Current social conditions, legal systems, technological development, organisational structures, target driven commitments made it possible to win without working out “any other rules” of success. An endless list of successful managers including Sir Alan Sugar, Roman Abramovich, José Mourinho who “made it” without any “connections”, living abroad and speaking even different languages proved that it is possible if only a manager has a “personal required package” to win.
There are twelve tools a modern successful manager should use in order to win according to Jossey-Bass (1994). He suggests that by really reinforcing these rules it would help to succeed in the organisation. Some of them are:
EMBRACING CHANGE. Successful managers recognize a change as a permanent fact.
ATTENDING TO EXTERNAL REALITIES.
Successful managers should focus on the external issues the company faces including customer and supplier’s needs.
CREATING POWER.
Highly successful managers distinguish formal authority from power. They recognize that top management has more of the former, but they believe that power, like respect, is earned. They view power as the ability to influence people and get things done, which means that anyone can have power.
PROMOTING A COACHING STYLE
Successful managers should encourage their colleagues to “challenge the system” in order to be more efficient, reduce the costs, hit the target.
EXPANDING JOB RESPONSIBILITIES
Successful managers foresee new opportunities and accomplishments; continuous improvement should be a priority for personal goal achievement
CREATING EXPERTISE
Successful managers see their roles as developing experts and expertise throughout the organization. They should encourage creative, open and friendly environment in order to create expertise.
DRIVING OUT FEAR
Successful managers acknowledge the corrosive effect of fear. They should not be scared of being different, having different ideas, loss of influence, being left behind by changes in technology and organizational structure.
Of course, the successful managers should be showing exhibiting readiness for an entrepreneurial environment, keeping balance, demonstrating emotional maturity, providing the long view and absolutely standing for an idea according to Bragg (2004).
So, is it right? Can a manager really become successful by having all the necessary skills, knowing the job requirement and possessing relevant personal qualities?
Of course, it is possible! Who says it is not? By minimising mistakes, self-improving and validating skills sets, identifying gaps for improvement in leadership competencies, and building one's political astuteness to add value to future organizational achievements, there is an opportunity for a manager to become a success one day.
It is evident from these strategies that tomorrow's manager will become more valuable by becoming a pathfinder for his or her own career. Emphasizing self-direction and versatility in one's career development often increases the opportunities to add value to the managers’ portfolio.
It would be fair in this case if performance would be equalled with pay rate and promotion will be given to those who succeed.
What about the times when a manager achieved all his KPIs but his boss still does not promote him, what about the times when a colleague got the payrise because she is friendly with the line manager, but a manager who deserves that did not, what about the time when the line manager is trying to lower the score during the performance review so a manager can not be promoted as he has got nobody to replace him!
It’s not fair at all! A manager has worked his hardest but still not good enough to be promoted… What to do then? Quit and find another job? But where is the guarantee that the same is not going to happen to him again?
It is critical that in order to win today’s managers prepare themselves not only with the suite of diverse skills and capabilities but also with the ability to work out the unwritten laws of life in the organisation.
The fading expectation that a manager gradually develops through a hierarchy of increased responsibility within a single organization or business over 10 to 20 years appears less likely for most in today's dynamic business environment. The competitiveness of a global marketplace, constant mergers and acquisitions, the reduction of supply tiers, and expanded technological capabilities all foreshadow a more diverse future.
Rob Yeung, the business psychologist, argues that the biggest factor determining how far we can get to is “other people”(3).
Yeung states that however much some managers might want to deny it, the reality is that colleagues have a far greater impact on their careers than their hard work or their talent do.
Yeung says that a lot of people like to think that their organizations are not political and that they can get on without being political. But the fact is that the most hard-working people do not make it to the top — it’s the politically savvy that get there.
According to Yeung, the colleagues have become much trickier because of the pressure from the organizational change, merges, outsourcing, globalization, redundancies that are seen in the private and public sectors. These pressures have turned the workplace into “a minefield of treacherous personalities, unexploded resentments and ticking egos”, and understanding office politics and what makes colleagues tick has never been more important (3).
Yeung suggests that all colleagues can be divided into four types — bigwigs, rising stars, no-hopers and has-beens — depending on their level of influence and seniority in an organization. He suggests the ambitious should cultivate relationships with influential bigwigs and rising stars, but waste no time on no-hopers and has-beens.
The author is convinced that holding to the personal work style is obviously a good idea but it’s easy to cling to personal habits and stay within a comfort zone. But in the world of office politics that is often a mistake. The organisational culture plays an extremely important role in one’s succeeding. It defies the unwritten rules an ambitious manager should play.
