How much workplace politics is normal?

April 20, 2018 8:22 AM

Over the last year, I’ve noticed that my workplace has become a lot more factionalised and influenced by shifting power dynamics. Lots of decisions that seem to me to be administrative and unremarkable are getting caught up in conflicts between different factions, and so I find myself constantly navigating around these conflicts. I don’t like this, but I don’t know how seriously to take my dislike.

Is this just a normal regrettable feature of jobs everywhere, that I’ve been lucky not to notice before? Or is it a sign that something has Gone Wrong in my specific workplace and I should start mapping my exit route? I work at a university, if that makes a difference.

posted by Aravis76 to Work & Money (5 answers total)

Best answer: I would say that, right now, this is likely to be the status quo at most universities. Academia has, famously, always been a bit of a hornet's nest, but the ongoing crises in higher ed appear to have made it even worse in recent years. In my experience, too, the longer you're at an institution, the more time you have to see the power dynamics that have long been in play but so subtly that you didn't notice them when you were first hired. Your department may have been shielding you from some things while you settled in and/or focused on getting tenure, too. I know that once I was tenured, I suddenly seemed to have a front row seat to conflicts that I had no idea had been raging all along between my colleagues. Likewise, the stakes of workaday administrative decisions suddenly also seemed much hirer to me because tenure can sometimes feel a bit like a life sentence ; ).

So if your exit route is going to just take you to another department or university, I wouldn't expect things to be much different.
posted by pinkacademic at 8:44 AM on April 20, 2018 [11 favorites]

Best answer: I have worked in higher education in the UK, and from my vantage point I can also confirm that this is very much A Thing and becomes more of A Thing the longer you work somewhere or the more senior you are (i.e. newer or more junior staff will usually not be involved in workplace drama).

As to whether it is a sign that something has Gone Wrong, I would say no; it's just how it tends to be. How seriously to take your dislike will depend on how materially this factionalism and drama impacts on your work and how you feel at work. Being unhappy at work is certainly something to take seriously. Not being able to do your job because you're being roadblocked by dramatic or power-hungry individuals, again certainly something to take seriously. But don't expect it to be different at another university.
posted by Ziggy500 at 8:50 AM on April 20, 2018 [2 favorites]

this is literally how it has been at every institution of higher learning i or my friends and colleagues have worked at. to be honest, the private sector isn't necessarily much better, in my personal experience... but, yes, nthing that this is standard operating procedure in a university environment. unfortunately.
posted by halation at 9:04 AM on April 20, 2018 [2 favorites]

It can be somewhat mitigated by where specifically in the University you are; I have been fortunate enough as a staff member at a couple of different universities to have some bosses who worked very hard to shield their staff from having to know much about or be too affected by workplace political drama. But it was always *there*, and when I was around long enough or rose high enough via promotions, it was no longer possible to be totally unaware of it.
posted by Stacey at 9:54 AM on April 20, 2018

The larger the group, the more drama. It's damn near inevitable, despite being a sign of institutional ill health. Some people just can't help themselves and too many others are willing to join in once someone else starts it. The only thing you can do if you don't want to play that game is keep your head down and only engage when absolutely necessary on specific topics that directly affect you and/or your team.

Sadly, many times unwillingness to play politics blocks further advancement, so if that's something you want you may need to look elsewhere. At some places, you can go higher before having to deal with the crap.
posted by wierdo at 11:03 AM on April 20, 2018 [2 favorites]