Seeing Synco's comment, and my attempted reply at comment turned out to be super long. So.. it has now upgraded in status to being a blog entry! 2nd in a day. Can you tell my efforts at cutting cost by hibernating at home is turning out to be a very boring one? Anyway, back to the topic at hand:
Haha... well, it is tough to play politics.. but you know what.. I have since realised that politics, when you go right down to it, is just about relationship between human beings.
If you get along well with the boss, assuming it just happens that your character is similar and you just sorta work along the same line or in the direction that the boss wanted, that in itself is deemed by others as politicking, boot licking, apple polishing, etc
On the other hand, assuming you are in my team, and it happens that I am of the personal opinion that your character is flawed, e.g. always snatching people's credit, being a lazy ass who doesn't contribute your fair share, etc, I would be extremely cold to you as a person and I may not go out of my way to assist you. Officially in our capacity as teammates, I may only do the absolute necessary for the team/project and no more than that. If there is a hole in front of you, I may or may not caution you against it. Afterall, since you are such an ass, and since I assume you would let me fall into the hole if positions were reversed, I would feel perfectly justified. I would of course do my best to refrain from gloating when something bad happens.
Should I do that, I would call it upholding principles, but others would term it as politicking, as I have just ostracized a fellow. I may have ended his career, IF I were the more favoured person in the organization. Sooo... politics is a rather loose term.
We have assholes and bitches in the office... where do you draw the line? Do you end up calling them that only cuz they are not on your side? Would you empathize with them if you end up being on their good side and they shower you with favours? What happens if the boss you are with is extremely cunning and good at politics, hated by all other departments... but he/she showers you with promotion and bonus as you have served him/her well? Would you continue following her? Would you be judged to be evil like she is, when all you are doing is being a good subordinate and doing your best to run the projects she has asked you manage?
As we grow older, life becomes grey. It is dealing with greyness that I have difficulty with. If the guy was an absolute and total asshole. Suddenly, he seems to realize that he has been ostracized and he starts making a very valiant attempt to befriend you. Do you continue being harsh and ignore his overtures of friendship, or do you relent and hope that he has really realized that being an asshole doesn't get him anywhere? Do you continue playing politics with this dude, since he is not to be trusted?
Why can't life be black and white?
Haha... well, it is tough to play politics.. but you know what.. I have since realised that politics, when you go right down to it, is just about relationship between human beings.
If you get along well with the boss, assuming it just happens that your character is similar and you just sorta work along the same line or in the direction that the boss wanted, that in itself is deemed by others as politicking, boot licking, apple polishing, etc
On the other hand, assuming you are in my team, and it happens that I am of the personal opinion that your character is flawed, e.g. always snatching people's credit, being a lazy ass who doesn't contribute your fair share, etc, I would be extremely cold to you as a person and I may not go out of my way to assist you. Officially in our capacity as teammates, I may only do the absolute necessary for the team/project and no more than that. If there is a hole in front of you, I may or may not caution you against it. Afterall, since you are such an ass, and since I assume you would let me fall into the hole if positions were reversed, I would feel perfectly justified. I would of course do my best to refrain from gloating when something bad happens.
Should I do that, I would call it upholding principles, but others would term it as politicking, as I have just ostracized a fellow. I may have ended his career, IF I were the more favoured person in the organization. Sooo... politics is a rather loose term.
We have assholes and bitches in the office... where do you draw the line? Do you end up calling them that only cuz they are not on your side? Would you empathize with them if you end up being on their good side and they shower you with favours? What happens if the boss you are with is extremely cunning and good at politics, hated by all other departments... but he/she showers you with promotion and bonus as you have served him/her well? Would you continue following her? Would you be judged to be evil like she is, when all you are doing is being a good subordinate and doing your best to run the projects she has asked you manage?
As we grow older, life becomes grey. It is dealing with greyness that I have difficulty with. If the guy was an absolute and total asshole. Suddenly, he seems to realize that he has been ostracized and he starts making a very valiant attempt to befriend you. Do you continue being harsh and ignore his overtures of friendship, or do you relent and hope that he has really realized that being an asshole doesn't get him anywhere? Do you continue playing politics with this dude, since he is not to be trusted?
Why can't life be black and white?
3 comments:
Oooh wall text that I shall tackle!
"If you get along well with the boss, assuming it just happens that your character is similar and you just sorta work along the same line or in the direction that the boss wanted, that in itself is deemed by others as politicking, boot licking, apple polishing, etc"
The thing is, I sincerely believe it *is* possible to get along well with your bosses and not be termed a boot licker by the rest of your colleagues, and this is something I feel strongly, because there were this girl who came and went who got along VERY well with the boss but never earned that dubious title and we all knew why. People have eyes, and it boils down to your behaviour in front of the boss and when the boss is away that people notice and talk about. And also how you treat others.Also, I readily admit that I do "kiss up" to my own boss from time to time when we have things to talk about, but I don't think anyone has openly called me a suck up to my face (yet), and I've been here forever so if we're keeping suck up scores, mine would be terribly high just based on accumulation. haha!
"Should I do that, I would call it upholding principles, but others would term it as politicking, as I have just ostracized a fellow. I may have ended his career, IF I were the more favoured person in the organization. Sooo... politics is a rather loose term."
Now, see. This depends. If you were the *only one* in your team who feels that way, then the problem may not lie with that guy. (of course it's free lunch if everybody and their uncle concurs!)
Saying which, if you did treat him as such, the label of bitch will only apply to said idiot who you don't really need to give a damn about, and i'm sure you'll have enough support around you to 'justify' your actions, as it were.
"
We have assholes and bitches in the office... where do you draw the line? Do you end up calling them that only cuz they are not on your side? Would you empathize with them if you end up being on their good side and they shower you with favours? What happens if the boss you are with is extremely cunning and good at politics, hated by all other departments... but he/she showers you with promotion and bonus as you have served him/her well? Would you continue following her? Would you be judged to be evil like she is, when all you are doing is being a good subordinate and doing your best to run the projects she has asked you manage?"
This is easy to answer: Yes, yes and definitely YES. This is not a grey area to me, really. It's what you signed up for. However, you can* still be a good person and follow a 'bad' boss who happens to be good at what she does. But this will be a whole new entry. haha.
p.s: Dammit Spain won! This is why I cannot gamble. lol!
syncoID
Woah.. very long comment and I agree with you. I know of people who just get along well with most people, including the boss. So, it's not just a apple polisher. Of course, the feelers come out when that guy/girl is an absolute asshole, but suddenly become your best friend only when the boss is around. (hey, guy's gotta prove that he's socially popular)
But I don't quite agree on the "if everyone else agrees", then you are correct. Life's weird like that. I believe we are all social creatures and pack animals. If someone more popular starts pointing out the flaws of a person, you will start noticing that flaw and more. In that case, you wud feel very justified and righteous in stating that the person's an asshole. BUT, it could be you are only focusing on the negative (due to peer pressure) and missing out on the possible good things that person's working on...
Sigh... it's tough you know...
I do agree with the second part, but I also think it's because I'm usually never the first one to call out on someone assholeness unless someone else shoots it out first. Far as being influenced by others, well, we'd have to agree to disagree on some aspect. Personally, I don't think it applies to me because I grain of salt everything unless it actually happens to me in person, and I'm suspicious of everybody anyway so that part of negativity is moot in my book. wahahah!
I do agree tho that there are people who *can* be influenced by their clique, and if I actually had one, it would be interesting to note the results.
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