Narcissistic Behavior at Work: VI

In modern organizations, people working alone contribute only a small part of what their organizations do. For example, most knowledge work requires cooperation. If people can't get along with each other, they're unhappy, and their work usually suffers. One of the more common causes of hurt feelings and disrupted relationships is exploitation of one person by another for personal ends. People who feel they've been exploited sometimes retaliate, sometimes shut down, and sometimes depart for more hospitable and nurturing environments. All these outcomes harm the organization.

As a reminder, the behaviors and attitudes typically regarded as narcissistic are these:

• Expresses exaggerated self-importance
• Preoccupied with superiority fantasies
• Believes that he or she is special and that only special people or institutions can fully appreciate that specialness
• Constantly demands attention and admiration from others
• Expects and demands favorable treatment
• Exploits others for personal ends
• Displays ruthless disregard for the feelings of others
• Envies others or believes that others envy him or her
• Is off-the-charts arrogant

Let's now have a closer look at the sixth item above: exploiting others for personal ends. For convenience in this series, I've been referring to the person exhibiting narcissistic behaviors and attitudes as either Nick or Nora. This time, it's Nick.

Illustrations

A typical A typical form of exploitation
is taking credit personally for
contributions others have producedform of exploitation is taking credit personally for contributions others have produced, commonly called credit theft or credit appropriation. This behavior has a mate of the opposite polarity: blame shifting. By pre-emptively blaming others for failures, Nick avoids having to put on a defense about those failures. Other forms of exploitation include making others feel stupid and hijacking meetings.

Exploitation at work need not be work-related. For example, by suggesting the possibility of romantic involvement, one person can induce another to provide a favor. The reverse exchange is also possible: by using the power of one's position to provide a favor, or to threaten, one person can induce another to provide favors of a more intimate nature.

Description

The variety of ways Nick can exploit other people for his own ends is breathtaking. The overt acts of exploitation, such as those offered above as illustrations, are unsurprising. Of greater interest is covert exploitation.

Consider a somewhat common situation: contending for promotion. Nick might exploit the other contenders by arranging covertly to create traps for his competitors that might reduce their chances of promotion. He might spread rumors about them. If a contender's project needs the assistance of someone with rare skills, Nick might arrange for that person to be unavailable. Or Nick might charm others into forming a tight alliance that excludes the other contender. By these means he exploits the foibles and weaknesses of the other contenders to increase his own chances of promotion.

Homework: select another situation and work out how Nick's narcissistic exploitation of others to advance his own personal goals can distort the way that situation evolves.

Organizational risks

One common result of Nick's exploiting others for personal ends is distortion of the organization's perception of which people or groups are producing (or failing to produce) value. Consequently, organizational decision makers are at risk of making personnel decisions that are inconsistent with achieving organizational goals.

There are other effects less common but potentially more significant. For example, if Nick attains an elevated level of responsibility for determining organizational goals, he might choose to bias his decisions in the direction of his own personal advantage. When his decisions directly benefit himself or his family members, the conflict of interest is overt and usually preventable. But he can conceal his conflict of interest by conspiring covertly with other similarly situated individuals to "swap" decisions, each benefiting the other. See "Budget Shenanigans: Swaps," Point Lookout for May 14, 2003, for examples of swaps.

These examples of exploitation are less common only because Nick requires the ability to influence the direction of the enterprise. But they can produce substantial benefit for Nick, and substantial harm for the enterprise.

Coping tactics

As Nick's supervisor, two concerns are paramount. First, if Nick has engaged in narcissistic behavior often enough to alert you to the possibility that he exploits others, or the enterprise, for personal gain, wake up your inner detective. Interview Nick's potential targets privately to determine the truth about who creates value for the enterprise and who does not. Second, if Nick has significant decision-making authority, investigate his decisions closely enough to ensure that they are in true alignment with enterprise objectives. And don't rely on the appearance of legitimacy — look carefully for swaps.

As Nick's co-worker, be aware that he's probably much more adroit at exploiting you than you are at defending yourself from exploitation. Be alert to Nick's use of charm and deceit to induce you to make choices you wouldn't otherwise make. Trust your intuition.

As Nick's subordinate, if he's shown an inclination to take credit for the work of subordinates, make sure others know what you're working on. If Nick demands secrecy, or otherwise prevents you from making your contributions public, that's an indicator of elevated risk of credit theft. Make your work so spectacular and so ridden with subtleties that if Nick is asked about particular details, he cannot possibly explain them.

Next time, we'll examine ruthless disregard for the feelings of others. First in this series  Next in this series  Top    Next Issue

Is every other day a tense, anxious, angry misery as you watch people around you, who couldn't even think their way through a game of Jacks, win at workplace politics and steal the credit and glory for just about everyone's best work including yours? Read 303 Secrets of Workplace Politics, filled with tips and techniques for succeeding in workplace politics. More info

Your comments are welcome

About Point Lookout

Thank you for reading this article. I hope you enjoyed it and found it useful, and that you'll consider recommending it to a friend.

