Lying Up On the Job: Does Deceptive Impression Management Work?

While lying in the workplace is prevalent, it simply doesn’t work, argues John Carlson. In fact, the greatest risk is in “turning a blind eye” and making dishonesty acceptable. As Carlson writes, the potential damage unleashed by an ethically permissive workplace may far exceed the lost labour of an employee taking a short nap under his desk. Three types of deceptive impression management (IM) agents are identified — the sycophant, the cover-up artist, and the all-purpose liar. The author finds that once an employee begins a deceptive IM campaign, the employee will eventually receive negative feedback, which will often result in a vicious circle of even more deceptive IM that is difficult to break.