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Work and office politics
Case study on office politics
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Office politics are an inevitable part of every organization and are often acknowledged by employees when it is seen in action, yet many find it difficult to define. It is critical to not only recognize office politics, but to know when it will be beneficial to participate. Often, office politics are seen as something negative. However, this may not necessarily be the case. By using a few unwritten rules, one can win at office politics and hopefully advance in their career objectives. This paper will discuss the unwritten rules of office politics and how I respond to them in my work environment. Rule number one in office politics is to never do anything that will permanently anger or demean anyone that will help you in the advancement of your career. This especially holds true for making the boss look bad. You never know when a senior person may be the deciding factor on whether you get promoted or get accepted for another position. Therefore, it is best to give credit where credit is due. In my organization, my boss assigns all of her employees additional duties, based on orders f...
The Australian Human Rights Commission (2011:p1) states that “Gender equality is a principal that lies at the heart of a fair and productive society”. If gender equality is the heart of a fair and productive society than the laws and regulations in place must be the key in maintaining a fair and productive society. If regulations and laws are not frequently discussed, debated and reviewed than issues such as sex discrimination in particular can be sufficiently dealt with or ignored. The Carter v Linuki Pty t/as Aussie & Anor [2005] NSWADTAP 40 (22 August 2005) will be used to demonstrate the regulations surrounding sexual discrimination. In this paper a thoroughly investigation into the recent changes in laws and regulations encompassing sexual discrimination will be conducted in relation to the case provided. By using the elements of the case the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth) (SDA) will be applied to the facts presented in order to explain the regulation surrounding this issue. Since the case involves a work related situation where the employee was discriminated on the basis of gender the SDA will be used. A Brief description on the impact of exclusion will be provided to demonstrate the causal link between exclusion and gender discrimination. Firstly, the case’s elements will now be analysed.
Stating the problem and asking for suggestions about how the problem can be solved. When there is a problem, we should follow the proper protocol to get the problem resolved. The breakdown in communication between the police officers and city management caused an unnecessary conflict because city management acted out of fear and the mayor possibly losing an election due to the overtime pay the police officers were receiving, which was mandatory because of the promise made by the mayor to lower crime by increasing police patrols in high-crime
Riaz, M. & Junaid, F. (2011). Types, Sources, Cost and Consequences of Workplace Conflicts. Asian Journal of Management Research. 2(1), 600-611.
(Tost, Gino & Larrick 2013) argues that “when a formal leader experiences a heightened subjective sense of power, he or she tends to dominate group discussions and interactions, which leads other team members to perceive that their views and perspectives are not valued”. This perceived imbalance definitely hampers any attempt at managing workplace conflict. When employees feel that they have no authority or empowerment they tend to be disengaged, and disengaged employees effect productivity. Low productivity can be considered a form of dissatisfaction and thus labelled a conflict that must be addressed by both employee and manager.
“Office Space” is a comedy movie of a man who desperately hates his job and his boss. The movie begins with Peter Gibbon’s daily life story at Initech. At work, Peter has to deal with his indifferent boss, Bill Lumbergh, who doesn’t want to listen to his employee’s feedbacks. Lumbergh seems to be an ignorant and arrogant man who dictates his employee and doesn’t want to be blamed at all. Moreover, Lumbergh asks his employee to come to work on weekend. The atmosphere in the office is getting more intense after Lumbergh announced that Initech is bringing in consultants to increase the efficiency of the company. Peter was very frustrated with everything in the office and he felt that his life even more miserable with each passing day at work. The following day, he decided to come to see a hypnotherapist in order to help him to have more positive outlook on life. Before the hypnotherapist finishes his hypnotic therapy on Peter, he has a heart attack unexpectedly and then dies. However, Peter was still under the influence of hypnosis and fails to come back to his normal state. The next day, Peter sleeps all day long – he actually supposed to come to work – and ignores all calls from his boss. On Monday, Peter comes to the office to have an interview with the consultants. Here, still under the influence of hypnosis, Peter blatantly tells everything he felt about the company. He even tells the interviewers that he only stare at his desk – looks like he is working – for hours to spend his time at work. In the end of the interview, Peter says that actually he is not lazy, but he has a problem with motivation. Peter has eight different bosses who will come by if Peter makes mistakes, so the only motivation that Peter has is not to be hassle...
