Independent Case Investigation completed as part of Dr. Brown's Industrial-Organizational Psychology Lab at the University of Arizona.

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Who has never heard anything about leadership? This concept appears almost everywhere: in the classroom, on TV program, in reviews, in books, etc. However, who really knows about the real nature of leadership? Most of you might have a good image of it in mind. However, the reality is far different. How many of you have ever listened to stories whereby people were stressed or were depressive due to their job? In this thesis, we will expose how the business environment is "contaminated" by leaders presenting toxic behaviours. Once toxic behaviours occur in the company, the entire system becomes "alienated", its welfare is undermined. Leaders, in our view, act like snakes which, with its venom contaminate, step by step, their environment. The best way to erase toxins, in such surrounding is to be first aware of its root. For knowing this issue, please, attach your belt, the travel will start …

This thesis is focused on an analysis of the working atmosphere in one international company which is producing and distributing fuel cards and registering trucks to different European toll systems. The aim is to analyze the influence of a toxic person on the people around him/ her and the working atmosphere in general. This thesis consists of two parts: theoretical and practical. The first part deals with the theoretical basis of the topic including toxic leadership in general, toxic working place, health reasons for such destructive behavior, different types of toxic behavior, and the influence of a toxic person on people around him/her. These points form the basis of the practical aspect of the thesis which focuses on a case study of toxic leadership behavior in the fuel cards company mentioned above. I conclude that a toxic leader can have a profound impact on the workplace environment, in particular employee rotation.

Bullying and toxic leadership in the U. S. Army disrupt bonding processes between leaders and subordinates, which may jeopardize military operations, threaten resiliency initiatives, inhibit leader development, and stifle innovation. Little research, however, has looked at the role of informal leaders who operate outside the formal power structure in military environments. Using social exchange theory as the foundation, the purpose of this case study was to explore the activities of informal leaders who mediated the normal and disrupted leadership bonding processes in an Illinois Army National Guard Infantry Brigade. The research questions explored the informal leaders' influence and behaviors to gain a greater understanding of the bonding processes. A maximum variation purposeful sampling was used to select 25 informal leaders from 8 company size units in an Illinois Army National Guard Infantry Brigade. Publicly available archival data were also considered. All data were coded inductively and then subjected to Braun and Clark's thematic analysis procedure, revealing the perception that informal leaders improved bonding between soldiers and leaders and reduced stress associated with military service. The implications for positive social change include recommendations to the Illinois National Guard to provide support for using informal leaders as a mechanism to promote more cohesive relationships between leaders and subordinates and to explore the use of informal leadership to reduce stress.

The existing quantitative literature on toxic leadership in the military has primarily explored negative outcomes, gendered military experience, and toxic leadership separately; however, relatively few studies have included all 3. The unidentified connection was critical in determining how toxic leadership varied and left a gap for further research to be conducted from a qualitative, phenomenological perspective. Therefore, this study addressed the manner in which encounters with toxic leadership differed across gender and military rank according to those experiencing it. Using a convenience sampling method, data were gathered through semi structured interviews with 12 Army veterans. Thematic analysis of the data revealed 63 meaningful statements and 3 emergent themes. Results affirmed that for both men and women, the higher the rank the more exposure to toxic leadership they encountered. Results also introduced race as a key factor for both genders because it was reported as the leading cause of participants' toxic encounters across rank and gender. The findings of this study also suggested that females were more susceptible to negative mental health outcomes after toxic leadership exposure versus their male counterparts. The results of this study contribute to positive social change by providing a thorough understanding of the qualities characteristic of experiences with toxic leadership to clarify the specific ways in which toxic leadership leads to negative outcomes. Results from this study will be useful for practitioners, military officials, and researchers seeking to better understand the leadership needs of contemporary military personnel.

This study aimed to investigate, analyze, and illuminate the perception and experiences of elite male handball players on toxic leadership in sports. The sport handball was chosen as a study object with a phenomenological approach. 9 individual interviews were conducted with 9 different elite male handball players who play in 9 different clubs in Handbollsligan, the top male division in Sweden. The chosen leadership theory was the toxic triangle theory, which entails that there need to be three different dimensions to toxic leadership: the destructive leader, the susceptible followers, and the conducive environment.  The results show that players have experienced toxic leadership. Three different aspects of toxic leadership were found and analyzed in this study. Firstly, destructive leaders exhibit abusive behavior, striving for personal power and manipulating other people within the organization. Secondly, players/followers who obey and conform to the leaders’ actions, experience negative emotions like anxiety, worry, and loss of self-esteem. Thirdly, the conducive environment that enables the leader’s destructive behavior has been discovered to be isolated, had a lack of communication, and was under the total rule of the destructive leader. In summary, this foretells the experiences of elite male handball players with toxic leadership.

Relationships are so entrenched in the social interaction between individuals that most people do not pay attention to them until they experience trouble in their relationship. Humans create new relationships and end old ones all the time in conscious and unconscious processes. This thesis will give a theoretical and practical overview to reveal the process of social interaction which shapes relationships between a leader and a follower. We focus on the necessary components as well as on the process in which the relationship is built. We approach the process of social interaction from both the side of the leader and the side of the follower to create a balanced picture that will provide systematic explanation of this complicated and multidimensional phenomenon. The primary focus of this thesis will be on the origin and development of an authentic, healthy relationship between a leader and a follower.

In the following essay, we examine how recruitment consultants avoid and prevent recruiting toxic leadership. To investigate this topic, a qualitative study was applied, where five recruitment consultants were interviewed in order to tell us about their experiences on the subject. These experiences were discussed and we noted that it is in certain parts of the recruitment process, where characteristics and behaviours are being dealt with, that are essential for our recruitment consultants to help them avoid toxic leadership. We compiled the empirical material in tables and could establish that some traits and behaviours that were repeated during the interviews are linked to toxic leadership. For example, when leaders are outspoken, mean and unsympathetic. These characteristics and behaviours can be distinguished by the recruitment consultants during the parts of the recruitment process called interviews, reference taking and testing. Furthermore, we discuss the recruitment consultants' perception regarding whether a leader is toxic or whether something toxic can be created depending on the context. From this discussion, we conclude that recruiters in the recruitment process find it easier to avoid something that is toxic rather than something that could possibly be toxic.

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