The ethics of "Office Politics"
There is a popular saying that “No one exists without work even for a tiniest part of their lives". We do have something to do all the time. Everyone has. It doesn’t matter whether you like or dislike it. Cos’ you’re not just living for yourself. If that would be the case then there is no difference between you and a animal. You toil so much and work so hard to live for your family , to support them. That’s what we call “responsibility”. It’s really a great feeling to live for someone. The nature of work differs from person to person. Some work in offices, some write music, some make movies, some teach, etc, etc. Most of our lives are spent working . And for survival, everyone need to work. If not, you won’t exist for long. And I don’t think anyone is willing to waste this one valuable life we’ve got. Well, I joined work just like any young Jack. And its been a really good learning experience. The best thing to succeed is to learn from every small experience; be it good or bad. I’ve gone through both phases. Being the start of my career, these initial experiences of mine will always stay in my mind forever.
After joining office, I’ve learnt a great deal about “Office politics”. It all depends on how you deal with situations that are not in your favour, how you tackle them. These are situations that measure one’s strength. A strong man is not one who can break a brick into two or sorts, but one who can deal with situations and win over them , when his heart is one the verge of breaking, when hope is miles away, when love and affection are light years away.
Working in an office is something like being on a war field. Every minute there, matters. If I’d say “As long you are efficient and sincere in your work, then everything is sure to go smooth in your office”, I was considering it right before I joined office. But later on, it proved the other way. Even though you are efficient and sincere, there are a lot other things which you have to be careful with. And particularly if you’re a first timer, you need to be more careful. You need to know the rules and regulations, the culture, the co-workers, seniors and subordinates and of course managers or the boss of that organization. Certain things are expected from you and certain things are to be avoided. Many of us find our jobs a necessity of life, very few of us love our jobs and rather many of us find it dull and laborious. It’s a reality whether one has a blue-collar, white collar or pink-collar job; employees generally, are frustrated, and dissatisfied on the job. But to convert frustration into friendliness, and satisfaction , I feel one needs to avoid the following mistakes, when you are new on the job.
After joining office, I’ve learnt a great deal about “Office politics”. It all depends on how you deal with situations that are not in your favour, how you tackle them. These are situations that measure one’s strength. A strong man is not one who can break a brick into two or sorts, but one who can deal with situations and win over them , when his heart is one the verge of breaking, when hope is miles away, when love and affection are light years away.
Working in an office is something like being on a war field. Every minute there, matters. If I’d say “As long you are efficient and sincere in your work, then everything is sure to go smooth in your office”, I was considering it right before I joined office. But later on, it proved the other way. Even though you are efficient and sincere, there are a lot other things which you have to be careful with. And particularly if you’re a first timer, you need to be more careful. You need to know the rules and regulations, the culture, the co-workers, seniors and subordinates and of course managers or the boss of that organization. Certain things are expected from you and certain things are to be avoided. Many of us find our jobs a necessity of life, very few of us love our jobs and rather many of us find it dull and laborious. It’s a reality whether one has a blue-collar, white collar or pink-collar job; employees generally, are frustrated, and dissatisfied on the job. But to convert frustration into friendliness, and satisfaction , I feel one needs to avoid the following mistakes, when you are new on the job.
First of all, never talk ill of the organization. Avoid criticizing any person or their performance. Just watch people working, learn the task and use it for your work. You might want to get everyone’e attention with your sense of humor, but that might be the road to your end. Expose your humorous attitude in other areas, rather than using it on your office/employees because there are people around you who will want to earn a loyal name by informing the person concerned. Secondly never talk of your personal problems. Once you are new on job, be very careful in speaking or sharing your personal problems with others. Try to avoid sharing your personal matters; this may reflect your weakness. People may under-estimate your capacity or may create more problems. Then you never say you are more skillful. You may be more qualified, more knowledgeable and even more skillful, but it does not mean that others are less qualified, less knowledgeable or less skilled. Let your work speak for your knowledge and skill and not your word. Never favour disgruntled employees. Satisfaction and dissatisfaction are the two sides of the same coin. Some employees may be disgruntled in an organization, due to various reasons, but you, especially if you’re being new on the job, are not supposed to be on the side of disgruntled employees, because you don’t know the reason. It also projects a wrong image of you.
Never be a barrier, become a bridge. Never allow your ignorance to be a barrier to your growth. Be ready to learn always. Allow your knowledge to become a bridge and equip yourself with relevant information leading to perfection in performance. Never decide by yourself. Share your plan, process, and results of task assigned to you with the team. There may be a risk of wrong decision if you decide individually, hence, allow others to participate, and let the team decide. Never point out the mistakes of management. There is a saying that ‘a boss is always right’. As you are new in the organization, you may not be aware of all the plans, processes and practices, therefore, you are not supposed to point out what you think are mistakes of the management. You might not know the agenda and execution of management, therefore, observe silence, be aware, and watch carefully.
Never say I quit. It is not necessary that when you are new, you like the job. It may not suit your qualification or you may not be able to adjust to the new people or new workplace, but never show your unhappiness or dissatisfaction and your inclination to quit the job. Then the most important, never be late. You need to be punctual in your timings. Maintain discipline, it makes you honest, sincere, committed and devoted to duty. If you work and utilize your time properly, it will surely show that you are more productive.
