The Dark Leadership Theory

 

Prior to beginning work on this assignment, read Chapters 1 and 2 of your Meeting the Ethical Challenges of Leadership: Casting Light or Shadow course text.

Leadership is a complex topic. Up until now, the majority of your studies have focused on ethical leadership forms, but ethical leadership is only one part of a much larger leadership picture. There is also a dark side to leadership and to truly understand the ethical side of leadership, you need to understand the dark side.

In your paper,

Summarize your impressions of the different dark leadership theories.
Discuss why leaders cast shadow instead of light.
Describe ethical dilemmas that you have encountered as a leader or a follower.
Explain ways that you have resolved these dilemmas.
Explain your thoughts about this week’s reading, and what you learned that will transfer to future ethical decisions.
Describe your thoughts and observations about the moral choices made by a public figure and how these choices fit the lesson.
The Dark Leadership Theory paper

Sample Solution

The Dark Leadership Theory

The dark side of leadership is defined as “an ongoing pattern of behavior exhibited by a leader that results in overall negative organizational outcomes based on the interactions between the leader, follower and the environment,” according to a 2009 report published by leadership coaching consultant Semann & Slattery. In dark leadership, three personality traits come together in one person: narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopath. These personality traits come together often enough in leadership that it is now the focus of rigorous research. The darkness in dark leadership comes when any overused skill becomes a detractor. Also, the dark triad can progress to what is known as the dark tetrad which includes everyday sadism.

to understand what motivates each individual and implement policies to obtain maximum performance from a group. The importance of the leaders role in motivating individuals is highlighted in Herzberg’s Two Factor theory. The theory highlights factors that must be in place to avoid dissatisfaction, hygiene factors, and factors that promote satisfaction, motivation factors, shown in Figure 4 (Pettinger, 2007). Herzberg’s theory helps to decipher what motivates individuals, but does not advise on how to implement this to produce maximum productivity from an individual, this is achieved by using the theory in conjunction with other motivational theories such as goal setting theory. Figure 4: Hygiene and Motivating Factors (Pettinger,, 2006) Goal setting is not just an important part of motivation, they are essential for both teamwork and successful leadership, they provide indication on what must be achieved, how much effort they must devoted to achieve it and they act as the primary source of job motivation for individuals, therefore setting them accurately is essential (Pettinger 2007). Specific and clear goals are the most effective motivators, and will lead to optimum performance, therefore it becomes essential for a leader to understand what motivates each individual within a group (Pettinger, 2007). Motivation is highly personal, and can differ massively across a group, so the leader must adapt how they motivate to suit each individual, this highlights the need for an organisation to implement policies that allow leaders to be flexible in how they reward individuals. Issues arise when goals are not set well, if the goals are ambiguous, unachievable or too easy then the individual will lose motivation (Pettinger, 2007). Once goals have been set it becomes essential for leaders to regularly assess how individuals are progressing towards them, if well then goals should be made more challenging, if they are struggling then the goals should be made easier. Goals also allow for leader to assess how the team are performing, and how their leadership style is functioning with the group, if goals are not being met the leader must adapt how the team interact together or their leadership style to achieve them.

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