Exploring the Dark Side of Leadership in a Global Context Essay

This essay critically examines the dark side of leadership within a global context, drawing on critical management studies literature. It defines leadership and explores its potential for both constructive and destructive outcomes, focusing on unethical behaviors and dysfunctional aspects. The essay discusses the characteristics of the dark side of leadership, including intimidation, seduction, and the use of authority, and considers how these tendencies can undermine team building and contribute to career failure. The analysis also delves into the personality and systemic factors that contribute to the dark side of leadership, such as the misuse of charisma and the impact of organizational attitudes. The essay references examples, such as Hitler's leadership qualities, to illustrate the complex dynamics of leadership, concluding that the dark side of leadership has the capacity to build true and dedicated leaders.

Running head: CRITICAL MANAGEMENT IN A GLOBAL CONTEXT
CRITICAL MANAGEMENT IN A GLOBAL CONTEXT
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Explain what is the dark side of leadership studies
The researches in leadership really continues to be one of the most preferred topics in the
academic critical management studies. Leadership as defined by the author Clements and
Washbush (2016) is termed as the art of motivating a group or team of employees or people in
order to act out as a whole towards the achievement of a common goal or motive. In a business
strategy it can men like developing various type of strategies and directing the workers and
colleagues to work accordingly to meet the goals set by the company. On an introductory note it
can be said that leadership consist of certain motives and a set of values in a context of
competition or conflict.
However effective leadership is fully based upon the use of various types of business
ideas and creativity. Until and unless those ideas and creative thoughts are not communicated to
the others in a way that engages them, the leader will not be able to use effective leadership
skills. Therefore the main aim of the essay is to highlight the ever increasing dark side and
dysfunctional side of leadership and unethical behaviors (Conger 2015).
The Dark Side of Leadership is a very popular subject which has grown over the last few
decades and it has been found out in a 1997 survey of 250 British Executives that leadership is
seen as one of the biggest drivers of a company’s success. The paper will not speak about
leadership or as well as determine the effectiveness of leadership but it will explore the dark
dysfunctional side of leadership. According to the research work which was led by the author
Conger (2016) it has been found out that dark side of leadership can in a way cause various types
of harm to a particular organization and as well as to its members. Yet these individuals are
known for reaching to the ultimate goal, position or power since the characteristics of dark side
in leadership are hard to detect and easy to overlook.

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However it has been found out that there are two major sides of leadership which
includes constructive side and other one include the destructive side which is always present in
an organization as a whole. According to the author Kellerman, (2014) a constructive leader in
leadership encourages and as well as motivates other employees to approach their work in a
beautiful way so that they can definitely meet their individual target and help them in personally
meeting the higher demands from the top management of the company. The constructive leaders
are also known for inspiring the people in order to effectively manage the time and in a way
motivate and encourage other to get on with challenging tasks. Whereas on the other hand the
destructive leader I known for being someone who has a destructive approach of leadership style
that is being systematic and being repetitive by nature. The destructive leaders are those
individuals who are known for going against the supervisor or the manager in charge thus
violating the rules and regulations of the company and achieve high ends for the company by
meeting the organizational goals.
According to the research work initiated by the group of scholars Kellerman (2014) it
has been found out that the destructive leadership in a particular organization is known for
covering the concepts of different types and kinds of misbehaviors by the top level managers,
supervisors, and the leaders in the function and role of employer representative in the
organization.
The author Raelin (2013) argues that there has been an increase in the focus on the dark
side of leadership in the present studies, but however it can be said that there is no solid
description where the literature mainly focuses on the dark theme of leadership and characteristic
features of the dark theme of leadership studies. Therefore with this the author Raelin (2013)

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describes in his research work that the dark theme of leadership studies denote the tendencies
which are known for undermining the person’s ability to build up a team. However the author
also confirms that far away from the mental illness and various types of physical problems, the
dark theme of leadership denotes three main characteristic features which include the
intimidation, seduction and as well as pleasing authority on the other hand. All these three types
of characteristic features of leadership style is directly known for contributing to the career
failure of a leadership style. Other scholars in a way are known for using the dark side of
leadership style as a destructive leadership or bad leadership to explain the dark side of
leadership behavior or leadership studies.
The current problem which is faced in the present date is with the definition of dark side
of leadership skills is that most of the scholar and authors in the present date only take into
account the narrow dimensional theoretic position of dark side of leadership skills rather than the
multidimensional aspect of dark side of leadership skills and leadership studies. In most of the
cases the leader is set as an example and placed at the center of the discussion. Hereby it thus
fails to consider few of the best valuable factors that in a way contribute to the main focus in the
dark side of leadership studies. Therefore with this the group of scholars Takala, (2015)
discusses that in order to understand the dark side of leadership studies one should not only come
up with the definition of dark leadership skills or studies but in a way should try to incorporate
the main aspects of leadership behavior that consists the situational behavior, personal factors
which are known for influencing the leadership style of an effective leader. However it should
also try to include few of the other factors such as the constructive and destructive ides of the
leaders which might in a way both produce the negative and positive results in an organization.

