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 of Prussia and patron of Voltaire, rebutting "The Prince", and Machiavellianism. It was first published in September 1740, a few months after Frederick became king, and is one of many such works. Denis Diderot, the French philosopher, viewed Machiavellianism as "an abhorrent type of politics" and the "art of tyranny". Machiavellianism is also a term that some social, forensic and personality psychologists use to describe a person's tendency to be unemotional, and therefore able to detach themself from conventional morality and hence to deceive and manipulate others. In the 1960s, Richard Christie and Florence L. Geis developed a test for