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Archive for the ‘Power Plays’ Category

Demotion is a bitter pill to swallow

Thursday, September 10th, 2009

Dear Office-Politics, I work for a government agency where the Executive Director is a political appointment, rather than a hire based on knowledge and experience. Since this Director started, it has become obvious that he holds in small regard employees who have advanced program technical knowledge and skills, unless those employees are ...

A Twisted Tornado of Office Politics

Thursday, January 22nd, 2009

Dear Office-Politics, I was recently involved in a TWISTED TORNADO of office politics. At the time, I had no clue I was actually in the "clique". I got close to a fellow employee who knew everyone... talked to everyone and talked about EVERYONE! She was promoted (although unqualified) because of her "personal" ...

Animal training to solve office politics problems

Tuesday, April 29th, 2008

Dear Office-Politics, I have been having difficulty with a fellow administrator coming in behind me and directing employees as he sees fit, contradicting the tasks that I have already assigned. The employee doesn't know which one to follow and so they follow the one who is there at the time ...

Part II: Success has created jealousy

Monday, March 3rd, 2008

Dear Office Politics, (First off, thanks for hosting and operating this site, you gave me some very valuable advice many years ago. So now I'm back again with a new dilemma for your experts.) About one year ago I joined a new startup company as a department head, one level below top ...

She was furious I blind-cc-ed the email to my boss

Sunday, February 17th, 2008

Dear Office-Politics, I have just been confirmed as a Communications Executive after 6 months being on probation. I have a good relationship with my boss, who's got strong views about building up the company's image and branding. Since we do a lot of discussion on PR and communications matters, some of ...

Ex-team member has my boss in his pocket

Friday, February 15th, 2008

Dear Office-Politics, I am in a real mess at work. I am having a lot of trouble getting along with an incredibly popular ex-team member. There are a number of personal reasons for this (he takes everyone to the pub every lunchtime and stifles other people's attempts to arrange things socially, and ...

Part II: Demoted for criticizing my boss

Thursday, January 24th, 2008

Dear Office-Politics, I’m an Army cadet at an elite military academy in the U.S. Last semester, I was promoted to one of the highest positions in my class by the faculty officer in charge. The only person higher than me was a cadet with a rank that made him my boss. I ...

Part II: Chief Operating Officer ‘rigs’ Office Raffle

Wednesday, January 2nd, 2008

Dear Office-Politics, I work in a large cultural institution close to a major metropolitan area. As in many not-for-profits, the employees love the institution and their work, but morale is low due to cutbacks in staffing and pay raises for several years in a row. However, as is often ...

Part I: Chief Operating Officer wins Office Raffle

Wednesday, January 2nd, 2008

Dear Office-Politics, I work in a large cultural institution close to a major metropolitan area. As in many not-for-profits, the employees love the institution and their work, but morale is low due to cutbacks in staffing and pay raises for several years in a row. However, as is often ...

Stepped on by the Good Ole Boy’s and Hot Girl

Friday, November 23rd, 2007

Dear Office-Politics, I am so appreciative of your website. It is helping save my sanity. I work for a union, in which a new administration was just elected. My new boss has had an affair with my coworker and they are still "friends". We are a small ...

Staff won’t obey rules… I feel like a dictator.

Monday, November 5th, 2007

Dear Office-Politics, I'm having some trouble getting employees to follow some simple procedures without turning the office into a police state. For example we have a standard email client that was selected for security reasons. Some employees prefer a different email client which has less security and is more prone ...

My old-supervisor answers to me now…

Tuesday, October 30th, 2007

Dear Office-Politics, Greetings! I have quite the dilemma, though most people think it would be a dream. My old-supervisor answers to me now. To make a long story short, the position of network manager was created, and the network supervisor thought he was going to get it. Unfortunately for him, ...