Why are politics more common in the office than in any other workplace?
Asked by CL
Why is there politics in the office as compared to other occupations like skilled trades or drivers or even unskilled factory work? Arent skilled trades workers doing the heavier, more dangerous jobs? Why are office workers more stressed out and why is there more "office politics"? Don't they just sit down and do light jobs and work in cleaner workplaces? Why?

Best Answer:
That's news to me.

Lot's of offices don't have "politics", and lots of "other workplaces" do. The reality is that most work gets done in offices, so there are bound to be more offices with politics than anything else.
Answered by scottFL007

If you're doing manual labor, you're boss' boss is unlikely there very often. And, you're not sitting there in staff meetings, with phone calls, and e-mail to kiss up through. Office jobs are hardly "light." They're stressful because of the amount of pressure, personality clashes, technical details of projects, etc. With manual labor, you either do a project "right" or you don't. I.e. you fix a drain and it works, or it doesn't work. There's less gray area than in an office because a) your co-workers know you are the one who fixed that drain b) there's often fewer egos, lesser educational degress/raises/etc. to flaunt c) some of the work relies on other people to be involved (like construction), and there's simply no point in taking the credit for something you didn't do in construction. That's not to say that there isn't ANY politiking in manual labor-- sure there is-- but typical the indivuduals out doing the manual labor are on the same "level" in terms of organizational hierarchy, wages, etc. In offices and cubicles, it's much different. You've got the CEO making $80,000, the intern making $10 an hour, the new grad making $30,000, etc. all in the same office working together. It's not like that in manual labor. And, in manual labor, often once you go home/leave work, the "work" stays at the job site. Most office jobs aren't like that at all.
Answered by ty

They only seem more common. The office has more capacity for it. It is difficult to politic while working a machine for instance. A trucky is usually alone. The office usually has the boss (and useless relatives) working in a quiet area. The office will always have the crawling ambitious backstabber who must justify themselves at the cost of others. The stressed office worker will usually be carrying some bludgers workload as bosses dont pay much heed as their own job is always safe, The skilled worker is expected to do one job in agiven time and when busy will do paid overtime. The office has peaks and ebbs running to calendar deadlines with phones that dont make appointments.. Think of it as the schoolyard grown up but not better for it. Its capacity and opportunity and if equal will politics will play favouritism equally. If you cant win the politics because the bosses wife doesnt like you ,or similar , get out ,change jobs. A job is a gamble anyway ,so gamble somewhere else before the mortgage gets you.
Answered by hoboturkey