Abstract

Recent misuses of power in politics, corporate and religious arena have invigorated interest in dark side of leadership. This chapter sheds light on a menacing type of dark leadership--toxic leadership. Owing to the dearth of a comprehensive delineation of leadership from its related phenomena, this chapter addresses the paucities and clarifies the nature, process, reasons and consequences of leadership. It reviews, summarizes and integrates the existing literature on toxic leadership to draw nomological distinctions amongst different constructs of dark leadership and eventually presents stimulators and behavioral symptoms of toxic leadership. Few contemporary myths and detoxification measures are discussed to combat toxicity in a leader for a sustainable organization. The goal of the chapter is to reach our readers' curiosity, enhance their frame of reference and bring new insights to educate them by providing guidelines and awareness about toxic leadership.

Highlights

  • What contaminated that environment? A recent report by workforce consulting firm “Life Meets Work” [2] claims that 56% of employees endure a toxic leader and his venomous behaviors leading to an obnoxious environment

  • Toxic derives from Greek mythology: toxicus means “poison.” Dr Marcia Lynn Whicker was the first to link toxicity with leadership and discussed in her research three types of leaders within workplaces: “trustworthy, the transitional, and the toxic.”

  • Once we are able to define and distinguish the construct of toxic leadership, our wary minds would ask for the behaviors and qualities of toxic leaders

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Summary

Introduction

The decades of the twenty-first century is tinted with a long list of horrendous scams in the field of corporate, politics, spiritual or otherwise that could be traced back to the judgment made by ambitious people in positions of authority Such cases raise questions on the very intent and content of leaders and victims wonder whether the failures were intentional or the. Maybe we are so honey trapped by some toxic leaders who by virtue of their personality and style leave us in a worse-off situation than where they found us. They are venomous and bad to the bones of the organizations. Does this sound familiar? Beware, you may find lots of situational similarities within the literature; just fasten your seat belt to start a journey of exploring this lethal style of leadership

Mapping the origins
Behaviors and qualities that make a leader toxic
What stimulates a leader’s toxicity?
After effects of toxic leadership
Common myths about toxic behavior
Let us ascertain a ray of hope
Detoxifying the leaders
Findings
Importance and conclusion
Full Text
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