21 Dirty Tricks at Work: How to Beat the Game of Office Politics

by Mike Phipps, Colin Gautrey

21 Dirty Tricks at Work is about lies. The type of underhand, pernicious and downright Machiavellian scheming that goes on in business every day. An estimated 7.8bn is lost each year in the UK alone though unnecessary and counter-productive office politicking. But 21 Dirty Tricks at Work is also a book of hope. It exposes the classic manoeuvres and gives practical advice on dealing with them to the vast majority who just want to do a good day's work. 21 Dirty Tricks at Work provides you with all the information you need to spot negative tactics and self-interested strategies. It shows you how to spot the games frequently being played and how to come out with your credibility intact and your sanity preserved.

So, if you are fed-up of being on the receiving end of constant backbiting and skulduggery from workmates, join hands with the authors and get Machiavelli on the run!

Genres: Business, Psychology, Politics, Management, Self Help, Nonfiction, Workplace

266 pages, Paperback

First published September 23, 2005

About the author

Mike Phipps is a native, fourth-generation San Franciscan and Board Member of the Friends of the Cable Car Museum. He is a graduate of both the University of California at Berkeley and Stanford University History Departments. For thirty years he has taught California and United States History, as well as Western Civilization, at local secondary schools and colleges. As a Director of the Friends, he has given lectures and written historical articles for the museum. Recently his article, “Hallidie’s Folly: The Story of the Clay Street Hill Railroad Cable Cars,” appeared in the Winter 2009 edition of The Argonaut

Reviews

[Aaron · Rating 4 out of 5]

From the title, you might assume that this a book on how to effectively play the games of ruthless office politics. I purchased it because it was highly rated on Amazon, and I wondered what exactly I'd get. I was glad to find that this is a book about how to spot dirty tricks at work and how to maintain your integrity without playing the victim. If you're interested in a good book for being opportunistic and exploitative... well, no one's probably looking for such a book. But still, there are worse books with worse advice out there for handling yourself in the trying world of modern organizations.

The running themes of the book are:
- find the courage to do the right thing
- don't let your emotions get the best of you (especially fear, embarrassment, and anger)
- be fair
- be wise

In other words, this is not a book about being a model citizen or a goody two-shoes, but a book about how to maintain your integrity without getting walked on.

The title 21 Dirty Tricks might be a bit of a misnomer, as there are many more dirty tricks illustrated, depending on how finely you want to divide them up. Phipps and Gautrey use 21 tricks for the sake of analysis and clarity, but they could have just as well done 7 or 70. I wouldn't take this as a list to use for diagnosing work scenarios, or use the suggested advice as a recipe for handling them. Instead, I think the fictional story is better used as a case study for what I might have done in that situation, how I've encountered things similar in my own life, and what I can try to do differently next time. The authors are very clear that these are guidelines and that it takes finesse to handle conflicts and crookedness.

I imagine most people reading this and similar books have already found themselves in a nasty workplace and are looking for some fast advice to make things better. Unfortunately, I don't believe that this book, or any book, can reverse your bad luck or bestow social skills upon you. It might give you a greater awareness of what's happening, and bolster your confidence to do something about your circumstances. But sometimes, well, that's life. This books would be better used at a time when you're not in a job/career/life crisis and have more time and perspective to take in the lessons. That said, I think this was a fortunate time for me to read it.

Hope you find it helpful!

[GM · Rating 3 out of 5]

short, easy, & funny read. I do wish that there were suggested answers/ thoughts to the "ask yourself a few questions" about the scenario since it would help us understand more about how to handle situations in the medium/ long-term.

"Do you sometimes wish you were an Epson projector" - yes.

