Navigating Office Politics

Positive, Negative or worse, Dirty Office Politics

According to Wikipedia, Office Politics, also known as Workplace Politics and Organizational Politics is the process and behavior that in human interactions involves power and authority.

It is also a tool to assess the operational capacity and to balance diverse views of interested parties.

It involves the use of power and social networking within a workplace to achieve changes that benefit the individuals within it.

This is a self-serving behavior that an employee uses to increase the probability of obtaining positive outcomes in organizations.

Politics can be both positive and negative.

Positive politics are behaviors that are designed to influence others with the goal of helping both the organization and the person playing the politics.

Unfortunately, this influence may serve the personal interests of that employee without regard to its effect on the organization or other employees.

That’s when it becomes negative in nature and when taken too far to achieve one’s ambitions, results in dirty politics.

What if you don’t want to play dirty politics? How do you get ahead in your career?

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