Three Nightmare Traits in Leaders

Read this article to examine research conducted on the dark side of leadership. The author concentrates on leadership styles using the construct of personality. He uses a framework of various factors, including emotionality, agreeableness, and conscientiousness, to examine the negative effects of dishonesty, disagreeableness, and carelessness. Be attentive to the paragraph on psychopathic leaders. There is also a discussion about what organizations should do to prevent the rise of TNT (Three Nightmare Traits) leaders. Some thought that people with TNT tend to apply to work at organizations that have a culture that encourages certain behaviors.

Nightmare Careers

Attrition

Another possible outcome of the TNT is a person's voluntary or involuntary attrition (outcome activation). Meta-analyses and longitudinal studies have shown that job performance is negatively related to turnover, and this relation seems to be true even when turnover is involuntary. Consequently, organizations seem to rely to some extent on job performance indicators to discharge dysfunctional personnel. However, as noted above, some TNT employees, such as psychopaths, seem to be found relatively frequently in the boardroom, suggesting that not all organizations are able to adequately deal with low performing managers. Research suggests that organizations that have a highly developed HR system with high selection rates and performance-contingent rewards have a stronger relation between job performance and turnover, and thus more extensive HR systems may be associated with a reduced chance for TNT employees to turn into TNT boardroom members.