Office Politics

[MiSTeRYoSA]

Things are getting complex once the number of
employees in your company increases. Of course, there are promotions, but in our case, one should apply for the next higher position. The thing is, some people did not go through this process but instead, they were "appointed." Then, there's this "turnover" thing...geez! I hate it when I see my friends leave. A part of me dies and I can't help but think of what went wrong. They say, you "work to live" and "not live to work." The latter is true for me (as of this writing). Well, just wanted to ask you as to when one should resign and give up what he/she has right now in a company? Is it just a phase to feel that you are bored and everything seems routinary? This is my second job...I've stayed with my first job for 9 months and for this one...it's a year and almost 4 mos...u got it right...I'm thinking if I should stay or not. By the way, the people are great, I enjoy their company, the work place is clean and the office is near our place. It's just that I feel so stressed out. I sacrificed a lot like Bdays of loved ones, friends, gimiks with long lost friends....name it...I hardly see my family when I have a night sked. So what do you think?

[Ada]

I can relate. I resigned from our company recently because, aside from the fact that the routine job really got to me, I didn't like the way the company was being run anymore. I thought it was a perfect company -- no intrigues, palakasan and the other nasty stuff that usually plague a company. But now I'm not so sure anymore. I find myself questionning the qualifications of those who are promoted. Also, I don't feel the team spirit anymore; it's like "every man for himself" nowadays. So even if I had to leave a lot of people I really loved working with behind when I resigned, I felt that it was the right thing to do.

[Ira]

Is your boredom a temporary rut, or do you think it's a permanent thing? How are the compensations and the perks? Can you imagine working there longterm (or do you feel nauseated just by the thought of it)? Are opportunities for promotion adequate? If they promote you, do you think you can still be excited about work or is it a total drudge already, even if they make you CEO?

Answer these questions, they may help you decide. It doesn't matter whether you've worked with them for a long time already. If you don't feel happy and content with your work anymore, by all means, quit.

[GeePers]

Sadly - stress/family and personal sacrifices quite often/usually may come w/ the job title. And, sounds 2 me promotions in ur office is based on favoritism/clout - not what u know but whom u know - 'di rin maaalis 'yon - even hard 2 prove if u decide 2 go legal.

For yuppies, as I feel most of you here are, it's very ez 2 say & do "quit" - 'ksi they seem 2 have d young age advantage - although it's against d law 2 discriminate a person fr a job 'cuz of age, plus company benefits given are lesser - 2 d advantage of company. OTOH, older workers, who after having put in long years of hard work/dedication/loyalty/length of service and have amassed experience, can't just pick up their personal belongings & say bye-bye - despite harassment/tension in d workplace. Besides personal economic reasons - some other considerations that make older workers think twice b-4 quitting a job & job searching tougher are d mergers & acquisitions, happening left & right, eventually leading 2 downsizing & consequently tightening the job market & IMO, no matter what d law says re. age-relatd job discrimination - it's there.

Recently read on da web 'bout a new office heartache - bully bosses in America - we all hav/had one, I bet - one more added stress, di ba? BTW - there's even a nationwide association of employees who has/had bullies for bosses.

Talked fr experience - njoyd my work/co-workers. Un4tun8ly have been a victim of a bully of a supervisor & a merger. Buti na lang - may severance pay w/ co. benefits & unemployment insurance attached 2 d lay-off 6/99 :) - malas nga lang - still unemployed till now. :(

Nway, hang in there & hope u make a wise decision that will not make u regret 4 da rst of ur life.

[nix]

Right now in the Philippines, it is an employer's market, meaning, the supply of good jobs available is fewer than the number of applicants and talent. Thus, employers get to choose who they want to hire, train, and keep. The huge amount of available talent makes several employees expendable.

There will always be office politics and it would be difficult to find a job that you would consider to be a perfect fit. I would say that you should search within yourself just what exactly it is you want to accomplish in your career, and how best would you want to go about doing it.

Basta, there are several ways of finding fulfillment in your work place. Keep a positive mindset, and you'll be fine.

[zimdude]

I think the key is you shouldn't treat the stuff in the office as work - you should just be playing and enjoying yourself - and go for companies that encourage that mindset.

[Kaboom!]

To be trite:

"Find something you love to do and you'll never have to work a day in your life"

Peace.

[zimdude]

Yup!

Anyone here have experiences in M&A (Mergers and Acquisitions) ?

[senator yak]

zimdude - what about mergers acquisitions?

[Gilbey]

mergers and acquistions... i used to do a lot of acquisition audits... ugghhh so detailed... what about them?

to stay or not to stay.. just ask yourself if you are happy....

[BoyNeedsClue]

culture changes and clashes in mergers?

[jp.42]

One of our PXers mentioned this on the other thread. He had to leave his wonderful job because of this. Do you have any experience with this?

