Toxic leaders are a serious problem, but shockingly, there is no standard detection tool that is both efficient and accurate. Compounding the problem are the various definitions and descriptions used to operationalize toxic leadership. This research sought to align the literature, offer a concise definition, and assess the domains indicative of toxic leadership through two conceptually compatible studies. Study 1 involved development of a toxic leader threat detection scale. Results using a variable-centered approach indicated that follower perceptions (n = 357) of leader empathy (4-item scale; α = .93) and the need for achievement recognition (4-item scale; α = .83) significantly predicted the egoistic dominance behaviors (5-item scale; α = .93) employed by toxic leaders (R2 = .647, p < .001). Using a person-centered approach, the scale scores also revealed latent clusters of distinct behavioral patterns, representing significantly different toxic leader threat levels (low, medium, and high). Study 2 assessed whether followers (n = 357), without access to behavioral information, would infer toxic characteristics simply from a leader’s physical appearance. Participants perceived images of male leaders (η2 = .131) with masculine facial structures (η2 = .596) as most likely to behave aggressively, while feminine facial structures (η2 = .400) and female images (η2 = .104) created the highest perceptions of empathy. The subjects also selected male leaders with masculine faces (η2 = .044; η2 = .015) as more likely to desire recognition, but with an inverse relationship (η2 = .073) such that feminine looking males earned the lowest scores. Overall, these results supported the idea that empathy and the need for achievement recognition create an “ego gone wild” condition and, not only can we measure the behavioral tendencies of toxic leaders, but perhaps we can “see” them as well.

A snapshot of the current state of the business world is given, followed by the proposition that people are the root cause of the problems therein. Mutual influence between individual and organisation is depicted. The corporate psychopath is identified as being especially problematic. Therefore measures to prevent the recruitment of psychopaths into organisations will be studied. The objectives of this research report are: • To establish whether South African organisations are aware of the problems caused by psychopaths. • To establish what screening processes are in place in South African organisations to identify psychopaths. • To suggest additional measures that would prevent the recruitment of psychopaths into organisations.

The aim of this thesis is to study trust in military leaders. Empirical data was gathered through interviews and questionnaires with military personnel mostly from Sweden, but also from four other European countries. Paper I illustrates that trust in military leaders can be theoretically understood in terms of a hierarchical system of categories, higher-level categories and two superior categories labelled Individual-related and Communication- and relationship-related characteristics. Paper II examines how trust between military leaders and their subordinates is related to negative critical incidents in international operations. The results show that trust can be affected by pre-existing influences, of both an individual and contextual nature. The level of trust that develops between leaders and subordinates appears to have an influence on perceptions and re-evaluations of leaders’ trustworthiness during and after involvement in critical incidents. In Paper III, an instrument, Destrudo-L, was developed to measure destructive leadership behaviours on five different dimensions: Arrogant, unfair, Threats, punishments, overdemands, Ego-oriented, false, Passive, cowardly, and Uncertain, unclear, messy. In Paper IV the relationship between constructive and destructive leadership behaviours and trust is examined. The results show that constructive leadership contributed most to trust in the immediate supervisor. A great deal of trust in immediate supervisors can be understood by evaluating both constructive and destructive leadership behaviours. This thesis contributes with context-specific knowledge on trust in leaders in a military context and knowledge of psychological processes and individual dispositions that shape and change the willingness to trust leaders. The main findings presented in this thesis are the identification of characteristics of the trustor, the trustee, and the context which influences trust in military leaders.

A snapshot of the current state of the business world is given, followed by the proposition that people are the root cause of the problems therein. Mutual influence between individual and organisation is depicted. The corporate psychopath is identified as being especially problematic. Therefore measures to prevent the recruitment of psychopaths into organisations will be studied. The objectives of this research report are: • To establish whether South African organisations are aware of the problems caused by psychopaths. • To establish what screening processes are in place in South African organisations to identify psychopaths. • To suggest additional measures that would prevent the recruitment of psychopaths into organisations.

