The dark side of leadership: The relationship between self management and the tendency to use derailing leadership behavior

Abstract

In recent years there has been increasing attention in the leadership and management literature to the „dark side of leadership‟, in addition to the more established areas of transformational and transactional leadership styles. Potential leadership derailers like ego-centredness, using intimidating tactics, manipulation, passive-aggressive or micromanaging behaviours, while they might achieve short term objectives, can, over time, lose the support of colleagues, subordinates and ultimately customers. Used frequently such behaviours can lead to serious problems in the workplace at the employee, team and organisational levels. This paper, part of a larger PhD study, analyses the role of leader self management in the reported tendency to demonstrate derailment behaviours in a sample of 301 managers. Significant correlations were found between measures of self management: adaptability, emotional control, desire to impress, negative affectivity, openness, stress tolerance, self awareness, self confidence and optimism, and the self-reported tendency to engage in derailing leadership behaviours