Management Assignment: Manipulation Techniques for Managing Low-Class Employees
Question
Task
Write a well-researched management assignment critically investigating the issue of manipulation techniques for managing low-class employees.
Answer
1. Introduction
The concept of manipulation discussed in the present context of management assignment has been brought into the discussion since World War II (Robert and Merton, 1946). According to Robert and Merton (1946) in order to manipulate employees, the managers must have a subtle influence on their actions, feelings, beliefs and values, which will inhibit the rational deliberation. The manipulation is being applied at a psychological level and involves information omission or falsification and a subtle element of deceptive persuasiveness (Ezorsky, 1987).
Furthermore, the organizational behavior plays a significant role to leaders, managers, employees and consumers; therefore, understanding the process can create effective leaders, managers, employees and consumers (Sims, 2002). According to Sims (2002), to obtain the effectiveness of all members involved, the leaders and managers must face the challenges of changes which might occur on both internal and external organizational side. Along the way, the employees were not valued as they are today in most cases. Although there are strict ethical policies in place, people at times tend to bend the rules and sometimes that is the time when the manipulation in the workplace appears.
Therefore, the subject of manipulation has a significant impact on the working life of the employees with influences on personal life, the reason why the research has significant importance.
According to Basch and Fisher (2000), the work-related events can induce a wide range of emotional responses, which can, according to Weiss and Cropanzano (1996), directly or indirectly influence the work-related behaviour and perception.
Leading or manipulating could be a good topic for the management side of the business when it comes to their behavior towards low-class workers and leadership styles and manipulation techniques in management.
The workers are defined as employees who own very little of the means of production and work for others to earn an income (Baiman et al., 2015); moreover, the low-class workers have less money and less status. Furthermore, according to Marx (1967, cited in Baiman et al., 2015), the worker’s class does not represent an individual attribute and the business owners own the capital and exploit workers. The debate between the Marxian view and the individualist view refers to the fact that in the individualist view there is no conflict between classes as Marx (1967), sustain that the classes might have opposing interests.
The problem of the middle management's manipulation techniques against the low-class employees is an issue with high importance and relevance in terms of business operations in general (Kotter, 2008). Moreover, the problem of manipulation could have a negative impact on the business if it is not kept under control.
To a certain level, it seems that manipulation within a workplace is acceptable to a certain extent (Kotter, 2008); however, the line between leading and manipulating it is blurred, and it is down to the research to clear things (Basch and Fisher, 2000).
Therefore, the proposed study aims to investigate the issue of the manipulation techniques used by the middle management in what concerns the low-class employees and to present to what extent can use these techniques within an organization without having a negative impact on the employees or the business operations. Further, the proposal will present the theoretical background and the research focus, along with a justification of why the research is important. Moreover, the proposed study will explain the methodology used, which is a survey based on D.C.A 1983 Logistics Limited members of staff, both employees and middle management.
Moreover, the research will provide another perspective concerning the manipulation manifested on the low-class employees. The issue of manipulation in the work environment exists for a long time now; however, only in recent years has been discussed more in-depth. Therefore, the research will be a collection formed of different researches, books and journals which debates the problem of manipulation of low-class employees by the middle management. Moreover, the research will discuss the ethical aspect of the manipulation, or maybe more accurate the unethical aspect of it will collect different examples of manipulative behaviors along with the signs to recognize when one is being manipulated in the workplace.
The research responds to an existing issue in what concerns the manipulation of low-class employees by the leadership class. In what concerns the consequences, if engaging in the manipulation, it is important to examine every incident of manipulation not considering the justification of it and remember that the manipulation is taking a toll on the organization itself (Green and Pawlak, 1983). If no measures are taken against the manipulation within the workplace, and the manipulation is becoming a widespread practice, then it might erode the trust that is taken for granted in the employee’s exchange (Green and Pawlak, 1983).
Moreover, the need of knowing and creating awareness of the manipulation techniques, along with the signs of manipulation, will always need it, which brings values to any research developed on this theme.
2. Literature review
2.1. Introduction
The reviewed literature aims to illustrate the existing evidence on the impact of manipulation techniques on low-class employees and the company's overall productivity. There is a difference between leadership and manipulation applied by middle-level management to enhance the productivity of lower-level employees. The reviewed literature reflects mainly on the difference between the leadership and manipulation techniques implemented to encourage and motivate the lower-level employees to work better. The reviewed literature also highlights the impact of manipulative techniques on low-class employees or the lower level employees and the motivational factors related to manipulation techniques. In this case, low-class employees mean the workers who belongs to lower-level employees in an organization who are paid least such as workers, labors or workers in manufacturing site, workers in customer service and they job role differs from one organization to other.
