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 …

Toxiska ledare är sådana som, genom avsiktliga negativa handlingar, främst för att gynna sinaegenintressen, har negativ påverkan på organisationen de arbetar på och organisationensanställda. Tidigare studier har fokuserat på länder med en ledarstil som skiljer sig mycket fråndet som finns i Sverige.Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka vilken inverkan toxiska ledare har på sina anställda och för att identifiera orsakerna bakom en ledares toxiska ledarskap i Sverige. Detta för att belysa effekten som toxiska ledare har på sina anställda och för att öka förståelsen kring ämnet. Studien använde en induktiv kvalitativ metod, bestående av sju semistrukturerade intervjuer med fackliga företrädare och experter inom ledarskap och kommunikation för attuppfylla studiens syfte. Efter genomförandet av intervjuerna applicerades Maslows behovshierarki för att analyserahur det toxiska ledarskapet påverkar individen. Efter det tillämpades social inlärningsteorin och investeringsmodellen för engagemang för att analysera de underliggande orsakerna till uppkomsten av ett toxiskt ledarskap. I studien etableras även en koppling mellan autokratiskt ledarskap och toxiskt ledarskap. Från intervjuerna identifierades det att anställda drabbas negativt av toxiskt ledarskap på fleranivåer, inklusive psykiskt, fysiskt, och socialt, vilket resulterar i minskad motivation och välbefinnande. Orsakerna till toxiskt ledarskap kunde delas in i personliga egenskaper hos chefen, såsom narcissism och maktbehov, samt externa faktorer som brist på tydlig auktoriteteller bristande resurser för att utföra ledarskapsrollen. Resultaten av studien visar att ett toxiskt ledarskap kan få förödande, och i mer extrema falllivshotande konsekvenser för organisationens anställda. Dessa konsekvenser sträcker sig från mindre allvarliga, som minskning av kommuniktation mellan anställda på arbetsplatsen och minskad produktivitet, till mer allvarliga konsekvenser som att anställda utvecklar depressionoch begår självmord. Dessutom visar resultaten att en ledare kan utveckla ett toxiskt ledarskappå grund av aspekter i sin personlighet, såsom narcissistiska tendenser eller på grund av yttrefaktorer, såsom brist på resurser och kunskap. / Toxic leaders are those who, through intentional negative actions, primarily to benefit their own interests, negatively impact the organization they work for and the organization's employees. Previous studies have focused on countries with a leadership style vastly different from the one found in Sweden. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact which toxic leaders have on their employees as well as identifying the causes behind a leader's toxic leadership in Sweden. The study used a qualitative method consisting of seven interviews with union representatives and experts in leadership and communication to fulfil the study’s purpose. The results of the study show that a toxic leadership can have devastating, and in more extreme cases life threatening, consequences on the organisation’s employees. These consequences range from less severe ones such as a decrease in casual conversations between employees at the workplace and a loss in productivity to more severe ones such as employees developing a depression and committing suicide. Furthermore, the results show that a leader can develop a toxic leadership due to aspects of their personality such as narcissistic tendencies or because of outside factors such as a lack of resources and knowledge.

M. Tech. (Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Technology), Vaal University of Technology| / The co-existence of organic acids and toxic heavy metals in natural water creates harmful effects on human, plants and animals. Therefore, it is necessary to treat organic acids and toxic heavy metal contaminated wastewater prior to its discharge to the environment. The aim of this study was to apply co-treatment of industrial wastewater containing citric acid and toxic heavy metals in single and binary systems using photocatalysis process. The hydrothermal method was used to synthesise dandelion-like TiO2 structures. Modifications of the dandelion-like TiO2 by deposition of gold nanoparticles and immobilisation on calcium alginate were done using deposition precipitation and one-step encapsulation methods, respectively. Dandelion-like TiO2 and dandelion-like TiO2 immobilised on calcium alginate (Alg/TiO2) were used as photocatalysts for Cr(VI), Hg(II) and citric acid removal from water. The results showed that the production of dandelion-like TiO2 structures strongly depends on the reaction time and synthesis temperature as key process parameters. The characterisation of the dandelion-like TiO2 by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscope (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) revealed the crystal structure, morphology, chemical composition and surface area. It was found that the efficiency of photocatalytic process depends on the type of pollutants, initial pH of the solution, photocatalyst dosage, contact time, substrate initial concentration, UV wavelength and light intensity. The reduction efficiency of Cr(VI) ion and citric acid increased with decreasing the initial pH values and initial concentration. On the other hand, Hg(II) reduction efficiency increased with increasing the initial pH values and initial concentration. In a binary system, the reduction of Cr(VI) and Hg(II) was found to be faster than in the single and ternary systems. The relationship of the chemical reaction rate of Cr(VI), Hg(II) and citric acid were expressed by the pseudo-first-order kinetic equation. Addition of ferric ions to Cr(VI)-citric acid complex and Hg(II)-citric acid complex enhanced the reduction of Cr(VI) and Hg(II), a complete reduction was accomplished within 30 and 60 minutes (min) of irradiation time, respectively. The reduction efficiency of both Cr(VI) and Hg(II) in the presence of citric acid in a solution was still significant after four times of Alg/TiO2 reuse. These results indicated that the UV/TiO2 photocatalysis process can be considered as a suitable method to reach a complete reduction of Cr(VI) and Hg(II) in the presence of citric acid in a solution.

