The dark side of leadership can be described as behaviors that are detrimental to an organization and its employees. Dark leaders often display some behavioral traits such as “the need for power, bullying, inability to inspire creativity and lack of tolerance for errors.” (Dr. Karp, 2021). It is quite interesting how Dr. Karp can expose and highlight common attributes of dark leaders when comparing them to Darth Vader who is a fictional character. Having grown up watching Star Wars and now as an adult, the message she conveys by explaining the parallels between a science-fiction movie and real life is clear and remarkable.
The dark side of leadership is characterized by traits from the “Dark Triad” which are narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy, in which leaders prioritize their own power and control by unethical means that include manipulation and deception to achieve their goals. Narcissism is a personality style that puts an excessive focus on oneself and one’s own needs thus disregarding other people’s feelings among some of the traits in it, we can mention, lack of empathy, envy, exploitation (selfish use of others for selfish reasons and own gratification) and feeling of superiority that can potentially become tyrannical.
Narcissistic leaders make a cultural damage by creating environments with lower levels of collaboration and integrity that persist even after they leave, so “When people aren’t able to collaborate, collective accomplishments become harder to attain. Employees’ ability to learn, grow, and gain new expertise withers. When they see leaders take credit for every success and blame others for every failure, employees’ morale sinks and their self-confidence wilts.” (Butts, 2020).
The way narcissists harm organizations is by infecting the culture through policies and practices that can directly influence or fail to institute. They often choose not to implement policies to govern ethical behavior, conflicts of interest and practices that promote a healthy work environment in which teamwork is promoted, and people are encouraged to treat others with civility and respect; yet they fail to sanction employees when they break these shared norms while others are rewarded for being less ethical and collaborative.
Dark leaders (narcissists) tend to be abusive to their subordinates, they think they are superior, hence do not listen to experts which can create conflicts and believe that rules simply do not apply to them. This can be summarized as “Companies organize because they can do something together that no individual could accomplish alone. When narcissistic leaders undermine collaboration, they by definition reduce the effectiveness of an organization. Without integrity, an organization risks its very survival.” (Butts, 2020).
Dark leadership can be seen from two different perspectives: 1) As an employer: Since they are toxic and the damage they can inflict on an organization and its teams, the best thing to do is not to hire them and 2) as a potential employee with a dark leader: “For starters, do your research. Look at employee reviews, and notice if there is high employee turnover — that should make you pause. People leave jobs because of their boss. Arrive a bit early, and observe — listen to the emotional tone and get a feel for the place. Do you hear laughter? Do you see smiles? What’s the body language? Trust your instincts.” (Fouts, 2020).
References:
• Butts, M (2020). How narcissistic leaders infect their organizations’ cultures. Berkeley HaaS.
• Dr. Fouts, M. (2020). The Dark Side Of Leadership: How To Identify And Steer Clear Of It When Job Hunting. Forbes.
• Dr. Karp, L. (2018). The Dark Side of Leadership. YouTube.