In the world of business and industry, there is one big menace  -- office politics.

Office politics can destroy the fabric of any organization.  It can destroy its culture, its vibrancy and contribute to its downfall.

Office politics should be totally discouraged.  One should never indulge in it, as it is not only harmful to individuals, but to groups and the entire organization itself.

In reality, contrary to all public perception, most of office politics does not start only with bosses and end with bosses.  Most often, it starts with employees at lower levels, who do not have the adequate skills or competencies.  To just survive, they start looking for avenues in which they can play their games.  Over a period of time, these games happily consume their bosses as well, and then starts the role of the bosses.

Office politics makes every single person who looks and works for merit-oriented performance to quit the organization.  He or she does look around for some chance to exhibit their talent.  When this is absent, such individuals often quit the organization, and do not tell anything in the exit interview.

How it works

Even if there are one or two bosses with egos, the individuals who do not have skills, will look for ways in which their egos can be satisfied.  When this praise goes to bigger levels, the boss is very happy.  However, this is not the end of the game. It is just the starting point.

There is another area --- the boss's weaknesses that are very successfully exploited by the subordinate.  If this happens for whatever reason, the boss develops a very good relationship with the subordinate, and relies on him for "information", of all people, and about perceptions of various people, of his performance and even extends to matters of his or her family life.

In one of the organizations this author worked with, the boss had a weakness for astrology.  One of the subordinates whose wife had some knowledge of astrology, and was a very good cook herself, used this astrology to simply floor the boss and each and every member of the family of the boss.

In office, the boss went to any length to shield the boss against any problem he encountered and the wife of the subordinate would actually advise him on what color of shirt to wear for any important occasion!  Very few people knew how the subordinate had such a big sway over the boss.

The subordinate's influence was the starting point of all office politics.  Other peers, who were very jealous of the subordinate, tried to gang up against him and the boss simply ignored each of them, and even shouted at them in meetings.

This continued for well over three years, till the boss was transferred to another department.  However, using his influence, the boss, ensured that his blue eyed boy was also transferred to the other department as well!!

Office politics can also happen with autocratic bosses.  The sheer frustration of the subordinates makes them helpless.  They start to question every single action of the boss, in private and among themselves.  They even try to plan something against the boss.  Nothing happens.

However, one of the subordinates develops the knack of telling something to the boss. This "information" starts developing into gossip over a period of time, and office politics of the worst kind is firmly in place in the organization.  This is even more harmful, as the boss can simply destroy any subordinate's career, or make life miserable for him or her.

Another form of office politics pertains to the tussle between power struggle between the staff and line departments.  The main line department is the production department and, in every factory, every single manager thinks he is a "small God".  He often dictates to HR and the Finance professionals, what should be done.  However, this is asking for trouble.

The HR and finance professionals are competent in their own domains.  Office politics starts at very senior levels.  The chief executive or the plant in-charge has the mandate of sorting out all this politics which is a big waster of time.

The menace of office politics can be nipped in the bud with effective leadership.  It can also be effectively handled by encouraging a climate of merit, everywhere in the organization.  

Role clarity, with absolutely clear guidelines about what a person should do, when, where and how, and how he or she is held accountable for specific outputs can go a long way in helping the organization minimize office politics.

Similarly, if rules regarding perks and allowances are also clear, office politics can be minimized.

One area of urgent concern is the role of the HR head.  He or she should be authorized to intervene in any office politics, help the concerned people see the detrimental effects of such politics and then build a climate of trust.

A very redeeming fact is that many organizations, particularly the family managed organizations, are now realizing how important it is to give professionals a free hand in developing people at all levels and bring about a dramatic transformation in the way the organization is managed.  In fact, this has effectively reduced office politics to a great extent.

Office politics has no role in today's dynamic business environment, where being global or becoming global, is no more a choice.  There has to be a big movement to sustain the march towards an absolutely merit-oriented environment, in both the short and the long-term.