Abstract 3
Toxic Leadership 4
Introduction 4
Research Purpose and Questions 5
Research purpose 5
Research questions 6
Literature Review 7
Characteristic and behavior of toxic leaders 8
Effects of toxic leadership 9
Can toxic leaders change? 10
Findings 10
Conclusions 11
References 13
Abstract
Toxic leadership in the society has been influential in setting bad precedent for organizations and groups of people. Toxic leaders are led by personal vendetta which seeks to enrich themselves at the expense of their followers. This has led to conflicts among employees as the behavior of their leader affects their performance. It’s thus an important aspect to control the power hungry leaders who use their authority to cause harm to followers. An organization needs to be led by close consultation with the various organizational heads on the modernity of operations and how they help the organization meet its goals.
Toxic Leadership
Introduction
Leadership may be defined as the process of socially influencing people to follow ones’ way. It can also be taken as a group of people who are influenced by a common goal to achieve a collective gain together. Toxic leadership on the other hand refers to a person or an individual who is in a responsible leadership role and abuses the leader and follower relationship. The toxic leader leaves the group he or she is trying to lead in a worse scenario than the one he or she found them in. toxic leadership in the society is said to be brought about by lack or self-control, lack of self-awareness and courage to lead people in the right manner (Kellerman, 2007). Toxic leadership is dominated by self-interests as they are said to care only about themselves. They are said to lack servant leadership which is emphasized in the society.
The subordinates of a toxic leader end up hate him or her for the self-inflicted interests. The toxic leadership can be related to other forms of leadership like the autocratic leadership. The toxic leaders try to preserve their control by intimidating and harassing their subordinates and in most cases they are known to act aggressively as they foster their dominance over their subordinates. In most cases they refer to their subordinates as subjects and they fail to serve them as they seek to enrich themselves and the people around them. Toxic leaders lack the motivation to lead others in the principled way and normally follow their own interests when leading people. Toxic leaders have been in the society for quite a while and they fail to heed to societal needs as they concentrate on their own (George, 2004).
Toxic leadership in our society today has been eminent in several sectors that range from schools, office, business and the country at large. Toxic leaders rise out of selfish ambitions and control their subordinates without any consultation whatsoever. The issues of followers are not taken into account as a leader wishes to concentrate power on his or her front without caring how the power affects the followers. The followers feel left out and less motivated as they are always complaining about the role of their leader. Toxic leaders tend to be dictatorial in nature and thus they do whatever their hearts desire (Michael, 2005). The actions of toxic leaders catch the eye of each person in the society as the reaction and behavior of people will always reveal their true view of their leader.
A famous author once said that if you are to lead be ready to follow. His statement follows this trend of toxic leaders who fail to listen and consult other people and professional in regard to a certain issue in their area of responsibility. It’s thus important to identify characters of toxic leaders before they are given the mandate to lead group of people with autocratic style of leadership. Sometimes autocracy is required in organization when a leader has a vision for the organization and the only way to express his or her vision is by being a toxic leaser. It thus follows that toxic leadership is not all bad and negative as it seems to have some advantage that can be utilized for the good of the society. This paper seeks to define toxic leadership and the effect this kind of leadership has on the society.
Research Purpose and Questions
Research purpose
Toxic leadership is a leadership drive that in most cases harms people and thus it’s important to identify the problems associated with toxic leadership. Toxic leaders in most cases disseminate their role by over-control of their subordinates and this in most scenarios is poisonous or it inflicts pain on people and thus should be identified and controlled. There are different signs of toxic leadership in the society today and due to past experience in the matter of critical thinking it defeats logic if this kind of leadership continues to cause harm in the society. In most toxic environments the subordinates are punished for being indifferent with their leader and those who agree are rewarded for their effort in the group (Padilla, Hogan & Kaiser, 2007). In toxic leadership very few benefit from this kind of leadership as the leader is motivated by self-greed and interest to enrich him or her.
