Political Dilemmas at Work: How to Maintain Your Integrity and Further Your Career

Political Dilemmas at Xennic

Throughout our book, we use the example of a fictitious corporation called Xennic Inc. It is poised in a delicate position, having agreed to a merger. It is a place filled with ambitious and talented individuals. Like all large organizations, it has a dynamic and competitive environment where power and politics are an everyday reality. Naturally, this leads to frequent conflict, where agendas and personalities clash. This threatens not only the careers of our main characters, but also organizational performance and the merger.

Each of the Political Dilemmas at Work provides a short example taken from Xennic. The examples are written as if they were the beginning of a coaching session with a senior member of the Xennic team. It outlines the problems and the concerns people have—it summarizes their dilemma, which helps bring the political dilemma to life and makes it realistic as an aid to learning.

In “Turf Wars” (Chapter 8) we discover the plight of Carlos, trapped between Jack (his boss) and Joe Espinoza (the powerful new Finance Vice President). Joe is ambitiously seeking to seize Carlos’s unit from Jack. Jack is beset with other problems too. Al, the president has hired “The Apprentice” (Chapter 10) to put Jack under pressure to change. Yet this new hire—Don—has his own dilemma. As the “Firestarter” (Chapter 13), Don is becoming increasingly anxious about the lack of support from Al, as Jack resists his thrust for change. Recently, Al fired ...