{"id":3815,"date":"2025-07-08T15:53:38","date_gmt":"2025-07-08T15:53:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aomtodayprod.wpenginepowered.com\/?p=3815"},"modified":"2025-07-08T15:53:38","modified_gmt":"2025-07-08T15:53:38","slug":"navigating-office-politics-isnt-as-hard-as-you-think","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/navigating-office-politics-isnt-as-hard-as-you-think\/","title":{"rendered":"Navigating Office Politics Isn\u2019t as Hard as You Think"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Daniel Butcher<\/a><\/p>\n

Office politics can be challenging for new and aspiring managers and leaders, especially in large organizations. That said, when it comes to strategies for professionals to increase their soft skills and navigate interpersonal relationships with coworkers and bosses, it\u2019s best not to overthink it and take a straightforward approach.<\/p>\n

In fact, Academy of Management Scholar Jeffrey Pfeffer of Stanford University<\/a>, one of today\u2019s most influential management professors and researchers, says that he doesn\u2019t think office politics are that difficult to deal with. He believes there are a couple of simple principles that everyone ought to follow.<\/p>\n

1. Keep your boss happy:<\/strong> \u201cDo not necessarily disagree too frequently with the boss; do not criticize the boss,\u201d Pfeffer says. \u201cThe boss may be wrong, but the boss is your boss.\u201d<\/p>\n

2. Diversify your professional relationships:<\/strong> \u201cMany people are insufficiently diversified in their personal relationships. If your stock portfolio is all invested in one stock, you would say that\u2019s not good financial management,\u201d Pfeffer says.\u201cIf you have human capital, and a set of relationships that are all oriented around just one person, and that whether it\u2019s your boss or your boss\u2019s boss, you are insufficiently diversified\u2014you need to cultivate relationships with more people in the workplace, so that if you get crosswise with one of them, there are others who will support you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Professionals who follow those two fundamental principles for navigating office politics\u2014keep your bosses happy and make sure that they have enough connections inside and outside their organization\u2014will be better able to survive any turmoil.<\/p>\n

How can professionals plan for scenarios where offices politics go south? In addition to advocating for continual networking, Pfeffer tells his students that they should spend 5%to 10% of their time exploring job boards.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaking sure that they have alternative job opportunities is important,\u201d Pfeffer said. \u201cWhen you get on a plane, they teach you how to put on your oxygen mask and where the emergency exits are, because they know that when you have a crisis, it is too late to give you instructions.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople always need options in their careers\u2014just as you always need a way out of a plane, you always need some alternatives so that if your organization announces massive layoffs, or if you suddenly get a new boss who doesn\u2019t like you, you are prepared to make an effective exit,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Daniel Butcher Office politics can be challenging for new and aspiring managers and leaders, especially in large organizations. That said, when it comes to strategies for professionals to increase their soft skills and navigate interpersonal relationships with coworkers and bosses, it\u2019s best not to overthink it and take a straightforward approach. In fact, Academy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":3816,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[71,19],"tags":[],"sp_smart_badges":[],"ppma_author":[70],"class_list":["post-3815","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-communicating","category-leadership"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nNavigating Office Politics Isn\u2019t as Hard as You Think - Academy of Management Today<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/navigating-office-politics-isnt-as-hard-as-you-think\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Daniel Butcher\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/navigating-office-politics-isnt-as-hard-as-you-think\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/navigating-office-politics-isnt-as-hard-as-you-think\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Daniel Butcher\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d1297a59039d9ca7bac9d9f0952e508c\"},\"headline\":\"Navigating Office Politics Isn\u2019t as Hard as You Think\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-07-08T15:53:38+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/navigating-office-politics-isnt-as-hard-as-you-think\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":413,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/navigating-office-politics-isnt-as-hard-as-you-think\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/03\\\/boss-talks-to-team-members.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"COMMUNICATING\",\"LEADERSHIP\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/navigating-office-politics-isnt-as-hard-as-you-think\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/navigating-office-politics-isnt-as-hard-as-you-think\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/navigating-office-politics-isnt-as-hard-as-you-think\\\/\",\"name\":\"Navigating Office Politics Isn\u2019t as Hard as You Think - 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You can reach him at dbutcher@aom.org or via LinkedIn.","sameAs":["https:\/\/aomtodayprod.wpenginepowered.com","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/danielbutcher\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/author\/daniel-butcher\/"}]}},"authors":[{"term_id":70,"user_id":4,"is_guest":0,"slug":"daniel-butcher","display_name":"Daniel Butcher","avatar_url":{"url":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/DanButcher_Academy-of-Management.webp","url2x":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/DanButcher_Academy-of-Management.webp"},"0":null,"1":"","2":"","3":"","4":"","5":"","6":"","7":"","8":""}],"rttpg_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/boss-talks-to-team-members.webp",1000,720,false],"landscape":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/boss-talks-to-team-members.webp",1000,720,false],"portraits":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/boss-talks-to-team-members.webp",1000,720,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/boss-talks-to-team-members-150x150.webp",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/boss-talks-to-team-members-300x216.webp",300,216,true],"large":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/boss-talks-to-team-members.webp",800,576,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/boss-talks-to-team-members.webp",1000,720,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/boss-talks-to-team-members.webp",1000,720,false],"owl_elementor_thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/boss-talks-to-team-members-600x432.webp",600,432,true],"owl_elementor_team":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/boss-talks-to-team-members-350x450.webp",350,450,true],"owl_elementor_testimonial":["https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/boss-talks-to-team-members-100x100.webp",100,100,true]},"rttpg_author":{"display_name":"Daniel Butcher","author_link":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/author\/daniel-butcher\/"},"rttpg_comment":1,"rttpg_category":"<a href=\"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/category\/communicating\/\" rel=\"category tag\">COMMUNICATING<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/category\/leadership\/\" rel=\"category tag\">LEADERSHIP<\/a>","rttpg_excerpt":"By Daniel Butcher Office politics can be challenging for new and aspiring managers and leaders, especially in large organizations. 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