It entails utilising social media and influence in the workplace to bring about improvements that are advantageous to all parties involved. “Institutional politics are self-serving behaviours” which “employees use to increase the probability of obtaining positive outcomes in institutes”.
Individuals may use their influence to further their own goals without considering how it would affect the institute as a whole. A few of the individual benefits could be: having access to material possessions; or having intangible advantages like prestige, posing as an authority figure to manipulate other people’s actions. Acts intended to influence others in a way that benefits the institute and the politician themselves are known as positive politics. Presenting a professional image, announcing one’s successes, volunteering, and offering compliments to others are a few instances of positive politics.
Office politics may be practiced by both individuals and groups, and it may be extremely harmful when it puts personal benefit ahead of the institution’s needs. “Self-serving political actions can negatively influence our social groupings, cooperation, information sharing, and many other institutional functions.” As a result, it is critical to consider institutional politics and provide the appropriate political environment. Politics that prioritise self-interest over the needs of others and the institute is known as negative politics. Talking behind someone’s back, starting rumours, and withholding crucial information are a few instances of negative politics.
Not all workplace manipulation or office politics is about getting a promotion or better salary. Frequently, the aim could be as simple as gaining more authority or influence for one’s own purposes, or as damaging a rival.
Office politics are a big problem in business because those who take advantage of their relationships at work waste time and money on themselves rather than the team or institute. This happens as a result of office politics interfering with an institution’s information flow. To influence a situation for immediate personal benefit, information may be withheld, redirected, or misinterpreted.
No bad news, divide & conquer & sandbagging are routine techniques utilized in office politics.
Coworker backstabbing, bullying, psychological manipulation, gas lighting, nepotism, cronyism etc are backbones of bad office politics.
Politics can have a big impact on an organization’s ability to retain great people and how well its employees perform. Workers may feel that they must continually negotiate complicated power dynamics and interpersonal disputes in a poisonous, politically heated work environment.
Politics is a well-researched source of negative emotions that are linked to self-report of lower psychological and physical well-being. It also changes social networks and individual identity.
Negative examples of institutional politics include attempts to damage someone else’s reputation or body of work in an attempt to undermine their authority or thwart their initiatives. This might be accomplished by disseminating inaccurate information, starting rumours, or keeping them out of crucial meetings or correspondence.
Everybody has their own personal objectives, egos, aspirations, and agendas when they come to the table, and there will always be some degree of compromise, negotiating, and politicking in order for someone to get what they want.
Politics is a ubiquitous and mostly inevitable cause of ongoing stress that has incurred major medical expenses for a great deal of people.
Numerous adults attribute a range of significant physical, psychological, and social health costs to politics; estimates vary from tens of millions to over a hundred million, depending on the health item; these numbers remained high and in some cases almost certainly increased during the time and its aftermath increased rather than decreased these negative health impacts.
The main motivation for this blog post is the likelihood that political participation could have detrimental effects on public health, with historically high levels of those effects.
It is critical to swiftly recognise inappropriate political behaviour and to equitably apply disciplinary action when necessary in order to prevent these possible outcomes. Making sure new managers understand how to identify and deal with toxic office politics as well as how to acknowledge and honour constructive impact is equally crucial. Interestingly, favourable political behaviour on the part of the staff has the opposite effect on the company/institution. For instance, workplace politics can be advantageous if workers help one another and carry out good deeds since it can foster positive change, enhance efficiency and behaviour, and foster interpersonal ties. In the end, morale inside the workplace and employee retention can both be increased by positive political behaviour.
Tangible Solutions for Team Leaders to End up Negative Office Politics:
Source: Forbes
