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Some popular examples of causes of toxic leadership
Maslow's theory of hierarchy of needs
Maslow's hierarchy of needs in organizations
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Toxicity in leaders is, unfortunately, a common reality in many organizations and political setups around the world. I grew up in a nation, where people were and even now are victims of toxic political and administrative leaders. I always thought, why some leaders, either consciously or unconsciously, become toxic leaders. What are the subtleties that drive a person to become toxic for the people around him or her? It was quite interesting to read how some of the human psychological needs, play a good role to (Abraham Maslow's (1971) well-known hierarchy of deficiency and growth needs -Lipman-Blumen 2005) make people seek and respond to leaders who assure them in good, bad and ugly ways. I always supposed, getting attracted to noble visions
As a result, Jeffers personified the negative characteristics of charismatic leaders, and he is the antithesis of the positive attributes. The public perception is Jeffers gregarious, when in fact, he was unresponsive to feedback and disregarded company policies these traits embody a charismatic leader (Spahr, 2016). Additionally, his leadership style is autocratic rather than democratic, and while in particular industries that approach may be advantageous that is not the case at Fortuga. Furthermore, he was chauvinistic resulting in the resignation of two out of his three female vice presidents. As a result, employee engagement was at an all-time low and staff talked to Fortuga’s biggest competitor about employment opportunities. These characteristics reinforce the discernment, in addition to this other traits, he is a narcissistic leader too. According to Maccoby (2000), the negative traits of a narcissistic leader include poor listening and lack of empathy. At the same time, these leaders exhibit superior vision and have an inordinate number of followers, including the board of directors and public.
Lipman-Blumen, J. & Blumen, J. (2005). The 'Secondary' of the 'Se The Allure of Toxic Leaders. New York, New York: Oxford University Press.
Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King Jr., Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill, Theodore Roosevelt, Jesus Christ, Mahatma Ghandi, Lucifer; the list could go on. All these men had one thing in common; they were extraordinary leaders who gained loyal followers. These men also had several differences; the biggest being that some were destructive with their power and their ideals weren’t exactly on par with normality. Yet, what made people follow and respect the wishes of leaders who were destructive and insane? The attraction to these powerful leaders is found in the way that they are able to fill a void in that individual’s life. This void could consist of longing for safety and care, being lonely, or even missing having that family atmosphere. These are all things that destructive leaders are adept at providing.
In the classic poem and plays Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare, Oedipus the King by Sophocles, and The Odyssey by Homer, the main characters are leaders with differing successes. Julius Caesar gets killed by his own "friends", Oedipus gouges out his eyes, and Odysseus faced many setbacks, but managed to get home. All of these classical heroes had one thing in common. This was that they tried to lead by dominance. In Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare, Oedipus the King by Sophocles, and The Odyssey by Homer, all of
The condoning or condemnation of toxic leaders may be prevalent in organizations as well as in government. Corruption, narcissism, and unethical behaviors may be cancerous for the stability and sustainability of any organization or individuals for that matter. However, a person that possesses competence, resilience, vision, and character may learn to become an effective and transformational leader. More so, the personality of a leader may be a pattern of thinking, feeling, and acting with regard to the environment, including other people. These characteristics may influence the type of leadership an individual he or she may become (Northouse , 2007).
According to explanations provided by DuBrin (2012), narcissistic leadership is understood to be a form of leadership provided by individuals who are narcissistic. In the society, narcissistic individuals are found to be those that are more concerned about themselves and their actions are only those that improve their own self even at the expense of others. When it comes to leadership, which is a position that leads or takes charge of a group of people, Campbell & Miller (2011) says it is like a form of an opportunity given to improve the leader’s social status. Thus, narcissistic leadership is a form of leadership that does not build others and hence it is not found to be effective enough. Good introductory paragraph helps follow the discussion
The Civil Rights Movement in the United States took place mostly during the 1960s. This movement had many strong faces ready to lead a movement of African-Americans to get the rights that they deserved. However, it was two of the less-recognizable faces that helped shape the movement. Ella Baker, who wanted to put a change in the system, and Fannie Lou Hamer, who is well known for her actions on trying to gather support, were two women who helped change the way the Civil Rights Movement played out. The SNCC, Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, was formed to prevent violence from younger blacks, and to try and settle the issue of segregation in a peaceful manner. Fannie Lou Hamer and Ella Baker both had ideas on how to change the unacknowledged racist policies of some states at the time, and their way to leadership roles within the African-American society is intriguing for both women.
