Office Politics

Whatever industry you work in and whatever level you occupy in an organization, office politics is inescapable and indispensable. As jobs migrate en masse to the tertiary sector, people's work output becomes ever harder to measure directly—in government departments, hospitals, banks, and the advertising, PR, and media industries alike—so interpersonal evaluation, impression management, and power relations carry growing weight in career prospects. The author, Oliver James, worked for six years as a clinical psychologist before spending a long career in writing, journalism, broadcasting, and television production. Drawing on his psychology background and extensive first-hand interviews, he brings the troubling "toxic" people and incidents of the office out onto the table for analysis: stories of 13 representative figures, 12 industries, 11 systematic studies, and 3 cultural perspectives sketch how the three interrelated "Dark Triad" personalities—psychopathy, Machiavellianism, and narcissism—operate in the workplace, teaching readers to recognize the telltale signs of these personalities and to protect themselves from harm. The book falls into two main parts. Part One, "Dealing with Toxic Colleagues and Careers," dissects one by one the psychopath, the Machiavellian, the narcissist, and those afflicted by impostor syndrome, and discusses how "toxicity" differs across industries and the public sector; Part Two, "Improving Your Office Politics Skills," proposes six deliberately practisable capabilities, from acting, acuity, and ingratiation to powerful action, high skill, and guile. The conclusion closes on the concept of "emotional health": the book's aim is not to teach people to become devious, but to help readers keep working and surviving with a healthy state of mind after seeing the rules clearly.