Corporate Jungle: Understanding workplace, people and politics (Book Review) (With Images)

By Meghna Mittal

Title: The Corporate Jungle: Your Guide to Understanding Workplace People and Politics; Author: Seema Raghunath; Publisher: Harper Collins; Pages: 207; Price: Rs 299

"Understanding workplace politics is as important as going to work, dreaming of a future, holding on to aspirations and working on yourself, to be more competent. Else you could end up like a trained rally driver in full gear, sitting in the best car, however....driving on a dirt road!"

Right from its title to the introduction, this book loudly and clearly proclaims what it offers; so the reader gets exactly what he or she expects.

It begins with sharp sentences intended to agitate the reader, especially if he or she is someone who is intellectually far ahead of others but never moves up the corporate ladder fast enough.

"When faced with a strange, uncomfortable climate, people, events that begins to stifle the focussed worker in you, pause and check if any of these are in play," the author, HR professional and expert Seema Raghunath writes.

The book abounds in metaphoric comparisons of human beings to animals like horses, ants, jaguars, apes, lions, grizzly bear, suckerfish, elephants, owls, cats and chameleons -- and the chapters are named after these. The book compares the workplace to a jungle in which the working people have to find their way like an explorer with a map.

"Animals roam in all types of jungles. Nothing you studied in school can prepare you for workplace realities completely. A business establishment may have the good workhorse. One who eats, breathes and lives to work, but who may not be the one most likely to be declared the next CEO."

The book is definitely not meant for those who are entering a profession, else it could scare them away. But yes, if you are feeling stuck at your workplace and not getting awarded enough despite all the hard work and intellect, this book may help.

For the author, Jaguars are natural leaders with superior intelligence, while lions are fearless and never allow anyone to trample upon them. Grizzly bears give a lot of people grief with their "grrr" arrogance; cats pretend to be tigers when they are only cats, while chameleons are hardly ever consistent, playing camps and people.

The various chapters give you tips on identifying the different kinds of animals in the corporate jungle -- and how to tackle them.

"Being able to get a handle on workplace politics is like opening the third eye," Raghunath writes.

The book is for all those simple and square people who can't brag, or be manipulative or strategic to the point of scheming; those on whom others deploy strategies; those who admit they can't see it coming, even if politics honked or shone a headlight at them.

According to the author, the age of simplicity is long gone.

"Simplicity was an attractive trait for over two centuries until the early twentieth century. The more non-political a person is, the more they assume the rest of the world to be the same. Because they don't work with a hidden agenda or strategy for combat, they write off the possibility of others being capable of anything like that," she writes.

But workplace politics is here to stay and as long as you don't work in a cave, isolated from the rest of humanity, this element will continue to be a stark reality. Some of us admit and accept it in all maturity, while some pretend it does not exist.

"There is also a school of thought that believes you can exist in a cocoon of self-sufficiency. Things will fix themselves. When 'other' human beings become a variable that can alter you action and work, it is hard to dismiss them and say we will bring about change and outcomes that we seek by just managing our own selves. We know we can't really manage others -- that would mean we are controlling them. But we can try to understand others," Raghunath writes.

However, she says that a person doesn't need to "play politics" to survive -- just knowing how different workers operate is enough to keep him/her one step ahead.

The book is not aimed at making you a wonderful human being. Neither will it get you a promotion, bring out the best in you or trigger anything spiritual immediately. But it just gives you some tips on how to get along at the workplace.

In the end, no formula book can see you through at your workplace, though this book's tips might prove helpful. You may also need to identify yourself as to which animal's characteristics you have.

If nothing else, the book provides you an interesting perspective of the workplace and brings in some humour and novelty in your dreary surroundings if you imagine being surrounded by all the various kinds of animals after comparing their traits.

(Meghna Mittal can be reached at meghna.m@ians.in)

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