Manfred talks specifically about four of these pathologies. The first type is the narcissistic. The narcissistic personality thinks too much about himself and pursues power and prestige while disregarding other people’s needs. These people are sensitive to confrontation and need to be instructed with caution. They will usually prefer to follow a father figure. I had business partner that fits this description.
The narcissist theory was created by Machiavelli in the year 1530. In this theory, “Machiavelli suggested that leaders need to be feared as well as malevolent” (Ledlow & Coppola, 2014). The leaders in this model use fear as a motivational tool used to manipulate the populace to the bidding of the leader. I feel like the best examples
When I was on a post surgical floor I witnessed a scenario where leadership was ineffective. It involved an RN and the nurse manager for the floor who was responsible for assigning the patients to nurses. The nurse manager on this floor usually only had one or two patients and spent most of their time dealing with any problems that arose on the floor. One RN was very upset with her patient load and said it was unfair and wanted to have at least one less patient as she said all 5 of her patients were going to be a lot of work. The nurse manager dismissed the RN and said there were care aides on floor to help so she would be fine and told her to get to work. The leadership issues here were a lack of communication
To me, leaders are constantly surrounding us. People constantly need to be led and they seek out individuals around them who have personalities that stand out – the basic qualities of leadership, the Great Man Theory. This could be in terms of their appearance, knowledge, charisma, behaviour or style. For example, popular actors/actresses might not be great leaders but they influence the thoughts of people through advertisements through their appearance and charisma. Leadership is also a process where trust of people needs to be gained and established before followers are doing things willingly and without having to use pressure. Managers are different in this aspect, as they are given authority/power and trust factor might not be required to actively participate in management, subordinates might not be performing their tasks willingly. The above idea is adopted from the most recent leadership definition by Manfred Kets de Vries, he defines leadership style as the point of interaction between the leader’s character, the follower’s character and the situation. (Manfred Kets de Vries, The Leadership Mystique, Financial Times Prentice Hall, 2001) To gain people’s trust, the first steps is to communicate, Warren Bennis observed the significance of rhetoric and eloquent, “Effective leaders put words to the formless longings and deeply felt needs of others. They create communities out of words.” (Bennis Warren, An Invented Life: Reflections on Leadership and Change, Reading, Mass, Addison-Wesly, 1993)
Colonel George Reed, in his strategic research project links an entire series of eighteen personal characteristics, which include; incompetence, arrogance, and cowardice for example, to eighteen unique types of toxic leaders. And while many of these toxic leader types share similar negatively manifested
Leaders are not always to be trusted. George Orwell has made that clear with his book Animal Farm. Leadership is a powerful force that can be tainted, like the pigs that were trusted with the job of making the animals lives better were, despite what were originally good intentions. Equality could not be obtained despite having promised that all animals are equal, and manipulation and lies were used in abundance to hide the fact that their leader was corrupted. Even though some leaders are corrupted, other leaders can be trusted. It is just a matter of finding out which ones. At the end of the day people will always have their own thoughts and opinions and they are more valuable than many seem to notice.
Have you ever had the pleasure of working with an individual who was completely full of themselves? This person loved to be the center of attention and the topic of every subject, had extravagant dreams and considered themselves to be a person of many talents. This same person believed that they were a better leader than you would ever be and had no problem telling you that. He or she thought that the best way to gain the admiration of others and receive confirmation of their authority was by “talking down” to those who threaten them. The qualities that I mentioned are all common traits of a narcissist. Narcissist tend to think that they are better leaders than what they actually are according to their peers and coworkers. Proverbs 29:2 says "When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn" (King James Bible Online, 2015).
Autocratic leaders have been described as controlling, power-orientated and closed-minded (Bass 2008). They stress obedience, loyalty and strict adherence to the rules (Bass 2008). Autocratic leaders may be disliked by their team, but this may evolve into appreciation and fondness once the positive results of their leadership become evident (Bass 2008). Although staffmay dislike autocratic leaders, they often work well under them (Bass 2008). Schoel et al (2011) found that well-liked leaders might be perceived as ineffective while disliked leaders might be perceived as