2.2. Leadership techniques for motivating employees
Effective leadership plays a crucial role in enhancing employee motivation and encourage them to work better. According to Fang et al. (2019), employees' innovative behavior at the workplace is a significant thing towards enhanced productivity. Innovative behavior is mainly the process of generating new ideas and their implementation. Effective leadership depends on the adequate leadership style implemented to enhance employee creativity (Fang et al., 2019). Among all the leadership styles, the transformational leadership style is most suitable to stimulate the employees' innovative behavior. Transformational leadership is most significant leadership style that enhances the motivation of lower-level employees. Transformational leadership plays crucial role enhancing the creativity and productivity of the employees who works at lower level in an organization (Risambessy et al., 2012). It also motivates the employees to perform better and work according to the organizational goals. The employee works more innovatively with a high engagement level when they feel that leaders praise their efforts.
Along with employees' innovative behavior, effective leadership plays a crucial role in employee performance and organizational commitment of employees. The study of Eliyana, Ma’arif, and Muzakki (2019), supports the previous study and reflects that effective leadership is crucial to enhance employee performance. Transformational leadership is an effective leadership style to enhance organizational commitment, work performance, and acts as a simultaneous factor for the employees' job satisfaction (Eliyana et al., 2019). Transformational leadership influences the work performance of the employees partly or as a whole positively. Certain disadvantages of transformational leadership such as employee burnout, disruption at work and feedback loop can lead towards demotivation for the employees. The disadvantages of the leadership need to be tackled properly in order to handle the negative impact of transformational leadership on employee motivation. However, the transformational leadership style needs to be appropriately implemented to positively impact work satisfaction (Eliyana et al., 2019). Along with employees' work satisfaction, transformational leadership also works positively on organizational commitment and the work performance of employees.
2.3. Manipulation techniques to motivate employees
The application of manipulation tools in the workplace is another way to motivate employees and accelerate their performance. The study of Bogdanovi? (2016), provides the idea of ideal manipulation that illustrates ideal manipulation is instrumentalization, in which the manipulated person thinks he is following his own goals. Still, in actuality, he is following the goal of the manipulator. Manipulation techniques are mainly used to influence the behaviour of others. Human mind manipulation is used as a general management strategy in many workplaces to keep their employees motivated in order to fulfil organizational objectives (Bogdanovi?, 2016). Different types of manipulation techniques are used to motivate employees, such as indirect, direct motivational manipulations, and organizational manipulation techniques. Entities such as manufacturing, retailing and those are involved directly with customer service, apply direct motivational manipulations by scaring the employees with loss or fine, and such type of manipulation is a form of coercion.
In indirect motivational manipulation, there are severe methods implemented by organizations such as a disposal, problem creation, diverting attention, and many more. The indirect motivational manipulation is not wholly counted as a part of manipulation technique as these acts as consequences of employees’ performance. In the case of organizational manipulation techniques, the manipulation techniques are used to enhance work motivation, job engagement of the employees, and enhance the entity's overall productivity. Organizational manipulation techniques are mostly applied in workplaces, and there are many ways to implement the manipulation for the employees (Risambessy et al., 2012). One of the most common manipulation techniques is a material reward to boost the productivity of the employees. Material reward works better to enhance the productivity of the employees compared to other techniques. Material reward creates an environment; employees feel motivated to work more to achieve the material reward. Comparison with other employees' performance is another manipulation technique in which the performance of an employee is compared with the performance of other employees to show how they are working better than the individual (Bogdanovi?, 2016). Comparing an individual with their peer's performance, a manager manipulates them to work better to get on track.
The reflection of Kazak (2017), adds another idea about manipulation techniques in workplaces. Positive manipulation is purposeful behavior that a manager acts to meet the need of the organization and individual goals. Positive manipulation involves the employees' personality characteristics, adequate selection of the approach, and proper implementation of the approach to motivating employees (Kazak, 2017). Manipulation is two types unconscious and conscious. In the unconscious type, the employees do not have any idea about whether their managers are manipulating or not, and in conscious manipulation, the employees have a close idea about the manipulation implemented by their entity.
2.4. Difference between the leadership and manipulation techniques to manipulate employees
There is a huge difference between the implementation of leadership and manipulation for employee motivation. Leadership is about influencing the employees, whereas manipulation is about controlling the employees to achieve the organizational objectives. While implementing manipulation technique means the leader does not have any faith in the employees and believes that they cannot work well without a single push of monitoring, direction, and oversight (Risambessy et al., 2012). However, the leadership perspective is totally different from manipulation, and it makes the leader believe in the independence of action that is based on reasonable and pre-defined objectives.
