**8. Detoxifying the leaders**

After such a fascinating journey of whereabouts of toxic leadership it would be unjustified if we do not dedicate some time and literature to get an antidote for such venoms. Now you will not get any brownie points to guesstimate the severity of the toxic behavior on the employee and organization. In order to combat such a lethal form of leadership, organizations need to first come to standings with and accept that it exists and that there could be a problem from within. "Once the light is shined on it, people can begin to talk about it. No one wants the badge of toxic leader" [15].

**Hubris**: Hubris are people with excessive pride and self-confidence who socially play on impression management. In a leadership position, they are likely to project power, strength and authority in difficult situations, stimulating confidence amongst their group and peers. Indeed, hubristic leaders are more confident and committed in their tasks, support innovation

**Social dominance:** The literature reveals that the people who get high scores on ratings of dominance are the most preferred and suited for the authority and leadership positions. They display a strong desire for achievement and control [40], making them attractive to enthusi-

While discussing the dark side of leadership, a prominent fact that could not be ignored was that the so-called "bright side" can also have damaging outcomes for organizations and sub-

To discuss a few, highly **conscientious** leaders tend to be disciplined, cautious, inflexible, highly critical of subordinate performances and analytical, and therefore often resist any change or innovation and avoid taking risks [10]. This sometimes results in poor organizational performance, missing the apt opportunities and failure to make the best use of organizational resources.

The bright trait of **core self-evaluation (CSE)** capture one's fundamental judgments about his potential and functioning in the world; extremely positive self-views can have the same

Extraverted leaders are bold and quick decision-makers, so may be less expected to implore input from subordinates and peers. This aggressiveness often alienates the group members

The leaders with high degree of **emotional stability and agreeableness** are often lenient in their team handling and performance evaluation. In order to minimize the conflicts in the

The **charismatic** leaders, through their excellent skill of public speaking, inspire unconditional devotion from followers even in radical situations. It is evident in the literature and the society around that in some bizarre cases, especially persuasive charismatic leaders misuse their interpersonal power for personal gain and exploit followers who are vulnerable to their

Instances of such deviant behavior are termed as personalized "dark side" of charismatic

These findings from the literature strike a chord that both "bright side" and "dark side" traits can have positive or negative effects on individuals and the organization depending on the

After such a fascinating journey of whereabouts of toxic leadership it would be unjustified if we do not dedicate some time and literature to get an antidote for such venoms. Now you will

[39] and test the limits of their organization's productive capacity.

adverse effects associated with narcissism and hubris [42].

interest of their peers their decisions are often skewed [43].

situation and the individual's levels of the various traits.

astic followers.

ordinates when taken to the extreme.

158 Dark Sides of Organizational Behavior and Leadership

who deserve the credit and attention [10].

manipulative appeal.

leadership [44, 45].

**8. Detoxifying the leaders**

It is premature recognition in leader's career also shrink the probability of building severe toxic behaviors later. As said "prevention is better than cure," if diagnosed at right time the treatment becomes easier.

The subordinates working closely with the leader may prove to be the best judge and identifier of the toxic behavior in the leader. Thus, a 360° performance and personality evaluation of such leaders is asked for by the executive mentors. They should minutely monitor and ensure that a toxic leaders' interaction with subordinates garner a healthy work environment. Also, welcoming and hassle free complaint windows and whistle blowing should be encouraged for any wrong doing in the organization. Once toxic leadership behaviors have been exposed, recognized and appropriate action taken within the organization, such lessons learned can become an integral part of the selection or promotion process for future leaders.

Prof. Lipman suggested for creation of enriched organizational and personal policies to regulate the risk and brunt of toxic leadership. On a personal front, someone experiencing toxicity should endeavor to not lose calm, distillate oneself from such filthy environment, concentrating more on their own assigned tasks, creating a coalition and evading solo confrontations.

A pinch of advice for the guardians of the organization is to cautiously formulate checks and controls for prompt identification of toxic leadership behavior persisting in the organization. It will render them some extra time to intervene and assist in reorienting those deviant leaders. This could be as early as at time of recruitment. Few of the personality and attitude tests along with technical assessment could help better understand personality shade of the interviewee. This could save organization from future catastrophes. Even restructuring of some aspect at performance appraisal procedure could aid up to certain extents.

