Political Punch of Staff

Mike Donoghue is a member of a multinational information technology corporation where he collaborates on the communications guidelines and customer relationship strategies affecting the interactions with internal and external clients. He has analyzed, defined, designed and overseen processes for various engagements including product usability and customer satisfaction, best practice enterprise standardization, relationship/branding structures, and distribution effectiveness and direction. He has also established corporate library solutions to provide frameworks for sales, marketing, training, and support divisions.

  Communications Management   Talent Management  

Much has been written about how influence, control and politics have been used by managerial forces. The commonly held images of how negative, insidious and secretive these political efforts are in the business world have been the cannon fodder for many corporate dramas, and their reality has shown us how these energies can be exercised in the battle for all forms of resources.

While the ability to direct the politics of an enterprise can be an important skill in managers who want to accomplish goals (or perhaps avoid fallout), much of what needs to be done involves having the authority of the human resource element. Taking control of staffing, review, reward and training functions that might normally be assigned to an entity elsewhere in the organization can have a beneficial impact for the manager with that kind of clout, as well the employees underneath them.

This can occur when the processes associated with an HR group are perceived as aloof and without the crucial component of personal attention that an empowered superior can bring to bear. As a result, those influential managers become empowered to make enhancements to affect their environment, the strength to meet their specific needs and the ability to bring about positive change.

And In This Corner…
Sometimes, a little confrontation goes a long way. The balancing act of politics can keep an …

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