Cultivating all these habits would surely make things better personally & professionally. Of course different people find it differently. Maybe not all would accept with me. People might sight this post of mine as just an over exaggeration of my few bad experiences. All I want is to share my experiences and what I learnt so that it could be useful if not for all atleast for someone in some corner of the world. If you are optimistic (which is a good aspect) you can take these as preventive measures. But in general, nastiness pervades our work environment. It can take the shape of in-sensitive bosses, rude co-workers or malicious team mates. Your manager may play favourites or cut you out from a well deserved position. A colleague may steal credit for your work or humiliate you in front of everybody. These kind of petty behaviours hurt us for sure. The tit-for-tat culture most people consider is to think in terms of keeping scores and taking revenge. Many are so are keenly focused on taking an “eye for an eye”, which might mar your career prospects. Well, retaliating and getting even can only give momentary satisfaction, while true forgiveness will actually lighten your heart forever. Forgiving doesn’t mean you have to just forgive him for whatever he has done and go on with your life. Well, forgiveness is just to stop you from doing a more worse deed. Else there is no difference between him/her and you. Instead save all your anger, frustration and humiliation. Use it as a tool for achieving more than what you had before which made them jealous of you. Use the same amount of energy out of your frustration & anger to mould yourself into a better person and succeed in front of the eyes that wanted your downfall. Taking the high road to forgiveness calls for great courage.
Think whether the consequences of holding on to the grievances are really worth it. It can create conflicts and stress as you try to avoid contact with the wrongdoer. Constantly plotting revenge can also block your energy. Persistent anger and frustration can also take its toll on your physical and mental health. It may also make you miss work days, change jobs also. Instead forgiveness will lead the way for healthy relationships and a peaceful life. Just give a thought, why do you want to give someone power over you and your performance. The best revenge I would suggest is not to let those unpleasant occurrences affect you and just carry on as if nothing happened. You don’t even have to explicitly tell the other person, that you have forgiven them. Instead it should come from within your heart and reflect on your actions / behaviour.
Real forgiveness may take some time, but it will definitely free you off your emotional baggage and I bet, it will make you a better person.
Never be a barrier, become a bridge. Never allow your ignorance to be a barrier to your growth. Be ready to learn always. Allow your knowledge to become a bridge and equip yourself with relevant information leading to perfection in performance. Never decide by yourself. Share your plan, process, and results of task assigned to you with the team. There may be a risk of wrong decision if you decide individually, hence, allow others to participate, and let the team decide. Never point out the mistakes of management. There is a saying that ‘a boss is always right’. As you are new in the organization, you may not be aware of all the plans, processes and practices, therefore, you are not supposed to point out what you think are mistakes of the management. You might not know the agenda and execution of management, therefore, observe silence, be aware, and watch carefully.
Never say I quit. It is not necessary that when you are new, you like the job. It may not suit your qualification or you may not be able to adjust to the new people or new workplace, but never show your unhappiness or dissatisfaction and your inclination to quit the job. Then the most important, never be late. You need to be punctual in your timings. Maintain discipline, it makes you honest, sincere, committed and devoted to duty. If you work and utilize your time properly, it will surely show that you are more productive.
Cultivating all these habits would surely make things better personally & professionally. Of course different people find it differently. Maybe not all would accept with me. People might sight this post of mine as just an over exaggeration of my few bad experiences. All I want is to share my experiences and what I learnt so that it could be useful if not for all atleast for someone in some corner of the world. If you are optimistic (which is a good aspect) you can take these as preventive measures. But in general, nastiness pervades our work environment. It can take the shape of in-sensitive bosses, rude co-workers or malicious team mates. Your manager may play favourites or cut you out from a well deserved position. A colleague may steal credit for your work or humiliate you in front of everybody. These kind of petty behaviours hurt us for sure. The tit-for-tat culture most people consider is to think in terms of keeping scores and taking revenge. Many are so are keenly focused on taking an “eye for an eye”, which might mar your career prospects. Well, retaliating and getting even can only give momentary satisfaction, while true forgiveness will actually lighten your heart forever. Forgiving doesn’t mean you have to just forgive him for whatever he has done and go on with your life. Well, forgiveness is just to stop you from doing a more worse deed. Else there is no difference between him/her and you. Instead save all your anger, frustration and humiliation. Use it as a tool for achieving more than what you had before which made them jealous of you. Use the same amount of energy out of your frustration & anger to mould yourself into a better person and succeed in front of the eyes that wanted your downfall. Taking the high road to forgiveness calls for great courage.
Think whether the consequences of holding on to the grievances are really worth it. It can create conflicts and stress as you try to avoid contact with the wrongdoer. Constantly plotting revenge can also block your energy. Persistent anger and frustration can also take its toll on your physical and mental health. It may also make you miss work days, change jobs also. Instead forgiveness will lead the way for healthy relationships and a peaceful life. Just give a thought, why do you want to give someone power over you and your performance. The best revenge I would suggest is not to let those unpleasant occurrences affect you and just carry on as if nothing happened. You don’t even have to explicitly tell the other person, that you have forgiven them. Instead it should come from within your heart and reflect on your actions / behaviour.
Real forgiveness may take some time, but it will definitely free you off your emotional baggage and I bet, it will make you a better person.
As Mahatma Gandhi once said,
“The weak can never forgive.
Forgiveness is always the attitude of the strong.”
Its upto you to decide which side you are in………........................................................:)
“The weak can never forgive.
Forgiveness is always the attitude of the strong.”
Its upto you to decide which side you are in………........................................................:)
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machi surukama nee thaan "Chairman of Frost" nu title podu..