Sometimes such circumstances arise in organizations when a good performer is gradually exposed to a high-risk zone of emergence of toxic traits. It is a high-alert situation for the human resource manager and signal to recheck organizational policies and its implementation. History is bursting with examples of organizations perishing to their aggressive and recursive policies that concentrate only on the upsurge of financial numbers. It prompted leaders to become toxic and yield profit, as in corporate scams like those of Enron, Lehman Brothers, Bear Sterns and WorldCom. A developing economy like India too has no exceptions to corporate and government project catastrophes like that of Satyam Computer Services Ltd. and Common Wealth Games, Coalgate scams to name just a few.

Other steps to generate an antidote of toxicity are interpersonal and technical skill development training programs. HR strategies should be aimed to counter the components of "Toxic triangle" at primary level. Only fixing toxic behavior could be too meager a step to resolve the grave crisis organizations go through. Perhaps it solicits a strong dedicated group of key opinion-shapers from within the firm to confront and counsel them. Proper verbal and strict written warnings to the nuisance creators should be raised from the appropriate authorities on time.

In case organizations do not have mechanisms to monitor toxic leadership behaviors, they can seek professional intervention by external counselors for helping the victims and also reeducating the deviant leaders. Even if after multiple warnings the behavior has not changed, HR must decide what to do. If the person has skills useful to the company and is a good worker, you may consider transferring him/her out of a managerial position but keep him/her in the company. Some people just do not work well with others, but may blossom when working in a narrower sphere of interaction. The last option available with an organization, after the intervention and follow-up period, is to offer for the safe exit of the leaders responsible for spreading toxicity.

they have such strong emotion for power that their energy pull followers into their wake or

Toxic Leadership: The Most Menacing Form of Leadership

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.75462

161

Before we conclude our chapter and let you free to observe and tackle the toxicity around, it must be borne in mind that toxic leadership is enormously treacherous not only to individuals that bear the brunt of it but also to the sustainability of the affected organization. It may not directly distress you but the ashes of the fire are surely going to bother you. Thus, make efforts not to let people showing traces of toxicity or dysfunctional behavior take charge of you and contaminate the organization, the society and the nation as a whole. Percolating and growing of such weeds should not be permissible in an organization under any state of affairs. Although, our chapter tried to assist you to assimilate the construct and clear out the hazy picture of the most menacing form of leadership, that is, toxic leadership, however, scope still persists to design/develop and implement specific methods and mechanism to identify, control and even eliminate toxic leadership behavior before it becomes the new culture of the organization. The basic objective of this chapter is to amplify awareness and promote positive social change within organizations. This may encourage and assist others to lend a hand to sufferers of toxic leadership and also minimize stress on their subordinates. This eventually will endow subordinates with proficiency to counter and make a toxic leader more accountable and ethical, which might in due course reduce the prevalence of toxic leadership and increase organiza-

and Santosh Dev2

[1] Ross DB, Rande M, Julie E. Servant leadership to toxic leadership: Power of influence over power of control. Fischler College of Education: Faculty Presentations; 2014. p. 244

[2] Detoxifying your Culture and Encouraging More Mindful Leadership [Internet]. Life meets work. 2017. Available from: https://www.lifemeetswork.com/insights-archive/

[3] Patty A. One in five bosses is a psychopath. The Sydney morning herald [Internet]. 2016. [cited 10 January, 2018]. Available from: http://www.smh.com.au/business/workplacerelations/one-in-five-bosses-is-a psychopath-research-reveals-20160913-greyg6.html

2 Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Jaypee Institute of Information

because they manage to fool people.

tional success and well-being.

\*, Santoshi Sengupta2

1 Jaypee Business School, JIIT, Noida, India

\*Address all correspondence to: nivedita.sh10@gmail.com

**Author details**

Nivedita Singh1

**References**

Technology, Noida, India

toxic-leadership

Once you have addressed your current toxic managers, you have to make sure that much do not spring up in future. To begin with, make sure job descriptions include treating employees in a gracious and appropriate manner. Clearly define the behaviors that will not be tolerated and hold them accountable for turnover. Vigilant monitoring and effective policies can alone eliminate huge percentage of the risk of toxicity development in an organization.
