Brown Motion

Businesses throw a holiday bash for their employees come Christmas time.  It is tradition that exists in corporations of all size across America.  Time to tell your peeps that they deserve to stretch out and have booze on the company's dime.  This once. So it was with my employer that hosted its annual event in a contemporary art museum in the city. The rains were upon us so it was a mist covered evening as I stepped out of the BART (our local transit with a meager 40 miles of operable track) to make my way to the festivities. Not sure if any arriving attendees (many from work) were high strung that night but some of the hosts assigned to drink duty were.  Literally.  The audience was greeted with two acrobats in mid air wrapped in silk scarves dangling from the ceiling.  And they had champagne bottles in their hand whereupon they attempted to pour some of it out to passerbys below. It was a spectacle.  Not being a fan of the bubbly mys...

Yeah right! Catchy title though don't you think?  In organizations big and small, from third world to first world, from government to privately run the scourge and perhaps a form of entertainment to an extent is the phenomenon of office politics. It is as omnipresent as staplers.  Or people with BO.   Or this misguided notion of work life balance.  It is just there.  It is part of the psyche or the fabric of the organization.  It is mostly a result of lack of trust amidst the employee pool within and across organization boundaries.  It is what becomes a source of anxiety for many, to the point it affects morale and also productivity and therefore profitability. Could it be possible to end office politics? It is like saying can people always be held to a high standard and be guided by a moral compass? Not possible!  Deal with it.   Many a cartoon strip (Dogbert et al) and TV shows have made an appearance t...