In the case of positive manipulation, it works differently than the other manipulation techniques. Positive manipulation is based on skillful handling or control of employee performance (Zivaljevic, 2011). In the case of positive manipulation, the process involves motivating the workforce to achieve organizational goals by the realization of organizational goals. The process of this manipulation requires skillful handling to keep a balance between the job satisfaction of the employees and the organizational goals (Risambessy et al., 2012). Positive manipulation is not the form of manipulation technique in which the employees are forced to do things using the organization's power. Positive manipulation theory reflects that a manager is responsible for the practical implementation of manipulation and effectively communicates the messages between the upper and lower levels of management. Positive manipulation is more efficient compared to another type of manipulation and benefits both parties.
In the case of monetary-based motivation, it may enhance the performance of an employee a little higher. Still, in the case of positive manipulation, the employee will try to enhance the performance as much as possible because of fear of losing the employment. Sometimes, positive manipulation works more effectively compared to the only implementation of leadership technique or monetary motivation. While implementing the positive manipulation or leadership technique to motivate the employees, the managers need to know about the key driving factors that encourage employee motivation at the workplace (Zivaljevic, 2011). In that case, certain motivational theories can be followed: McGregor's X and Y theory, Maslow’s needs hierarchy theory, and Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory. Each of the theories defines a different way of employee motivation.
For example, Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory focuses on two key motivational aspects and hygiene factors, whereas Maslow's theory focuses on five factors of employee motivation. Positive manipulation can be used with the support of motivational theories as certain factors are relatable to the appropriateness of positive manipulation (Zivaljevic, 2011). The lower level needs of Maslow's Theory work as strong motivators while implementing positive manipulation. Using lower-level needs as the base of positive manipulation will work effectively to enhance employee performance, as the individuals will try to fulfil their lower-level needs. On the other hand, the factors listed under hygiene factors of Herzberg’s theory, such as job placement and salary, can be useful for positive manipulation.
2.5. Leadership traits that can be considered manipulative
Manipulation is the practice of using indirect tactics and methods to control behavior, emotions, and relationships. It has a significant role to play in the field of leadership and organizational behavior. The organizations are led by leaders who sometimes practice manipulation as a tool to control the lower-level employees. Manipulative leadership can be described as the leadership style that the leaders use when they try to achieve organizational goals by exploiting the weaknesses of the firms' lower-level employees. The employees' requirements, needs, and aspirations are used as tools for the achievement of organizational objectives (Avantika Monnappa, 2015). High-level leaders in industries manipulate the lower-level employees in convincing them to do things they would otherwise have not attempted to do. There are many ways a leader can manipulate, like encouraging, coaching, motivating as well as threatening employees to achieve what needs to be done at their will. It has both negative and positive aspects that are instrumental to employee attitude and behavior. It is considered a form of corporate exploitation used as a tool for some leaders to achieve what they want.
However, there are some traits and leadership qualities that help them in becoming manipulative in the workplace. They can either be pushy and friendly to the employees and subordinates or be verbally and emotionally abusive (Wang et al., 2021). They generally have no personal interest in the lives and wellbeing of the low-level employees and can go to any extent for getting what they want to achieve. They can also be pretentious in attitude and nature, which is very hard to understand for other people. They operate in ways that can often cause the truth to be distorted and disoriented and cause confusion and disorder in the workplace (Xenikou, 2017).
There are primarily four traits of manipulative leadership that can affect the organization and its low-level employees.
a) Manipulative leaders often use the power of position and coercion to obtain the outcomes (Belschak et al., 2018). They generally confuse the employees so that they can make some mistakes in the workplace, which leads to taking undue advantage by the leaders (Belschak et al., 2018). They tend to possess a false notion that manipulative traits and features will help them obtain success in the workplace.
b) Manipulative leaders usually possess no value or respect for the employees they try to manipulate (Auvinen et al., 2013). They often take the help of their positional power and title to impose their views on the employees. It results from the leaders' personalized self-interest that they indulge in manipulation at the workplace (Auvinen et al., 2013). It is considered to rise from low self-respect and emotional intelligence. Lack of emotional intelligence is noticed in the behaviors of manipulative leaders.
c) A common trait and characteristic of a manipulative leader is the poor ability of listening skills (Xenikou, 2017). It can also be absent or nonexistent for some extremely manipulative leaders. A manipulative leader is mainly driven by selfish values and usually has an aversion to listening to other employees' views or opinions, especially the lower-level employees. The lack of listening skills as a leader can prove disastrous to any organization and have a detrimental impact on the organizations' skilled employees.
d) Transparency and openness in communications are mostly absent in the cases of manipulative leaders (Chandra, 2020). This unlikeliest can result in the generation of many inflexible or rigid definitions, which can prove harmful for the organization. This action will ultimately force other low-level employees into agreeing with their decisions by the enforcement of manipulation and coercion by the leaders. This event also allows the leaders to impose their views and agenda on other employees with creating no room for any resistance. Manipulation is not considered a sound leadership technique as it can hamper long-term leadership success and organizational goals.
