Machiavellianism He who neglects what is done for

Machiavellianism “He who neglects what is done for what ought to be done, sooner effects his ruin than his preservation. ”

Outline • Background: • Machiavelli the man • The Prince • Characteristics of Machiavellianism • Usefulness of the Construct • Mach Instruments • Mach IV/V • Mach B • MPS

Machiavelli • Lived during the 1500 s • Renaissance • Political writer / philosopher • Sought to describe political life as it really was, that is to understand it rationally • Most famous work: • The Prince

Machiavelli and The Prince • First work of modern philosophy • Practical guide for ruling • How to gain and keep power • General themes: • The ends justify the means • Unethical behavior is acceptable, even necessary, if it helps attain goals or protect political position. • Better to be feared than loved, if you cannot be both • Prince (leader) may be perceived to be merciful, faithful, humane, frank, and religious, but most important is only to seem to have these qualities.

What is Machiavellianism? • “Conceptualized as one’s propensity to distrust others, engage in amoral manipulation, seek control over others and seek status for oneself” (Dahling, Whitaker, &Levy, 2009). • Leadership: unethical behavior is acceptable, even necessary, if it helps attain goals or protect political position. -OR • Leadership as a pursuit that serves the needs of the common good rather than self-interest • Taking a realistic view of leadership: you do what needs to be done

Four General Characteristics: 1. A relative lack of affect in interpersonal relationships (lack of empathy for others). 2. A lack of concern with conventional morality (utilitarian rather than moral view) 3. A lack of gross psychopathology (instrumentalist rather than rational view of others) 4. Low ideological commitment (focus on task completion rather than long-range ideological goals)

Usefulness of Machiavellianism as a Construct • Many scholars have adopted the perspective of Machiavelli to examine and understand political dynamics in organizations • High levels of Machiavellianism has been tied to (Dahling, Whitaker, & Levy, 2009): • • Theft Economic opportunism Influence tactics (strategic self-disclosure & ingratiation) Low levels of job satisfaction Low levels of helping behavior More legal and management careers Personality characteristics: charismatic, adaptable, unsupportive

Scales: • Mach Instruments: • Mach IV/V • Cognitive • Mach B • Behavioral • MPS • Mix: cognitive/behavioral

Mach IV/ V • Christie and Geis (1970) • 20 -item Likert scale that assess adults ages 18 -65 years. • Developed to measure political personality orientation of leaders in organizations. • Political personality: “a disposition in which formal and informal power is used to control and/or manipulate others” (Christie & Geis, 1970). • Three distinct constructs were identified: interpersonal tactics, cynical views, and abstract morality. • Questions were pulled directly from The Prince: • “Most men forget more easily the death of their father than the loss of their property” • Mach V: 10 -item forced choice

Psychometrics: Mach IV • Inconsistent reliability (split-half): • Large variability in scale reliability across demographic groups • Men: . 73 • Women: . 39 • Internal consistency coefficients: • . 59 -. 88 • Validity • No significant correlation with other measures: IQ tests and measures of authoritarianism • Distinct construct • Overall, low levels of reliability warrant concern • What could affect reliability?

Other Issues • Poor Items— • Items are double-barreled • E. g. , "All in all, it is better to be humble and honest than to be important and dishonest. ” • May evoke defensiveness • Items are needlessly controversial, and better wording could have been used • Dimensionality: Mixed results • Three purported, two found: interpersonal tactics and cynical views • Some found five unique dimensions, while others found a single dimension • Panitz (1989) states, "The issue is not whether Machiavellianism is a single or multidimensional construct, but whether the construct is measurable using the Mach IV scale” • Any issues with defining the construct validity of this instrument?

Mach B • Aziz and Meeks (1990) • The Machiavellian Behavior • Behaviorally examines interpersonal situations in contrast to measuring cognitive constructs • Utilizes scenarios designed to be behavioral manifestations of Machiavellianism • Psychometrics: • Alpha of. 70 -. 88 • Single factor emerging from the factor analysis • Studies have found that this scale correlates with sales performance, while Mach IV does not

Machiavellian Personality Scale (MPS) • Dahling et al. (2010) • Conceptualization of Machs includes dimensions of observable behaviors, internal beliefs, and motivations • 5 -point Likert scale with 16 items that cover four dimensions: • • Tendency to distrust others Willingness to engage in amoral disruptions Desire for status Desire to maintain interpersonal control

Four Dimensions • 1. Distrust of others: Cynical outlook on the motivations and intentions of others with a concern for the negative implications that those intentions have for the self. • 2. Amoral Manipulation: a willingness to disregard standards of morality and see value in behaviors that benefit the self at the expense of others. • They are selectively willing to deviate from moral standards when the opportunity for gain presents itself

Four Dimensions • 3. Desire for control: a need to exercise dominance over interpersonal situations to minimize the extent to which others have power. • 4. Desire for status: desire to accumulate external indicators of success • Not intrinsically motivated • Measure success in terms of extrinsic goals

MPS: Reliability and Validity • Good reliability • α =. 82 • Convergent Validity: compared with political skill, selfmonitoring, narcissism, and need for achievement measures • Only narcissism and NACH supported, explained 26% and 27 % of the variance, respectively • Discriminate validity: wasn’t related to GMA or NACH-E (need for achievement excellence) • Criterion-oriented Validity: • Negatively related to self-reported levels of job satisfaction • Positively related to CWBs

Conclusions • Unclear whether Machiavellianism is a dispositional characteristic or a behavioral preference • Measures of Machiavellianism could be useful in applied settings as a tool for understanding behavior: • Mach relates to major CWBs, • Potential to help identify individuals especially prone to incivility, bullying, theft, etc. • Machs tend to be dissatisfied with their job • Tool to understand who may be especially prone to frequent turnover

Conclusions • Could utilize for placement decisions: • The ability to make unpopular decisions in order to preserve the common good for the organization (integrity) • The ability to decipher situations in which it is more important to be feared than loved in order to meet a goal (authority) • The ability to be flexible by accurately assessing which actions will meet with the highest success (selfmonitoring)

Questions?

Discussion Question • Do you think Machiavellianism has a place in today's business environment? Why?