An Exploration of Human Resource Personnel and Toxic Leadership by Sabrina Michele Maxwell MA, Pepperdine University, 2006 MA, BIOLA University, 2003 BS, BIOLA University, 2001 Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Management Walden University May 2015 ' Toxic leaders are destructive of morale, productivity, and organizational effectiveness. Literature has reported the perspectives of followers, and sometimes how organizations address those toxic behaviors, but research has not examined the perspectives of human resource (HR) managers who must detect the existence of toxic behaviors and handle with the consequences of them. To address that gap, the purpose of this study was to determine how HR managers handle the destructive effects of toxic leaders. Schmidt's definition of toxic leadership guided this phenomenological study about the lived experiences of HR managers involving the presence of a toxic leader. The goal of this study was to discover the processes used by HR personnel to identify and manage the conflict created by the behavior of the toxic leader. With this knowledge HR may be more effective and toxicity may be managed at an earlier stage. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with 9 HR managers who reported some experience with a toxic leader and who belonged to the Professionals in Human Resource Association. The results identified a process commonly used by HR for managing conflicts created by a toxic leader, and revealed a negative impact of managing the conflict on the HR managers themselves. Positive social change may occur within organizations by applying the process outlined in this study for identifying and reducing the negative effects of toxic leaders before significant damage to people and organizations can occur.

A generic conflict model is developed to analyze international toxic waste disposal issues, and then, to provide feasible strategic resolutions for this serious environmental dispute. With the rapid growth of the global economy, toxic waste traffic from the advanced to developing nations has become a serious side effect of this globalization. The illegal transboundary movement of toxic wastes not only aggravates the burden on the poorer nations, but also negatively impacts the worldwide environment. In this thesis, the ongoing toxic waste disputes are divided into two stages consisting of the dumping prevention and dispute resolution stages. The analyses based on the methodology of Graph Model for Conflict Resolution are used in both stages in order to grasp the structure and implications of the conflict from a strategic viewpoint. The in-depth modeling of the toxic waste dumping disputes, which consist of historical and generic situations, specifies the involved parties and their options. By synthesizing the economic, political and legal factors, the relative preferences for each party can be determined. The Graphical User Interface (GUI) of the Decision Support System (DSS) GMCR II simplifies the processing of calculations. The analytical research furnishes investigators or other interested parties with possible resolutions for the disputes arising from an international waste dumping event. Sensitivity analyses are also conducted to provide a comprehensive understanding of the different situations that may occur in real-world cases. The case study of the Ivory Coast waste dumping controversy is used to demonstrate how to practically implement the generic multi-stage graph model.

A generic conflict model is developed to analyze international toxic waste disposal issues, and then, to provide feasible strategic resolutions for this serious environmental dispute. With the rapid growth of the global economy, toxic waste traffic from the advanced to developing nations has become a serious side effect of this globalization. The illegal transboundary movement of toxic wastes not only aggravates the burden on the poorer nations, but also negatively impacts the worldwide environment. In this thesis, the ongoing toxic waste disputes are divided into two stages consisting of the dumping prevention and dispute resolution stages. The analyses based on the methodology of Graph Model for Conflict Resolution are used in both stages in order to grasp the structure and implications of the conflict from a strategic viewpoint. The in-depth modeling of the toxic waste dumping disputes, which consist of historical and generic situations, specifies the involved parties and their options. By synthesizing the economic, political and legal factors, the relative preferences for each party can be determined. The Graphical User Interface (GUI) of the Decision Support System (DSS) GMCR II simplifies the processing of calculations. The analytical research furnishes investigators or other interested parties with possible resolutions for the disputes arising from an international waste dumping event. Sensitivity analyses are also conducted to provide a comprehensive understanding of the different situations that may occur in real-world cases. The case study of the Ivory Coast waste dumping controversy is used to demonstrate how to practically implement the generic multi-stage graph model.

