A short guide to white-collar warfare

MILITARY types are familiar with the idea of gradually ratcheting up the intensity of a conflict. Herman Kahn, an American nuclear strategist of the 1960s, identified no fewer than 44 rungs on the escalation ladder. The lower rungs on Kahn’s ladder include things like “Solemn and Formal Declarations”; the topmost is called “Spasm”, which doesn’t sound good at all.

Escalation in the office follows a similar logic: More and more damage is threatened or inflicted until someone backs down or suffers Termination. The initial rungs that workers climb towards white-collar warfare are not codified. But they bear a clear resemblance to some of the steps that Kahn identified when he thought about conflict among states.

1. Point of difference. This could be anything: a battle over resources, an argument over strategy or suspicion over a missing phone charger.