2.6. Impact of manipulation on low-class employees
The manipulation of employees' feelings, especially the lower-level employees such as workers, labors or employees who works for customer service in the organizations, is not considered an ethical practice according to organizational behavior (Futner et al., 2017). It can cause a long-lasting impact on the employees' psychology, and lower-level employees are the primary targets of manipulations within the organizations. Manipulation can have insidious consequences on the mental well-being of the employees. It is mainly related to the emotional abuse of low-level employees the middle-level employees in the organization. It is primarily considered harmful because it is associated with the physical, emotional, and physical health of the people being manipulated (Futner et al., 2017). The urge to control the environment and surroundings is one prime reason leaders need to use their lower subordinates and employees. According to behavioral and psychology experts, it often originates from deep-rooted anxiety and fear and is not considered a healthy behavior.
Engaging in workplace manipulation is harmful to lower-level employees and for the manipulator as it prevents his connection with the inner self and conscience. It can also have many consequences and ill effects on the manipulative leader (Myung and Choi, 2017). In the workplace, the lower-level employees such as workers and labors are subject to manipulation by the middle and higher-level employees. It can considerably affect the mental health and wellbeing of the employees and lower their self-esteem and morale. Overall, it can be said that manipulation can lead to poor mental health outcomes for lower-level employees in companies. It is also thought to affect the individual employee performance because manipulations often lead to distracting thoughts and loss of concentration and focus in victims. There are various mental and other consequences of manipulations like depressive thoughts and anxiety development (Gkorezis et al., 2015). Lower-level employees can also develop unhealthy coping patterns as they can constantly try to please the manipulative person or leader. According to Gkorezis et al. (2015), a behavioral change may also be noticed in the victims of manipulation as they can lie about their feelings and hide their mental state from everyone.
Negative aspects can also grow due to manipulation on behalf of the employees, like putting other people's needs before their own and finding it difficult to trust other people. Therefore, it can be seen that being victims of chronic manipulations in the organizations, can have many ill effects on the mentality of the lower-level employees. In extreme cases of regular workplace manipulation, it can become persuasive enough to cause a loss of perception of reality for the victims. Low-level employees can also lose interest in their work, and it can affect their social life status. Their average performance at the workplace can significantly decrease, and work optimization can be disrupted to an extent. According to Gkorezis et al. (2015), some techniques can help in reversing being manipulated at the workplace. Addressing the situation can take stock of the problems that arise when the victims are subjected to manipulations. Disengaging oneself and being confident in one's beliefs can help to mitigate the effects of being manipulated. Staying focused on the employees' roles and responsibilities can help in dealing with manipulation in organizations.
2.7. The motivation behind manipulation techniques
The absolute power of power dynamics governs manipulation in the workplace. The act of convincing and influencing others to adopt beliefs and behaviors that match the manipulator's interests is the immediate implementation of manipulation in organizations. According to Lidow (2019), the main motive behind using manipulation in the workplace is the possession of personality disorders like narcissistic complex. People also engage in manipulation out of fear and anxiety, especially the fear of abandonment. There are specific motivations that ignite the use of manipulation techniques in organizations. Leaders often need to advance their agenda and purposes at any cost. To achieve this, leaders indulge in such practices. Manipulation can instill feelings of power and superiority in leaders, and they also want a requirement to feel in a commanding position with total control over themselves (Good therapy, 2013). The narcissistic complex dominates the more significant part of the leaders with manipulative behavior. Most of the time, the lower-level employees are victimized by the manipulations of company leaders. Leaders often desire to gain a feeling of power over others and raise their conception of self-esteem, resulting in a negative motivation.
Frustration, boredom, and anxiety are also considered a primary motivating cause of exerting manipulative behavior on the lower level staff. Manipulators often view it as a game more than hurting other employees. There are many different possible motivations for manipulation that need explanation, like not identifying with underlying emotions, commitment phobia, and subsequent rationalization (Guarino, 2016). A lack of self-control over impetuous anti-social behavior can also be attributed to manipulation techniques' motivation. The power of position and coercion can be attributed to increased self-confidence and pride. Egoism is considered one of the foremost causes of manipulative behavior. The leaders often get feelings of superiority on the work front and like to display their dominant behavior. It leads to the generation of thoughts regarding authority in behavior and attitude towards junior subordinates. Loss of disrespect towards the employees can result from increased self-awareness and superiority (Hyde et al., 2016).
