office politics: is it everywhere? 4

[KimWatson]

I'm at my 3rd job in 4 years. I quit my other 2 jobs because of the stressful 'office politics' situations. My current job is turning out the same. But I'm wondering if every workplace has these kinds of problems?

For example, CEO's having open affairs with secretaries, engineers acting snobby and not talking to technicians, technicians always griping about not being respected, scientific staff thinking they're smarter than everyone, gossipy women in the business office, lazy sloppy guys in the machine shop, snarky administrative people, etc. And it seems like half the people at each company are mad at their bosses because they never get raises or promotions, so everyone is always bitter.

I'm beginning to think that no workplace is perfect, and that I should stop changing jobs looking for a company where everyone is 100% happy. My husband thought he had the perfect job too, but after the first year he's starting to find that there are alot of issues there too: discrimination, intimidation, corruption, etc. Do he and I just had bad luck with finding good companies?

 

[TenPenny]

The best solution is to conduct yourself in an honorable way, and ignore the failings of others, when it doesn't impact you. Never participate or condone illegal acts, and try to stay away from having anything to do with things that YOU believe are immoral or unethical. Stay true to yourself, and ignore the stuff that doesn't affect you.

As far as office politics and working by yourself, a friend of mine worked for himself, all alone, and his only complaint was that he had an #*&(*_ for a boss!

 

[Gymmeh]

Ten, was that his wife?

 

[debodine]

In my thirty-five years of experience in corporate America, I have found that senior management RARELY wants the truth from anyone they do not consider a peer. Except for very rare exceptions where a senior manager has decided to clean house and is actually looking for genuine problem areas to make right, what they generally want are loyal "team" players.

However, that being said, I still tend to point out bull**** that hurts the company when I see it out of some darn fool belief that someone who has the authority to fix it will care enough to fix it. )

debodine

 

[KENAT]

Sure they'll fix it, fire or otherwise lose the person pointing out the problem and the problem goes away, right/

Seemed to work here.

KENAT, probably the least qualified checker you'll ever meet...

 

[Gymmeh]

I actaully went out of my way to re-design something to fix a problem, get all the pricing and i even showed the savings to personal and manufacture time (ei.$$$$$) but nothing got done, has been done, or will be done... Since management doesnt really want to do anything... which will help the company.

I dont normaly hold grudges but this one really erks me.

 

[kat6787]

“The first two or three times you change jobs you change for idealistic reasons (to get away from politics, better morals, better ethics, etc.), but after that you find out that every company is the same except they call it something different. After that you just whore yourself out to who ever pays you the most.”

Don’t know who said it originally, but one of my favourite quotes.


Cheers,
Kat

 

[jmw]

I was reminded of the problems of the office rumour mill, the ability to add two and two and come up with a dozen, talking with a colleague last week.

He was then a manager in a company where, when the boss was out, it appeared that the secretary and a salesman would "borrow" his office for extracurricular activities.

Someone squealed putting him a difficult position and he'd much rather they'd kept quiet about it. (Always suspect the motives of the whistle-blower in these situations).

He went into the adjoining office at the appropriate time and made a lot of noise opening and closing file cabinets and, after a decent interval, walked in on them now standing guiltily trying to look innocent. The salesman walked out without a word but the secretary was very nervous. He told her that if she'd agree never to do it again he'd keep quiet.

Sadly, come the office party, she felt it appropriate to give him a lots of bright smiles and a hug out of gratitude. You can guess the rest, especially with the whistle-blower wondering what went wrong with his/her squealing.

Management should always treat office parties like a minefield, alcohol and the workforce are a potent mix, I've known a few who discovered they weren't as loved and respected by all as they'd thought when meeting with some well oiled inhibition free minion in the rest rooms.



JMW

http://www.ViscoAnalyser.com

 

[HgTX]

* CEO's having open affairs with secretaries
[No, the division head didn't take up with the secretary till after he retired--but there had to have been something there before.]

* Engineers acting snobby and not talking to technicians
[Not universal, but yes]

* Technicians always griping about not being respected
[Yup]

* Scientific staff thinking they're smarter than everyone
[Yup]

* Gossipy women in the business office
[Yup, but the gossipy women are what makes the rest of the crap bearable. Bring on the gossipy women!]

* Lazy sloppy guys in the machine shop
[Yup, though also some great guys in the machine shop]

* Snarky administrative people
[Megasuperdoubleyup]

* Half the people at each company are mad at their bosses because they never get raises or promotions, so everyone is always bitter.
[Yup indeed]

Hg



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[KENAT]

"And it seems like half the people at each company are mad at their bosses because they never get raises or promotions, so everyone is always bitter."

Looking again, if only half are mad at their bosses for these reasons you're doing well.

Out of interest, why are the other half bitter. I don't doubt that they are but lack of raises & promotions are the top reasons I can think of, I wonder what the novel reasons are for the others.

KENAT, probably the least qualified checker you'll ever meet...

 

[flamby]

Half of them are below average, hence yup.

Ciao.

 

[TenPenny]

Add in another fun scenario: smallish, family owned business. Every one that I've worked for has at least one employee, typical boss's son, completely freakin' useless, like a dead weight that everyone else has to carry around. It's a pretty effective way to reduce enthusiasm and increase resentment, if that's what you're looking for.

Best thing to do is to ignore such issues. Turn a blind eye to those things that are established constraints.