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Organizational Politics – TYPES (#3a)

SITE: Office Politics ARCHETYPES

NEGATIVES TYPES (cont)

☛ Nit-picker
This is a form of being a Control-freak – always finding fault with work an employee has been assigned to do, never satisfied. Or the one who starts doing your job for you, or telling you how to do your job, especially when they’re less senior. Because of their own insecurities, they purposely hold others back so no-one will become “as good as them.”

☛ Power Aligner
Attaching themselves with those who already have power, they take on the same values & goals as the boss &/or of the company, then champion them as if they were their own. They look at what the culture wants & promotes, then reflects it back to them. These people are strategically smarter than suck-ups – taking a social approach & thus having somewhat more power.

EXP: being the first one to report any issue that might affect the boss, push others down to make themselves look better by comparison, making the case in a team meeting with your boss that a customer was abusive, acting as if they’re the boss or presenting themselves as representing the company….  For effective ways of tackling them, check out Social Power, the section on workplace power.

☛ Saboteur
They work only to benefit themself. A grown-up version of the playground bully, saboteurs openly & consistently criticize & backstab other team members, rarely if ever taking responsibility for their own faults & mistakes. But they may back down when confronted.

Still, it’s important to keep your guard up when dealing with a saboteur. If confronting them doesn’t work, keep a detailed log of the interactions on a calendar or planner, in an emotionally neutral language when possible, & relay them to your boss or someone in Human Resources.

☛ Stickler For The Rules
They stake their claim to power with laws, regulations, & SOPs. They’re hot for office power & social status, but their rule is limited. They’re not the movers & shakers who make things happen, not being focused on improving the organization. Instead – they see the company as a big org chart where only official authority lines matter.

They can be very assertive, even looking confident & in control. But a boss has official authority over them, they ‘ll comply. If not, they love telling a co-worker where to get off.
On paper, they say they’re following procedures & making sure everyone’s on the right side of the law. But actually, they’re just piggybacking on to the rules for their own personal power.

☛ Shunner
More often payed by women, the shunning game is the office politics equivalent of stonewalling and gaslighting in intimate relationships. They usually gang up on people who they feel threatened by, but who are (still) weak enough to be victimized. They form a clique to socially exclude the target of their machinations, so marginalizing the target by being curt, detached, or ignoring them altogether

☛ Sociopath
These people follow the Pareto rule : FOCUS is 80% on office politics & 20% on actual work. Given how successful some of them are, we might even wonder what’s more important… They see the workplace as a big chessboard, considering themselves superior to everyone else & deserving of top management positions. With little or no empathy for others, it’s easy for them to manipulate & move people around as if they were inanimate objects.

☛ Tasker
The underlying power dynamic of tasking is: Those who assign tasks look like bosses, & those who execute look like subordinates. The habitually will say “Can you please do this — for me? Thank you” without ever considering the employee’s availability or consent.
This rule is only ‘legitimate’ if the assigner is the actual boss. Played by peer-employees (control freaks) – by telling others what to do, they position themselves above others, pushing everyone else down in the process.

☛ User
These people are really good at constantly asking others for advice & help, being the charming version of Victim. They act bumbling, insecure, & confused, but actually are conning others into doing their mental work for them, so the don’t have to put themselves out to learn the ropes of their job.

☛ Vanity Player
They believe (think) they’re very good, & want others to acknowledge them for it. Psychological addicts, their drug of choice is emotional validation – from others. While some may be NPDs, they’re mainly a combo of Histrionic PD , Low self-esteem & Entitlement mentality

EXP: Someone who demands “due respect” from people who don’t respect them much, attracts far more attention than they’re actual worth….
They’ll go to great lengths to get their fix, so when they don’t, throw tantrums & create office drama, making waves that prevent successful office functioning.

NEXT : Positive Business Politics