Abstract:
Niccolo Machiavelli argued that leaders should utilise harsh tactics with their followers in order to achieve expediency of goal achievement.
Research from Delroy Paulhus and many others show that Machiavellianism employees are more likely to steal from their employers and customers.
The theory of the firm states that the objective of a company entails maximising shareholding wealth. As firms plot and prod to move towards achieving their objectives, sometimes organisations trample others in illegal or amoral ways in order to either save money or earn more revenues for shareholders.
Banks might overcharge customers with illegal fees, an audit company could issue an unqualified opinion on an unworthy client’s financial statements in order to retain the customer’s business, a real estate firm might land grab from the less fortunate, universities could become reluctant to fail students and therefore reduce their client-base, or chemical companies might spill waste products into the water supply instead of paying to clean and process chemical excess.
Do the ends justify the means? Niccolo Machiavelli famously posed such questions in his landmark book The Prince in the early 16th century. He argued that leaders should utilise harsh tactics with their followers in order to achieve expediency of goal achievement. Does shareholder wealth justify any means to gain it? How about political victory justifying any means to triumph? Or on an individual who bashes colleagues’ reputations in order to gain promotion?
