Current politics is a reasonable product of previous historical development. To understand the current political situation, we must look at this issue historically.
Corporate politics can only be faced correctly, but can't and can't escape effectively;
When we enter an enterprise, I must first understand the political status quo of the enterprise and the historical reasons for its formation, accept this fact intellectually, ideologically and emotionally, and then bring myself into this political system in order to find the improvement of the political system;
Moreover, once managers become core management members, they have the responsibility to develop healthier office politics. Finally, enterprise managers should strive to make corporate politics explicit and make it a sunny thing with the nature of corporate culture.
Office politics is quite complicated. I may not be able to share all my thoughts for a while, but as far as I know, it is the only feasible way for us to face it bravely, understand it objectively and then transform it from the inside. Complaining or resisting is tantamount to an act of self-destruction
Another way, simple as it is, is to trust others. Some trust entrepreneurs, some trust relatives, some trust experts, some trust professional managers, and so on, but in general, they all trust and rely on some management groups to help the boss do his own management work through their assistance. With the growth of enterprises, both private enterprise bosses and state-owned enterprise bosses are gradually lacking in personal ability, and team management is increasingly showing its necessity and importance. It should be said that there are more and more enterprises like China.
As far as the information provided in this case is concerned, the enterprise in this case is developing from autocratic decision-making to non-authoritarian decision-making by gradually establishing a management team, and there are political problems such as the relatives of the boss, entrepreneurs and some senior executives becoming small groups. To solve the political problems of enterprises, we must first understand the causes of political problems, and then point out several political strategies available to managers and their advantages and disadvantages. The following analysis one by one.
First, the causes of corporate office politics
To understand office politics, it is necessary for us to understand what politics is first. Aristotle, an ancient Greek philosopher, said two or three thousand years ago that man was born a political animal. Some people also divide many political theories since ancient times into four categories: politics as government art, politics as public affairs, politics as compromise and knowledge, politics as power and resource distribution, and summarize them as: achieving goals through compromise, mediation and negotiation rather than force and naked power.
One of the modern scholars understands politics as an activity to give different interest groups corresponding powers according to their importance to the well-being and survival of the whole organism, so as to mediate their relations within the established ruling unit.
Marx believes that politics is the concentrated expression of economy, and the politics of any class is to safeguard the economic interests of that class and establish and consolidate its rule. The core of politics is to solve controversial issues, which are often related to the distribution of social resources. Politics requires power and authority. The influence and result of political actions always involve many people. During the Yan 'an period, Mao Zedong also answered other people's questions and said, "Politics is to make friends with many of your own people and a very small number of people who oppose you.
Without giving more definitions, we can already draw a basic conclusion: politics is actually a set of power and interest distribution system design or a distribution mechanism between people.
So, what does it mean to extend the political concept to enterprise management? There are different opinions on the Internet, but the essence is relatively consistent. Now I transcribe one as follows:
Office politics is the competition of office interpersonal relationship, the embodiment of ability and wisdom, and a war without smoke. In short, advancing and retreating is your discretion, and harming people's air defense is an indispensable strategy.
Office is a small society, not as simple as school and family. People who make a living in an office rarely feel relaxed and carefree. The workplace is full of worldly decency and the temptation of promotion, but it is also full of the complexity of interpersonal relationships, the difficulty of climbing and the trap of competition. Familiar with office politics, you will stand out from the competition and firmly occupy your position.
As a team, the office is a group of people. Everyone has his own priorities and interests. You are one of them. If you don't learn to coordinate the relationship between people and play "office political games", it will be difficult to get ahead. Even if you have excellent skills or are as smart as Einstein, you should learn to understand the ecological environment of the office in order to protect yourself from harm in the political games in the office.
Let me put it this way to make it easier to understand. Office politics is a set of written and unwritten rules and mechanisms for all members of an enterprise to distribute power and interests. In fact, office politics seems to be interpersonal relationship on the surface, but in essence it is the power to obtain and protect its own interests. Where there are people, there will be distribution of interests and politics. As an economic profit-making organization, corporate offices can't get rid of customs when they gather together to seek benefits. There is even the fact that this trend is quite prosperous.
The factors that determine the political atmosphere and rules of the game in the office of an enterprise are quite complicated, but generally speaking, they are nothing more than the following factors: the views of the boss of the enterprise, the historical evolution of the development of the enterprise, the influence brought by the main managers and backbones of the enterprise, the background of the members of the enterprise management team and their contributions to the enterprise. But in this case, the enterprise is a private enterprise, and as a private enterprise, what kind of boss basically determines what kind of management mode the enterprise will adopt, and also largely determines what kind of office politics the enterprise will have. Obviously, different types of bosses have different types of company office politics. Below, we will analyze the authoritarian and non-authoritarian enterprises of the boss respectively.
Second, the political characteristics of offices in authoritarian boss enterprises and the political strategies adopted by managers.
In a boss-centered enterprise, the enterprise generally has the following obvious political characteristics of the company office:
An enterprise has only one boss, that is, the boss himself, and an enterprise has only one decision maker, that is, the boss himself. Others have no real status in front of employees and bosses, and no matter how big an official is, he is only a vassal of the boss. From the perspective of management authority, the boss has all absolute authority, and other lucky managers may have professional authority or moral authority, but they only have partial or no management decision-making authority. All decisions must obey the boss's final decision.