Leaders usually engage people to follow them; in other words, they are the source of inspiration for other employees and coworkers. Emotional is generally used to attract manipulation and is an effective tool for manipulation. According to Kislik (2017), the building of faith and trust in the leaders demonstrates the amount of respect that an employee has for the leader. The leader breaks the employees' confidence by using manipulative techniques, and most of the time, the employees are not conscious about the manipulations. Partiality and bias attitudes towards the lower-level employees are some of the most common causes of leaders' manipulative behavior. These negative aspects are integral to the motivation behind manipulations in the workplace (Kislik, 2017). Psychological problems related to the leaders are also considered the cause for using manipulation techniques. Various forms of disorder like borderline personality and narcissistic personality can be attributed to manipulation techniques in companies and organizations.
Therefore, the overall literature review displays the various aspects of manipulation and its uses in the leadership circle. The main factors for initiation of the manipulative techniques are instrumental in affecting the behavior and performance of the low-level employees and can significantly impact their psychology (Shahzad et al., 2012). The main reason leaders use manipulation as a tool for controlling and dominating lower-level employees is self-satisfaction. The various leadership traits explained in this literature review act as the primary causes of impacting employee and leadership performance in the long run. Using these techniques on the lower-level employees can have a disastrous effect on their mental and physical wellbeing and can consequently affect their overall work performance. Fear and anxiety are contributory factors in leaders' manipulative behavior and are instrumental in determining the future predictability and profitability of organizations. Various physical conditions and disorders can be attributed to the motivation behind the leaders' manipulation techniques in dominating the lower-level employees in multiple organizations across the globe.
3. Methodology
3.1. Approach
The research approach will be based on previous research made within the business management field; however, the data for this work will be collected through a survey sent to the D.C.A 1983 Logistics Limited employees.
3.2. Design
Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the method involves having interviews via Teams or Zoom with the employees of an organisation. It is expected to have 3 people, both male and female, managers, and employees.
Add information about the participants – who were they? What are you going to refer to them as? (the names have not been used in order to protect… , therefore they will be referred to as Participant 1, …. OR initials – YB). What qualified them to be participants? How many males? How many females?
Furthermore, the interview will last for about 15-20 minutes and will be formed of 11 questions related with the subject of study, who can provide some answers in terms of leadership manipulation within the workplace and which will provide a better understanding of the situation within an international company.
Furthermore, stratified sampling will be used. The stratified sampling has multiple potential advantages: ensure the diversity of the sample, ensure a similar variance, lower the overall variance in population, and allows a variety of data collection methods (Thomas, 2020). This method involves dividing the organization employees into four groups. The first group will be formed of female employees; the second group will be formed of male employees, the third group will be formed of female team leaders, manager, leaders, directors and the fourth group will be formed of male team leaders, manager, leaders, and directors. The idea behind this method is to ensure more precise conclusions, to ensure all employees no matter the rank and characteristics will answer, and the best outcome will be provided.
3.3. Ethical considerations
The ethics should not be an afterthought and more an integral aspect which must remain at the forefront of the research. According to Saunders et al. (2016), the ethical considerations represent a vital element in research. Therefore, some kind of consent agreement should be sent out with the questionnaire, along with information regarding the study that is being conducted (Larmer, 2002).
According to the Economic and Social Research Council (2020), the third ethics principles state that the "confidentiality of the information supplied by research subjects and the anonymity of respondents must be respected"; therefore, confidentiality will be a significant aspect considered research methodology and application. Furthermore, the voluntary participation and consent will also be considered as significant elements from the ethical point of view of the research; therefore, each individual who will participate in the survey must consent to participate (Larmer, 2002). The consent will be taken at the beginning of the survey, and it will take the form of a question, with a Yes or No answer.
Another ethical issue is represented by the research's validity, which ensures that the methods used should relate to the research questions precisely.
Moreover, according to the Economic and Social Research Council (2020), the key principles to ensure ethical research are: the aim to increase the benefits for individuals, as well for the society and to decrease the risk of harm; the individuals and groups rights and dignity must be respected at all times; the participation must be voluntary, and the correct information must be presented; the research must be conducted having in mind the transparency and integrity; there must be a clear description of who should be accountable for the research and what are the lines of the responsibility and the conflicts of interest must be avoided as much as possible; however if that is not possible they must be made explicit.
The ethical considerations are a significant aspect of the research; therefore, the participants will receive a consent form via email, prior to the interview which must be signed and returned and if some of the participants will not have an email address, the consent will be request at the beginning of the interview and it will take the form of a question with a Yes or No answer.
