**3. Behaviors and qualities that make a leader toxic**

Once we are able to define and distinguish the construct of toxic leadership, our wary minds would ask for the behaviors and qualities of toxic leaders. There is overlap of the bad qualities in toxic leadership from various dark leaderships. Even though most of the behaviours hold true to a toxic leader as well, but an exception that they are excellent masquerades which shadows their ill intentions beautifully. A wolf in sheep's clothing, one may find him extremely helpful who, charmingly contravenes basic standards of human rights by consciously reframing toxic agendas as noble endeavors.

While you comprehend these traits of toxic leaders, you will be definitely able to mirror few reasons behind your stressful work life. As recently suggested by Work Life consulting survey [2], 73% employees agree to having worked under a toxic boss leading to a traumatic work experience. Toxic leaders like to be aggressive toward their subordinates, be critical of them, blame them and try to intimidate them. Their actions are always dedicated to personal interest. They never renounce promoting self over the vision, mission of the organization and, worst of all, the interest of followers. Toxic leadership is evident when leaders demonstrate aggression toward their employees' personalities and abilities [18]. A leader is considered toxic if he/she creates serious long-term harm to their employees [19].

Unfortunately, some leaders allow their current moods to create the climate of their organization, as illustrated in Green's study [20]. Common characteristics found amongst such leaders include, but are not limited to, ethical failure, incompetence and neurosis. Furthermore, Mahlangu (as cited in Sasso [21] stated that there is a plethora of negative effects that toxic leadership has on teaching as well as learning in schools. These include intolerable working relationships amongst stakeholders, which in turn produced a multitude of negative effects.

Lipman-Blumen [12] analyzed toxic leadership as having serious outcomes in the long run rather than in the short term. Their strong personality may mask their deliberate ill intentions in the short term but have detrimental after-effects on individual and organization in the long run. Identifying a toxic leader is not a cake walk. One must evaluate the consequences, rather than the transitional effects of the leader's influence on the follower. Recent studies by Mehta

An extensive literature available does not put toxic leadership in the normal category of impaired mental health, evil intentions or casual mismanagement. However, it could be construed as maliciously intended leadership behaviors that spitefully burn down efficiency and

Our empirically doctoral research on the dimensions of toxic leadership in Indian IT professionals deciphered the construct as a multidimensional construct. It could be described as "those narcissist, self-promoting leaders who by their derisive supervision, managerial incompetency and erratic behaviors intentionally tend to erode their self-esteem, burn out their employees, breed counterproductive performing subordinates and future overbearing bosses." Toxic leaders' authoritative and abusive methods not only present long-term risk for

Once we are able to define and distinguish the construct of toxic leadership, our wary minds would ask for the behaviors and qualities of toxic leaders. There is overlap of the bad qualities in toxic leadership from various dark leaderships. Even though most of the behaviours hold true to a toxic leader as well, but an exception that they are excellent masquerades which shadows their ill intentions beautifully. A wolf in sheep's clothing, one may find him extremely helpful who, charmingly contravenes basic standards of human rights by consciously refram-

While you comprehend these traits of toxic leaders, you will be definitely able to mirror few reasons behind your stressful work life. As recently suggested by Work Life consulting survey [2], 73% employees agree to having worked under a toxic boss leading to a traumatic work experience. Toxic leaders like to be aggressive toward their subordinates, be critical of them, blame them and try to intimidate them. Their actions are always dedicated to personal interest. They never renounce promoting self over the vision, mission of the organization and, worst of all, the interest of followers. Toxic leadership is evident when leaders demonstrate aggression toward their employees' personalities and abilities [18]. A leader is considered

Unfortunately, some leaders allow their current moods to create the climate of their organization, as illustrated in Green's study [20]. Common characteristics found amongst such leaders include, but are not limited to, ethical failure, incompetence and neurosis. Furthermore, Mahlangu (as cited in Sasso [21] stated that there is a plethora of negative effects that toxic

and Maheshwari [16] and Singh et al. [17] also reaffirm these thoughts.

the organization but also trickledown to the society and the nation.

toxic if he/she creates serious long-term harm to their employees [19].

**3. Behaviors and qualities that make a leader toxic**

enthusiasm of the subordinate in inevitable ways.

150 Dark Sides of Organizational Behavior and Leadership

ing toxic agendas as noble endeavors.

While contrasting old and new leadership, Green [22] emphasized the transition of effective leadership from a reliance on power to a reliance on trust. Without risk, learning cannot happen. Without trust, risks become a rarity. Toxic leaders can be self-destructive sometimes because they lack interpersonal skills and emotional intelligence. Believe it or not, they are hoarders as well. They dig out information, resources and tasks to their subordinates in order to maintain tight-fisted control on them. Their modus operandi is culture of fear. The subordinates are threatened with negative consequences which seems interesting sometimes as a direct and easy technique to achieve the task but infuse toxicity to the organizational climate.

Authoritarianism is the favorite terminology in a toxic leaders' dictionary. They do not care about the learning of a subordinate or team building, instead at every given opportunity, they denigrate them and act as if the subordinate is disposable and nothing more than a tool for them to use. Forget about the subordinate's view point, even their agreement to official decisions has also no relevance as they are bound to follow a toxic leader's decision. They like to micro-manage.

Kellerman [5] in his study placed the bad leader's behavior on a band ranging from ineffective/incompetent to unethical/evil. When they embrace authority, toxic leaders—those who enjoy bullying others with their abusive behaviors and command total control—can be distinctly effective. However, regardless of some short-term benefits, toxic leaders bear out to be highly malicious and jeopardize the organizational success and sustainability, reveal many latest researches.

A toxic leader appears like a negative ninja who finds pleasure in turning every other thing and situations to a negative one. Such leaders are always finding ways to inflate the dark aspect of any situation or project, dragging down the morale and enthusiasm of their subordinates. For them counterproductive performance holds even greater credence than other positive performance while rating their overall performance.

One of the most damaging types of abuse is the marginalization of employees over non-merit factors or feelings of jealousy for those who have developed more advanced levels of critical thinking, and are viewed as threats to those in current leadership positions. "If work is perceived as a zero-sum game of winners and losers, then toxic leadership is a sensible strategy for presenting oneself as a winner," states Kenneth Matos, the vice president of research for Life Meets Work. "However, if an organization depends on long-term collaborative work to succeed, toxicity advances the leader at the expense of the organization."
