Book

About the Book

As long as people have worked together, they have engaged in political games. Motivated by short-term gains—promotions, funding for a project, budget increases, status with the boss—people misuse their time and energy. Today, when many organizations are fghting for their lives and scarce resources there is increased stress and anxiety, and employees are engaging in games more intensely than ever before.
Organizational experts Mauricio Goldstein and Philip Read argue that office games—those manipulative behaviors that distract employees from achieving their mission—are both conscious and unconscious.

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Table of Contents

Foreword (Kevin Cashman)

Introduction - Click to Read!

1 LET THE GAMES BEGIN
What Games Are and How They Are Played in Organizations

2 PLAYING TO LOSE
The Negative Impact of Games on Core Business Activities

3 FERTILE GROUND
Why Games Are So Pervasive in Modern Corporations

4 EYES WIDE SHUT
Why People Don’t Deal with Games at Work

5 AN EYE-OPENING EXPERIENCE
Awakening to Game

6 COUNT ME OUT
Choosing Not to Play

7 GAME, INTERRUPTED
Executing Your Choice

8 INTERCONNECTIONS
How Games Are Linked In to an Ecology

9 THE CHALLENGE OF CHANGE
Toward a Games-Conscious Model of Transformation

10 GAMES AT THE TOP
The Impact of Playing in the Executive Suite

11 A SUSTAINABLE GOAL
Transforming Organizations in Small but Significant Ways

Appendix: List of Games

References

Acknowledgments

About the Authors

Index

(download this table of contents in PDF)

Introduction

In any organizational environment, people play games. This is true of even the most enlightened companies. It is in our nature as human beings to play games when we are in groups, when stress and anxiety exist, and when “prizes” (promotions, the boss’s favor, funding for a project, winning a contract, and so on) are to be won and lost. It doesn’t matter what size your company is or how it’s structured. Although some cultures promote games more than others, just about every company possesses a game ecology — a pattern of games that form over time and that thrive in a particular environment.

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Two New Ways

"We would like to know from you, what are live examples of companies you know of know of that have their dream shared by all key stakeholders. How have they created a shared dream? What were the practical steps?"

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Media

"…[a] sober-minded guide to understanding underhanded office maneuvers...Simply waking up to games people play and rejecting them is a big part of the battle for executives"

- Andrea Sachs
TIME

Blog

Executive dysfunction and Games in the C-suite

In “Games at work” we pointed out that senior leaders – and CEO’s in particular - are vulnerable to game playing due to two factors:
(a) the anxiety they feel resulting from great accountability and great privilege. Games can be seen by the games-player as a way of reducing anxiety in the short run (only).
(b) They may possess ego’s that veer towards narcissism, hubris, and paranoia when under stress.
As a tragic example of this let’s examine what happened at Pfizer

READ MORE...

Praise for Games at Work

A terrific read not only for senior leaders and executives but also for employees seeking growth in complex organizations.

Jacopo Bracco Executive Vice President DIRECTV Latin America

Whether you are an employee, manager, or CEO, this book will help you uncover the games that are going on around you and in your organization and will arm you with strategies to combat the negative effects of these games.