Moreover, the participants will have the right to withdraw from the study at any point if they wish to and also the confidentiality and anonymity of their data will be respected.
Prior to all that has been mentioned above, the permission from the organization Human Resources department will be taken in writing to ensure compliance with their internal rules and regulations, as well as to maintain the ethical aspects and to obtain the permission for employees to participate to the interview.3.4. Research Limitations
Every research has its limitations due to the design or methodology, which can further impact the research findings. Therefore, the limitations usually address the potential weaknesses of the research; however, writing about the limitations at the end of research strengthens the findings by problems identification before any reviews (Saunders et al., 2016).
Furthermore, the research limitations are represented by the issues with selection and sample because sampling errors might happen. The research will use stratified sampling, where the respondents will be grouped into four groups and asked to answer 11 questions. The ability to gain access to the appropriate individuals might be considered as a limitation. Moreover, a sufficient sample size for a good statistical measurement might also be a limitation which can impact the research result; therefore, to obtain a precise result the sample should be larger (Saunders et al., 2016).
Further, the lack of appropriate research studies on the chosen topic and the methods or techniques to collect data, time constraints, limited access to data, conflicts arising from cultural bias could also represent limitations of the research (Saunders et al., 2016).
To overcome these limitations and ensure there are no issues along the way a proper investigation of the studies regarding the leadership and manipulation techniques in management for low-class employees.
4. Results
People handle various pressures in the workplace: employer expectations, extensive procedures and deadlines. Employee manipulation means that someone in the organization applies one or even more tactics for controlling someone else. In business, manipulation is unhealthy since this does nothing to nourish an ambience of equality and open communication (Greenbaum et al., 2017). The present study has put some questions before a set of interviewees working in D.C.A. 1983 Logistics Limited to know their conception and experience about workplace manipulations. They have granted permission to use direct, attributed quotations from their interview and the data has been collected through stratified sampling and the result of it has been shown below.
4.1. Types of manipulation based on the interview
Manipulators can avert co-workers from performing the best work they can give and build a self-serving and toxic culture. This can demoralize the team, as well as conduct higher levels regarding employee turnover (Kim and Baker, 2019). Respondent 1 dealt with the situation by stopping being fearful that made the manipulative person lose powers. Thus, this awareness can make an employee gain strength to act differently. On the other hand, interviewee 3 is not much bothered about such situation. Setting boundaries in workplace, as opined by respondent 3, is an essential aspect to deal with such situation. It can be seen that each interviewee has different perception about manipulative situation in workplace. So far the literature review is concerned; it can be observed that the results received from the interview are aligned with it since they are able to differentiate between manipulative technique and leadership technique. Though they have different perception about dealing with manipulative situation, each interviewee has presented similar thought having clear knowledge about the idea of manipulation and according to them; it can be described like a situation where everyone is afraid to share their ideas in a meeting for fear of a retribution or backslash.
Manipulation can be represented by the way of making people feeling devaluated, regardless any opinion or idea they may have. Manipulators ruin projects and kill deadlines, changing the emotional climate and make their colleagues miserable, keeping people in a state of upset for as long as they want, as stated by the interviewees. It can be observed that each interviewee became aware of manipulative situation after working for many days. In alienation with the literature review of the present study, it can be said that the employees faced manipulative techniques and used to think they are working towards fulfilling the goals of the organization.
4.2. Perception of interviewees about manipulative situation
When asked if the interviewees ever felt manipulated in the workplace, the result can be sorted from the collected data. 1st respondent felt manipulated by applying passive aggressive behavior or verbal intimidation whereas 2nd respondent have also been manipulated by the leadership who tried to make the employees feel obligated to do something that does not make them feel comfortable with it. Employees become experienced and they can recognize the signs of manipulation. According to the interviewee who was given third set of questionnaire, when the colleagues lack mutual trust or acting surprisingly when confronted and grow false sympathy, they can realize that those are signs of manipulation. Organizations have a duty of care to all employees, to assure their mental and physical safety at work and that their health is not affected adversely by work. This means employers should react and behave reasonably in relation to such matters, opined one interviewee while asked for the awareness of internal regulation while manipulation is concerned.
The comparison between each interviewee made in the result section can be seen below in Appendix 1 and Appendix 2.
5. Results analysis
5.1. Psychological impact of workplace manipulation
From the above-mentioned results, it can be analyzed that manipulation of low-class employees, business world, as well as work cultures often depend upon the hidden agendas.