One of the most effective ways is to think strategically and understand the office undercurrents by becoming a confidant even if a manager is bored by colleagues’ stories or false attentiveness. What a successful manager should do is to use unwritten rules of game by building the relationship with the strategically important people in the organisation. He should master organizational politics by better managing his/her interactions and relationships with colleagues across the organization and at the same time successfully manage his own political image.
The successful manager understands that she or he is responsible for building a career. So leaving the necessary skills and qualities on the side, he would need to understand how the entire organisation works. The easiest way it could be done is by constantly seeking diverse tasks within the organisation. Proactive managers seek opportunities to work in diverse line or staff roles for short periods of time. They seek specific project assignments that give them the opportunity to understand or learn a new part of the business in which they haven't been involved. This is extremely beneficial as it helps to build his own network of contacts that may be very helpful at later stage.
Business is not just a work. Business is about human relationships. All of us like to do business with people we like and trust. That often results in friendships outside of work. A successful manager should look for opportunities to connect outside of work with the colleagues.
Political skills are just as important as business and professional skills are (Kakabadse et al, 2004).
Office intrigue, internal politics and backstabbing colleagues cost British business £6 billion in lost productivity. Office affairs also cost British business £150m a year in lost productivity
according to the Roffey Park Management Institute (James, J. (2003)).
Seven out of 10 of the UK’s managers claim to have experienced the negative effects of office politics, according to a new research report published by Roffey Park.
It finds that nearly half of the 120 managers surveyed believe that micro-political behaviour in the workplace has increased over the last three years.
Office politics involves the strategies people in various types of organizations use to gain a career advantage (Rozakis & Rozakis, 1998). Office politics also involves understanding how things get accomplished (Cole, 1999). Getting things done will necessitate building relationships with the people with whom one works since careers are made or damaged on the basis of relationships (Frankel, 2004).
There is no doubt that politics cause low productivity, low moral, increased conflicts, lack of trusts, loss of valuable talent, high stress levels, create a lack of trust, damage morale, and demotivate staff, however, the only one way is to accept that all these traits exist in the real business life. Unfortunately or fortunately, the only one way is to accept the rules and play by them.
In a perfect world, a manager would succeed (or fail) in his career based solely on merit. Perhaps someone can in a few isolated places, but in most working environments, managers have to develop or maybe learn how “to play the game” in order to win. And things don't improve as a manager climbs up the career ladder. In fact, as a manager moves up, he is likely to find himself threatened from every direction.
Employees who have issues with some of the concepts of office politics need to understand that favouritism exists in every firm and that their ability or inability to use office politics effectively can advance or impede their careers (Beagrie, 2004). In fact, employees who are inept at office politics may be perceived as people who are not team players and not good candidates for promotion; they may also be viewed as persons who are untrustworthy and lack social skills and common sense ("FastCompany's Five Rules,(2003).
Unwritten rules like office politics are also fuelled by the uncertainty and changing nature of the organisation and the manager’s role. During the economic stability, when the companies had a set structure and fixed plans, managers knew their positions in the hierarchy, what and when is required from them to get to the top. The author doubts that such “ideal” business ever existed. It is certainly not the case now.
Work consumes a huge amount of time, increasingly defines us to ourselves and other people, and largely determines our standard of living. The difference between getting it right and wrong is life-changing.
Incredible expectations from the successful manager led to a totally new image of the manager of the twenty first century. An endless list with personal qualities as well as high performance records have created a new generation of managers. Who are they? A human being with no sensitiveness but with extremely high determination and for whom time is money. A modern superman who would be able not only to achieve great financial performance but also to become “successful” in office politics. Unfortunately, inability to win in office politics could lead to failure. Unwritten general rules are all about focusing on working more closely with more important people, developing more self-discipline of listening more to other people’s concerns and private matters. Employees with strong work skills who do not show support for their supervisors are less likely to succeed than are employees (even those with meager work skills) who support their supervisors (Bragg, 2004; Fisher, 2002).
A current reality of more-team based and task oriented business models push managers to work out ways how to succeed in the organisational jungle. The innocence has died many years ago when the change was not as much relentless as it is now, when happiness, motivation and integrity were the key words in the business environment.
Unfortunately, there is a time now when the managers should be more politically aware, look at their organisations from different perspectives and recognise they are responsible for their actions.
A successful manager plays by the unwritten rules of business game. It is a win or lose world. To be good at their jobs, the successful managers should be prepared to drop others in the mire. They must fight hard to succeed.
Of course, the author would like to believe that once there will be a time a business can be more democratic and open with the talented managers who deserve to be there.
Dobson and Dobson (2001) agree that office politics and behaving ethically are not mutually exclusive; they believe that it is possible for principled persons to help create an office environment that "rewards and supports good behaviour rather than political sneakiness".
But will it ever happen? No! Forget hard work and play people’s game to win!!!!
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