As we saw last time, passive deception disguises an actual capability, facility, or intention to make it difficult to detect, while active deception disguises a nonexistent capability, facility, or intention to make it appear real. Dozens of wonderful examples of active deception from the military domain come from the activities of the so-called Ghost Army in World War II.
The Ghost Army, officially the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops of the U.S. Army, deceived the enemy by creating the impression that forces were positioned where no forces actually were. They carried out missions in Britain before the Normandy landings, and staged 20 deceptions in Europe after the landings. Using inflatable dummy vehicles, sound trucks blaring recordings of mechanized vehicles, and false radio traffic mimicking actual units, they succeeded in distorting enemy positions and even drawing fire.
Here are two examples of active deceptions at work.
- Layers of the onion
- This ploy involves concealing a deception behind another deception. When the targets notice the frontmost deception, and see through it, they most often presume that what they find behind it is real. They rarely attempt to remove another layer of the onion.
- For example, finding in the output tray of a shared printer a resume of a colleague, we often assume that he or she is quietly job-hunting. We assume that we've detected a deception. We rarely consider the possibility that someone else printed the resume and left it there to deceive the discoverer into believing that the resume's owner is job-hunting. When we think we've detected a deception, we assume that the most obvious alternative explanation is true.
- False threats
- In the context of When we notice a deception,
we usually assume that
whatever lies behind
it is truthworkplace politics, a threat is a statement of intent to inflict harm or discomfort. Threats are usually conditional; that is, unless the target complies with the wishes of the threatener, the threat will be executed. A false threat is a threat that the threatener doesn't intend to carry out. It appears to be a real threat, though, and that's what makes this tactic an active deception. - For example, to persuade a subordinate (Saul) to work six days a week for an extended period, a deceptive supervisor (Belinda) might threaten Saul with dismissal by saying, "If you won't do this, we'll find someone else who will." Some supervisors use this approach even when Saul has skills and knowledge that make him irreplaceable. If Belinda doesn't actually believe that Saul is replaceable, she's engaged in active deception. Sadly, the tactic often works. It's most effective when unemployment is high, because Saul fears losing his job.
These are simple examples. Some deceptions contain both active and passive elements. Understanding the nature of active and passive deceptions can reduce the chances of your being deceived. First in this series Top Next Issue
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Related articles
More articles on Workplace Politics:
- The "What-a-Great-Idea!" Trap
- You just made a great suggestion at a meeting, and ended up with responsibility for implementing it.
Not at all what you had in mind, but it's a trap you've fallen into before. How can you share your ideas
without risk of getting even more work to do?
- Devious Political Tactics: Mis- and Disinformation
- Practitioners of workplace politics intent on gaining unfair advantage sometimes use misinformation,
disinformation, and other information-related tactics. Here's a short catalog of techniques to watch for.
- Columbo Strategy
- A late 20th-century television detective named Columbo had a unique approach to cracking murder cases.
His method is just as effective at work when the less powerful must deal with the powerful.
- Implicit Interrogations
- Investigations at work can begin with implicit interrogations — implicit because they're unannounced
and unacknowledged. The goal is to determine what people did or knew without revealing that an investigation
is underway. When asked, those conducting these interrogations often deny they're doing it. What's the
nature of implicit interrogations?
- Fear/Anxiety Bias: I
- When people don't feel safe enough to report the true status of the work underway in an organization,
managers receive an inaccurate impression of the state of the organization. To understand this dynamic,
we must understand psychological safety.
See also Workplace Politics and Devious Political Tactics for more related articles.
Forthcoming issues of Point Lookout
- Coming April 24: Antipatterns for Time-Constrained Communication: 1
- Knowing how to recognize just a few patterns that can lead to miscommunication can be helpful in reducing the incidence of problems. Here is Part 1 of a collection of communication antipatterns that arise in technical communication under time pressure. Available here and by RSS on April 24.
- And on May 1: Antipatterns for Time-Constrained Communication: 2
- Recognizing just a few patterns that can lead to miscommunication can reduce the incidence of problems. Here is Part 2 of a collection of antipatterns that arise in technical communication under time pressure, emphasizing those that depend on content. Available here and by RSS on May 1.
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Beware any resource that speaks of "winning" at workplace politics or "defeating" it. You can benefit or not, but there is no score-keeping, and it isn't a game.
- Wikipedia has a nice article with a list of additional resources
- Some public libraries offer collections. Here's an example from Saskatoon.
- Check my own links collection
- LinkedIn's Office Politics discussion group