One of DG magazines BIGGEST and most CONTROVERSIAL interactive questions yet… In this day and age, battles are not only waged on a battlefield. They are also pursued inside your mind. Through mental manipulation techniques, your rivals can actually assert some sort of control over you. And sadly, a vast majority of the population succumbs to this trick because they feel as if they have no alternative, or worse, don’t even realize that they’re being manipulated.
A lot of people tend to use emotional manipulation techniques to get their way. Unfortunately, a vast majority of the population doesn’t even realize that they’re being manipulated until it’s too late.
Manipulation techniques may be all over your life; but that doesn’t mean you have to surrender. To avoid being played with, you must develop a stronger sense of self. Know who you are, and what your responsibilities involve.
Tarek Refaat; 30, Business Development Executive, Cairo – EGYPT.
Despite how moralistic you might feel about the subject, you will find that various people use “The ends justify the means” strategy, and this happens rather frequently. People always desire to get more, and since getting anything isn’t as easy and they would like, some opt to take short-cuts. So of course this would involve manipulating people to get what they want even if they do not deserve it. However, it’s completely wrong and unethical, but again where does the word ethical fit any more?
My personal opinion is that it’s just a word hanging among the list of policies that many companies dictate, but do not follow, or only very few follow the rules and adhere and even fewer act ethical on their own. But then again who defines if I deserve something or not? It’s supposed to be management, but since the paths and careers may possibly appear clear on paper – what happens in real life is an entirely different story. In the midst of the rapid and vicious life cycle of today’s world, people simply do not want to wait… The concept return on investment doesn’t exist in our society.
Everyone wants everything and they want it now! So why bother with ethics and morals and all that chatter about subjects that belong to the ice age. Unfortunately, I belong back there… Call me crazy… But manipulating people is perhaps one of the lowest methods I know in reaching my goal. And stepping over others for my own personal gain is something I have to realize that will come back one day to bite me… The same boots you use for walking over others will walk over you… Just as the song says “These boots are made for walking and that’s just what they’ll do… One of these days these boots are going to walk all over you” By Nancy Sinatra!
Rebecca Breen; 33, Sales and Service Advisor, Brisbane, AUSTRALIA
To many times I would give 110% at work, arriving early and leaving late. Watching other people manipulate their way higher up ‘the food chain’. On one particular occasion, I watched as a very immature young man has risen through the ranks of a branch. He was the branch managers drinking buddy. Yet this young man would come to work very untidy, his attitude to other staff was horrible, yet I sat there and watched him climb up the ladder, all the while working harder than he did. It really isn’t fair that this had happened when I worked so hard to meet all of my targets but he was rewarded for the hard work.
Nira Ebada;
I can’t stand people who manipulate, by using their body to get where they want, instead work hard…
Hesham El-Dahmy; 30, Tenien (AKA Dragon or Manager), KUWAIT
What happens in the workplace stays in the workplace. It’s ‘manipulate’ or ‘be manipulated’. Manipulate others how you want them to manipulate you. Ethical manipulation in a workplace is getting what you deserve in a non-deserving way. The law doesn’t protect the manipulate. To manipulate or not to manipulate? To bloody manipulate of course… No real work would have ever been achieved if one didn’t manipulate those under, and kiss the ass of those above!
Eman El Sissy; 40, Marketing Manager, UAE
Manipulating people to get what you do not deserve, be it by force or by seduction is still manipulation. One is appreciably more pleasant than the other, but that is not the relevant factor. The relevant factor is the exploitation.
Nesrine Awadi; 20, Student, Perth, AUSTRALIA
Of course, a corrupt opportunist, or a simply immoral person would probably have no problem with using their sexuality when it suits them while holding others to different values. After all, such a person will simply do what they believe is best and won’t consider such matters as reliability or moral principles.