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Författare: Frida Pettersson & Julia Norgren Datum: 2022-05-24 Nivå: Kandidatuppsats, företagsekonomi, 15 HP Handledare: Annika Schilling Examinator: Mikael Lundgren Titel: ”En så kallad sjuk organisationskultur” - En kvalitativ studie som belyser hur organisationskulturen kan ligga till grund för att människor lämnar en organisation Syfte: Studiens syfte är att klarlägga hur innehållet i en organisationskultur kan påverka människor att lämna alternativt bli uteslutna ur en organisation. Metod: Studien behandlar fenomenet organisationskultur och tog med utgångspunkt i detkomplexa ämnet avstamp i en kvalitativ studie med en abduktiv forskningsansats. Studien har också tillämpat en fallstudiedesign där semistrukturerade intervjuer och kompletterande observationer varit den datainsamlingsmetod som nyttjats. Slutsats: Studiens resultat visar på att organisationskulturen är en bidragande faktor till att människor väljer att lämna alternativt blir uteslutna ur en organisation. Studien har belyst diverse strukturer inom organisationen som alla kan benämnas som tämligen ohälsosamma när man talar om organisationskultur. Vi kan med utgångspunkt i det konstatera att den ohälsosamma organisationskultur som idag präglar arbetsplatsen har bidragit till den höga personalomsättning och således också den exkludering som kommit att karaktärisera organisationen.  Nyckelord: Ohälsosam organisationskultur, maktstrukturer, ohälsosamt ledarskap, frånvarande ledarskap, exkludering. / Authors: Frida Pettersson & Julia Norgren Date: 2022-05-24 Level: Bachelor thesis, Business administration, 15 credits Advisor: Annika Schilling Examiner: Mikael Lundgren Title: “A so-called sick organizational culture” – A qualitative study that emphasizes how the organizational culture can be the reason behind why people are leaving an organization.  Purpose: The purpose of this study is to clarify how the content of an organizational culture can affect people to leave or be excluded from an organization. Method: The study addresses the phenomenon organizational culture and on the basis of the complexity of the subject a qualitative study with an abductive research approach was chosen. The study also applied a case study design where semi-structured interviews and supplementary observations where the data collection method that was used. Conclusion: The result of the study shows that the organizational culture is a contributor to why people leave or become excluded from an organization. The study has elucidatedstructures within the organization that can all be described as rather toxic when talking about organizational culture. Based on that we can ascertain that the organizational culture thatdistinguishes the workplace today has contributed to the high staff turnover and thus also the exclusion which has come to characterize the organization. Keywords: Toxic organizational culture, power structures, toxic leadership, absent leadership,exclusion.

Toxic leaders affect nearly half of the U.S. employee base and create environments in which followers, peers, and staff might be less effective due to stress, devaluation, and potential job loss. A multiple case study approach was used to understand what coping strategies employees use to reduce the negative effects of toxic leadership on themselves, other employees, and the overall workplace; and to understand the behaviors that result from these strategies. The purposeful and snowball sample consisted of 29 participants within the United States, ages 30 to 65, who worked within two or more organizations and who either directly experienced a toxic leader or observed someone who did. The theoretical framework was based on betrayal trauma theory, conservation of resources theory, and the cognitive theory of trauma. Research questions focused on how affected employees coped during and after the toxic event and any coping differences between sample groups. Data were collected via one-on-one telephone interviews. Data were analyzed via data organization, acquaintance, classification, coding, and interpretation. The major themes that emerged were emotional reaction, coping strategies used, effects at work and home, and resulting health issues for both person and family. Seeking resource help was identified as the most effective coping strategy when dealing with a toxic leader. Toxic leadership can have lasting negative effects on both organizations and employees that can extend beyond the workplace. Organizations have an organizational and social responsibility to address toxic leader behaviors and provide resources to employees to counteract toxic leadership to create a more positive work environment where employees can find work rewarding and fulfilling.

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.