Toxic leaders fail to consult the critical thinker as they view them as a threat to their leadership and thus shut them out of any decision making process as they will question his or her motive or idea. It thus becomes very important for people in leadership role to express their willingness to lead and follow the right procedure and the rule of law. Different cases have been witnessed in the world today that relate to toxic leadership which may happen on a national level or in business organizations. The role of a leader is disseminate his or her duty to followers and lead them in the right way as guided by the laws of the land or any other rule that guarantees the interest of the followers (Weierter, 1997).
Research questions
Research questions help in understanding a problem in the society by trying to answer to some of the questions raised by a researcher in a given project. Toxic leadership is one that has been in under conflict or controversy and ways through which effects of this leadership has on followers. This paper seeks to under the effect that followers of toxic leadership go through and ways through which it can be changed and improved. The effects of toxic leadership go beyond their area of responsibility as they influence the lives of their subordinates which at times have detrimental effects on the society. There is a need to better understand toxic leadership ad what factors lead to it in the society so as to avoid a similar situation in future. The following research questions have been used by the researcher to help understand the role of toxic leadership in the society nowadays.
- What are the characteristics of a toxic leader?
- What effects can toxic leadership have on a company?
- What can cause toxic leaders to change?
Literature Review
Toxic leadership in our society today has been viewed as another form of dictatorial style of leadership that is being practiced even in organizations. The issue about toxic leadership is a complex one that at times confuses people where one toxic leader may be a hero to a person and a nightmare to another. It’s thus important to understand the term toxic leadership in details and remove the ambiguity of the term. Toxic leadership thus refers to a process in which leaders who have been given a responsibility over subordinates or followers expresses his or her destructive behavior or dysfunctional character on followers thus inflicting harm or pain to them.
The non-followers are at times affected by this kind of leadership and thus it becomes difficult for the organization or a country to forge forward with this enduring pain and harm among followers. The leader’s true character is revealed once he or she assumes a leadership role and their judgment in most cases is self-inflicted and selfish (Goldman, 2009). History has in most cases tried to explain the different scenarios that toxic leadership have assumed leadership responsibility just to enrich them without caring about the plight of their subordinates.
Characteristic and behavior of toxic leaders
Different characters can define a toxic leader but there are three main ways through which one can describe a leader. A toxic leader uses power and control to influence the decision of his or her followers willingly or unwillingly. A toxic leader uses control to prevent his or her subordinates from thinking outside the box and controls their actions by use of power and control. This power is driven toward personal gain and thus the interests of the group are not a priority to this leader. Each resistance is followed by punishment which in turn results in fear and thus the followers suffer silently (Joseph and Chuck, 2012). Another character expressed by toxic leaders involves lack of communication or consultation with followers. A toxic leader cements his or her authority by cutting the channels of communication in the organization and this leads to break down in decision making as each person is not allowed to question the authority of the leader.
A toxic leader normally isolates people and information and thus they are not required to indulge in decision making as this will affect the way the leader administers. Their role in decision making is viewed as a threat to the leadership role the toxic leader enjoys and treasures. Lack of communication leads to frustration among employees in organization and the organization work force lacks creativity what so ever. When communication links are controlled, frustrations among employees will lead to mistrust as the few who dare question the authority and control of the leader are punished. This mistrust among employees leads to low productivity and reduced creativity as their decisions and ideas are not considered in the organization. The working relationship among employees deteriorates tremendously as people lack vision and zeal to work and cooperate together as a team (Gangel, 2007).
