POWER PLAYS

ou had high hopes when you

hired Ruth to head up your marketing department. She had just the right business skills and got
along great with people in her previous position. What more could you ask? Plenty, as it turned out.
Although Ruth brought lots of enthusiasm and talent to your organization, she never seemed to get
the support of the staff. Her directives were ignored. Her plans to improve business performance
never got off the ground. Finally, after many months of struggling, Ruth resigned. By that time, your
revenues had gone south and you were saddled with yet another costly talent search.

HOW TO REDUCE COSTLY

OFFICE POLITICS AT YOUR BUSINESS
BY PHILLIP M. PERRY
ERIC YAHNKER

40 PROGRESSIVE RENTALS
 W
hat happened? Office politics, that power struggles, says Jacobsen. “Office politics also diverts system that is to blame, not the person.” To reduce the I think I am doing a good job and you say I’m not, then I
ugly and costly drain on business the organization from accomplishing its mission because power of office politics, says Serven, change the system to start to believe you are persecuting me, so things get
profit, had struck again. During people are pursuing their personal agendas rather than one that rewards performance. “Office politics needs to be nasty.” Without objective performance criteria that every-
Ruth’s second week on the job, one the business mission.” In our opening story, Allan pursued addressed just like any other performance issue.” one accepts, staff members will compete in any way they
of her staff members had turned to his own goal of maintaining his power over his peers Here are five positive steps you can take to establish a know how for the limited organizational resources.
Allan, a veteran supervisor and instead of helping Ruth institute her ideas. productive reward system that will bring each individual’s
informal group leader, and asked a Damaging as it is, office politics is here to stay because goals in line with those of your business: 4. Maintain objective performance evaluations.
single question: “So what do you think of Ruth?” it is part of human nature. “No one ever checks their Regularly scheduled, objective performance evaluations
Allan pursed his lips and shook his head slightly, saying humanity at the door when they come to work,” says 1. Set a good example. are your best tools for reducing the impact of office poli-
nothing else. But that was enough: Everyone understood Michael S. Dobson, a management consultant based in Start by taking a fresh look at your own behavior. “Make tics. When it comes to feeling secure about their jobs, peo-
that Ruth was not to be supported by anybody who want- Bethesda, MD. “We all bring ourselves to the work place.” sure you do not play destructive office politics yourself,” ple look upon favorable reviews as valuable support. Even
ed to stay in Allan’s good graces. In fact, destructive office politics is more prevalent today, says Jacobsen. “Ask yourself, ‘What games am I playing?’ unfavorable reviews, when carefully prepared and pre-
say organizational consultants. “Some people thought poli- and ‘How would things look if I were a fly on the wall?’ sented, are seen as guides for getting back on a secure
Power plays hurt profits tics was on the way out with the movement toward promot- Once you have an unbiased perspective, make an effort to track. In both cases, people who know where they stand

O
ffice politics is the practice of accumulating and utiliz- ing cooperation among people at many businesses,” says institute more productive ways of interacting.” Make a will be less fearful about losing their jobs and will devote
ing power. Our opening story is a prime example of Andrew DuBrin, professor of management at the Rochester conscious effort to reduce the impact that personal rela- less time to creating power centers and more to improving
how destructive behavior can wreck a business. More- Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY, and author of the tionships have on decision making. work performance.
over, the anecdote illustrates a costly lesson that some busi- best-selling Winning Office Politics. “But there is actually Finally, evaluations work well when individuals know
nesses never learn: Successful managers and supervisors do more back-stabbing in recent times as companies continue 2. Outline and communicate they have the power and resources to improve their posi-
more than master technical skills and get along well with to shrink and people compete for the best positions.” the goals of your organization. tions. Encourage autonomy among individuals by making
people. They also become “master politicians.” Not only can During difficult financial times, people feel less secure Your staff needs to understand your organization’s goals sure they possess the means to achieve the specific goals
they identify and overcome destructive power plays like about their jobs and will do whatever they see in their before they can share them. “One role of management is to outlined in the performance evaluations.
Allan’s, but they are also skilled at employing office politics interest to secure their paychecks, says DuBrin. People act define the business,” says Dobson. “Answer the question,
for good purposes (see sidebar: “Good Office Politics.”) in their own economic best interests and as long as those ‘What do we do for a living around here?’ The more clear 5. Call people on games they play.
In the opening story above, Allan played the role of a mas- interests are misaligned with the corporate interests, you you are about the company mission, the better.” Suppose Andy approaches you with the following state-
ter politician. With a shake of his head, he marshaled the will experience destructive power plays. ment: “I have some negative things to tell you about Nick.
power of his loyal co-workers against a new manager who he There is another reason for the growth of office poli- 3. Describe each person’s contribution to the goal. He appears to be slacking off quite a bit in his work.”
regarded as a threat to his own hold on power. The result was tics, says DuBrin. “Many more people have learned the How do you define quality performance? This question It seems like destructive office politics at work or could
a dysfunctional work place and a broken profit machine. value of networking as a tool for becoming liked. People needs to be answered in specific terms for each individual. it be that Andy has really spotted something serious?
“Office politics is absolutely a bottom line issue,” says recognize intuitively that the last people to go are the peo- “Office politics turns bad to the extent that quality per- DuBrin suggests a response such as this: “Fine, let’s bring
Ian Jacobsen, a Sunnyvale, CA-based consultant who has ple most liked.” formance cannot be specifically defined,” says Dobson. “If Nick in here and have a three-way conference.”
dealt with destructive office politics at many businesses.
“One supervisor recently told me she was spending 40 How to reduce office politics