[AlphaMale]

The 1st time I experienced office politics was unfortunately in my first major job way way back. I don't really feel bitter about it now, I did then of course. Now I feel like it serves more as a lesson than anything.

I was in Marketing, and I picked up on one of the ideas of the engineers which was pretty ahead of its time. It allowed the payment of client's bills over franchised booths.. this was back early '90s.

Anyway I did the legwork for it, promoted it and even did the brochures for it. The next thing I knew the incoming GM took everything I had, presented it to the big bosses and got it approved with nary a mention of me, taking all credit. GM was even sneaky, scheduling the mtg. at a different time than was posted so that when I arrived it was already finished. Apparently it served as pakitang-gilas because GM was just newly hired.

I swear I wanted to commit murder at that time, but I just weighed my options, decided that there was no way I was gonna get anywhere there because I just didn't feel the need to work with losers anymore, and just left.

I had since worked in a variety of companies, and all have their own versions and amounts of it. For what it's worth, I learned from that experience and had since decided na pagdating sa pera, some people forget alliances, friendships, all forms of kahihiyan, and sometimes even common sense. They just chase after it like flies to ****.

Yes office politics can bring one down, but in my case it taught me to start looking beyond the flashy surfaces and look at people for what they are. It indirectly taught me to discern the gems from the turds.

[zimdude]

How do you handle stress at work? I have to learn more about stress management... how to handle things when things are out of your control.

If the problems are within your control - then that's FUN :D

[jason bourne]

this topic is timely...all the time pa nga eh..

me also work for 3 long years and what that i find it boring na...kahit na i've been promoted 3 times din...pinagpalit ko pa rin siya. im not really after the position ot title of this or that....what im after is the....basic thing of all....my SALARY!!! dont be hipocrite... kaya ka nga lumilipat opisina dahil sa Sweldo di ba? Pero its will be the same again... kasi your wroking for the other person pa rin, your BOSS.

here's a little story to pondr upon:
Pedro, a typical employee who is, masipag, matiyaga at model employee. one day, nakita si Pedro ng boss nya and he said "Pedro, doblehin mo pa sipag mo para next year makabili AKO ng Pajero". So, Pedro obeys his boss and after a year, me Pajero na Boss nya.

think over this...and sana you'll find some lessons in the life of an office employee like Pedro.

just do this and you'll be free "Boss you're FIRED!!!" and viola...your on it, free at last.......

seriously, i resigned because if im not going to, what i've been doing in the last 3 years of my life, im sure will be the same with my next 3 years in that company....and more.

but my work motto is : "if you work, love your work and you'll enjoy the rest of the day" so if someone doesn't feel his love for the job.....my Advice...GET OUT and look for other greener pastures!

One solution to get out of it for life : Be an enterprenuer! its what we need to be nowadays....

[mahirap]

hayyyy buhay! minimum na, wala pa natitira sweldo...hmmmppp!!!!

[zimdude]

I wonder where the "all my money is going to my boss" thinking is coming from... I think it only applies to those of you who work for the owner... my boss here doesn't own the company either! And in multinational or public companies, "the boss" is actually the shareholders.

I think it's good to go entrepreneur, but not just because you envy "the boss." My few cents' worth.

[Leigh]

I wanted to revive this coz i know a lot of people are in the middle of their own crisis.

I personally think that a person should resign already if he/she is not happy anymore, meaning when you wake up in the morning, "you have to go to work coz you have to", not like "i am going to work to learn or share something".

i think, it's not just a phase when you have been experiencing this for more than a month now, or more pa. Another thing, missing the most important events may actually matter in your personal priorities...maybe if you have set your priorities black and white, then, there won't be a problem. :)

[Q]

As long as you're not the boss, you can never truly have piece of mind in your workplace, and there will always be politics to contend with. Sorry to say it, but usually politics gets worse as your career progresses.

My advice to you young 'uns: If you have the means, seriously think about starting your own business. Do your research, work hard, and go for it. *Especially* if you're the type who's hungry to get things done, eager to challenge your own abilities, and have no committments like a family, a mortgage, etc. It's much harder to "start over" as you get older. Experience is the best teacher. If at first you don't succeed, you will succeed eventually.

In addition, I think the Philippines would be a much more prosperous place if more people could get out of this "I-need-to-depend-on-someone-for-work,promotions,status, etc." type of thinking. Change has got to start somewhere. Why not with the talents of the new generations?

[zimdude]

I'm happy not being the boss, and working only at the stuff that I enjoy. I'm happy that I don't have to attend meetings much of the day and go out of the office. I'm happy and feel productive.

[CaRaMBa]

People getting appointed - That's the way it is, really. Generally it sucks, but you also have to be open to the possibility that the person appointed is indeed good at what he/she's doing.

