish and parochial to label other cultures as "wrong". MISMATCH : a mismatch in cultural norms can lead to a variety of negative workplace politics. This can only be solved when both sides understand each other and are willing to reach a compromise. What's the difference?

TRIBES : cultural differences are a powerful dividing force and often mandate how people get split into tribes within the work force. TRUTH VERSUS PRIDE : this is a classic trade-off. Some cultures place pride and face above truth and honesty. Cultures which differ in this aspect have significant problems getting on with each other. Example : in an unnamed country, a new telephone operator could not remember how to operate their console and was making mistakes. The operator was by chance observed wrecking a connector. A few minutes later the senior technician was summoned by the operator to be told "the stupid machine doesn't work, fix it". In general, technology does not flower in a culture where truth and accuracy are not valued. REBELLION AND RESPECT : some cultures have strict rules about where people fit in the pecking order and what level of questioning or rebellion is allowed to those lower in the pecking order. A lack of awareness as to the pecking order and the rules of interaction can lead to behaviour which angers all levels of the cultural group concerned. Too much rebellion leads to anarchy, too much respect leads to a stagnant and stifled society. Example : a first year student from a neo-Confucian background noted an error made by the lecturer during a lecture. The student had to go to student counselling to resolve the issue of what to do in the exam. Should he reproduce the correct version in the text book or the error made by the lecturer? In a Western culture the lecturer would expect the correct answer and not be offended. This tale in no way reflects poorly upon the student, it just highlights how cultural differences can cause problems.

Copyright Pj Radcliffe 2011

Page 16

Work Place Politics

PERFECTIONISM VERSUS COMPROMISE : some groups see perfection as the only acceptable outcome, anything less is unworthy and disreputable. Such groups tend to be focused on only one or two main goals.

Success

Failure

Other groups see success as a more graduated scale with necessary compromises between competing goals. These groups often juggle several goals. FACE SAVING : in many cultures it is a great dishonour to have to admit to being wrong with no mitigating circumstances (excuses). In these cultures you must always leave a face saving way for people to back down otherwise you have made a long term enemy. Example : Machiavelli's famous book on political power ( The Prince) clearly states that if you do someone harm it must be either tolerable, or so harsh they will never recover. Anything in the middle just breeds enemies. Common strategies : calming words can help to save face"it was in this new book", "this information wasn't available to you", "with the benefit of hindsight", "it was a great idea except ...". PRIMARY DEDICATION : different cultures will have a different priority for where a worker's loyalty and allegiance should lie. There are also big differences in what is considered the proper strength and publicly demonstrated form of the allegiance. The key allegiances include Fellow workers. The state. Yourself. The enterprise. The family. Religion.

As before, a mismatch in expectations can lead to problems. Example : in some companies workers stay at work long hours in order to demonstrate their dedication to the company. One company in Indonesia in the early 1990s worked out that workers were not very productive in these extended hours and coined the term "display overtime". In various parts of the world workers work from 2 hours a day to 12 hours a day. PICKING OUT INDIVIDUALS : in Western culture it is acceptable to pick out individuals for praise ( and criticism). In other cultures it is a great shame to be singled out for ANY reason, even praise. GIFTS : in western culture gift giving is usually seen as a bribe, even by the legal system. In other cultures gift giving is normal and failure to give a gift that matches a persons station is a grave offence. When then is a gift a bribe?

Copyright Pj Radcliffe 2011

Page 17

Work Place Politics

SPREAD : in any culture there is a significant spread of how people behave. While cultures, on average, have a particular bias this tells us nothing about a particular individual. Significant mistakes can be made from blindly applying the rule "this person is from culture 1 and will behave according to this stereotype".