O
percent of her time dealing with office politics, so her ffice politics turns destructive when people are
company was really only getting less than two-thirds of rewarded for who they are and who they know—
that person for actual work while paying her a full salary.”
Wasted time is not the only damaging aspect of such
not for how well they perform. Staff members real-
ize that no matter how good they are at their jobs, they are
in danger of losing their paychecks to someone
GOOD OFFICE POLITICS
W
who is in better favor with the boss. Rather than hile this article offers The implementation of any program invested their own ideas in a solu-
concentrating on serving the customer and suggestions on how to will go better if you can get every- tion, they will take ownership of the
CHARACTERISTICS improving their work skills, people focus on reduce the destruc- one on board.” problem.”
playing up to their supervisors and forming
OF OFFICE POLITICS powerful cliques that can overcome common
tive nature of politics
in the work place, not all office poli-
When you need to put a new pro-
gram in place, Jacobsen suggests
Finally, set up checkpoints and
measurable standards. These will
At
At businesses
businesses riddled
riddled with
with destructive
destructive threats. tics is bad. Smart managers use the following three-step outline for help the staff assess progress
office
office politics,
politics, people
people do do the
the following:
following: We saw both results in this story’s opening their political skills to get things political action: toward solving the problem.
anecdote. First, Allan’s clique responded to his done that are good for the business First, sell the problem. “People This three-step procedure mar-
Build
Build empires
empires rather
rather than
than improve
improve business
business performance.
performance. desire for control, understanding he would pro- and the staff. are not willing to consider solutions shals the force of the entire staff
Push
Push for agendas that enhance their personal power, not
for agendas that enhance their personal power, not company
company profit.
profit. tect them in turn. Second, the group was able to “Politics is the art of the possi- before they see a pressing problem. behind any new initiative. Getting
Focus
Focus on
on protecting
protecting their
their jobs
jobs because
because they
they do
do not
not feel
feel safe.
safe. destroy an individual who seemed to threaten
ble,” says Ian Jacobsen, a Sunnyvale, So make people aware there is a people committed to a new program
their common power. All of this came about
Take
Take credit
credit for
for others’
others’ work.
work. CA-based consultant who has dealt problem and define its impact.” is an excellent example of manipu-
because the interests of staff members were mis-
Sabotage
Sabotage others
others and
and engage
engage in in character
character assassination.
assassination. with destructive office politics at Second, engage people in the lating power in a positive sense. It’s
aligned with that of the business.
many businesses. “Being able to process of deciding how to solve “good office politics” at work.
Hurt others’ feelings.
Hurt others’ feelings. “People play office politics for only one rea-
son—they believe it is in their best interest,” says develop a group consensus for the problem. “When people feel
Discount
Discount others’
others’ achievements.
achievements. action is a healthy form of politics. empowered because they have
Lawrence Serven, principal of a consulting firm
Engage
Engage in in favoritism.
favoritism. called The Buttonwood Group, in Stamford, CT.
“Often that belief is well founded. It’s really the

42 PROGRESSIVE RENTALS JULY-AUGUST 2002 43

 This is a very effective technique because “exposure is “That’s about as much of a solution as you find in a lot of
the best disinfectant,” says DuBrin. “Everyone will under- companies. But you will never have zero errors or 100 per-
stand that if you make negative statements about people, cent employee retention or complete absence of sexual
there will be a three-way conference or more. This will harassment. Does that mean that you don’t make
quickly freeze up a lot of people; they will not make accu- progress? Of course not.”
sations unless well-founded.” The secret is to work toward a single end result: a com-
pany that rewards people on merit. When you reduce
Change for the better destructive office politics to a minimum you will have a

A
bove all, be aware that you can reduce the incidence more productive work force and a healthier bottom line. ■

of destructive power plays. “In many organizations,

there is a sense that we can’t do anything about Phillip M. Perry is a free-lance business writer based in
office politics, so we should ignore the issue,” says Serven. New York City.

GET
GET MORE
MORE INFORMATION:
INFORMATION:
Winning
Winning Office
Office Politics,
Politics, by
by Andrew
Andrew J.J. Enlightened
Enlightened Office
Office Politics,
Politics, by
by The
The End
End of
of Office
Office Politics
Politics as
as Usual,
Usual,
DuBrin
DuBrin (1990).
(1990). One
One ofof the
the most
most Michael
Michael and
and Deborah
Deborah Singer
Singer Dobson
Dobson by
by Lawrence
Lawrence B.B. Serven
Serven (2002).
(2002). Emphasis
Emphasis
comprehensive
comprehensive descriptions
descriptions ofof (2001).
(2001). How
How to
to play
play office
office politics
politics in
in on
on fixing
fixing the
the organizational
organizational system
system that
that
political
political strategies.
strategies. Prentice
Prentice Hall,
Hall, the
the good
good sense.
sense. Amacom,
Amacom, encourages
encourages office
office politics
politics in
in aa business.
business.
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Broadway, New
New York,
York, NY
NY
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44 PROGRESSIVE RENTALS