Enlightened Office Politics

by Michael S. Dobson and Deborah Singer Dobson

"All too often, Machiavellian managers ruthlessly use office politics to get what they want...and they make good employees feel it's bad to be political. But it doesn't have to be that way!... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0814470653
• ISBN13: 9780814470657
• Release Date: July 2006
• Publisher: Amacom
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 1.16 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.0" x 9.1"
• Age Range: 17 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 12 and higher

Customer Reviews

Excellent Read and Well Written. A Must for recent college

I really enjoyed this book. The strategies and concepts can easily be applied to any workplace environment since corporate politics exist everywhere in any business and these traits are not learned in a classroom setting. They must be practiced and perfected over time and this book will assist you in developing your corporate political traits.

An ethical Machiavelli that's moral yet realistic

What distinguishes this book from the competition is the authors' commitment to an ethical, principled approach to the political game, which I found to be refreshing and positive. So often, the choice is presented as "stop worrying about being nice and get out there and win!" Instead, the Dobsons show why having principles, being honest, and treating others with dignity and respect can be a source of political strength and effective results, and why the archetypical Machiavellian office politician often comes to a bad end.The second quality of this book I liked was its emphasis on how to adapt its general guidelines to your specific situations, which it did through a series of exercises, questionnaires, and worksheets. They took some serious effort on my part to complete, because they were quite challenging. I had to think through my own goals, the goals of other people, and the circumstances that described my office environment. At the end, however, I felt that I had a much clearer picture of what was going on, why it was going on, and what I could do about it. I would definitely encourage you to invest time in the exercises.The third quality of the book that appealed to me was the easy and personal writing style. The Dobsons have a warm, intimate conversational tone, and I felt that they explained clearly and effectively how organizations worked, where politics fit into the picture, and how you could turn it into a positive force on behalf of your goals.In a world where cynicism and power hunger drives people toward short-term gain, it is heartening to see a potentially negative topic such as office politics treated as a positive, ethical, and potentially uplifting force. I recommend this book.