culture2 culture1

RISKS AND MACHO : some cultural sub-groups must watch too many movies like Rambo. In this genre of movie success and self respect comes from fervent belief in oneself, and a brave dedicated fight against ridiculous odds. This macho attitude can be carried over into management and technology. Such a culture stops people performing proper risk management and planning in general. THE ROLE OF LEADERS : leaders can have a bigger or smaller effect depending on the culture of the work place. Weak leaders can be found in some classes of activity ( for example academia) and in some cultures. Such leaders may not be able to help new recruits settle in. Strong leaders are common in some classes of activity (for example commercial operations) and some cultures. Such leaders can be supportive and be helpful to the new recruit, if they choose to be so. A strong leader will set the work culture for all workers under their control. The cultural setting maybe positive (for example a dedication to serving the clients) or a self-serving culture such as obey me. ENJOYING WORK: the degree of enjoyment you are allowed at work is limited by cultural issues, both extrinsic (eg your boss) and intrinsic (what your culture believes about work). There is often a lot you can do to increase your level of enjoyment, but this requires reflection and changes to the way you think Boring work: notice and take pleasure in the small things over which you have some control. Learn to think about other things as you do your boring job. Physical work: learn to enjoy the feeling of your body moving and getting fit. The boss from hell: concentrate on doing a job you can respect. Perhaps be active in moving jobs, this may be a long term plan which involves retraining. Customer satisfaction: working out what customers really need and then delivering that can be a very satisfying activity. The insights you gain will be an advantage all your life. Pursue excellence: think about what excellence really is and work toward that. This can be satisfying and usually reaps good rewards. Cultivate relationships: you don't have to like or respect all your colleagues but try to build a good working relationship with everyone you can and respect in each colleague what you can.
Page 18

Copyright Pj Radcliffe 2011

Work Place Politics

HOW DO YOU SHOW YOU ARE POWERFUL? This varies from culture to culture but in all cultures powerful people want to show they are powerful. Common effects include Block things. I will close the shop an hour early. Make things happen, I'll keep the shop open 30 minutes longer just for you. Abuse. For example unnecessarily harsh treatment of subordinates. Meaningless change, Only managers may use a green pen. If you want to change what has been done, remember the whole point was that the boss wanted to prove they are powerful. Anyone challenging what has been done will suddenly find themselves in a lot of trouble with the boss.

Copyright Pj Radcliffe 2011

Page 19

Work Place Politics

LECTURE INTRODUCTION Hope you enjoyed last week on negotiation skills, I am now doing a bit of negotiation myself. Some very good friends at RMIT have died because of smoking. Cigarette companies have lied, as revealed in US court hearings. They are clearly happy to kill consumers to make profits. So ... here is my bit to help you avoid smoking and stir others who smoke. Work Place politics is another lecture requested by graduates. Many had a tough time entering the workplace and felt it would have helped a great deal to understand what was happening. QUESTION : you have just finished your degree and have started your first engineering job. What do the other employees think of you? How will they react? ANSWER : most will see you as a threat and proceed to deal with you. ADDITIONAL COMMENTS Breeding mental attitude : in animals it is clear that breeding greatly effects mental attitude, for example caribou and reindeer. Those who didn't conform to the tribe got rejected and so didn't breed. Symbols: glasses in ancient China. Emperor had huge unwieldy set, lower station = smaller glasses. Hunters got better reproductive opportunities. Is that true now? Are spouses now more insightful? Answer that one yourself? Near sightedness -> don't go to war -> stay and breed. Camp workers rule : can often take over if elders weak or incompetent, bureaucracy reigns. High ROI problem: KLB when marketing tried to kill engineering. Soln = look at costs and details, showed Sales had - and billed to factory, lots of other silliness. Showed Engineering was effective and Sales was expensive. Politics and time : managers must stay in a position long enough to cop the consequences of their politics. Work output : tale of my dad in GM fridge construction 1959. Did full days work before lunch, union rep went berserk and demanded pull out half and not finish until 5pm. New threat jokes and bastardisationLong wait (weight) joke. Stripped paint joke.
Copyright Pj Radcliffe 2011

Page 20

Work Place Politics

Filter cap addition joke. Military use, kill self will, accept tribal rule absolutely. Telecom technicians : ask engineers to leave the room so the engineer wont get to know how to do things to the exchange. Ericsson research closing : many specialized workers who will have trouble getting a job. New leader : Kennett trying to deny ALP members the pension, admitted as inappropriate later but ... the new leader effect, we should have said no. Hold back info : ABC tale from "moonlight state" : held back key information so when corrupt police came up with an alibi they could be shot down and proved to be a liar. Big lie : politics. "unions want to destroy economy", "liberals don't care about people" .... Hate session : most of the great horrors of this century have been caused by "hate sessions" eg Jews in WW2, WW2 itself, Rwanda massacres, ... People who hate are dangerous and not to be trusted or rewarded.

Copyright Pj Radcliffe 2011

Page 21