The phrase "an effort to manipulate" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used when discussing attempts to influence or control someone or something in a particular way, often with a negative connotation.
Example: "The company's advertising campaign was seen as an effort to manipulate consumer behavior to increase sales."
Alternatives: "a tactic to influence" or "an attempt to control".
Failure to accept responsibility for own actions: a failure to accept responsibility for one's actions reflected in low conscientiousness, an absence of dutifulness, antagonistic manipulation, denial of responsibility, and an effort to manipulate others through this denial.
It's easier to understand such measures as part of an effort to manipulate the political process to stay in power.
In the settlement, British and American authorities detailed an effort to manipulate the rate-setting process, a five-year scheme that involved multiple currencies and countries.
"China is linking the territorial issue to financial issues in an effort to manipulate Japan," said Koji Murata, a professor of international relations at Doshisha University in Kyoto.
It is not necessarily safe to conclude that represents an effort to manipulate the market, or public perceptions about Mr. Romney's chances.
In responding to that motion, Judge Wolin speculated indirectly that the effort to force him to step down might have been an effort to manipulate and delay proceedings.
Is Putin anything but a miniscule lightweight in any efforts to manipulate the U.S. electorate compared to "dark money" American billionaires like the Koch brothers?
There was an extensive effort to manipulate the media and U.S. public opinion.
My Stratfor colleague Fred Burton and I were involved in helping authorities track down bombmaker John Patrick Tomkins, "The Bishop," who sent a series of complete, but unassembled, pipe bombs to financial services companies in a failed effort to manipulate specific stocks to a predetermined price for financial gain.
"This smacks of a calculated effort to manipulate our eligibility rules in a way that undermines the integrity of, and public confidence in, those rules," Goodell wrote in his decision.
That unanimous decision by a state court the justices knew well for its liberal leanings struck some justices as a partisan effort to manipulate the rules in order to bring about a Gore victory.
