“Corporates are full of politics” – this is very very commonly heard statement.
Politics are there every where. As long as there are two people involved there is a scope for politics. It can start from your home. And the politics will go up to world super power vs rest of the world. If politics are there every where then why we crib about only corporate or any workplace politics. I guess the biggest reason for this is we idealize corporate world and hence the expectation. This will never happen. Period.
But what is politics means in this context? From Google – “Activities aimed at improving someone’s status or increasing power within an organization.” I think definition fits well. Depending upon “Activity” and what your value system is you can define whether it is good or bad. But that is relative.
And I think playing politics is an art and not a simple skill to practice. That’s why not everyone can pick this up easily. And most dislike this word even though they do it indirectly but they will choose a different name for it. Some are pure souls and they really don’t like to do it. Some are savvy politicians and they love playing it . Others play situational and need basis.
Bottom line – expect politics as normal and don’t become emotional about it.