This is generally an attempt to subtly control or coerce another person in case of doing or giving in what manipulator wants the employees to feel, think or do. Often, the employees encounter psychological manipulation which can harm their mental well-being. In psychological manipulation, one applies underhand, deceptive deftness, disgusting onslaught as positive intentions as well as who is a specialist in keeping their motives concealed. A quarter of workers think their organization turns blind eyes towards workplace harassment and bullying. The most common version of manipulation has been being humiliated or undermined the job, as reported by 50% of men and 55% of women who have been affected (BBC, 2020).
In continuation to the analysis, it can be said that when a leader tries to manipulate the low-class employees, they encounter the fact of being exploited by various means to extract from them more work and not compensating for the extra efforts they have given. Employees usually resent such kind of leadership. When low-class employees are manipulated, feeling of distrust arises among them when the leader’s manipulative nature is evident; therefore, the workers feel cheated. This manipulative treatment from a leader can cause an environment of mistrust and fear among the employees that can damage the productivity of the organization. When there is lack of trust among the colleagues in the workplace, it can be considered as a virus which may form a diseased culture of workplace. Often it starts with leadership; however, spreads throughout entire team, guiding to a cyclical period of unhealthy responses which impact the engagement as well as productivity.
5.2. Manipulation in a positive aspect
It can be stated from the interview that, some interviewees have recognized signs of manipulation such as manipulators ruining projects and killing deadlines, changing the emotional climate and make their colleagues miserable. Also, when leaders are the manipulators, they make the employees miserable. They have set boundaries to safeguard themselves from being manipulated or trying to quit the job. It can be analyzed from their answers that whether they leave or start to lose job satisfaction, productivity, positive atmosphere and trust upon leaders will face a huge damage and thus ultimately the goodwill of the company will be harmed.
On the other hand, it can be said that manipulation can also work in a positive way. However, to perform positive manipulation needs a very dynamic sense regarding self-discipline, having knowledge about how to emotionally control, how employees let the emotions have impact upon them. Moreover, a positive manipulator should learn to have patience (Petrocchi, 2017).For an example, groups of civil rights such as Frontier Foundation based on San Francisco, American Civil Liberties UnionElectronic and groups of worker rights such as National Work rights Institute have checked for years, the feature of workplace happiness may lead to the privacy concerns. It has been noted by researches of such groups that there has been a continuum between organizations who adopt positive manipulative practices (McPherson, 2015).
6. Conclusions
Manipulation is regarded as one skillful dealing, using or controlling someone or something. But this term also possesses some connotations that are negative — it is known by a manipulative person the ways of twisting words and playing with emotions; also managing otherwise a circumstance in sneaky ways to achieve what the manipulative person wants. So far as workplace manipulation on low-class employees is concerned, the managers should possess a subtle motivation on their feelings, actions, values and beliefs through which rational deliberation will be inhibited. The process of manipulation is being used on a psychological level; also engages falsification or information omission and an exquisite element regarding deceptive persuasiveness. It can be said that the introductory part of the dissertation reflects the meaning of manipulation and its significance upon workers in organizational atmosphere.
This dissertation paper aims to have a response upon an existing factor while there is concern about the manipulation of low-class employees by the leadership class. The literature review of the section deals with both the leadership and manipulation techniques in order to motivate the employees. Moreover, the role of effective leadership to generate new ideas has also been reflected in the study. To show how an efficient leader can influence the employees, the idea of transformational leadership has been projected.
Often leaders try to pursue organizational goals through exploiting weak points of the employees. Their aspirations and needs are used basically as tools to achieve the organizational objectives. There are times when employees do not even realize if and when they, in the workplace are being manipulated by leaders or co-workers. When they waver from their professional goals, they should be aware because the chances are that they are being manipulated in their workplace. Negative influences can emerge because of the manipulation on part of the workers, such as putting their colleagues’ needs before their own as well as finding it hard to have trust upon others. Hence, it can be observed that when they become victims of chronic manipulations in their workplace, the lower-level employees can have so many ill impacts on their mentality. This dissertation paper has also reflected upon the organizational behaviors of the leaders. Often, they possess feelings of superiority while working on the front as well as like to show dominant behavior. This can lead to the generation of thoughts concerning behavioral authority and attitude towards the junior subordinates. Having loosen the idea of giving respect to junior employees are often results arising from sense of superiority and self-awareness.
It can be said in the conclusion part that the overall literature review of this dissertation paper highlights several types of manipulation and its applications in the circle of leadership. The primary issues for the initiation of manipulative techniques in business organizations perform as instruments in case of having impact upon the performance and behavior of low-level employees and also can essentially affect their psychology. The initial reason is self-satisfaction because of which leaders apply manipulation as a tool to have control and dominance over the lower-class workers. Various types’ leadership traits have been explained in the literature review section as the initial causes of effecting the employee as well as leadership execution in the long run. Using such kind of techniques on lower-class workers can lead to a destructive effect and thus hamper their physical and emotional wellbeing. It can affect consequently the overall performance of work of the employees.