Purpose: The purpose with this study is to find out and understand whether athlete's performance can be affected by destructive leadership in sports organizations, then weigh this together with theory. This is a try to contribute to the discourse on destructive leadership.   Method: This study is performed using a qualitative approach in the form of semi-structured interviews in which the interviewees are selected through a convenience sampling.   Theoretical framework: This investigation’s theoretical framework consists of theories dealing with leadership, leadership in sports organizations, power, destructive leadership, how destructive leadership can be positive and how it can be negative.    Empiricism: This investigation’s empiricism consists of 17 interviews with athletes who have experienced a destructive leader in sports organizations.  Conclusion: All athletes could express a negative influence on performance from destructive leadership, but the majority who expressed a positive influence expressed that it was a kind of fear, pressure or anger among the athletes that made the athletes perform better as the motivation and the desire to disprove the leader increased. How the destructive leader influence the athlete may depend on the athlete's personality and attitude. It is possible to discern in this study that athletes look, feel and respond differently to a destructive leadership, which can determine the positive and/or negative effects.

Målet med dette arbeidet er å få kunnskaper om lederes mobbing, relatere det til konseptet destruktiv ledelse, og undersøke hvilken betydning makt og verdier kan ha i denne prosessen. Hensikten er å bruke kunnskapen til å bekjempe mobbing. Metode: Dette er en litteraturstudie med et systemteoretisk perspektiv. Mobbingen blir sett på som en dynamisk prosess med interaksjon mellom lederen som mobber, mobbeofferet, arbeidsgruppen og organisasjonen, hvor de alle inngår i et flerdimensjonalt system. Det er lagt stor vekt på å presisere begrepene. Resultater: Det er funnetgode holdepunkter for å hevde at ledere som mobber utøveren meget skadelig form for ledelse. I denne prosessen som har en tendens til å eskalere over tid, spiller makt og verdier en viktig rolle. Ledere med en psykopatisk personlighet kan praktisere ledelse på en måte som får store negative konsekvenser for organisasjonen og de ansatte, og slike personer har en tendens til å misbruke makt. De kan likevel bli ansatt som ledere fordi de har egenskaper som organisasjonen søker og setter pris på. Det er ikke enighet om at mobbing er en uetisk handling. Litteraturen viser at enkelte ledere bruker mobbing strategisk for å oppnå egne fordeler, eller for kontrollere eller straffe de ansatte. Mobbing kan inngå i en bevisst ”organisasjonspolitikk” som blir aksepterti visse organisasjoner. Bedriftsetikk ser i mange sammenhenger ut til å være et begrep uten forpliktende innhold. Det er undersøkt hvordan begrepene managementideologi, instrumentell rasjonalitet og paradokser kan påvirkelederes mobbing. Managementideologien som gjennomsyrer synet på ledelse i store deler av samfunnet, i offentlige organisasjoner i form av New Public Management, er preget av instrumentelle verdier og en utilitaristisk etikk. Dette kan stå i motsetning til den grunnleggende respekt for mennesket som er et fundament i Emmanuel Kants etikk. Konklusjon:Studiet viser atlederes mobbingav ansatte er et meget utbredt og alvorlig problem som er svært ødeleggende for personer og organisasjoner. Det er dermed et betydelig folkehelseproblem. / Objectives: This study aimed to gain insight into the process of leaders bullying their subordinates, relate it to the concept of destructive leadership, and examinethe role of power and values in this process. The overall aim was to provide knowledge about how toreduce bullying. Method: This literature study looked at workplace bullying from the perspective of systems theory. Bullying is seen as a dynamic process characterized by interactions between the perpetrator, the victim, the workgroup, and the organization. The author has given priority toprecision of concept definitions. Results: The literature suggests that leaders who bully practicea very destructive form of leadership. Powerand values play an important rolein the bullying process, which tends to escalate over time.Leaders with a psychopathic personality practicea leadership style that may have serious negative consequences for the organization and its employees. Although psychopathic leaders often misuse power they may retain their leadership role because they seem to have personality traits the organization seeks and appreciates. Interestingly, the author found no agreement about bullying being an immoral act. The literature shows that some leaders use bullying strategically for personal gain or to control or punish employees. Bullying may be part of the organization politics accepted by some organizations,and business ethics often sees to be a concept without areal obligation. An overview discusse show the concepts of management ideology, instrumental rationality and paradoxes may affect leaders ́bullying and harassment. Instrumental values and utilitarian ethics dominate the management ideology that strongly influences leadership in a large part of society, and in public organizations such as New Public Management.This is often in opposition to the fundamental respect for the person that is central to the ethics of Emmanuel Kant. Conclusions: This study shows thatorganization leaders who bully their subordinates representa large and serious problem, with very destructive consequences for persons and organizations. Bullying is thus an important public health problem / <p>ISBN 978-91-86739-83-6</p>

