Is Your Workplace Healthy?

Office politics is defined as the use of an individual's assigned power within an employing organization for the purpose of obtaining advantages beyond one's legitimate authority. Put simply, backbiting, sabotage and jealousy are often the words we use within the confines of the office cubicles. Office politics can be justified as a form of violence, which is an inferior strategy to weaken your other colleagues.According to a 1998 studies, "Nine weeks out of every year is spent resolving conflicts among employees."The bigger the workplace, the meaner and worse the politics get. Knowing that everyone has their own ideas and personalities, there are bound to be some issues that arise. It shows that it is pretty easy to get wrapped up in office politics.Workplace expert, Terry L. Wynne cited that "Reasons people acts abusively include to protect themselves, to manipulate, to intimidate, to defend themselves, feeling threatened and insecurity."A healthy workplace should provide each employer and employee a safe working environment, as well as respect towards each other. However, very few employers fail to notice the importance of providing a healthy workplace for employees, as it directly impacts their productivity. Here are few ideas on how to tackle office politics:1. See no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil.No one is immune to gossip these days both men and women. If you want to have a safe position in your office, try not to engage or involve yourself with workplace gossipmongers.Most importantly, DO NOT take sides in any conversation that involves on talking about other colleagues. By tomorrow morning, you may find out that your words have twisted into another story.If you are having issues with any of your colleagues and you really need to let it out, look for someone outside of the office or speak to your Human Resource department. 2. Build a professional relationship at your workplace.There are always conflicts and people always make mistakes at work. Never take those problems personally. Think of it as something that you can use to learn more and improve on your career in the future.If there are any misunderstandings among the other colleagues, stay civil.  Sit down together, discuss to resolve it rather than talking about it behind their backs. Remember, even if it is your fault, it does not kill you to say sorry 3. Be at your best.If you are familiar with office politics, you must have at least experienced or heard about someone else getting credit for other people's good work.Here is a piece of advice: do your work at your best and keep evidence and records of your work to avoid other people from benefiting from the fruits of your hard work. A way of keeping your own work safe is to always e-mail the progress of the projects you are working on to your supervisor, so that no one can simply claim his or her name for your sweat. 4. Know your influence.Since it is difficult to avoid the office politics, you need to make sure that you voice out your valid complaints or dissatisfaction through the proper channels. If you do not get your annual leave approved, get it straight to the HR representatives. Or if you have a problem with your project, voice it to your supervisor, NOT to the guy in the accounting department. 5. Know how things function at your workplace. Knowing the game inside out is the key to winning it. Do not be afraid to ask some key questions to your boss, such as: what are your core values and how is performance measured here? How are decisions made? How much risk is tolerated? The answers to these questions should give you a good sense of the culture of your organization and therefore you can avoid making simple mistakes that will get you on the topic of Today's Office Gossip list. Office politics are inevitable in the workplace. The good news is, though, that you always have control over how much you get involved in the game. Always know where your position is in the office, and be aware of what you talk about. If you follow some of the simple guidelines just mentioned, you can minimize the impact of office politics on your job and create the foundations for a successful future career.