Turnover - Yeah, it looks pathetic, but it has to be done because it will be hard if the new employees will start from scratch. Of course they should know what has been going on in the company so that they can catch up.

When should you resign? - Hmmmmm I think this was discussed in another thread, but that was last year. There are a lot of valid reasons for one to resign.

-Not having the feeling of fulfillment anymore. When you feel that you're not growing as a professional and as a person.

-When you're not happy with what you're doing. When you find yourself having a hard time waking up every morning. When you find yourself dragging yourself to work.

-When you have a better offer! :D

But these should be going on for a long time. Sometimes it can be just a phase.

Being stressed out - You have to really think about this. It is really the job, or is it the way you do things? Stress is our reaction to what's going on around us, and even if the job is relatively okay, sometimes we get stressed out because we don't react to situations well. If you're really, really stressed out and you believe that it's because of the job itself, then you should consider resigning. Being burned out is not a good thing. You're still young so somehow you should also enjoy.

Well, you can start applying, who knows, you might find a better company. While you're doing that, think about where you are right now, and where you want to be in the future. I'm sure that will make things clearer. It will also be easier once your applications to other companies are processed - you can compare and you can actually have a list of pro's and con's.

Or....... maybe you just need a vacation? Have you thought about it? Things might be better if you go on a vacation - not just a three day vacation, a real vacation. What do you think?

:)

[4MER_Pexer]

HAVE YOU EXPERIENCED SOME OF THESE: (or aware ka ba sa mga ganitong nangyayari sa loob ng Opisina???)

1. Natanggap sa trabaho ang isang taga-UP kaysa sa isang taga-TRINITY (uy halimbawa lang ha?!).....

BASIS: University/College graduated
LESSON: Dapat maganda ang school na pinagmulan mo para magsilbing PASSPORT mo sa Job Hunting

:grrr:

==============================================

2. Mas mataas ang suweldo na binigay sa isang Chinitong-5'11" na lalake kaysa sa 5'2" na lalake na puno ng tighiyawat

BASIS: Cute daw kasi yung lalake, kaya me SPECIAL COMPENSATION :?:
LESSON: Dapat pleasing ang pagmumukha mo pag nasa opisina ka :laugh:

==============================================

3. Madalas ang buntot mo sa Boss mo. Most of the time, ikaw ang gumagawa ng mga tasks na dapat ay sa iba naka-assigned pero ikaw ang nagha-handle. Ang tsika: SIPSIP ka!

BASIS: Panay ang pa-cute sa boss mo.
LESSON: Mas maganda kung sa labas na lang ng office ka sumipsip, atleast HINDI OBVIOUS! :beam:

==============================================

(to be continued................................................)

[jericholic]

Peeps, I know na ndi mawawala ang politics sa office, so I would like to ask how you deal with this and do you have any dreaded experiences that you can share related to this? :)

[froshie1]

Marami kasing klase ng office politics, ano ba dun ang gusto mong malaman? The good or the bad?

[circa]

Its more of WHO you know than WHAT you know or top management likes..

[Dacs]

HAVE YOU EXPERIENCED SOME OF THESE: (or aware ka ba sa mga ganitong nangyayari sa loob ng Opisina???)

1. Natanggap sa trabaho ang isang taga-UP kaysa sa isang taga-TRINITY (uy halimbawa lang ha?!).....

BASIS: University/College graduated
LESSON: Dapat maganda ang school na pinagmulan mo para magsilbing PASSPORT mo sa Job Hunting

:grrr:

And THIS is supposed to be a bad thing? I think there's a reason why companies go for certain schools... maybe because they're good? But that's for another topic :D (wala pala ako sa Academe hehe)

On topic: Ika nga, "it's not what you know, it's who you blow... este.. know". Di naman (at asa pa) mawawala ang pulitika eh.

Personally, I havent experienced anything of that nature yet (and sana poreber na), but at the end of the day, it's up to you on how to deal with it. Besides, being appointed to a position without proper credentials is tantamount to biting more than what you can chew. Eventually, it will catch up on you and you'll end up not doing your work properly.

[the_BuGs]

office politics??? lahat naman meron eh... mapaliit na kumpanya mapalaki man.

sa una nakaka inis at frustrating.. pero kapag nasanay ka na at hindi mo na lang pakialamanan aba masayang magtrabaho. Bakit ko pa iintindihin ang pulitika sa opisina nakaka-dagdag lang ng stress at high blood yan. :D

[tennisace]

Whenever people congregate and associate, politics will always be an uninvited guest. The close working quarters of an office has always been and will always be a breeding ground for political players. Co-workers who are always on the lookout for a higher payscale, a better position, a gold-plated title and a bigger cubicle will always do it at the expense of their colleagues, whether intentional or not.

