Office politics simply involves competition for status or power in a workplace. In schools, office politics simply involves competition for various powerful status or position like position of principal, vice principal, head of school, deputy head of school, head teacher, director, etc.



The competition is so severe in some schools that some of the ‘office politicians’ (teachers) can do anything to achieve their aims. Some of the things or evils carried out by these office politicians include:

1. Sycophancy (“Eye Service”): This is simply the act of being active with work only when you see your boss or people around. Majority of the office politicians are sycophants. They are very active only when the boss is around and become lazy drones when the boss is absent. Sycophants do everything possible to be praised by people or their bosses and to eventually get promoted. They go about gossiping about other people to their bosses in order to earn praise or favour. They destroy the careers of many of their colleagues with gossip in order to get promotion. This is similar to what politicians do during elections.

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2. Condemning the beautiful work of fellow colleagues. Many of the office politicians condemn the beautiful work of their fellow colleagues in the presence of the overall boss. They do this so that they can be considered superior and also to be promoted to a particular position ahead of their fellow colleagues. Unfortunately, the overall boss buys the idea in most cases and sees other innocent colleagues as inferior.

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3. Creation of caucus among staff: Desperate office politicians especially those in higher positions create a caucus among the staff for themselves, just like political parties create campaign group. They force many staff members into the caucus with threat and blackmail, e. g. issuing incessant queries to the staff members. Some other staff members would join the caucus just for “eye-service”. These staff members in the caucus automatically become the footsoldiers for these desperate office politicians. If you don’t belong to that caucus, then, it would only take the grace of God for you to survive in that organisation. No matter how beautiful your work is, it would never be seen as something good. You would be seen as a rebel simply because you refuse to join the caucus.


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4. Sack or demotion of innocent staff members: Desperate office politicians especially those in higher positions, sack or demote innocent staff who do not belong to the caucus they created. They see those innocent staff as threats to their ambitions in the organisation. The moment an innocent teacher joins the caucus they created, then, “all his/her sins have been forgiven” in Oshiomole’s voice. If an innocent teacher who doesn’t belong to the caucus is a very dedicated teacher, and they find it difficult to fire him/her, what these office politicians do is to set a trap for him/her. More than 90% of the innocent dedicated teachers would fall into the trap. This is one of the greatest evils committed by these office politicians. I have seen a situation where a teacher teaching senior secondary students was demoted to the creche by an acting principal! To do what in the creche? When the principal was asked why he did that, his response was “It’s all about the job.”

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5. Friendly look and appearance: Office politicians are very good at this. They would laugh with you, they would joke with you, they would sometimes even ask about your welfare. Meanwhile, what they have in their minds against you is more demonic than that of satan himself. Some of them learn this from the 48 Laws of Power, a book by American author Robert Greene.

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6. Being fetish and diabolical: Some of the office politicians especially in this part of the world are fetish and diabolical. They do this in addition to their physical actions in office to achieve their aims. There is a reported case of a senior teacher in a school who forgetfully left antelope horn tied with red cloth in a drawer in his office! Antelope horn to do what? These are 21st century graduates ooo.

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For the office politicians who destroy the careers of their fellow colleagues because of their ambitions, the repercussions of their evil actions lie ahead of them. It’s just a matter of time. Some call this “Karma”. For innocent teachers who would not want to be entangled in office politics, we can take the following steps:

1. Be dedicated to your work. Put in your very best to ensure success of all your students.

2. Live peacefully with all your colleagues both the junior and the senior.

3. Stay away from gossip.

4. Avoid telling colleagues your personal or family life. They might use it against you. Some of the colleagues you consider friends are actually spies for the office politicians. They are hypocrites. They are enemies in disguise. When you experience an attack or downfall from the office politicians, that is when you’ll see their true colour. They’ll always be on the side of the office politicians because they are in the same caucus.

5. If you’re sure an injustice is being done against you especially by a superior, report to the higher authority like the head of school, director, etc.

6. Be prayerful.

7. Be always prepared for the worst. Sometimes, leaving an organisation might be the best for us. We wouldn’t know because our knowledge is carnal. Perhaps, God has a better plan for us.


http://edmaths.com/2019/12/03/office-politics-and-rat-race-a-school-as-a-case-study/