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Therefore it can be said that the dark side of dark theme of leader is an ongoing pattern or
behavior that is exhibited by a leader which in a way overall contributes to the negative outcome
in an organization. Therefore with this it can be said that organizational roles, morale, and as
well as the follower satisfaction are in a way dissatisfied through abusing the self interest of the
particular leader in the place.
According to the group of scholars Takala, (2015) the dark side of leadership studies
consists of things when a person with huge amount of leadership skills are not working in a
proper way and as well as on the other hand the manager and the top managerial authorities in an
organization are not acknowledging the fact and are refusing it. The author and the group of
scholars generally claimed that the dark side of leadership is mainly caused by two main factors
personality and systems. Here thus in this context the personality aspect is generally based on the
wrong use of charisma by the leader in the particular organization and on the other hand the
systematic approach is known for dealing with the attitude of business organization based on the
external factors affecting the particular company. As an example in the research paper he
highlighted how few of the multinational companies and business organization in the west deal
with various types of bribery and corruption in the market around the world, which is not
highlighted anywhere in order to stop the process as a whole. Therefore according to the author
the two dark side of leadership studies is mainly known for being the leader in the organization
and as well as the organization as a whole.
However in the dark side of leadership studies it also has been researched by Hogan,
(2016) in their research paper that the very behavior which is known for distinguishing the leader
from the manger is the potential to produce a problematic situation in the organization and as
well as generate an outcome in the problematic business. But however it has also been identified

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that the leaders who are known for posseting dark side of leadership skills in the organization, if
used properly can help the particular business organization to identify the natural resources
required and make practical use of them leading the organization to achieve great success in the
business.
But however the concept of narcissism and as well as charisma are fully associated with
the concept of dark side of leadership which is known for existing in the concept of transforming
a leader from destructive to constructive leader or vice versa. However according to a research
work initiated by the author Dearlove (2013) and as well as a group of scholars it has been found
out that there are mainly three characteristics features which is known for causing the particular
leader to insist into gaining negative skills and gain negative results as a whole in the particular
organization they are known for working with.
The three particular skills includes the strategic vision of the leader, communications and
impression management skills. The strategic vision of the leader is known for becoming
unsuccessful when the leader is known for getting involved with various types of personal
influences in the life of the leader which is particularly not relevant to the organization as a
whole. Therefore with this comes the point that when strategic vision of the leaders is mixed up
with the personal life the leader tends to find the clients commander, manager of the company to
be unimportant (Higgs, 2019). With this the leader tends to become self obsessed slowly and lose
the sight of reality as a whole. Therefore leaders who basically belong to these types of
characteristics are almost certainly known for falling under the narcissistic behavior or
personality which in a way slowly wrecks the leader and the organization.
Whereas on the other hand the charismatic sequence of the dark theme of leadership
denotes the personality issue that is closely associated with the leadership style. However it has

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been found out that the charismatic leadership is generally followed on a danger tone. Charisma
is often connected with the transformational leadership style where it is the ability of the leader
that matters as a whole. The transformational leader in the organization is known for
transforming things in the organization and brings motivation and creativity among the
employees working in the organization.
However one of the most outstanding example of the dark side of leadership is the
leadership quality of Hitler. Hitler was a person who was fluent and persuasive in his speech and
would stir up the German people with his fervent speech. He knew how to deal with the
emotions of people with the help of basic instincts. He also made the basic use of fears,
insecurities and manipulation in order to lead the people as a whole. Since he used to achieve his
set of goals, his audience were also very much passionate with his zeal over the goals. However
majority of people will be finding him to be a horrible human being as a whole because of his
commitment to horrible things. But however most did not recognize that how his dark side of
leadership helped the country to gain competitive advantage over the others during the war.
(Goleman 2014)
On a concluding note it can be said that the dark them of leadership studies has the
capacity to build true and dedicated leaders. According to the research work which was led by
the group of scholars Goleman (2014) it can be said that dark leadership is known for being
supported in many places as because it has got some powerful advantages over the good form of
leadership as a whole. To the contrary the author Goleman (2014) argued that the dark side of
leadership studies is hindrance to an organization and such should not be condoned.

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References
Clements & Washbush (2016). The two faces of leadership: considering the dark side of leader-
follower dynamics. New York: Macmillan publishers.
Conger (2015). The dark side of leadership. New York: Macmillan publishers
Conger (2016). Danger of delusion. The qualities that make leaders great can also cause their
downfall. Success and self-confidence often breed narcissism and a sense of infallibility. London:
oxford university press.
Dearlove (2013). The dark side of leadership. New York: Macmillan publishers
Deutschman (2015). Is Your Boss a Psychopath? Washington DC: knight publishing house.
Goldman, A. 2016, ‘Personality disorders in leaders: Implications of the DSM IV-TR in
Assessing Dysfuncational Organizations’, Journal of Managerial Psychology, vol. 21, no. 5,
pp.392-414.
Goleman (2014). What makes a leader? London: Oxford university press.
Higgs, M. (2019). The Good, the bad and the ugly: Leadership and Narcissism. Journal of
Change Management, 9(2), 165-178.
Hogan, R. 2016, The Dark Side of Leadership, at Australian Howell & Avolio (1992). The ethics
of charismatic leadership: Submission or liberation? New York: ladybird co.
Kellerman (2014). Bad Leadership, What it is, How it Happens and Why it Matters. Manhattan;
flybird co.

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Kellerman, B. 20114, Bad Leadership: What it is, How it happens, Why it matters, Harvard
Business School Press, Boston.
Maccoby (2004). Narcissistic leaders: The incredible pros, the inevitable cons. Detroit:
bookrange.
Raelin (2013). The myth of charismatic leaders. California: Macmillan publishers
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Takala, T. 2015, Charismatic Leadership and Power, viewed 17 May 2012