Corporate E-Learning

Office politics, or work politics, are the strategies and procedures that employees use to function and advance in a work setting. It is important for managers to learn and understand the office environment and the employees that make it tick. Since the manager interacts with several aspects of the workplace, one should learn how to effectively work with colleagues, supervisors, and upper management in order to help keep the department functioning as a whole.

Once new employees are brought onboard, they are often given vital information and skills needed to succeed in the group. While this information can help them get started, the new hire will need to learn the inner workings of the office and the environment they are now a part of in order to thrive and be successful. As a manager, you can help new employees realize how the office functions and what they can do to fit right in.

As stated before, office politics exist in every office environment. Offices are normally made up of a wide range of people and personality types. They key to maintaining good politics is to know how to interact with each other and influence the employees under your management.

While every manager likes to believe everyone in their office gets along, unfortunately, this is not always the case. When people come together, problems such as rumors and gossip can arise and spread quickly. If these issues are not addressed and resolved from the start, they can grow larger and cause disruptions among coworkers. You have the ability to instill confidence and trust with your employees.

Every employee is unique in their job skills and office presence. That also means every employee has their own office personality. While many are tolerable and even upbeat, some can have negative effects on other employees. Managers should understand these different types and know how to handle them in the workplace.

As we’ve stated, every employee is unique and brings his own personality to the office. Some of these personalities can have negative effects not only on fellow coworkers and management, but even the whole office. Here we discuss more personality types a manager could encounter and ways to handle them in the workplace.

Sometimes it can seem hard to gain support behind your office projects, but don’t throw in the towel so early. Some of the key aspects of gaining support are building relationships with the staff, making allies that can give you a boost, and not being afraid to show others what you have to offer. Using honest and ‘good’ politics cannot only gain support for any project you may be carrying, but will propel your career forward without burning bridges behind you.

While conflict is bound to happen in any office, managers are still responsible for creating a work environment that allows its employees to work comfortably together without fear or hostility. Cliques, disagreements, and plain arguments can develop which can affect the entire office. As a manager, it is your responsibility to identify these conflicts and make sure they are resolved as soon as possible.

Ethics is a set of standards used to judge from right and wrong. In the workplace, it can refer to the act of fair competition, acting honestly and treating coworkers and management respectively. Every day managers will need to make ethical decisions that will affect their employees as well as themselves. That’s why it is very important that the manager understands their company’s ethical obligations so that they can not only meet the requirements set forth, but to also display appropriate behavior for their employees and coworkers.

Sometimes, as a manager, we can feel like we are on our own little island doing our job as intended. But don’t forget to look up and see your team of employees that are there to work for and with you, as well as partners in upper management. No one can manage everything by themselves, and will need to reach out from time to time. Sometimes we find that we may need to reach out to those we’ve just met, or even someone we thought we’d left behind.

While socializing outside of work can generally sound like a great idea (the team that plays together stays together), there comes a time when employees and managers should respect each other’s boundaries and know when to spend time apart. Also, employees and managers must spend some time away from the stress and hustle of the office and should not take their job with them when they go out.

Although this workshop is coming to a close, we hope that your journey to understanding office politics is just beginning. Please take a moment to review and update your action plan. This will be a key tool to guide your progress in the days, weeks, months, and years to come. We wish you the best of luck on the rest of your travels!