Politics - Should You Play the Game or Not? 

By Doug Brown

Assistant Director

Graduate Career Service Center

Texas Christian University

We have all worked with the guy or girl that seems to take credit for everything you do. Or maybe you work with someone that spends more time chatting with superiors and co-workers than getting work done. No matter what the circumstances, office politics is a plague in our business and non-business institutions. How do political games affect the organization? In a nutshell, it destroys the motivation of those hard working employees that are not receiving the recognition they deserve. It creates friction among employees. It detracts from the real goal of the organization and ultimately leads to turnover. In most cases it is the good employees that are lost.

What should you do as an employee when faced with office politics? Do you play along hoping to score points with the boss? Do you refuse to play and risk being perceived as having a bad attitude? The decision is tough. Ultimately, companies will reward consistently good results. You may be in a situation where someone is taking credit for your ideas and hard work. It is frustrating, but succumbing to the urge to play will ultimately lead to your demise. A more effective strategy would be to just keep up the hard work. In the long run, the "Politician" will be discovered. There will come a day when the politician is asked to perform or produce and their real ability, or lack thereof, will be uncovered. Unfortunately, you may have to bear the frustration until that day arrives.

What about your manager, can he or she help control the politics in the office? Unfortunately, managers rarely recognize that politics exist. Managers are oftentimes themselves political animals and see the political games as a necessary evil to get ahead. If that is the case where you work then this may be a good time to do some serious self-assessment of the company you work for, their reward system, and your specific job duties. You may find that you are in a job with a company that just simply does not fit your personality.

What if you're a manager and discover that politics are preventing your employees from being productive? If you're a GOOD manager you will nip this problem in the bud. Pull the politically charged employee aside and let them know that this company values its employees based on their productivity, creativity, ability to manage multiple tasks and, most importantly, their ability to work well with others! Once the political employee understands that you see through their charade, they will most likely stop playing the games. If they don't then it is up to you as a manager to take the next step. The next step could be a wide variety of actions including formal reprimand, transfer to another department, or promotion of a non-political employee ahead of the politician. Whatever you do, it must be significant enough to send a strong message to the politician that their behavior is unacceptable and that not playing politics is the quickest way to get recognized.

In the end we all get what we deserve. Good people are recognized and rewarded for their efforts and the others are recognized and taken care of accordingly. No matter what your position in life, if you live by the golden rule (do unto others as you would have them do unto you) then you will never have to worry about what you said or did and whether or not it was the right or wrong thing. You will most likely always be respected and considered a valuable asset to the organization to which you devote so much of your time. So, in summary, just do the right thing and life will be much easier!