Politics is insecurity expressed by a vulnerable manipulative human, who is skeptical about his/her progress due to the presence of qualities in others which are absent in him/her.
The ambition of attaining success in a short period is the key factor responsible for giving birth to other elements, namely: jealousy, over friendliness- in the form of sugar coated talks, fake support & help.
As a victim, in the first stage, when a political mind hampers your work productivity, your frustration takes form of a helpless gossip. Smart politicians are the most empathetic in such situations & they record your words expressed out of indignation.
However, when politicians gossip, they do so ‘repetitively’, they are most likely to be the ones who selfishly desire to engross human minds in topics not directly concerned with them. They perhaps in many ways have weak points which can easily be a topic of discussion & thus they initiate these talks to smartly elude from the scene. While some initiate & choose to be a silent spectator, there are some who pinch small points to aggravate the sparked aggression.
Falling into warm relationships in the workplace can prove to divert & divide your focus at work. When you lose the balance of your emotions in particular situations, your best behaved friend at workplace fears any kind of friendly association with you. The friend then acts as a colleague & takes care of his/her image in the team.
In context to politics, the best behaved friend who is also your colleague is most likely to scan through your weaknesses. These points are then used at the right place in front of the right person & at the right time, especially when this so called friend knows in and out about the things you react on. Needless to say, it happens when you are least aware of it.
True professionalism is in maintaining the right balance with people around. True professionalism is in doing the best when you are at your worst.
The solution lies in being observant of the happenings around, by being just a listener in discussions.
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Informal Group in a formal group structure
You yield productive result when the strengths of the contributors are realised & they are further used to fill the gaps. It is true that every human being possesses a quality that differentiates him from the rest. This unique factor creates an identity which then becomes simpler for people to associate him with. Team success best exemplifies this concept.
While security, status, self esteem, affiliation, power etc are some of the reasons why a group is formed, I most necessarily intend to state the probable impact of an informal group (friendship & interest) formed in a formal group structure, which divides the group positively and negatively into two.
A rapport established between the members result in the formation of an informal group. This understanding of the psyche is a boon to the entire team when the informal group is assigned a common task, further combining both task & informal group into one. Quick results, beating the deadlines are due to brain storming among these individuals having different view points yet common characteristics to reach the end point intellectually.
However, when success is repetitive for this informal group, it aims to use the power of such a group in the team, limited in the area of their skill capacity. Thus, there is little or no hindrance at all for a level above their cadre. However, this power when used as a source to create ‘organisational politics’ can hamper the work productivity of peers.
When the team atmosphere continues to be under the influence of this power & politics, it results in demotivation among peers [mostly due to favoritism towards this informal group]. In the short run, if the balance is not maintained by the leader, the team suffers from major attrition at the peer level. While, in the long run it holds the capability to result in a slow & a continuous attrition at the middle level management.
The point worth considering is the industry experience of the members of this informal group. While skill & a fresh mind go a long way in producing satisfactory result, in most circumstances, the work demands ample of industry experience.This so happens when the group is later made ‘completely’ accountable for big projects & they cannot rely solely on their skill & talent to produce effective results.
Knowledge of experience is most obviously demanded by the decision makers.
However, with the attrition of the key members belonging to the middle level management [who had enough industry experience], starts to build up pressure for the team leader. The immense negative pressure is further escalated to the members of this informal group. Pressure, not about meeting or beating the deadlines, but repentance of the imbalance once created in the team. The repentance in form of pressure someday breaks the inexperienced informal group.
Attrition well noticed by the top level management, in the long run only questions the credibility of the team leader.
Note:
1. The author is completely in favour of the informal group formed in the formal group structure. The article only points out the importance of anticipatory view point of the team leader to smell the restless atmosphere within the team. To be done to professionally satisfy members at all levels.
2. The informal group in this article lacks enough industry experience.
Concept simplified:
(Source: Organizational behaviour: Stephen P. Robbins)
Informal groups: Result of close proximity of work stations- often workers do things together- like play golf, commute to work, take lunch, and chat during coffee breaks.
Task groups: Those working together to complete a job task.
Formal groups: A designated work group defined by the organization's structure. * * *
While security, status, self esteem, affiliation, power etc are some of the reasons why a group is formed, I most necessarily intend to state the probable impact of an informal group (friendship & interest) formed in a formal group structure, which divides the group positively and negatively into two.
A rapport established between the members result in the formation of an informal group. This understanding of the psyche is a boon to the entire team when the informal group is assigned a common task, further combining both task & informal group into one. Quick results, beating the deadlines are due to brain storming among these individuals having different view points yet common characteristics to reach the end point intellectually.
However, when success is repetitive for this informal group, it aims to use the power of such a group in the team, limited in the area of their skill capacity. Thus, there is little or no hindrance at all for a level above their cadre. However, this power when used as a source to create ‘organisational politics’ can hamper the work productivity of peers.
When the team atmosphere continues to be under the influence of this power & politics, it results in demotivation among peers [mostly due to favoritism towards this informal group]. In the short run, if the balance is not maintained by the leader, the team suffers from major attrition at the peer level. While, in the long run it holds the capability to result in a slow & a continuous attrition at the middle level management.
The point worth considering is the industry experience of the members of this informal group. While skill & a fresh mind go a long way in producing satisfactory result, in most circumstances, the work demands ample of industry experience.This so happens when the group is later made ‘completely’ accountable for big projects & they cannot rely solely on their skill & talent to produce effective results.
Knowledge of experience is most obviously demanded by the decision makers.
However, with the attrition of the key members belonging to the middle level management [who had enough industry experience], starts to build up pressure for the team leader. The immense negative pressure is further escalated to the members of this informal group. Pressure, not about meeting or beating the deadlines, but repentance of the imbalance once created in the team. The repentance in form of pressure someday breaks the inexperienced informal group.
Attrition well noticed by the top level management, in the long run only questions the credibility of the team leader.
Note:
1. The author is completely in favour of the informal group formed in the formal group structure. The article only points out the importance of anticipatory view point of the team leader to smell the restless atmosphere within the team. To be done to professionally satisfy members at all levels.
2. The informal group in this article lacks enough industry experience.
Concept simplified:
(Source: Organizational behaviour: Stephen P. Robbins)
Informal groups: Result of close proximity of work stations- often workers do things together- like play golf, commute to work, take lunch, and chat during coffee breaks.
Task groups: Those working together to complete a job task.
Formal groups: A designated work group defined by the organization's structure. * * *
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