Office Politics

Power play, that’s how sportscasters describe a “successful” move of an athlete against the odds facing him.

In the corporate world, office politics thrive. Politics is a neutral word, however, because of power play, office politics developed a negative connotation. Power play in the corporate world “may” mean the negative use of power– using any of these

• connections
• control of information
• control of resources

to (1) send an underlying message that he is a person to contend with, (2) get what he wants, (3) intimidate, (4) protect his turf, and … (you can add your own observation/experience below).

Because of these, when one is in traversing the corporate jungle, a professional may not be aware that he’s slowly becoming what he hate– “corporate predators”.

And because “corporate predators” have succeded in destroying careers or have succeeded in making life difficult for another corporate specie, the notion that there may not be better alternative than becoming one was reinforced.

Is there a better way to handle office politics? Yes there is