Summary of the dirty tricks:
1. The Fall Guy (giving projects which are destined to fail to a new guy)
2. Development opportunity (... i know a boss who just loves to use this)
3. Kiss like Judas (declaring public support for an embattled project/ individual while privately plotting for change behind the scene)
4. Bystander
5. Creative Magpie (exaggerating involvement in the ideas + good work of others/ stealing ideas - it's funny, i think i see more of the opposite whereby people love exaggerating the MISTAKES others have made to make themselves look better + pretend they saved the day)
6. Tell me more (I think this is both a dirty trick + necessity; sometimes people are just afraid to make decisions without the facts. But sometimes management underestimate the amount of time to pull data together)
7. Indirectly Yours (hiding a view/ belief by using indirect, obscure communication)
8. Jam tomorrow (making vague promises of future rewards to encourage ppl to take up tasks - I think this ties in with no. 2)
9. Guardian angel (the tactic of implying friendly support while suggesting there are other more powerful people to answer to. Essentially isn't this how my team ended up justifying 18 reports per month?)
10. Email to the Gods (having written record + cc:ing a bunch of ppl)
11. Name Dropper (again, both dirty trick + necessity. however, sometimes management overestimates how useful this is. "You can use my name as you want" - yes. but this doesn't actually help the situation since the other team can't do it due to RESOURCE CONSTRAINT. Your name does not magically increase their capacity)
12. Exposure (threatening to make public personal/ secret info)
13. Burial ground/ discount (deliberately hiding/ obscuring vital info in reports or presentations)
14. Malicious feedback (deliberately timing of dishonest, false, or critical feedback)
15. Hurry up (avoiding work/ responsibility by pretending to be overstretched and overworked)
16. No invitation
17. The Caucus (coercing ppl behind the scenes before an important decision)
18. Rock and a hard place (giving you 2 tough choices + pretending one of them is better)
19. My hands are tied (useless, go away.)
20. We're right behind you (pretending to give you support + ditching you when life gets hard)
21. Re-structure (pls stop using re-structure to drive changes)

Also something I'm facing all the time nowadays working with a certain team:
22. Infinite loop (always asking for further discussions on essentially the same topic to avoid actually working on the topic. Never saying No explicitly and just continuously offer "suggestions".)
23. What are deadlines? (Ignores all emails until it's too late so that we are forced to push deadline while positioning it is YOUR fault for not giving them all the info etc. Expects YOU to follow timelines yet never reply until they are chased; essentially working with them = you are also the secretary on top of your other tasks)

[bhawani · Rating 4 out of 5]

Helps to visualize the tricks

Good book for anyone who has worked for a col of years in an organization that is not a startup , this is typical big Corp issue I see as I moved from start up world to a fortune 100 company

There are insecure old guard and ppl who do t have the skills in these companies and will use these tricks to limit younger peers like me and use us to get the work done and then eliminate our chances of moving up

Good book to understand how they do it and how to counter them than just trying to ignore these ppl and they keep coming at you

[Hatlogo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sách được quảng cáo là Alphabook biên soạn, nhưng đọc thấy rất giống 1 quyển sách nước ngòai được 1 dịch giả non tay nghề dịch ra. Văn phong ko giống tiếng Việt mà trúc trắc lủng củng, như kiểu chỉ biết dịch sao cho đủ ý chứ ko biết chải chuốt cho phù hợp.

Ưu điểm là có đưa ra được 1 số mưu kế phổ biến, được kể dưới dạng 1 câu chuyện để người đọc dễ hình dung. Nhược điểm là sự phân tích vẫn quanh quẩn nhìn chung là, đại khái là, cơ bản là....

[Jonathan Byrd · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good read, full of information and ideas. It had a great format and the anecdotal incidents allowed the reader to identify the tricks before they called them out. There were some running jokes throughout and one major one that went completely over my head (perhaps because it was written for an English audience rather than an American one?) but overall still good. In addition to spotting the tricks the books suggests ways to avoid or cut off the effects. So it's an all around useful book--if you work in an office.

[Thảo Ngân · Rating 3 out of 5]

Một cuốn sách non fiction không quá tệ như mình nghĩ. Câu chuyện dẫn dắt vào các tình huống và các kế bẩn khá trơn tru và hấp dẫn, dễ đọc dễ hiểu. Điểm trừ của cuốn sách chính là ở việc phân tích các kế bẩn sau đó, nó khá là chán, lời văn theo mình thì hơi lủng củng và các từ đôi lúc còn bị sắp xếp nhầm chỗ, dù không sai chính tả.

[Anh Tran · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tác giả xuất phát từ câu chuyện chuyển công tác và đấu đá nội bộ giữa các cấp lãnh đạo trong công ty. Trong đó, Ben được coi là nhân vật chính, "con cừu", vật thế thân và đối tượng chính của những mưu hèn kế bẩn nơi công sở. Thông qua phân tích các sự việc diễn ra với Ben, tác giả cho chúng ta thấy tác động tiêu cực/tích cực của mưu kế đó tới người bị hại và kẻ chủ mưu.