The methodology section represents research approach, research design, limitation and ethical consideration. Four research questions have been developed to precede the dissertation and the research approach undertaken in the paper has been helpful to answer the questions. Data has been collected through audio/video survey designated for D.C.A 1983 Logistics Limited employees. Stratified sampling data has been used in order to ensure diversity of sample and similar variance as well as to decrease the total variance in population. The research design has allowed a wide range of data collection methods that involves the process to divide the company’s employees into four groups. Moreover, sufficient sample size has been considered as the limitation of the research for a good statistical measurement which can affect the research result.
The research result of this paper is based upon the answers that the employees have given in the interview. Also, the present paper consists of the result analysis. A recommendation has been made to makeup the loopholes an organization creates by manipulating its employees. It can be concluded by saying that the research, besides the unethical aspect, has also presented the ethical aspects of organizational manipulation. Moreover, the need of knowing as well as building awareness of the techniques of manipulation along with its signs will need it always that creates values to any dissertation developed on this specific theme.
7. Recommendations
So far as leadership and manipulation techniques in management for low class employees are concerned, there are ways that can be recommended to avoid the manipulation and overall development of the business.
Democratic Leadership Style, also known as participative leadership, needs collaborative energy and deputation of responsibilities (Fiaz et al., 2017). Since this type of leadership style dealswith decision making that is group-level, employees can participate in taking important decisions. Thus, manipulation among employees by higher authority of business can be avoided since, psychologically or emotionally abused employees will not be able to provide proper decision for the development of the business. Such leadership style demands leader who understands the way of cultivating participation, entitle group members as well as directly works alongside members of organization at each level. Through the style, the organization can recognize individuals lacking self regulation or interpersonal skills. Such people often tend to be manipulative and by identifying them, the company can decrease the impact of staff manipulation.
Moreover, Human rights responsibility under corporate social responsibility can be recommended to overcome the problems of lower-class employee manipulation in a business. Human rights responsibility is the human dignity that places on the leader the responsibility of treating people with respect, reverence and dignity. It can be implemented through recognizing indicators for the measurement of the performance of human rights, developing systems to acquire data, drawing both external and internal feedback as well as reviewing findings for informing future strategy. This CSR aspect teaches the leader and management to be compassionate, sensitive and kind to each human being, involving greeting them in a warm way and talking to them in a courteous manner (Upendra, 2016). Thus, when employees receive so much generosity from their upper management, the chances of manipulating them automatically decrease which leads to the ultimate prosperity of the business.
Lastly, the Triple Bottom Line theory can be recommended for evaluating business performance in wider perspective to build larger business value. According to Alhaddi (2015), the triple bottom line model illustrates whether a company is focused only on profit, neglecting the planet and people. Because in this way it can never account for full cost regarding doing the business; therefore, it will not be successful in the long run. Hence planet including environment, and people including employees need to be emphasized in order to ensure a safe and healthy work environment, inclusion and equity among employees and gender equity. Therefore, this specific theory would be helpful to set goals, measure, enhance and evolve eventually towards more sustainable models and systems, decreasing the chances of employee manipulation
To say it further, an organization should have the process of documenting each detail. As soon as the company becomes aware of one individual having interpersonal issues, not favorable to a healthy work ambience, it should record every possible to be aware about every incident that appears. Also, witness statements can be included if they are appropriate discretion and tact appliance should be ensured. Moreover, rights of employee in question should be respected.
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Appendix 1
Respondent 1
How did you deal with this situation?
My first step was to realise that although he was a potent threat, he was very dependent upon others. Once I stopped being fearful, he started of losing his powers. This awareness made me gain strength to act differently.
Respondent 2
How did you deal with this situation?
I am not bothered too much about my activity in this company as I am planning to move away soon.
Respondent 3
How did you deal with this situation?
I had to set boundaries from the start and explain things that does not make me feel comfortable and what I will not change in my behavior that are important to me.
Appendix 2
Respondent 1
Have you ever felt manipulated in the workplace?
I felt manipulated by using verbal intimidation or passive- aggressive behaviour.
Respondent 2
Have you ever felt manipulated in the workplace?
I felt manipulated by the leadership. They tried to make me feel obligated to do something that does not made me feel comfortable with it, and if I was refusing they will try to make me feel as guilty as possible, even if I had good reasons of refusing it.
Respondent 3
Have you ever felt manipulated in the workplace?
Yes.
