The Treachery Index: Measuring Workplace Sabotage, Backstabbing, and Deception with Data

Introduction: Can We Quantify Treachery?

Workplace treachery is an unspoken epidemic, corroding institutions from within. Whether it’s sabotage in corporate boardrooms, backstabbing in media networks, or political maneuvering in historical courts, deceit has shaped organizations for centuries. From CNN’s newsroom dynamics to the rigid hierarchy of the Forbidden City, treachery thrives where ambition meets unchecked power.

But what if we could measure treachery? Just as companies track profit margins and employee engagement, we can use data-driven models, graph theory, and machine learning to quantify workplace betrayal. Enter the Treachery Index (TI) – a metric designed to measure organizational deceit using sabotage rates, backstabbing frequency, deception prevalence, and trust recovery time per 10 employees.

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Defining the Treachery Index (TI): The Formula

The Treachery Index (TI) quantifies workplace treachery across industries, using the following equation:

TI = \frac{(SR \times W_1) + (BF \times W_2) + (DP \times W_3)}{TRT}

Where:

• SR (Sabotage Rate) = Reported cases of intentional project disruption per 10 employees.

• BF (Backstabbing Frequency) = Incidents of employees undermining colleagues per 10 employees.