Politics (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics) is considered a dirty discipline but it is not so and is intrinsic to the life of any Social Animal and in particular to complex social structures like those setup by Homo Sapiens. Everybody needs to learn how to "play the game" albeit within whatever boundaries they choose to confine themselves to. It is human nature whether one be in a role of Engineer/Admin/Management/whatever that is at play here and cannot be wished away but needs to be faced. At the minimum one needs it to "protect" oneself from the games others play and which may lead one to be at the losing end.
Some relevant resources (in addition to the works of Jeffrey Pfeffer mentioned in the article);
1. The 4 Types of Organizational Politics - https://hbr.org/2017/04/the-4-types-of-organizational-politi...
2. The Empowered Manager: Positive Political Skills at Work by Peter Block.
3. Management: A Political Activity by Ted Stephenson.
4. HBR's 10 must reads; 2-vol On Communication, 2-vol On Managing Yourself, 2-vol On Managing People.