The reality is, promotions, more often than not, is not a matter of who the most qualified candidate is; it’s a matter of who played the better political game. I’m not talking about buttkissers; I’m talking about those who deftly positioned themselves so that the bosses are consistently aware of the "good job" they’re doing. Slacking and brown-nosing is not going to do the trick. It only serves to diminish one’s value to the company. Office politicking is an art form. It’s not about working hard; it’s about working smart. Coming in early, working after office hours and working on your days off does not raise your stock. What it does is that it opens the opportunity for the boss to make a go-fer out of you.

Don’t expect employee life is to be anything less than routine. You wake up at a certain time, take the same commute, clock in at the same time, work the same hours, take same route to get home, and the next day, you do the same thing over again. This is a reality that employees should accept as a consequence of having a job. What you have to guard against is for this routine to turn into a rut. You know you’re in a rut when you start getting stressed out, bored and careless about your job.

Job-hopping usually works against you. Your resume might look good with all of the companies you’ve been, but from an employer’s point of view, it may not be as good as you think it is. For instance, if I was going to hire someone, I’d pick the one who’s been with 2 or 3 companies in a span of 10 years instead of the one who’s been with 10 companies in 3 years.

My feeling is that too many prospective employees fail to do enough due diligence regarding the company they’re applying with. There are more things to be considered that are just as important or maybe more important than getting the job. Not only is it about getting paid what you’re worth, getting the advancement opportunities you deserve or having the best benefits, it’s also about the overall quality of life. What good is a lucrative job if your quality of life is screwed up? Pretty soon you’ll realize you’re simply a prisoner in a glorified jail. You have to realize that you, your family and loved ones are more important than the job. You lose a job, you can always find one. You lose your family and loved ones, you lose the meaning and purpose of your life. And to lose your family because of a job? That’s a sacrifice no one of us should be willing to pay.

Before you even apply for that job, do your due diligence about the company you’re applying with. Know what you’re up against. Think about what you want to accomplish within that company. Think about who you want to be and where you want to end up within that company. More often, this leads to a projection of self-assurance (not to be confused with arrogance) during interview. When you get the job, you should start mapping out a plan of action to get where you want to be. Job boredom, stress, rut are all products of working for the sake of working. The cure for these corporate ailments is working for the purpose of working your plan for advancement.

Resist the urge to criticize and second-guess executive decisions. If you do, keep it to yourself. Sharing it with your co-workers doesn’t score you some points with the corporate people who matter. I have heard a lot employee rantings in my time. The funny thing is, they always think they’re right. The thing is, they don’t realize how foolish they really are. There is more to the corporate picture than just your cubicle. Executive decisions are made in consideration of the entire company or company unit, not just your department. Unless you are in a position to make executive decisions, keep your mouth shut, make the best of it and work within its parameters.

[tennisace]

And for those office politics players, here are some lessons you might want to consider:

Lesson One

An eagle was sitting on a tree resting, doing nothing. A small rabbit saw the eagle and asked him, “Can I also sit on my as s like you and do nothing?” the eagle answered, “Sure why not?” So the rabbit sat on the ground below the eagle and rested. All of a sudden, a fox appeared, jumped on the rabbit and ate it.

Management Lesson: To be sitting on your as s and doing nothing, you must be sitting very high up.

Lesson Two

A turkey was chatting with a bull. “I would love to be able to get to the top of that tree,” sighed the turkey, “but I haven’t got the energy.” “Well, why don’t you nibble on some of my manure droppings?” replied the bull. “They’re packed with nutrients.” The turkey pecked at a lump of manure and found it actually gave him enough strength to reach the lowest branch of the tree. The next day, after eating some more dung, he reached the second branch. Finally after the fourth night, he was proudly perched at the top of the tree. Soon he was promptly spotted by a farmer, who shot the turkey out of the tree.

Management Lesson: Bullsyet might get you to the top, but it won’t keep you there.

Lesson Three

A little bird was flying south for the winter. It was so cold the bird froze and fell to the ground in a large field. While it was lying there, a cow came by and dropped some dung on it. As the frozen bird lay there in the pile of dung, it began to realize how warm it was. The dung was actually thawing him out. He lay there all warm and happy and soon began to sing for joy.

A passing cat heard the bird singing and came to investigate. Following the sound, the cat discovered the bird under the pile of cow dung and promptly dug him out and ate him.

Management Lessons: (1) Not everyone who shits on you is your enemy; (2) Not everyone who gets you out of s hit is your friend; and (3) When you’re in deep s hit, it’s best to keep your mouth shut.

[jazzy]

tennisace,
where did you get these stories. :) it is really interesting.


_________________________________________
Megatipid.com - ang Website ng mga Wais!
www.megatipid.com

[tennisace]

Jazz, are you referring to the "management lessons" or my comments on office politics?

[bee stung]

I guess to management lessons...