Three Levels of Deception at Work

Deception is a widely used technique of workplace politics. In general, we engage in deception when we choose actions that are intended to cause others to believe something different from what we know (or believe) to be true. Deceivers use deception to gain advantage for their part of the organization or for themselves personally. If you want to avoid being deceived yourself, mastery of the contents of the "deception toolbox" is a critical political skill.

And that mastery begins with a high-level view of the contents of the Deception Toolbox. Tools of deception are available in three rough categories. Strategic deceptions are intended to deceive others about basic objectives, intentions, strategies, or capabilities. Operational deceptions disguise a specific operation or action that's planned or whose planning is underway. Tactical deceptions deceive others about current activities.

Real life Real life is of course complicated.
Some deceptions have combinations of
strategic, operational, and tactical
components. Any combination is possible.is of course more complicated. Some deceptions have combinations of strategic, operational and tactical components. All combinations are possible. To acquire skills needed for recognizing deceptions, understanding the three categories is essential.

Strategic deception

Although all deceptions exploit psychology to some degree, strategic deception might be the most dependent on psychological phenomena. For instance, observers have a tendency to deceive themselves if the data they receive is jarringly at odds with what they know and understand of the system they're observing. They do this by interpreting their observations so as to maintain the order of things as they know them. in some cases, they adopt observation strategies that bias the data in favor of that world view.

This process opens possibilities for deceivers. By exploiting the observers' tendency to gather and interpret data so as to conform to their preconceptions, deceivers can mask their activities to appear to be what observers expect, or to appear to have little or no significance.

For example, an employee about to initiate a search for employment elsewhere might begin working from home on a regular basis to make time off for job interviews less obvious. This is a strategy that employs the technique of conditioning by repeatedly engaging in behavior — the cover — that could be preparation for the planned action. When the deceiver finally undertakes the action, the person deceived interprets the action as the cover.

Operational deception

An operational deception is one that supports an activity that's actually underway. The objective of the operational deception is to guide the observer into interpreting available data so as to prevent detection or recognition of that activity, or to misinterpret it in ways that prevent the observer from taking actions not in the deceiver's interest.

The most sophisticated forms of operational deception are self-concealing. That is, when the operation is complete, whether or not it is successful, the observer will not have gained any confirmation that a deception was involved. This property is important in the workplace, because it enables the deceiver to use deceptions repeatedly without loss of effectiveness.

For example, Tara is a micromanager. One of her team, Rob, has been asked to deliver a series of training sessions for another department. Tara finally approves Rob's proposal for the first session, to be held in two weeks. Rob begins preparing the training materials, but only two days before the first session, Tara notifies Rob that she wants to review the materials before giving her "final approval." Tara has deceived Rob by implying that he was approved to deliver the training, without telling him that she would be reviewing the materials, and that she was withholding "final approval." She has deceived him by concealing her micromanagement until it's too late for Rob to negotiate with Tara to avoid making any changes she demands.

Tactical deception

A tactical deception is one that deceives observers about action that is underway or about what is happening in the moment. A simple example is a false denial that an event is occurring. To delay a choice from among competing proposals until the favored entry has been submitted, a deceiver might say, "I haven't rejected your proposal; it's still under consideration."

A more sophisticated example of tactical deception involves exploiting the unwritten rules against perfidy. Deceivers engage in perfidious acts because they believe that opponents will assume that they won't, and this gives them an advantage — in surprise, at least.

But perfidious behavior is difficult to conceal. Detection of patterns of perfidious behavior, or patterns of absence of ethical behavior, can expose the deceiver's intents. One means of limiting detection of patterns is migration. By migrating from one organization to another relatively rapidly, the deceiver limits the number of people who have enough information to detect patterns of perfidy.

Actions of many kinds — not only deception — can be classified according to the framework of strategy, operations, and tactics. The class of actions that protect against being deceived is one. For example, a strategy for preventing oneself from being deceived might be to study the craft of deception. What would be an example of an operation that would reduce the risk of being deceived? What would be a tactic?  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.

This article in its entirety was written by a human being. No machine intelligence was involved in any way.

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:

Fooling Ourselves

Humans have impressive abilities to convince themselves of things that are false. One explanation for this behavior is the theory of cognitive dissonance.

Preventing Spontaneous Collapse of Agreements

Agreements between people at work are often the basis of resolving conflict or political differences. Sometimes agreements collapse spontaneously. When they do, the consequences can be costly. An understanding of the mechanisms of spontaneous collapse of agreements can help us craft more stable agreements.

Social Entry Strategies: II

When we first engage with a group at work, we employ social entry strategies to make places for ourselves to carry out our responsibilities, and to find enjoyment and fulfillment at work. Here's Part II of a little catalog of social entry strategies.

When the Answer Isn't the Point: I

When we ask each other questions, the answers aren't always what we seek. Sometimes the behavior of the respondent is what matters. Here are some techniques questioners use when the answer to the question wasn't the point of asking.

High Falutin' Goofy Talk: III

Workplace speech and writing sometimes strays into the land of pretentious but overused business phrases, which I like to call "high falutin' goofy talk." We use these phrases with perhaps less thought than they deserve, because they can be trite or can evoke indecorous images. Here's Part III of a collection of phrases and images to avoid.

See also Workplace Politics and Conflict Management for more related articles.

Forthcoming issues of Point Lookout

Coming May 1: Antipatterns for Time-Constrained Communication: 2

Recognizing just a few patterns that can lead to miscommunication can reduce the incidence of miscommunications. Here's Part 2 of a collection of antipatterns that arise in communication under time pressure, emphasizing those that depend on content. Available here and by RSS on May 1.

And on May 8: Antipatterns for Time-Constrained Communication: 3

Recognizing just a few patterns that can lead to miscommunication can reduce the incidence of problems. Here is Part 3 of a collection of antipatterns that arise in technical communication under time pressure, emphasizing past experiences of participants. Available here and by RSS on May 8.

Coaching services

I offer email and telephone coaching at both corporate and individual rates. Contact Rick for details at rbrendPtoGuFOkTSMQOzxner@ChacEgGqaylUnkmwIkkwoCanyon.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 500-1000 words in your inbox in one hour. License any article from this Web site. More info