Sample APA Impact Of Narcissism And Authoritarianism On Internal Climate

Running head: IMPACT OF NARCISSISM AND AUTHORITARIANISM 1

Impact of Narcissism and Authoritarianism on Internal Climate

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IMPACT OF NARCISSISM AND AUTHORITARIANISM 2

Dysfunctional Leadership: Impact of Narcissism and Authoritarianism on Internal Climate

Leadership has gradually transformed to fit into the changing organizational demands.

Despite many organizational scholarships focusing on the positive leadership characteristics,

there is also need to examine the dysfunctional leadership traits in an attempt to enhance the

entire organization. It is important to examine dysfunctional leadership since it is associated with

managerial incompetence, poor employee engagement, low job satisfaction and employee

burnouts. The main symptoms of dysfunctional leaders are inattention to results, absence of trust,

avoiding accountability, fear of conflicts and lack of commitment (Dandira, 2012). There are

numerous dysfunctional leadership traits, but narcissism and authoritarianism appear as the most

dominant traits that manifest in many of the dysfunctional leaders. This paper will discuss

dysfunctional leadership qualities, mainly narcissism and authoritarianism, and the negative

effects associated with them. The paper mainly argues that narcissism and authoritarianism leads

to the development of a negative internal climate of a business, thus impeding its long term

success.

Narcissism is a leadership trait that negatively affects the internal climate of an

organization. It is particularly believed to be among the offensive forms of human behavior.

Narcissists have a tendency of largely admiring themselves, and show little attention to other

people’s employees. Consistent self-admiration could impede a leader because of the

egocentricity and glamor that makes them lose touch with reality. Narcissist leaders get

motivated by their quest for power and self-admiration instead of empathetic concern for

organizations that they lead (Morand, 2014). This could influence them to behave like ‘pyrrhic

victory’ because they only trust their vision over any other thing. The other negative impact of

narcissism is that they can use too many resources under the perception that they will achieve the

IMPACT OF NARCISSISM AND AUTHORITARIANISM 3

initial success. Organizations with narcissist leaders tend to focus on glamor and creativity while

not witnessing any meaningful execution and results. Because narcissist behavior is influenced

by pervasive negative feelings of the leader, they have a tendency of taking credit for successes

achieved by others. Such leaders blame employees in case of failures (Dandira, 2012). Since

narcissists are intolerant, employees become defensive when they commit mistakes.

Narcissism also leads to the development of extreme reactions from employees. The main

problem with narcissists is that they rarely empathize with employees. Despite various studies

highlighting that some narcissists can be charismatic leaders, many of the studies highlight that

they affect the internal climate of the business. Examples of positive narcissists are Steve Jobs

while at Apple and Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg. They transformed their organizations with a

lot of zeal and desire. Nevertheless, the problem with narcissism is that it can become

unproductive when the leader becomes an unrealistic dreamer (Dandira, 2012). Notwithstanding,

there is need to acknowledge that narcissism combines with other dysfunctional leadership traits

to lead to bad leadership. Narcissists also tend to be unpredictable in the way they conduct their

operations. Unpredictability can be both positive and negative depending on the nature of

circumstances. However, it often leads to discomfort and stress among workers (Goncalves,

2013). Many of the dysfunctional leadership researches emphasize that there is need for a leader

to behave in a certain way consistently in order to bring about consistent reactions. Inconsistency

in leadership entails switching between traits and moods. This makes it quite difficult for

employees to prepare and behave in a consistent way. For example, inconsistent messages

delivered by a narcissist leader lead to ambiguity and confusion. Employees find it difficult

prioritizing tasks, thus making organizations to begin functioning in suboptimal efficiency.

IMPACT OF NARCISSISM AND AUTHORITARIANISM 4

Narcissists also tend to embody the concept of perceived power which can have a

negative impact on an organization’s internal climate. Perceived power is the experience of the

leader with power. It results in leaders doing much of the talking, thus prevents employees from

talking about issues openly (Goncalves, 2013). Consequently, by narcissists doing much of the

talking, they highlight that they are not open to the employees’ input. This leads to lower team

performance because the teams are unable to meet their targets. Due to this finding, Tost et al

(2013) established that there is need for organizations to undertake measures geared at

minimizing the negative impacts associated with perceived power on performance. Such actions

may entail the maintenance of a flat organizational structure and training of leaders on the need

to embrace the input of employees. In one’s leadership career, there is need to ensure that

narcissism traits are used in a positive way for them to avoid leading their organizations into

disaster.