In different industries, there are companies that operate for a purpose, but the bottom line is the management style between supervisors and subordinate can break or make an organization. Organizations and businesses have to run their management a certain way in order to motivate their employees. The main type of organization management is the Classical Theory which contains Theory X. There are five key employee conflict management styles. Building relationships between employees and managers is crucial for an organization to function and execute their purpose whether it is to provide a service or product. Both theories and conflict strategies were present in the film “Office Space” to demonstrate the negatives of corrupt management and ongoing conflicts which were not resolved that led to destruction.
Many people enjoy working or participating in a group or team, but when a group of people work together chances are that conflicts will occur. Hazleton describes conflict as the discrepancy between what is the perceived reality and what is seen as ideal (2007). “We enter into conflicts reluctantly, cautiously, angrily, nervously, confidently- and emerge from them battered, exhausted, sad, satisfied, triumphant. And still many of us underestimate or overlook the merits of conflict- the opportunity conflict offers every time it occurs” (Schilling, nd.). Conflict does not have to lead to a hostile environment or to broken relationships. Conflict if resolved effectively can lead to a positive experience for everyone involved. First, there must be an understanding of the reasons why conflicts occur. The conflict must be approached with an open mind. Using specific strategies can lead to a successful resolution for all parties involved. The Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument states “there are five general approaches to dealing with conflict. The five approaches are avoidance, accommodation, competition, compromise, and collaboration. Conflict resolution is situational and no one approach provides the best or right approach for all circumstances” (Thomas, 2000).
Although there is a plethora of possible sources of conflict in any workplace, the ones in this case are rather explicit. These include personal differences, Informal deficiencies’, role incompatibility, environment stress, perceptions, and expectations. Personal differences could be related to personal values, physiognomies, family bonds or ties, and material belongings.
Office politics can have advantages that may motivate certain employees and cliques. It can be very productive, as they usually know each other well and can utilize each person’s talent in a team setting. How a supervisor or manger deals with office politics can ultimately lead to his or her success or demise. It can also be the most unproductive and destructive problem in the workplace; which can derail the best laid business plans. It can eventually take down what was once a profitable smooth running business if it is allowed to continue or if upper management is a participant.
Individuals and groups can engage in office politics. On one hand this can be highly destructive when individuals focus on personal gains at the expense of the organization. This causes negative influence on social groupings, cooperation, information sharing, and other organizational functions. So this is why it is vital to pay strict attention to office politics and create the right political landscape.
"I sometimes wish I had a corporate decoder for each relationship," one woman laments. "It's very hard to know what people are feeling in my office and how I should respond." Her comment prompts a discussion about the difficulty in the workplace of finding a balance between reasonable openness and respectful discretion.
The book (12th edition) defines organizational politics as the use of power to affect decision making in an organization, or on self-serving and organizationally unsanctioned behaviors. We are humans and can interpret facts differently from the person sitting next to us. Therefore, we will use politics to influence the decision to support our interpretation and interests. I also do not believe that an organization will have enough resources to satisfy the goals of all groups within an organization. Therefore, managers will always have to use politics to obtain the resources necessary to achieve their goals. There will always be a need for some level of persuasion through the use power bases and power tactics within any organization now or in the near
By conducting the Hawthorne studies, various assumptions were discovered. A person's work behaviour is not easily determined as a cause and effect relationship; however it is determined by a complex set of attributes. Informal groups that were present in the organisation form a social structure which was preserved through job related symbols of prestige and power. Change in the organisation can be avoided by being more aware of the employees' sentiments and their participation. The findings of the experiments led to the discovery that the workplace is a close knit social system and not just a production system.
Conflict exists in every organization as a result of incompatible needs, goals, and objectives of two people while aligning to the overall business requirements. Though disagreement is linked with negative impact, the approach has healthy considerations (Leung, 2008). For instance, some conflicts create an avenue for the exchange of ideas and creativity to meet the set organizational purposes. However, damaging disagreement in organizations results in employee dissatisfaction, turnover, and poor services and reduced productivity. The paper establishes different types of interpersonal conflict and key resolution strategies used to address the problem. Human resource managers need to have the capacity to identify different levels of conflicts and the best methods to negate them.
There are some benefits from office politics that can help organizational to grow and this positive outcome of office politics should be fully utilized. When organization developed positive office politics as part of their culture, it will reduce chances for employee voluntary turnover and it will also affect employee job satisfaction. In contrary, to overcome negative outcome of office politics, every individual in an organization should work together as a team and respect each other. Office politics can happen to anybody so every individual needs to prepare themselves to face this challenging situation. In doing so, individual should strongly hold their values and face office politics with positive attitude. Ways individual deal with office politics will impact their own self positively or