Because the boss plays a dominant role in making decisions, others have no substantive right to speak at all, only the right to suggest and lobby, so other managers, including entrepreneurs and even employees, are forced to participate in decision-making in the following ways.
In enterprises with autocratic bosses, managers adopt five basic political strategies as follows:
Seconded strategy
No matter on any occasion, whether you really agree or not, you will resolutely and unreservedly pretend to be the seconder of the boss, so as to win the necessary security trust of the boss, improve your position and influence in the company, and then influence the boss's decision-making opinions through private communication with the boss before and after. This strategy can be called consistent secondment strategy.
In many enterprises, this political strategy is quite effective in the face of authoritarian bosses. Its beauty lies in first standing on the political line, always standing on the boss's side, and then making management suggestions to the boss privately rather than publicly, thus greatly satisfying the management prestige needs of dictatorial bosses and their pride and even ridiculous vanity.
During the Cultural Revolution, Lin Biao used this political strategy, but later Lin was too ambitious, and Mao, who was out of control, became intolerant of Lin. The Lin clique had a high fever for the first time and attempted to seize power by force, which led to Mao's dismissal of Comrade Lin Biao.
The advantage of this political strategy is that it will never be regarded as an alien, so it is quite safe. The disadvantage is that this strategy only adapts to or even blindly caters to the boss's likes and dislikes, which is always correct politically, but it is entirely possible to make unnecessary mistakes in business. But the boss, as the owner of the enterprise, will eventually turn business gains and losses into political gains and losses. If managers make mistakes in business, it will also cause political distrust.
Lin Biao's main problem is that he has gone too far politically and professionally. He is selfish and Mao is not satisfied. If Lin Biao Group wakes up, sticks to its position as a follower of Mao, and helps Mao improve his work with the help of its own group strength, Mao will not lose his trust in Lin, and the history of China may be rewritten. Of course, this is just my personal opinion.
Therefore, strictly speaking, the secondment strategy is a good strategy for authoritarian bosses, but it is not perfect. But through improvement, it can be transformed into the best political strategy.
Loyalist strategy
Not all public places or any public decision-making firmly support the boss's decision-making, but their absolute loyalty to the boss is famous, and their personal loyalty to the boss is also tested. This political strategy can be simply summarized as a long-term loyal political strategy. The fundamental point of long-term loyalist strategy is not the business ability of managers to serve enterprises, but a kind of loyalty that absolutely obeys the fundamental interests of bosses and enterprises, and the mutual trust and deep feelings established from it. This is a wise political strategy adopted by most successful entrepreneurs. But if professional managers are optimistic about the future of the boss himself and the enterprise, long-term loyalists are also a good political strategy choice.
The loyalist strategy also has advantages and disadvantages. The advantage is that no matter what you say, as long as it doesn't hurt the boss's self-esteem, the boss won't doubt you. Everyone in the enterprise knows that you are the boss's best friend, so you can share some authority brought by the boss, but you need mature wisdom when dealing with your status. The disadvantage is that it takes a lot of patience and a relatively long time to gradually establish this political relationship. Don't rush for success, because loyalty takes many severe moments to show. In addition, loyal managers need to give up some due interests in the early stage, especially the opportunity to jump to another enterprise for better development. The price is money, emotion and spirit, which is very huge. Moreover, loyal ministers should be loyal to the interests of enterprises and bosses, which is different from the docile nature. Sometimes in order to safeguard the interests of enterprises and bosses, it may be necessary to take appropriate measures to correct the boss's opinions, which requires extremely high skills and good courage, or it will be hit. Of course, once a loyal relationship is established, the rewards are huge. Especially in private enterprises in China, there is a big market for loyal managers. Considering the healthy and steady development of private enterprises, the boss is right to like such people. Loyal minister strategy is not the best strategy, but it may be one of the second best political strategies suitable for most private enterprises.
For loyal ministers, the biggest danger is that they can't control themselves and use their special loyalty to seek personal interests. In this way, it has evolved into a harmonious manager. On the one hand, it is powerful and inspiring, on the other hand, it is full of crisis. Because improper profit actually harms the interests of business owners, once the boss realizes it over time, his mind will change. Although he won't do this for the time being, it's only a matter of time before he is removed from office. Because loyalists become disloyal, their value will also be lost.
Yes-man strategy
This is very simple, that is, I will do whatever your boss says, no matter right or wrong, I will completely obey and implement it 100%. This strategy is not risky, but it is not valued by the boss and respected by colleagues. This should also be a good political strategy for many managers who do not have much ability. Because enterprises always need people who can work hard without discount, their bosses don't ask them to be smart and often have new ideas, but ask them to do what they are told to do seriously.
