How to handle politics in workplace

I see that this deppends on your role within the organization. I suggest that you always do your best to support the organization's goals. If you are in a position where you can influence politics, you should do so and again to support the organization's goals.

Office politics will never go away. It's a fact of company life. However, destructive office politics can demoralize an organization, hamper productivity, and increase turnover. Here are some tips, applicable for both staff and management, on dealing with office politics.

1. communicate persuasively

2. Develop an assertive style

3. Observe how things get done in your organization

4. Stay away from gossip

5. Stay out of those talk-down-the-boss sessions

6. Be a straight arrow

7. Address the "politics" issue openly when appropriate

8. Document things

9. Ask some key questions

Don’t be afraid to highlight your own accomplishments to your boss and coworkers. An assertive personality is tough to break down.

Don’t go too far down the road of alliances. All it takes is one staffing change to shift the balance of power, so having allies across the board (rather than in one faction) is most effective.

Keep a watchful eye of overly competitive coworkers who might delight in your own demise. If power struggles become too much to take, it might be time to look for a new job.

Main reason for the politics is lack of focused, defined deliverables to the employees. Measurable methods not adopted to measure leading to bias and affiliations to the persons instead of focusing on the organisational goal. Lack of transperancy in the goals among the employees. Group formation due to regional, language because of wrong recruitment methods.  Not spreading the work force across gender, regions, religions. Narrow focus on loyalty to individuals rather than on the organisation. 

Spread the base, select from diversified groups, regions. Strong monitoring of the KRA performances on monthly basis on a transperant manner. Open communication. Strong management action when faced with the grouping misbehaviours on employees. Respecting the structure while keeping the communications open. these will avoid the politics to the maximum levels.  

Its simple, Just "Play Along", but "Play Safe".

A suggestion could be, your fight should be against getting yourself pushed down, rather than pushing somebody else down for your win.