[Blarg]

In politics-heavy offices, people often feel they are required to do this in order to maintain the constantly reinforced social ties that are their only real job security.

Of course, while some office environments are settled and there's nothing you can do about it even from your first day on the job, other times it becomes which came first, the chicken or the egg -- do you have to talk so much to keep afloat in a place that's way too political, or is it talking so much that encourages people to create drama and be political?

The end result can wind up the same, with everybody trapped and spending a lot of their time and almost all of their effort and creativity on keeping from falling out of favor, or trying to vanquish enemies. And actually doing their job becomes, at best, distantly secondary; it's not what they need to do most and it's not what they are judged by.