Mafia

We got a card game called “Mafia” which had been quite addictive among us, sometimes ago.

It’s quite simple. A group of 8-10 people (sometimes it got bigger) gather around in a circle, with one guy acts as the facilitator. He shuffles a pre-arranged set of cards equal to the number of the people playing, and deals it to the players. Players who’s got aces play the role of Mafia, as well as Sheriffs with Kings and Doctors with Queens. After the whole card set is dealt, the facilitator instructs the players to shut their eyes. Usually, we set up 2 Mafias, 1 Sheriff, 1 Doctor, and citizens for the rest. Citizens have no powers, they are just sitting ducks :D

The first step, quietly Mafias lift their head and agree upon selecting one victim among players to kill. The facilitator takes notes of the victims, and tells the Mafias to close their eyes again.

Next step : The Sheriffs lift their head and try to figure out and agree upon one person who they believe as the Mafia. The facilitator, again, takes note of the accused, tells the Sherrifs whether or not their choice is right, and tells the Sheriffs to close their eyes again.

The third step is for Doctors : They lift their head, and try to figure out and agree upon one person who they believe a victim to the Mafia, to safe them from death. The facilitator takes note of the saved player, and tells the Doctors to close their eyes again.

The final step is revealing the truth : If the Doctors fail to save a victim, as in selecting any other player rather than the one who’s been selected / killed by the Mafias, then the victim dies, steps out of the circle and becomes ghost (haha)

The group must have a consensus to accuse the Mafia / killer, put him on trial and execute him – in other words, make him leave the game. These steps must be repeated until all the Mafias left the game.

Here are the cases that might happen during the game :

1. The Sheriff finally able to guess / identify a Mafia, and vigorously provoke others to accuse the suspect, in the final voting / trial. This might bring both positive benefit to him – people will believe him and successfully kick out the Mafia – or negative impact to him – people would turn against him and wrongly accuse him as the Mafia, and kick him out of the game.


2. The Doctor, instead of healing others to prevent their death upon the Mafias’ shootout, heal themselves to prevent dying and to keep them playing.

By now, you might be compelled to ask me, “how it’s supposed to relate to anything ‘management’?”

Here’s the thing:

The Mafias represent power. These are the people who have the options, opportunity and decisive power to make people stay in the game or kick them out. In other words, the life of each of the players are in their hands.

In an organization, there are powerful people who possess similar characteristics. They can be someone of higher level in management hierarchy, a senior (who has been in the organization for years, or one of the original / first member), or someone with charisma so great, he can influence the decisions made by the entire organization.

So, what’s wrong with power? Nothing. In fact, power can be used for good intentions. But, sadly, people with power are usually tempted to abuse the power to their own benefit. Thus, power can make things go wrong when it’s being abused.

And what should we do with it? Well . . . we can start by teaching ourselves the paradigm that power gives us the opportunity to do more goodness. With power, we may have the chance to make things right, help more people, or make people do things correctly.

The Sheriffs represent righteous people. Well, different from the cowboys who uphold justice by the way of the gun, the “Sheriffs” of an organization are people who know the rules, walk the rules, and points out if there’s a breach to the rule. They sometimes do it verbally.

But, sometimes, they get too frontal. They even gather others to back them up, and assemble a mob to crucify the transgressor, no matter if it’s the most helpless kid, or someone of a higher level in the hierarchy. And, by doing this, they tend to put the matter into a worse situation. It might make them end up kicked out themselves.

So what’s wrong with being righteous? Nothing. In fact, we encourage people to learn the rules, uphold it, and work together with others to preserve it. It’s just that when we reprimand others, we should do it persuasively. There’s actually a step to it : First, do it in private. Tell the guy that he’s wrong, and try to get commitment not to do it again. If it doesn’t work, try again in front of a witness or two. If it doesn’t work either, then put him on trial in front of a group of people. But, usually people get the point in step two :D

So, remember, being righteous does not make us judges. Being righteous gives us opportunity to prevent others making mistakes and worsen the situation.

The Doctors represent people with supportive characteristics. They provide psychological healing should there’s a victim through abused power. They have the opportunity to stand up for the victim to protect them. They may even have the power and opportunity to get close to the abusive person, deal with them and undo the damage. But sometimes they tend to be neutral. They don’t want to look that they are taking sides, they don’t want to make enemies, thus they put themselves out of the battlefield. They can say “I feel your pain, but I believe there’s nothing we can do but submit to the decision. They also put some pressure to me, and believe me I’ve tried my best to reason with them, but they just don’t listen. But hey, I’m on your side. I’m always here for you if you want to talk”, and at the same time say something like “You make the right decision, sir. I may not be 100% happy with your decision, but it’s for the benefit of the majority. I agree with you.” Seems like hypocrisy, but to me it’s more diplomacy. They might do the worse : Keep silent, wash hands, and keep a safe distance from the conflict.

So, what’s wrong with diplomacy? Nothing. But diplomacy can also be used to help uphold the rule and keep things right. Don’t just stand away and avoid getting tangled with the conflict, but get involved in the conflict and provide support to help resolve it. And do this with a sincere heart.

Well, it’s just basic : Do good to others. Know our role, and play nice. That way, we take the first step in making a good teamwork.