Wei Zhi strategy
This is easy to understand, that is, often only from the perspective of corporate interests, dare to remonstrate with the boss. This is a strategy that I don't advocate, because no leader or boss really wants others to openly point out his shortcomings from the bottom of his heart. This strategy is right, but the political risk is too great, that is, no matter how strong your professional ability is, no matter how right you are, the leader is emotionally uncomfortable. This is not an upward strategy that satisfies both sides, even though Li Shimin is so wise, and Wei Zhi is often in danger of being beheaded. Moreover, this strategy often makes many enemies in the enterprise, so it can't be recognized by most people, so it can't unite the majority, so it can't achieve a high career. From the perspective of managers' personal growth, it is obviously a great loss. Therefore, this strategy is not the best strategy for yourself or others.
Loyal alliance strategy
Is Zhou Enlai's strategy for Chairman Mao. This strategy is very good, and it is the best political strategy that can create a win-win situation among all strategies. The characteristic of this strategy is that the manager is not a vassal of the boss, but a close and long-term loyal collaborator of the boss. Partner means that although everyone has different status, they are basically equal. Everyone really needs someone, and the cause is also a cause that everyone runs together. Loyalty means that managers and bosses are not only cooperative, but also establish a very reliable, unbreakable and completely trusting relationship. There are both loyalty and cooperation, so in general, although this relationship will fluctuate, it will remain a very effective and long-term intimate relationship for a long time.
If a manager can reach such a relationship with his boss, it will have a positive impact on individuals, bosses, enterprises and other employees. Loyal allies should be the best strategy for managers in party management, state management and enterprise management. Loyal allies can be big or small, and they also have certain high requirements for management skills. To put it bluntly, such a manager is really "having both ability and political integrity" for business owners, which is both infinitely loyal and reliable, and very capable. Business owners have no reason not to include him in their business partners and emotional and spiritual worlds.
In an enterprise where the boss is dictatorial, the political strategies that managers can adopt are generally as mentioned above. In China's private enterprises, dictatorial bosses account for a large proportion, and there are also some state-owned enterprises. But in other relatively well-managed private enterprises and most state-owned enterprises, there are still some non-authoritarian bosses.
Third, the political characteristics of offices in non-authoritarian boss enterprises and the political strategies adopted by managers.
Office politics in private enterprises with non-authoritarian bosses has the following characteristics:
The boss in an enterprise is not dictatorial in everything, but can listen to the decision-making opinions of several managers, and finally adopt the democratic centralism mode of collective discussion and boss decision-making to make decisions on the management matters of large enterprises;
Business owners don't have to make their own decisions, but have a certain scope of authorization for managers at all levels according to certain rules and regulations. The specific scope of authorization varies with enterprises, departments and positions.
Enterprise management is relatively normal, so the political atmosphere of enterprise office is also relatively open and positive, because there will be relatively few internal contradictions caused by political reasons. Corporate politics is dominated by "clear rules", which is completely different from the existence of a large number of "hidden rules" in corporate politics in authoritarian boss enterprises.
Because the corporate culture of non-authoritarian bosses is open and positive, managers are relatively easy to identify with and integrate into the corporate culture and management structure, management conflicts caused by office political factors will be significantly reduced, management efficiency is relatively high, and corporate political atmosphere is relatively comfortable and open.
In this kind of private or state-owned enterprises, the requirements for managers' political strategies are relatively low, but the political role of enterprises is still very huge. If managers adopt the wrong political strategy and violate the basic political game rules recognized by enterprises, they may be hit hard or even eliminated.
Non-authoritarian bosses can be subdivided into oligarchic decision-making bosses and team-leading bosses. The main difference between the two is that the oligarchic decision-making boss mainly makes decisions with the most core managers in the enterprise, while the team-leading boss basically opens the suggestion right to all management members. Because the political strategies of the managers in these two boss enterprises are basically similar, I don't intend to tell them one by one here.
In enterprises with non-authoritarian bosses, the six basic political strategies adopted by managers are roughly as follows:
Loyalty strategy
Is to do your job well, not to cause trouble, and not to help or actively influence other departments or colleagues. Completely follow the existing relatively mature work and political rules of the enterprise, and meet the expectations of business owners and other colleagues for their work and politics. The advantage of this strategy is that it is simple and correct, and it doesn't take much effort to manage your own political relations. In the company, it is mainly based on pure and universal work cooperation. There is basically no harm, but once something happens to you or your department, there will be no friends in the enterprise, so no one will help you tell your department that any department or individual will always need the help of other people or departments when necessary. Therefore, loyalty strategy can be used by managers, which is a qualified and perfect basic strategy, but it is far from the best political strategy.
Friendly and beneficial strategy
Friendly and helpful strategy is that after finishing one's own personal or departmental work, one can often consciously take the initiative to care for and help other colleagues or departments to complete or better complete their own work. The essence of this strategy is to actively pay more for the work, not only for yourself, but also for others. On the one hand, we pay extra to show our friendship to other departments or individuals, and on the other hand, we hope that other departments or colleagues can repay us and get help and support from other departments or colleagues immediately when their own departments or individuals need help. This kind of political strategy is superior to duty orientation, which can help managers improve their political relations with other departments or individuals through positive help behavior, and also bring certain but not decisive political value to their reputation, position consolidation and promotion in the company.