is ob mod a form of manipulation

Answer 1

Yes, as are all social interchanges.
http://faculty.css.edu/dswenson/web/OB/obmod.html

Answer 2

You may want to do some recreational reading on transactional analysis from Eric Berne's work sixty years ago.

See the OK cluster herein:
(Broken Link Removed)
Notice the common elements in OPMOD.