Authoritarianism is the other trait of dysfunctional leaders that negatively impacts a

business. It is a trait associated with leaders who command and tell employees what to do. They

want to be completely in control without allowing room for personal creativity and autonomy

(Goncalves, 2013). They have a tendency of leading organization using the rigid hierarchical

structure that lacks flexibility. The quick temper of authoritarian leaders implies that they do not

tolerate failure. Due to the power that they wield, they often demand that subordinates obey

them. Failure to obey their instructions can lead to penalties. The negative impact on the

organization is that they do not get input from employees and make prompt decisions with

inaccurate or incomplete organizational information (Schein, 2010). Such information is only

shared with the employees that they trust. Because they lead by fear, they fail to inspire or

influence employees. The other negative impacts of authoritarian leaders are consistent culture of

IMPACT OF NARCISSISM AND AUTHORITARIANISM 5

force, intolerance, rigid employees and lack of creativity. Despite short term gains being

achieved, authoritarian leaders tend to lead to organizational failure in the long-term because of

the quick decisions that they take. Decisions taken hurriedly often tend to neglect the input of all

stakeholders and the consequences of the actions in future.

Authoritarian leaders are often quite demanding. The excessive demands imply that they

are not ready to listen to failure. Because they highly value results, they lead to the development

of a culture of egocentrism, talks with hidden plans, and artificial successes. The effect is that

employees become de-motivated and unproductive. Authoritarian leadership traits do not

resonate with the motivational theories such as the two-factor theory and the contingency

theories (Morand, 2014). This results into embedment of internal competition, corruption, greed

and hostility in the work environment. The organizational climate is negatively impacted to an

extent that any element of fairness and equality disappear. Employees commence riding on the

successes of their colleagues while engaging in fights as they try to get to the top of the corporate

ladder. For example, in 1998, Steve Samek, partner of Arthur Andersen, initiated the 2X rule.

The rule required that each partner had to generate at least two times revenue from other business

that were beyond their main scope of work. It led to intense pressure within the business and

influenced employees to engage in malicious activities. The result was the emergence of scandals

such as Enron. In other words, the pressure imposed on the employees led to a negative internal

climate that compelled them to engage in any activity, whether ethical or unethical, that could

enable them to achieve the unrealistic targets (Schein, 2010). Authoritarianism is an

inappropriate trait for students who would like to succeed in their future leadership careers. It

may be effective in some situations but only occasionally since the participatory management

styles have become more ideal.

IMPACT OF NARCISSISM AND AUTHORITARIANISM 6

Finally, dysfunctional leadership traits, particularly narcissism and authoritarianism, lead

to the development of negative internal climates within an organization. Employees feel that they

are oppressed, emotionally drained and their input as insignificant. The intense pressures

triggered by these traits lead to internal conflicts. Such conflicts lead to the development of

unhealthy working environments that are characterized by extreme lack of collaboration and trust

among colleagues (Dandira, 2012). In case there is no trust among organizational employees, the

results are the lack of commitment, accountability and unhealthy conflicts.

Overall, dysfunctional leadership traits create a negative organizational climate. This

climate mainly affects the behaviors and attitudes of employees towards assigned tasks and

duties. Narcissism and authoritarianism are dysfunctional traits which when in their extreme can

create undesirable working environments that stifle creativity, and promote internal conflicts.

The result is an environment with no trust and focus because only the results are deemed as

important. Commitment from employees also reduces because they become detached from the

vision and mission of the particular organization. This is a lesson for 21

century organizations

that seek to succeed in the dynamic and changing business environment. They need to

understand that leaders influence the culture of the corporation. Dysfunctional leaders may be

effective in a short period and lead to quick results but this could disrupt the organization in the

long term. Such organizations would not be able to cope with the competitive market

environment. Consequently, organizations should strive to spot the symptoms of dysfunctional

leaders early enough to be able to mitigate any likely consequences.

IMPACT OF NARCISSISM AND AUTHORITARIANISM 7

References

Brewer, D. (2014). Leadership and organizational behavior. Consulting Psychology Journal:

Practice and Research. 66(4):316-319

Dandira, M. (2012). Dysfunctional leadership: organizational cancer. Business Strategy Series,

13(4), 187-192.

Goncalves, M. (2013). The Right Power for the Right Organization. Journal of Leadership,

Accountability and Ethics, 10(3), 135.

Morand, D. (2014). Using politeness to model the psychosocial dynamics of power in

organizational interaction. International Journal of Organizational Analysis, 22(2), 247-

273.

Schein, E. H. (2010). Organizational culture and leadership (Vol. 2). John Wiley & Sons.

Tost, L. P., Gino, F., & Larrick, R. P. (2013). When power makes others speechless: The

negative impact of leader power on team performance. Academy of Management Journal,

56(5), 1465-1486.

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Sample APA Impact of Narcissism and Authoritarianism on Internal Climate

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