My fourth blog post on the Organizational Behavior course is based on the Harvard Business Review article "Office Politics Doesn't Have to be Toxic," published May 30, 2022, by Madeleine Wyatt and Elena Doldor.
The article discusses office politics and its impact on workplace inclusion. According to their research, they found that office politics is often dominated by white men, which also leads to simultaneous inequality and exclusion of women and minorities.
The survey also revealed toxic workplace politics, including exclusion, backroom deals, and being ignored or pushed aside. And, this culture can exist at any level of the organization, leading many to disengage from office politics and focus on their work, which can hinder their career development.
How to look at office politics positively and change these negative situations? The authors discuss how first organizations should foster an inclusive culture that promotes healthy office dynamics rather than merely focusing on individuals improving their political skills or adapting to toxic office politics. Moreover, a culture of inclusion will promote the development of healthy office politics. Management and peers should actively encourage minority employees to participate in political activities in order to build relationships and enable them to develop professionally.
The article suggests five strategies for organizations to foster healthier office politics cultures:
Be transparent about the existence and importance of office politics.
Ensure access to informal career development resources.
Reframe politics as a positive tool for building connections and getting things done.
Leverage politics to drive inclusion by training managers to share their political power and advocate for underrepresented employees.
Share success stories that highlight the positive role of politics in professional success.
Personal Reading Sharing
This article's workplace survey section had a profound impact on me as a newcomer to the North American workforce. If I intend to work in Canada after graduating from work, I will also be a minority, as described in the article by the author. I have already begun to imagine it and even substitute myself for it.
The article also sharply mentions the reality that "successful career growth requires a mix of both formal and informal resources, and minority employees typically have less access to vital informal resources. The informal resources in this area include interpersonal relationships, participation in office politics, as well as a depth of involvement.
As can be seen from the advice section of the article, it is still written for managers. The author advocates a number of positive strategies. It is my belief, however, that whether they are successful or not is entirely dependent on the culture of the company and the willingness or ability of the managers to initiate positive changes.
* Reference
Wyatt, M., & Doldor, E. (2022, May 30). Office Politics Don't Have to Be Toxic. Harvard
Business Review. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2022/05/office-politics-dont-
have-to-be-toxic
Thank you for taking the time to read my post and I would appreciate it if you would leave any comments.
Hello Sakura,
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your blog.
I think that all people in working life face different work environments and the biggest concern is to find toxic work environments for which the strategies in the article are useful to implement healthy policies in the office. In this sense, executives and leaders must be empathetic and be able to establish limits and seek immediate solutions so that work performance is not affected.