Destructive leadership

Destructive Leadership has been found to be a common occurrence in many organizations. Sometimes referred to as toxic leadership, destructive leadership results in devastating effects for employees, work teams and the organizations in which they work. In this article we present a recent real life example of destructive leadership as a way of understanding how and why this type of behavior may flourish within organizations. We also outline the results of a recent study conducted to examine the types of behaviors exhibited by such leaders. We conclude by suggesting how organizations might best protect themselves against the development of, or deal with the presence of destructive leadership behaviors in their own organizations.