The Termite of Organizations: Warning Signs of Toxic Office Politics

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An Abhorrent Face of Workplace Politics

Respected readers! We humans strive and work hard to earn our livelihood. This pursuit varies from person to person. Someone works in one place, someone else in another, and everyone has their own distinct job or business.

However, one thing remains common: we must work in order to live and survive. And wherever we work, the concept of rights and duties naturally comes into play. While this concept is simple in theory, we have transformed it into a major burden for ourselves.

One of its ugliest manifestations is the politics that takes place at our workplaces.

I refer to it as "politics" purely out of courtesy, but in reality, it is an abhorrent face of our society that has brought our institutions and workplaces to the verge of destruction. Yet we refuse to refrain from it. For instance, a workplace is meant for performing duties, but we sacrifice it to political games, acting as though we are showing off tricks rather than doing actual work. Similarly, while transparency is the lifeblood of any organization, this very office politics strangles our quality and standards.

When Shortcuts Replace Honest Effort

Today, my intention is to address these very issues that can cause the downfall of an institution or office, so that we can collectively safeguard ourselves against them.

I believe that the biggest issue in these matters is our unwillingness to work. We are not accustomed to continuous effort, nor do we truly believe in honest hard work. Resorting to quick fixes and shortcuts has become our second nature. When we arrive at a workplace with such an exhausted and lazy mindset, instead of proving ourselves through performance, we get entangled in unnecessary conflicts, ruining both ourselves and the overall work environment.

The Decay of Merit and Rise of Sycophancy

An important issue in our society is the destruction of meritocracy. When promotions, rewards, and major responsibilities in our institutions and offices are handed out based on personal relationships rather than actual performance, understand that your office is beginning to decay from within.

Along with this comes the practice of flattery and buttering up the authorities. When you observe that sycophancy and brown-nosing are valued more than genuine capability and hard work in your institution, it should serve as a clear warning sign that danger is knocking at the door.

Toxic Factions and Behind-the-Back Gossip

Similarly, an extremely dangerous element is factionalism, which is essentially a form of prejudice or toxic tribalism. Religious teachings have also termed it a deadly poison. When grouping begins and your office breaks into factions instead of functioning as a cohesive professional team, and phrases like "so-and-so's group" or "so-and-so's party" become commonplace, know that the institution is heading straight toward collapse.

An extreme form of this factionalism is negative propaganda. Once such groups are established, instead of focusing on their own tasks, everyone becomes busy pulling down others, viewing this toxic behavior as a shortcut to growth and promotion. As a result, professionalism dies out. Instead of productive discussions in meetings, gossip takes over, leading to whispers and character assassination in hallways and canteens, while toxic narratives are crafted against colleagues in their absence. All of these factors are more than enough to sink an organization.

How Sincere Workers Get Left Behind

To make matters worse, genuine and dedicated workers are also deeply affected by this toxic environment. It is frequently seen that anyone who remains neutral and refuses to join any party or group is made a scapegoat. When it comes to receiving benefits or rewards, there is no one to represent such neutral individuals, but if any loss occurs, the entire blame is shifted onto them. Although the key to success lies in collective responsibility and teamwork, in such environments, the entire burden is dumped on a single individual, who is often the most sincere and hardworking person in the room.

Successful organizations are those where teamwork prevails over the division of "yours" and "mine," where everything is shared and collective. However, the lack of teamwork in our offices brings severe consequences. An extreme manifestation of this is that after factionalism takes hold, critical organizational information is restricted to specific circles. This is not done out of goodwill for the organization, but rather to prevent anyone outside their group from performing exceptionally well. In short, instead of putting in the hard work themselves, they adopt a strategy of pulling others back, foolishly believing that their survival and success depend on it. What answer can one possibly give to such foolish thinking and delusion!

The practice of sidelining capable people has also ruined our institutions. For example, if a colleague does not engage in flattery, minds their own business, stays clear of office politics, and avoids forming cliques, we reward these admirable qualities by gradually excluding them from important decisions, ignoring them, or creating an environment that leaves them isolated. Consequently, they will either resign, leaving you surrounded by sycophants, or they will eventually be forced to become a pawn in the politics themselves. In both cases, the ultimate loss belongs entirely to the institution.

Another major issue we face is credit theft, where one person puts in all the hard work and someone else walks away with the reward or recognition. More often than not, it is high-ranking officials who engage in this practice. What follows from subordinates in terms of attitude after such unfairness is something everyone can easily understand.

Double Standards and Moving Forward

Furthermore, double standards are a major cause of destruction in our workplaces. We create a favored inner circle around ourselves and start showering them with privileges. If someone outside this circle performs the exact same work, we barely acknowledge it, but if a favorite slays a fly, rewards are showered upon them. At times, rules are made extremely flexible for these favored individuals, while the exact same regulations are strictly enforced on everyone else. When laws change depending on the face they look at, institutions and offices begin to rot.

So, respected readers! These are a few points I wanted to highlight regarding how institutions and offices are destroyed by such practices. We must work together to control these toxic behaviors so that we can progress and ensure that the institutions built with our hard work and sweat are not ruined by negligence and irresponsible attitudes.