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Concept
Machiavellianism in the workplace
Summary
Machiavellianism in the workplace is a concept studied by many organizational psychologists. Conceptualized originally by Richard Christie and Florence Geis, Machiavellianism refers to a psychological trait concept where individuals behave in a cold and duplicitous manner. It has in recent times been adapted and applied to the context of the workplace and organizations by many writers and academics.
Oliver James wrote on the effects of Machiavellianism and other dark triad personality traits in the workplace, the others being narcissism and psychopathy.
A new model of Machiavellianism based in organizational settings consists of three factors:
maintaining power
harsh management tactics
manipulative behaviors.
Examples of behaviors that individuals high in Machiavellianism may do include:
Theft (tangible or intangible)
Lying/Deceit
Sabotage
Cheating (passive or active)
High Machs can exhibit high levels of charisma, and their leadership can be beneficial in some areas.
The presence of Machiavellianism in an organization has been positively correlated with counterproductive workplace behaviour and workplace deviance.
The origin of Machiavellianism entering the workplace can be tied to multiple factors, such as distrust towards others, pessimism, survival/self-protection tactics, or even the gender of involved parties.
Being under machiavellian leadership can negatively impact the performance or productivity inside an organization. A study shows a link between job satisfaction and level of Machiavellianism, in which the higher the level of machiavellian orientation by upper management and leaders, the higher the chance of employees experiencing lower job satisfaction.
In the same study, it was found that managers with high Machiavellian behaviors also reported higher job strain, less job satisfaction, and fewer perceived opportunities for formal control in the work environment.
Research has shown that high levels of Machiavellianism, both exuding the traits and witnessing the traits in the workplace, correlate with higher levels of job strain, lower levels of job satisfaction, and lower levels of overall career satisfaction.
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