Effects of toxic leadership
Toxic leadership in organizations may take a different format that involve a group of leaders who have the mandate to lead others in the right way but they chose to use the opportunity for personal gain. Toxic leaders lack the charisma to lead effectively and this normally leads to failure in organizations as the work force or employees lack control and direction of how processes and operations should be undertaken. The employees feel neglected as their issues are not recognized in the work place and thus they start to develop hate mentality against their leaders (Jean, 2005). The effects of toxic leadership go beyond organizations and may be spread to regions and countries as people given the role to control and influence other people to follow them use the opportunity to benefit themselves and the people around them. This character spreads to the grassroots as an organization or a country fail to follow a clear development agenda as the leader is too busy enriching him or herself instead of directing the organization in the right path. Employees in such organizations lack commitment as they can lose their job at any time as the leader does what suits him or her at the expense of followers (Dyck, 2001). The effect of toxic leadership can produce damaging results that derail the organization in its development agenda as employees suffer diminishing commitment and lack of a collective goal and objectives.
Under this kind of leadership employees have two choices to ether conform of leave and this normally leaves employees with a dilemma on what to choose. Do they chose to stand by their virtues and face the leader which will result in losing their jobs of conform and ignore their personal virtues and follow the leader in his or her destructive behavior. They are then left wondering what will happen with the organization if this trend continues for long, what will be the final results of the employees and the organization at large.
Can toxic leaders change?
This is a question everyone always ask himself or herself in regard to the conditions that can make toxic leaders to change their character and behavior in a group of people or organization. It’s not easy for a toxic leader to change but change at times can be achieved in an organization (Otto, 1968). Not all toxic leaders are bad or discriminating but there are some aspects of their character that help to improve the conditions of their organization. For a leader to recognize the need to change, it will take more than convincing to shift his or her focus from the current situation to a different one that incorporates change in the organization.
Pressures from followers may lead to a change of tactics in the leadership role and responsibility as they try to avoid an organization crisis. Personal transformation among toxic leaders is not easy but the circumstances may force them to change to be servant leaders in their organization and treat their subordinates with respect and dignity they deserve. Toxic leader’s characters are sometime in-born and thus are very difficult to change them but if they chose to change their behavior and actions the change is always welcome. They are able to interact with followers and help in shaping the destiny of the organization to meet its goals and objectives (Jean, 2005).
Findings
Toxic leadership in the society is known to have detrimental effects on the progress of organizations or a group. These effects are mentored by their leaders who wish to express personal vendetta against their subordinates as they lack servant leadership that is encouraged in any responsibility role in the society (Abraham, 1971). The corporate structure in most companies and organizations is changing and thus the need to do away with this style of leadership. The different characteristics expressed by toxic leaders affect the work ethics in a given organization as employees lack commitment and mistrust takes over.
The toxic leader divides the organization into un-cooperating structures that lack a drive and zeal to perform as fear and punishment from the leader is meted on them (Pelletier, 2011). There are many negative issues associated with toxic leadership and they can only be tackled by a joint cooperation between leaders and followers. A clear guideline in the organization will help in nurturing commitment and motivation among employees as they strive to achieve personal and collective goals. The issue about rewarding followers whoa agree with the leader always spreads fear among other employees as they view the leader as only interested in his or her own personal growth and the people around him. Leadership is about influencing people to follow your idea or decision and thus a scenario where people fail to heed to your guidelines fails to qualify as leadership. It can only be termed as dictatorial in nature as it drives a wedge between leadership and the followers (Maccoby, 2000).
Conclusions
The behavior of toxic leaders emanate from intentional aspects that are geared towards enriching one’s self-interest and denying people their right to be led well following clear guidelines as stipulated under law or organizational policy. Toxic leadership can be termed to be evil as it neglects the plight of followers and concentrate on very few people benefiting themselves as they abuse their responsibility to lead. Personal incompetence normally cloud the mind of a toxic leader and he or she ends up causing harm to his or her followers. Inability to perform one’s duty has been known to negligence on the part of a leader as he or she uses the leadership position to harass followers without the slightest care about their conditions. Organizations have failed due to poor leadership styles that divide employees and their commitment to work is questionable as they lack the zeal to follow a certain path as expressed by their leader. Servant leadership should be advocated in the society as it gives all industry players a role to play which helps meet the collective goal of the organization and improve the working relationship and cohesion among people.
References
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