A sort of “relationship language” evolves after a time. People learn to get what they want from each other through indirect methods. These tactics have a give-and-take nature that causes us to view them as “playing games.” In the workplace, we call them office politics. The motivations they reflect are personal — a desire for individual gain, a need for individual attention, a longing for recognition and reward. Because satisfying the motivation often comes at the expense of someone else, we tend to perceive these behaviors as manipulative and self-serving.

Office politics — those intersections between whom you know, how much you support the ideas and pet projects of others, what relationships you cultivate and which ones you discourage — often play into promotion decisions, at least minimally. A leadership personality is important for a manager, and that encompasses the ability to schmooze. Job skills matter too, of course. But it's important to make sure the right people know your thoughts and see you shine. Although we all profess to abhor office politics, everyone who works with other people becomes engaged in them to some extent.

Drive, Desire, and Manipulation

At work, everybody wants something — money, status, power. Most people want to come to work and do a good job. They expect recognition, reward, and responsibility. Seems straightforward enough — so why is this such a problem? Because people are human. They are naturally competitive. They may do a good job, but they worry that someone else is doing better or receiving misplaced credit. This gives rise to that little bit of manipulation that will maybe assure that others notice their contributions.

The various faces of such manipulation are familiar to all managers. An employee might drop in on the manager, alone, and casually mention a specific achievement or ask for advice on some work in progress. This self-gratification doesn't usually hurt anyone else unless the person is taking credit for work someone else did. A more damaging variation on this theme is the employee who uses the forum of a meeting to ask another employee an embarrassing question, putting the person on the spot. More insidious still is the employee who requests a confidential meeting with the manager to, out of sincere dedication and as much as he hates to have to do this (not!), alert the manager to certain people who are not pulling their share of the workload or are incompetent or are overqualified or who need remedial help, or, or, or. And then there's the employee who consistently ignores assignments her manager gives her, but gushes, “Gosh, I wish someone had suggested this to me earlier!” when her manager's boss assigns the same project or asks why no one is doing the work.

Technology gives people new ways to polish the apples they want others to notice. An employee can send out a grandstanding e-mail — one that gives the impression she is managing the project instead of the team member who really is — and copy everyone in the department or (oops!) the entire company. E-mail has become the latest weapon in political agendas, replacing drinks after work and standing outside in the rain to grab a smoke as the ideal venue for pitching an idea or shining shoes. Who gets copied in and who is left off the list is the ultimate political move — checkmate!

Squelch the Rumor Mill

Few employee behaviors are as frustrating to managers as the perpetuation of rumors. Rumors can undermine morale and productivity far faster than any genuine bad news. To shut down the rumor mill that exists in most companies, some managers use a system similar to a suggestion box. Employees can deposit their questionable information, and the manager then investigates and posts responses on a bulletin board or e-mail them to employees. Other managers appoint an employee committee to handle these activities. If you're worried that this could lead to breaching confidentiality or leaking proprietary information, consider that some form of information is already out there. The truth is seldom as damaging as the rumors.

By Gary McClain, Ph.D., and Deborah S. Romaine