Corporate Politics – Beneficial To You?

There is not a single organization in this whole world which does not experience corporate politics. It’s a bad face of organization. If you thought that petty, gossiping is limited to high schools or college, think again. Office politics can be vicious, and power struggles in a company will be a part of your career whether you choose to take part in them or not.

Office or corporate politics are the use of power and strategies that route to organizational or individual benefits. It might add up to organization’s benefits or a personal cause they support. Often, this term has a negative implication where it refers to strategies people use to seek at the expense of others or the greater good. However, “good politics” is always healthy for promoting a right cause or an explicit benefit.

So, if you are about to step into the corporate world thinking not to be attacked by politics is like standing in front of a tiger expecting not to eat you. Well that’s lame..isn’t it? Knowing all the intricacies of politics in your organization is the best way to tackle it. Falling far away from it can even cause you to suffer whilst others take unfair advantage. And if one avoids “good politics” there are chances that he/she may miss the opportunity to properly further their interests.

In order to master this game of politics one has to know its organization’s political landscape. It is a set of hierarchies that link the political players together. It basically shows relationship between several people. In simple words, Political Landscape is what defines relationships between co-workers at a given time.

Corporations can never get away from its politics whether it may be good or negative/bad. They are a fact of life. Wise politicking will help you get what you want in the world of work without compromising others in the process. Whereas, bad politicking will be instrumental in scaling up in the organization by wrong or unfair influence. The great philosopher Plato said “One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by their inferiors”.

– Vatsal Doshi