Point Lookout is a free weekly email newsletter. Browse the archive of past issues. Subscribe for free.

Support Point Lookout by joining the Friends of Point Lookout, as an individual or as an organization.

Do you face a complex interpersonal situation? Send it in, anonymously if you like, and I'll give you my two cents.

Related articles

More articles on Workplace Politics:

Devious Political Tactics: The False Opportunity

Workplace politics can make any environment dangerous, both to your career and to your health. This excerpt from my little catalog of devious political tactics describes the false opportunity, which appears to be a chance to perform, to contribute, or to make a real difference. It's often something else.

Nasty Questions: I

Some of the questions we ask each other aren't intended to elicit information from the respondent. Rather, they're poorly disguised attacks intended to harm the respondent politically, and advance the questioner's political agenda. Here's part one a catalog of some favorite tactics.

When You're the Least of the Best: I

The path to the pinnacle of many professions leads through an initiate or intern stage in which the new professional plays a role designed to facilitate learning, especially from those more experienced. For some, this role is frustrating and difficult. Comfort in the role makes learning its lessons easier.

Beyond Our Control

When bad things happen, despite our plans and our best efforts, we sometimes feel responsible. We failed. We could have done more. But is that really true? Aren't some things beyond our control?

Yet More Obstacles to Finding the Reasons Why

Part III of our catalog of obstacles encountered in retrospectives, when we try to uncover why we succeeded — or failed.

See also Workplace Politics and Devious Political Tactics for more related articles.

Forthcoming issues of Point Lookout

Coming September 25: Planning Disappointments

When we plan projects, we make estimates of total costs and expected delivery dates. Often these estimates are so wrong — in the wrong direction — that we might as well be planning disappointments. Why is this? Available here and by RSS on September 25.

And on October 2: Start Anywhere

Group problem-solving sessions sometimes focus on where to begin, even when what we know about the problem is insufficient for making such decisions. In some cases, preliminary exploration of almost any aspect of the problem can be more helpful than debating what to explore. Available here and by RSS on October 2.

Coaching services

I offer email and telephone coaching at both corporate and individual rates. Contact Rick for details at rbrenmhXARWRMUvVyOdHlner@ChacxgDmtwOKrxnripPCoCanyon.com or (650) 787-6475, or toll-free in the continental US at (866) 378-5470.

Get the ebook!

Past issues of Point Lookout are available in six ebooks:

• Get 2001-2 in Geese Don't Land on Twigs (PDF, )
• Get 2003-4 in Why Dogs Wag (PDF, )
• Get 2005-6 in Loopy Things We Do (PDF, )
• Get 2007-8 in Things We Believe That Maybe Aren't So True (PDF, )
• Get 2009-10 in The Questions Not Asked (PDF, )
• Get all of the first twelve years (2001-2012) in The Collected Issues of Point Lookout (PDF, )

Are you a writer, editor or publisher on deadline? Are you looking for an article that will get people talking and get compliments flying your way? You can have 500 words in your inbox in one hour. License any article from this Web site. More info

Public seminars

The Race to the South Pole: Lessons in Leadership

On 14 December 1911, four men led by Roald Amundsen reached the South Pole. Thirty-five days later, Robert F. Scott and four others followed. Amundsen had won the race to the pole. Amundsen's party returned to base on 26 January 1912. Scott's party perished. As historical drama, why this happened is interesting enough. But to organizational leaders, business analysts, project sponsors, and project managers, the story is fascinating. We'll use the history of this event to explore lessons in leadership and its application to organizational efforts. A fascinating and refreshing look at leadership from the vantage point of history. Read more about this program.

Here's a date for this program:

• Baldwin-Wallace University, 275 Eastland Road, Berea, Ohio 44017: November 7, Kerzner Lecture Series/International Project Management Day, sponsored by Baldwin Wallace University and the Northeast Ohio Chapter of the Project Management Institute. Register now.
   

The Power Affect: How We Express Our Personal Power

Many people who possess real organizational power have a characteristic demeanor. It's the way they project their presence. I call this the power affect. Some people — call them power pretenders — adopt the power affect well before they attain significant organizational power. Unfortunately for their colleagues, and for their organizations, power pretenders can attain organizational power out of proportion to their merit or abilities. Understanding the power affect is therefore important for anyone who aims to attain power, or anyone who works with power pretenders. Read more about this program.

• A recording of a program presented June 29, 2017, Monthly Webinar, sponsored by Technobility Webinar Series. PMI members can earn 1.0 Category 'A' PDU by viewing this program. View this program now.