Method to decide if calculating buckling failure is compulsory or not?

[enotyphoon]

Is there any method to define weather I have to calculate for determine buckling of column lead to fail or not. Is there is any rule of thumb or formula that show it is required to check for buckling or not (like very short column)

 

[Mech_Engineer]

The simple calculation is to do a buckling calculation and see if the column will buckle...