Machiavellianism in the workplace culture. In research, Machiavellianism was positively associated with subordinate perceptions of abusive supervision (an overlapping concept with workplace bullying). 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
Machiavellianism in the workplace Namie, Machiavellians manipulate and exploit others to advance their perceived personal agendas and to maintain dominance over others. The following are the guiding principles of Machiavellianism: High Machiavellians may be expected to do the following: In studies there was a positive correlation between Machiavellianism and workplace bullying. Machiavellianism predicted involvement in bullying others. The groups of bullies and bully-victims had a higher Machiavellianism level compared to the groups of victims and persons non-involved in bullying. The results showed that being bullied was negatively related to the perceptions of clan and adhocracy cultures and positively related to the perceptions of hierarchy