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It has become common sense that today’s businesses function politically. Hiring opportunities, coworker relations, promotions committees, and many other aspects of corporate survival are based on workplace politics. Politics are present in business affairs every day and have a determining factor on who will end up where, how people are paid, and how they are treated. Many employees believe that diligence will be duly recognized and earn them the raise or elevation they deserve, but as many websites dedicated to informing wage earners of the underbelly of workplace politics point out, hard work often is not nearly enough.
Getting ahead in your job is also incredibly pragmatic, and based on social interaction and how people perceive you as a person, and not just how your work is received. Someone who is respected for their industrious effort may be socially withdrawn from office interactions, and therefore be overlooked. It is crucial to understand what is going on in the office, informally, to get a grasp on who is moving ahead and why.
Even major news networks are addressing office politics and how dirty they can be. Politics in the workplace used to be reserved to government employment, but it has become increasingly more common, even pervading blue collar workplaces and becoming just as important in white collar workplaces as doing the actual work assigned to various positions. Employees are expected to take note of what is going on and become involved, without a formal declaration being made. It takes a keen ear and contemplative head to comprehend office politics and manipulate them in order to progress.