Tôi tìm tới cuốn sách này hi vọng sẽ hiểu thêm về sự phức tạp nơi công sở và tìm cách xử lý tình huống "dở khóc dở cười" đã và đang diễn ra. Với mục tiêu này thì cuốn sách không làm tôi thất vọng. Tôi phải thừa nhận rằng tôi đã quả trai vài chuyện tương tự như Ben. Những gợi ý để giải quyết vấn đề trong sách khiến tôi nhận ra tôi đã "tự đào mồ chôn mình" như nào.

Lý do tôi để 3* vì tôi không đồng tình với tác giả ở nhiều chương và nhiều chương có nội dung mà tôi không chắc liệu thực tế có tồn tại như vậy không. Tôi nghĩ mình sẽ đọc lại cuốn này khi tôi gặp tình huống giống sách.

[Abraham Dabengwa · Rating 4 out of 5]

After a ostriching about, this book found me out. The book's title is misleading of course...it's a self-help and education guide that I found useful. The story-based approach by Phipps and mentoring sections were eyed opening. Bens need to navigate to plotical animals like Jerry, Lewis, and Bills. Machiavellian politicking is rife in work settings is the message... This book is for boosting "political savvy" so that one graduates from a wallflower or ostrich to a confident, assertive and productive asset. I enjoyed it.

[Sergey Machulskis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice thing if you want to recognize when people use manipulative tricks not only in the office but everywhere else. The most useful thing in this book is questions you can ask when you suspect that somebody is trying to manipulate you.

It's not the book I'm proud of reading. But the reason to play the game is to be free of it.

[Phi Hùng · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ý tưởng thì hay nhưng cách diễn đạt lại không tốt. Một số mưu kế đã có từ thời Tôn Tử nên cũng được diễn giải ở những cuốn sách khác rồi. Cách phân tích, câu chuyện rất lủng củng, khó đọc, một số điểm thiếu logic. Cảm ơn tác giả và bạn đọc !

[Soumi Ghosh · Rating 1 out of 5]

Absolutely horrible!

[Quy Duong Vu · Rating 1 out of 5]

Chán

[202 unknown · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tựa Việt: Mưu hèn kế bẩn nơi công sở.
Sự mông lung và chất lượng dịch k tốt khiến mình thất vọng khá nhiều.

[Irkafirkasemmi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Didn't read all of it, too boring.

[Hoang · Rating 4 out of 5]

Đọc sách mà như hóng biến. Rất thú vị. Còn đúng hay không thì cũng tuỳ

[Hoai Nguyen · Rating 1 out of 5]

Mình đã bỏ ngay khi đọc xong chương 1. Lời dịch lủng củng, cảm giác như dùng GG trans. Không tìm thấy sự hữu ích hay hấp dẫn ở cuốn sách này. Thật sự mất thời gian

[Sandra Soetanto · Rating 2 out of 5]

The sub title of this book is quite intriguing, ‘How to beat a game of office politics’. I myself don’t play the game, but I found knowing some of the tricks might be useful if they are used against you. I think the book not really exceptional, but quite informative. For those whirling around at any office (at any position), people at your office might not as fair and just and responsible as you are, so keep yourself aware and able to spot on their tricks by reading this book might be a good thing to do.

[Sean Nguyen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Chất lượng dịch dù là cao hơn mặt bàng chung của sách dịch Việt Nam nhưng vẫn còn khá hạn chế và đọc chưa được xuôi, khó theo.

Nội dung sách thực ra khá nghèo nàn (trừ chuong đầu) và không phản ảnh thực sự nhiều mưu hèn kế bẩn như lời hứa đầu sách.

[Hồng Trinh · Rating 1 out of 5]

Đã đọc đc 2/7 chương và mình nghĩ mình ko nên tốn thời gian vào cuốn này nữa.
2 sao? Có lẽ 1 sao thôi.
Không biết có phải mình khá thẳng thắn, bộc trực và có đầu óc quá đơn giản hay không mà những điều nói trong cuốn sách này chẳng đọng lại tý ý nghĩa nào trong đầu mình cả!

[Bill · Rating 1 out of 5]

pretty pointless, whether you're trying to emulate the dirty tricks or prevent against them, it doesn't do a good job helping you

[Ngoại Vi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing...

[Ellen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very helpful in explaining office politics.

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sad but true. It's good to be aware.

[Bảo Ngọc · Rating 3 out of 5]

Không hay như mình nghĩ vòng vo quá

[Faye B · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting. I think most of us can relate.