Undesirable leadership behaviours such as workplace bullying, destructive or toxic leadership are reportedly on the increase with negative effects on both the well-being of employees and the organisation (Salin, 2003). Since there is limited empirical evidence regarding the relationship between destructive leadership and psychological distress, the purpose of this study was to determine whether such a relationship exists among employees in South African organisations. Furthermore, the study intended to investigate whether gender has a moderating effect on this relationship. Destructive leadership behaviour is defined as the systematic and repeated behaviour by a leader, supervisor or manager that violates the legitimate interest of the organisation by undermining and/or sabotaging the organisation's goals, tasks, resources, and effectiveness and/or the motivation, well-being or job satisfaction of his/her subordinates (Einarsen, Aasland & Skogstad, 2007). With a sample (n = 200) of South African employees, the study adopted a correlational design and used the Destructive Leadership Behaviour Scale developed by Aasland, Skogstad and Einarsen (2008) as well as the Hopkins Symptoms Checklist-45 developed by Derogatis, Lipman, Richels, Uhlenhuth and Covi (1974) to assess the relationship between destructive leadership behaviour and psychological distress as well as the moderating effect of gender. The results indicated that two of the six hypotheses were accepted. H2, there is a relationship between overall destructive leadership and psychological distress, has been accepted. Furthermore H5, there is a significant correlation between the participants’ overall destructive leadership scores and overall psychological distress, was also accepted. Finally H6, gender has a moderating effect on the relationship between participants overall destructive leadership scores and overall psychological distress scores, was rejected. / Dissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / gm2014 / Human Resource Management / unrestricted

Fenomenet ledarskap har sedan länge intresserat forskare från en mängd olika discipliner. Främst har fokus varit på att finna ett allmängiltigt normerande grundrecept utifrån rationella ansatser. Trots en stor mängd vetenskapliga studier, främst baserade på kvantitativt underlag, återstår frågor av mellanmänsklig natur. I sökandet efter det goda och konstruktiva ledarskapet har forskningen den senaste tiden allt mer intresserat sig för fenomenet tillit. Den här studien syftar till att skapa en djupare förståelse för faktorer som bidrar med tillit i ledarskaps sammanhang. I synnerhet berör frågeställningarna vilka faktorer som påverkar tillit i ledarskapet och i organisationer. Främst används beteendeperspektiv som förklaringsmodell. Som underlag för vidare antaganden tolkas empiri från intervjuer. Studien påvisar flera samband mellan redovisade teorier och empiri. Men det finns också flera diskrepanser. Resultatet anger att ett antal faktorer främjar tillit mellan chef och medarbetare. Dialog och återkoppling framträder exempelvis som två viktiga faktorer. Omvänt påverkar s.k. låt-gå ledarskap eller icke-ledarskap medarbetarna och effekten destruktivt. Det framhålls också betydelsen av att organisationen signalerar en tillåtande kultur, att det är tillåtet att göra misstag. Samt att den enskilda chefen har förmåga att skydda medarbetaren från negativ respons. Vidare konstateras också att de vedertagna normativa och rationellt välregisserade teorierna ofta skiljer sig från de tillfrågades mer turbulenta realitet. I intervjuerna framkommer ett samstämmigt behov av att chefer skall tillföra struktur och spelregler. Den kontext som presenteras i studien antas begränsa chefers handlingsförmåga att praktisera de välbeforskade kvantitativa teorierna. Studien påvisar också att konsekvensbedömningar av förväntad respons påverkar medarbetares initiativ. Det är i överenstämmelse med teorin, men där är perspektivet ofta inriktat på relationen chef och medarbetare. Studien indikerar istället att det framförallt är konsekvensbedömningar gentemot kollegor som styr medarbetarnas beteende. Sammantaget påvisar studien att tillit ären viktig faktor i det goda ledarskapet, om än inte den allena saliggörande. Snarare än att vara en enskild agens är tillit en del av en syntes. Utifrån studiens utfall rekommenderas att ytterligare underlag samlas in kring chefers verklighet, för att närmare förstå hur de vedertagnateorierna kan användas praktiskt. Vidare förordas ytterligare undersökningar gällande kollegors inverkan på tillit och beteende. / The phenomenon “leadership” has interested researchers from a variety of disciplines for a long time. The main focus has been on finding a normative and universal formula based on rational approaches. Despite a large number of scientific studies, mainly based on quantitative data, questions about the impact of interpersonal relations remain. In the search for the good and constructive leadership, research has recently become increasingly interested in the phenomenon “trust”. This study aims to create a deeper understanding of factors that contribute to trust in a leadership context. In particular issues concerning which factors that affect trust in organizations and in leadership. Behavioral perspectives are mainly used as the explanatory model. As a basis for further assumptions empirical data from interviews are interpreted. The study demonstrates several connections between theories and empirical data. But there are also several discrepancies. The results indicate that a number of factors promote trust between manager and employees, e.g. dialogue and feedback appear to be important. Conversely, “laissez-faire” or “non-leadership” impact employees and organizational effect in a destructive way. The importance of the organization signaling a tolerant culture is also emphasized, that it is permissible to make mistakes. It’s also vital that managers have the ability to protect the employee from negative feedback. Furthermore, it is also stated that the most common normative and rational theories often differ from the more turbulent reality of the respondents. The results also show that there is a need from managers to add structure and rules within the organizations. The context presented in the study is assumed to affect managers' ability to practice the well-researched quantitative theories. The study also shows that consequence assessments of expected response affects initiatives. This is in line with theory, but the perspective is usually focused on the relationship between manager and employee. Instead, the study indicates that it is primarily impact assessments between colleagues that govern employees' behavior. In summary, the study shows that trust is an important factor in constructive leadership, although not the only prevailing one. Rather than being a single agent, trust is a part of a synthesis. Based on the results of the study, it is recommended that further data is collected regarding managers' reality, in order to better understand how the well researched quantitative theories can be used in practice. Furthermore, more studies of how colleagues impact trust and behavior are advocated, in order to verify the interpretations.

