Games At Work: How to Recognize and Reduce Office Politics

Introduction

In any organizational environment, people play games. This is true of even the most enlightened companies. It is in our nature as human beings to play games when we are in groups, when stress and anxiety exist, and when "prizes" (promotions, the boss's favor, funding for a project, winning a contract, and so on) are to be won and lost. It doesn't matter what size your company is or how it's structured. Although some cultures promote games more than others, just about every company possesses a game ecology—a pattern of games that form over time and that thrive in a particular environment.

Games take many forms and vary widely in their complexity. How people respond to them varies too: games can be positively reinforced, actively participated ...