Politics at work
I am not talking about office politics but rather talking politics at work. It’s an election year and in the Internet age everyone has a voice, opinion, and outlet. But should one of those outlets be work?
I was thinking about a conversation I had in the office a couple years ago when I was an intern. The conversation was to say the least controversial and passionate. The only problem, I was the only one out of 4 others that supported a certain position (of course I was the only intern). Did it affect my work, no, the other debaters were professional, but could it have, yes, I am sure for the rest of the day they thought I was heartless.Even more at recent etiquette dinner I attended for recruiting the speaker said to avoid talking politics at dinners, especially for interviews or first meetings. I can see that, nothing can be accomplished with a political discussion in that situation. But what about at work, with the people you spend as much if not more time with than loved ones? If your like me I yern for a heated political debate, the type often shared over a beer or in a coffee house. Is that ever appropriate at work?
Rachelle de Bretagne at Helium.com says “Within the contract I received from my work, there is a section devoted to suitability of discussion with other employees on personal matters, and this really is the first time I have seen such strong views that it gets mentioned in a works contract.” Rachelle writes from France and is referring to her job in France. She believes that her contract included the clause due to Frances extreme politics, in the sense that most political “runners” run on extreme change. Is this where a politically correct America is coming to? In the end Rachelle says the workplace is for work, leave the politics at home.
Monster.com did a poll asking people whether or not to talk politics at work. 30 percent take a don’t ask don’t tell policy. That is, listen but never really say your view. 22 percent say stand up for what you believe and be heard.In my opinion never shy away from talking politics. However, I am cautious and realize to whom I am talking and work hard not to offend because that accomplishes nothing for your career. I’m not afraid to go against the grain at work, but I am not looking to be an antagonist. I work hard to learn other peoples opinion, I respect they have an opinion, and most importantly I keep in mind it has little to do if any on their work quality.Sandra Spataro, an assistant professor of organizational behavior at Yale University’s School of Management sums up my opinion/reason for talking politics at work
If you can engender a culture of exchange — try to get rid of some of that judgment -– in the end, you’re going to be healthier than suppressing conversation entirely,” she adds. “What you want to get to is the point where there’s going to be a healthy interchange.”
Feel free to give my your opinion on poltics at work in the comment section.
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November 28th, 2007 at 4:58 pm
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