Machiavellianism in the workplace Machiavellianism in the workplace Machiavellianism in the workplace is the employment of cunning and duplicitous behavior in a business setting. The term "Machiavellianism" is from the book "The Prince" by Machiavelli which lays out advice to rulers how to govern his or her subjects. Machiavellianism has been studied extensively over the past 40 years as a personality characteristic that shares features with manipulative leadership tactics. It has in recent times been adapted and applied to the context of the workplace and organizations by many writers and academics. The Machiavellian typically manipulates on occasions where it is advantageous to achieve the
Machiavellianism in the workplace required objectives. Oliver James identifies Machiavellianism as one of the dark triadic personality traits in the workplace, the others being narcissism and psychopathy. A new model of Machiavellianism based in organizational settings consists of three factors: The presence of Machiavellianism in an organisation has been positively correlated with counterproductive workplace behaviour and workplace deviance. Individuals who are high in Machiavellianism may be more willing and more skilled at lying and less likely to give honest answers during interviews. Individuals high in Machiavellianism have stronger intentions to use deception in interviews compared to psychopaths or narcissists and are also more likely