Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Introduction: leaders and organizations in search of treatment
- 1 Hubris and narcissism: the dark underbelly of leadership
- 2 The enigma of an unintentionally toxic leader: an emotionally turbulent, destructive and impulsive workplace
- 3 The narcissistic leader: world-renowned and quite arrogant
- 4 Leader sabotage and the dysfunctional organization: the fish rots from the head down
- 5 The obsessive compulsive leader: a manager's mandate for perfection or destruction
- 6 The borderline leader: when brilliance and psychopathology coexist
- 7 Trouble at the top: high-toxicity implications of a leader with antisocial personality disorder
- 8 Histrionic leadership: the allure of the toxic leader in a volatile industry
- 9 The outer limits of toxic organizational behavior: corporate trauma in the form of disturbed leadership
- 10 Destructive leaders and dysfunctional organizations: tearing downs the walls of professional greed, hubris, toxic genius and psychopathology
- References
- Index
7 - Trouble at the top: high-toxicity implications of a leader with antisocial personality disorder
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 January 2011
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Introduction: leaders and organizations in search of treatment
- 1 Hubris and narcissism: the dark underbelly of leadership
- 2 The enigma of an unintentionally toxic leader: an emotionally turbulent, destructive and impulsive workplace
- 3 The narcissistic leader: world-renowned and quite arrogant
- 4 Leader sabotage and the dysfunctional organization: the fish rots from the head down
- 5 The obsessive compulsive leader: a manager's mandate for perfection or destruction
- 6 The borderline leader: when brilliance and psychopathology coexist
- 7 Trouble at the top: high-toxicity implications of a leader with antisocial personality disorder
- 8 Histrionic leadership: the allure of the toxic leader in a volatile industry
- 9 The outer limits of toxic organizational behavior: corporate trauma in the form of disturbed leadership
- 10 Destructive leaders and dysfunctional organizations: tearing downs the walls of professional greed, hubris, toxic genius and psychopathology
- References
- Index
Summary
If psychopathic individuals are consciously aware of their heightened sense of boredom when compared with others, they render it acceptable by redefining it as a superior attribute of their personality. Others may be characterized by them as leading sedentary or mundane lives, yet their benchmark is always risk taking through overt behavior, rather than satisfaction through emotional experiences within themselves and with others.
(Meloy, 1992, p. 111)A COMPANY FACED WITH AN ABUSIVE LEADER
In this chapter a company finds itself on the couch when it discovers that a high-ranking leader may be suffering from a psychological disorder that is having serious consequences for its workforce. At stake is the need to enhance organizational readiness for dealing with dysfunctional behavior centered in a strong but abusive leader. Of particular concern is the plight of the company faced with physical and emotional assaults on employees rationalized by a leader who contends that he is driving lazy workers toward new levels of motivation and productivity. Despite his many achievements, awards and accolades, the Senior Manager of Operations has also been degrading and “manhandling” employees in a series of physical and verbal altercations that have resulted in grievances and pending litigation.
Particularly troublesome have been the shortcomings of the company's internal experts in addressing the problem with leadership. Following a prolonged and destructive delay marked by an assumption that “the conflicts were quite normal and could be worked out with patience and TLC,” verbal confrontation escalated into physical violence.
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- Information
- Destructive Leaders and Dysfunctional OrganizationsA Therapeutic Approach, pp. 132 - 155Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2009