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.

The aim of this thesis is to study trust in military leaders. Empirical data was gathered through interviews and questionnaires with military personnel mostly from Sweden, but also from four other European countries. Paper I illustrates that trust in military leaders can be theoretically understood in terms of a hierarchical system of categories, higher-level categories and two superior categories labelled Individual-related and Communication- and relationship-related characteristics. Paper II examines how trust between military leaders and their subordinates is related to negative critical incidents in international operations. The results show that trust can be affected by pre-existing influences, of both an individual and contextual nature. The level of trust that develops between leaders and subordinates appears to have an influence on perceptions and re-evaluations of leaders’ trustworthiness during and after involvement in critical incidents. In Paper III, an instrument, Destrudo-L, was developed to measure destructive leadership behaviours on five different dimensions: Arrogant, unfair, Threats, punishments, overdemands, Ego-oriented, false, Passive, cowardly, and Uncertain, unclear, messy. In Paper IV the relationship between constructive and destructive leadership behaviours and trust is examined. The results show that constructive leadership contributed most to trust in the immediate supervisor. A great deal of trust in immediate supervisors can be understood by evaluating both constructive and destructive leadership behaviours. This thesis contributes with context-specific knowledge on trust in leaders in a military context and knowledge of psychological processes and individual dispositions that shape and change the willingness to trust leaders. The main findings presented in this thesis are the identification of characteristics of the trustor, the trustee, and the context which influences trust in military leaders. / Armed forces often perform tasks in life or death situations, bringing the issue of trust in military leaders to a head. Dependence on and trust in military leaders entails considerable risk, as any mistakes made by the leader may result in serious injury or death. Obeying orders is an essential aspect of the military profession and trust is critical since individuals are expected to give up their right to self-determination and follow orders (i.e. trust the leader). Refusal not only puts the individual soldier at risk, but also his or her team members and leaders. The hierarchical military system puts subordinates in a vulnerable position in relation to the leader. The aim of this thesis is to study trust in military leaders. Empirical data was gathered through interviews and questionnaires with military personnel mostly from Sweden, but also from four other European countries. This thesis contributes with context-specific knowledge on trust in leaders in a military context and knowledge on psychological processes and individual dispositions that shape and change the willingness to trust leaders. The main findings presented in this thesis are the identification of characteristics of the trustor, the trustee, and the context which influences trust in military leaders. / <p>Avhandlingen skrevs i samarbete med Försvarshögskolan i Stockholm i ämnet Ledarskap under påfrestande förhållanden</p>